1793

The revolutionary government in France starts the 10-month Reign of Terror, during which 17,000 people are executed.

1870

Birth of Vietnamese poet Tran Te Xuong (died 1907), better known as Tu Xuong. One of the most renowned Vietnamese satirical poets, he was the first of a whole line of poets who followed his example and even imitated him.

1905

Treaty of Portsmouth, mediated by US President Theodore Roosevelt in New Hampshire, ends Russo-Japanese War.

1907

The French make eight-year-old Nguyen Phuc Vinh San king of Viet Nam, known as King Duy Tan and replacing his father, King Thanh Thai. He was exiled to the Reunion in the Mascarene Islands by the French in 1916 when they learned that he was giving his blessings to a popular uprising against their rule.

1996

Ramzi Yousef, a Muslim extremist who allegedly masterminded the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, is convicted with two other men of planning to blow up a dozen US commercial airliners.

1997

Responding to a triple suicide bombing in Jerusalem, Israel refuses to hand over West Bank land to the Palestinians.

1998

North Korea's parliament elects Kim Jong-il to the presidency.

2001

Peru's attorney general files homicide charges against ex-President Alberto Fujimori, linking him to two massacres by paramilitary death squads in the early 1990s.

2005

Seconds after takeoff an Indonesian airliner shakes violently and slams into a bustling neighbourhood, bursting into flames and killing over 140 people – many on the ground.

2006

Felipe Calderon becomes president-elect of Mexico when the nation's top electoral court votes unanimously to reject allegations of fraud and certify his narrow victory. — AP