Important Events From This day in History April 16th

 2007 - U.S.A. Virginia Tech

2007 : Student Cho Seung Hui killed 32 students and injured 17 others before taking his own life at Virginia Tech. What happened in 2007

 

 

1964 - UK Great Train Robbery

1964 : At the old Bailey in London the great train robbers were sentenced to up to 30 years for their part in the Great Train Robbery. Seven of the defendants - Ronald Biggs, Charles Wilson, Douglas Goody, Thomas Wisbey, Robert Welch, James Hussey and Roy James each received sentences of 30 years. The robbery was from a mail train carrying 3.8 million pounds between Glasgow and London when 15 masked robbers stopped the train at by changing the signals to red and boarding the train armed with weapons.

 

 

1947 - U.S.A. Freighter Blast

1947 : A French freighter "Grandcamp" , loaded with ammonium nitrate ( fertilizer ), exploded at a port in Texas. The blast caused other explosions at a nearby chemical plant, spreading fires across oil refineries along the port. An estimated 500 People were killed by the blast and the ensuing fires which swept the port and the surrounding town.

 

 

 

---

---

1922 - U.S.A. Prohibition

1922 : The Prohibition Department is to enforce the law making it illegal to manufacture beer or wine in the home for home use, this follows the supreme court that home brewing is illegal.

 

 

1935 - U.S.A. Work Fund to Create Jobs

1935 : President Roosevelt unveils plans to allocate a work fund and more than $900,000,000 in funds for work based projects has been received so far , this will help with the mass unemployment and misery caused by the severe depression.

 

 

1943 - Switzerland LSD

1943 : Albert Hoffman, a Swiss chemist accidentally consumes LSD-25. After taking the drug, formally known as lysergic acid diethylamide, Dr. Hoffman was disturbed by unusual sensations and hallucinations.

 

 

1944 - World War II

1944 : Allied Bombers hit Budapest and Belgrade as continued attacks on enemies lines of communications and Rail Lines were carried out overnight.

 

 

 

Royal Yacht Britannia Timeline - UK Royal Yacht Britannia

1953 : The Queen launches the Royal Yacht Britannia in at a ceremony at the Clydebank yard of John Brown and Co. The Royal Yacht had a 250 strong crew who ensure Britannia is always immaculate for its foreign trips. The Royal Yacht Britannia after travelling more than one million miles is decommissioned in 1997 and is now a tourist attraction at the port of Leith, in Edinburgh.

 

 

1963 - Birmingham, Alabama

1963 : Police break up walk to city hall to register to vote in Birmingham Alabama and arrested the first 15 Negroes in the walk to the county courthouse.

 

 

1964 - UK The Rolling Stones

1964 : "The Rolling Stones band's debut album, "The Rolling Stones" issued in the US as "England's Newest Hit Makers" was released. The band consisted of Jagger, Jones, Richards, Wyman, and Watts.

 

 

1970 - Northern Ireland Reverend Ian Paisley

1970 : The Protestant hard liner the Reverend Ian Paisley has won a seat in parliament. The Reverend Ian Paisley is opposed any form of power sharing in Northern Ireland.

 

 

1972 - U.S.A. Apollo 16

1972 : NASA launched the Apollo 16 spacecraft from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

 

 

http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/april17th.html

 

1974 - Israel Golan Heights

1974 : Israeli and Syrian troops continue fighting along the Golan Heights and Mt Herman for 37th consecutive day of fighting in the middle east.

 

 

1983 - Vietnam / China Conflict

1983 : China and Vietnam continue fighting on the border over the killing of farmers and other Chinese civilians working near the border.

 

 

1987 - UK MP Harvey Proctor

1987 : The British Conservative MP Harvey Proctor has appeared in court and is accused of committing acts of gross indecency with two male teenagers.

 

 

1993 - Bosnia Muslim Enclave

1993 : The United Nations stepped in today to protect Srebrenica in Bosnia that is a haven for Muslim civilians from a Bosnian Serb onslaught.

 

 

2003 - U.S.A. Michael Jordan

2003 : Michael Jordan played his last NBA game for the Washington Wizards.

 

 

2006 - Pope calls for a solution on the Iranian nuclear issue

2006 : Pope Benedict XVI calls for a negotiated solution to the Iran nuclear crisis in his Easter message in St Peter's Square. "May an honorable solution be found for all parties, through honest and serious negotiations," he said, whilst affirming Israel's "right to exist in peace." He also calls for the international community to help the Palestinians achieve statehood. This is Pope Benedict's first Easter as pontiff, and "Urbi et Orbi" is broadcast to more than fifty countries. About one hundred thousand people are said to have gathered in the square.

 

 

2007 - Wal-Mart reached first place in this year's Fortune 500

2007 : Wal-Mart is awarded the first place in sales and company size in this year's Fortune 500, with revenues of $351,139,000,000, profits of 11,284,000,000, assets of 151,193,000, 000, and a stockholder equity of 198,107,900,000 for the year-ending 2006. It narrowly beat Exxon Mobil to first place.

 

 

2008 - US Supreme Court upholds death by lethal injection

2008 : The Supreme Court has rejected a challenge on the use of lethal injections as a means of execution. The Court rejected the case that was made by two death row inmates in the state of Kentucky. They have already sued the state, and said that the commonly used combination of three chemical injections violated the Constitution's ban on cruel punishment. Executions nationwide have been on hold since September 2006, and Virginia has just said that it was lifting its moratorium on it.

 

 

2009 - Obama unveils plans for a national rail lines

2009 : President Obama has unveiled his plans for a network of high-speed passenger rail lines. His reasons for supporting this are to reduce traffic congestion, cut dependence on foreign oil and to improve the environment. The plan has identified ten potential high-speed intercity corridors for federal funding, including ones in California, the Pacific Northwest, the Midwest, the Southeast, the Gulf Coast, Pennsylvania, Florida, New York and New England. Chicago will be the hub of the Midwest Regional Rail System, which would stretch to Madison, Wisconsin, in the Northwest, to St. Louis, Missouri, in the South and Detroit, Michigan in the East. Obama had pledged to support a national network of faster passenger trains in his Presidential campaign. The administration has given $1.3 billion in federal funding to Amtrak.

 

 

2009 - US Governmental agents will not be prosecuted for torture

2009 : Barack Obama has released four top secret memos that permitted the C.I.A. to torture the al-Qaeda suspects they were holding at the Guantánamo Bay and other secret detention centers. In an accompanying statement Obama has ruled out prosecutions against those that participated in these actions. The memos can provide a look at the techniques that were used by the C.I.A. and the legal basis by which the previous administration approved it.

 

 

2010 - S.E.C. charges Goldman Sachs with fraud

2010 : Goldman Sachs has been accused of defrauding investors by America's financial regulator. The Securities and Exchange Commission (S.E.C.) has alleged that Goldmans have failed to disclose conflicts of interest, and charged the investment bank and one of its vice-presidents for defrauding investors by misstating and omitting key facts about a financial product tied to subprime mortgages. The S.E.C. says that Goldmans had structured and marketed the synthetic collateralized debt obligation (C.D.O.) that hinged on the performance of subprime residential mortgage-backed securities. The failure to disclose to investors vital information about the C.D.O. and the fact that a hedge fund had taken a short position against the C.D.O.

 

 

2011 - Cuba Marks Bay of Pigs Anniversary

2011 : Cuba celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the Bay of Pigs invasion with a military parade and gathering of citizens. The anniversary marked Castro and the communists' triumph over US-backed exile groups who had invaded in an attempt to oust Fidel Castro. The celebration came at the same time as the Cuban congress was meeting to discuss major reforms.

 

 

2012 - Anders Breivik Pleads Not Guilty at Murder Trial

2012 : Alleged mass murderer and man responsible for a bombing and shooting spree that killed 77 people in Norway officially pleaded not guilty at the start of his trail in the country. Breivik told the court that he "acknowledged" the acts he committed but did not take criminal responsibility for them. If the court decides that he was sane he could be sentenced to twenty-one years in prison, a term which could be extended indefinitely.

 

 

2013 - Large Earthquake hits Iran

2013 : Iran experienced a 7.8 magnitude earthquake near the city of Khash, the most powerful earthquake to hit the country in over fifty years. The quake was also felt in Pakistan where thirty deaths were reported.

 

 

2014 - Abortion Law in North Dakota Overturned

2014 : A US Federal judge overturned a law in North Dakota that would ban early abortions in the state as soon as a heartbeat could be detected. The law was thought to be one of the most restrictive anti-abortion laws in the country and the judge said that it was unconstitutional.