1942 Malta George Cross
1942: The people from the tiny Island of Malta in the Mediterranean Sea (121 sq miles) are awarded The George Cross by King George VI. Malta played a crucial role in World War II owing to its proximity to Axis shipping lanes and the Germans and Italians bombed the Island on daily basis and sunk any ships trying to supply food and medical supplies to the Island. In the first 200 days of 1942 there was only one 24 hour period when no bombs fell and the Maltese people spent so much time in their underground shelters that health standards declined, malnutrition spread and scabies was rife. The Island continued under siege with little food arriving right until May 1943 when the siege of Malta was finally lifted.
1912 RMS Titanic Sinks
1912: The RMS Titanic struck an iceberg just before midnight on 14th April. The Ship with 2,200 passengers and crew on board on it's maiden voyage was thought to be unsinkable but it sank after 2 1/2 hours when the ship breaks in two in the Atlantic Ocean, With More than 1,500 people on the ship lost to the sea.
1926 French Franc
1926: The French Franc dropped again today against the US Dollar to an all time low of 29.73 to the Dollar.
1927 United States Great Mississippi Flood
1927: 15 inches of rain fall in 18 hours causing the Mississippi River to brake out of its levee system at 145 locations, more than Twenty-seven thousand square miles of land is flooded in 10 states AR, IL, KY, LA, MS, MO, TN, TX, OK and KS, Arkansas is the worst affected with 14% of the state flooded.
1937 Spanish Civil War
1937: Countries around the world are seeking to intervene in the Spanish Civil War and to ask all parties to join peace talks.
1945 Germany Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp
1945: British troops liberate the German Bergen-Belsen Concentration camp finding thousands of dead and rotting corpses and many more thousands of sick and starving prisoners kept in severely overcrowded and dirty compounds. The prisoners were suffering from acute typhus, typhoid and tuberculosis due to no running water in the camp . Over 30,000 had died in the previous months many from typhus but even more from starvation.
1946 China 30 Million Starving
1946: Nearly 30 million people are close to dying of starvation and the countries of the world are trying to send food to help those starving including the US the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation department is coordinating efforts.
1947 USA Jackie Robinson
1947: Jackie Robinson, becomes the first African American player in Major League Baseball when he steps onto Ebbets Field in Brooklyn to compete for the Brooklyn Dodgers.
1959 Cuba Fidel Castro
1959: Fidel Castro, Prime Minister of Cuba, flew to Washington for an 11-day visit to promote Cuba to Americans.
1967 USA Vietnam War Protestors
1967: 180,000 Protesters were in New York and San Francisco to protest against the Vietnam War with a number of protesters burning draft cards.
1977 USA Roman Polanksi
1977: Roman Polanski the director of China Town and Rosemary's baby pleads innocence to charge of drug rape of 13 yr old girl.
1981 USA Janet Cooke
1981: Washington Post reporter Janet Cooke relinquished the Pulitzer Prize she had received two days earlier for her feature "Jimmy's World published in The Washington Post on September 29, 1980" about an 8-year-old heroin addict after admitting she had fabricated the story.
1986 Libya US Air Strikes
1986: The US launches air strikes on Libya in retaliation for Libyan backed terrorism including the bombing of La Belle discotheque in West Berlin 10 days earlier. USA planes bombed targets in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, and the Benghazi region. Colonel Muamar Gaddafi residential compound took a direct hit that killed Hanna Gaddafi, the adopted baby daughter of the Libyan leader.
1989 England Hillsborough Stadium Disaster
1989: The FA Cup semi-final between Nottingham Forest and Liverpool at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, England, turned to tragedy. At least 200 people were injured and 96 crushed to death, many of them teenagers and children. The problems were caused by too many Liverpool fans being sent to standing pens in to the back of an already full stand at the Leppings Lane end of the ground. As more fans were allowed in, those already there were pushed forward and crushed against the high, wired-topped safety fences. In 2017, six people were charged with manslaughter by gross negligence, misconduct in public office, and perverting the course of justice for their actions related to the disaster. As of 2021, only one person, Graham Mackrell, has been convicted of crimes related to the disaster, for which he paid a fine.
Comment from Neil, a man who lived through the Hillsborough Stadium Disaster: "The Liverpool fans were not as you reported allowed in the ground they were forced into an overfilled section of leppings lane. Sadly, I, as one of many that got out of the death pen, now relive that day over and over it ruined my life. Now after all the years not a single Liverpool fan has been charged with an offence regarding the death or the 96 in the ground and have probably never heard about the 97th victims who died in a coma later, nor will you have reported or the terror and guilt of those of us that escaped that day."
1990 Soviet Union Lithuania Independence
1990: Lithuania continues it's goal of Independence but The Soviet Union president threatens to cut off supplies including Oil and Natural Gas unless they rescind request for independence and laws that would mean seizing Soviet buildings and facilities.
1992 USA Leona Helmsley
1992: Leona Helmsley, starts a four-year prison term in Lexington, Kentucky for failing to pay her taxes, she served a total of only 18 months in jail. Her famous quote "Only the little people pay taxes." turned the press and the public against her who never forgave her for the infamous saying.
2000 Zimbabwe Farmer Murdered
2000: Approximately 1,000 farms are now occupied by "war veterans" backed by President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party. And one white farmer "David Stevens" in Zimbabwe was taken from his farm and has been shot dead. In spite of pressure from the international community, President Robert Mugabe pressed on with his plan to remove Zimbabwe's farms from white ownership, and a further 10 white farmers were murdered. Many farmers have given up their farms and left the country but others stayed hoping to keep their farms but in September 2002 Zimbabwe's parliament adopted new legislation making it easier to evict them.
2008 World Food Prices Problem
2008: As food prices continue to increase due to multiple reasons including gas prices, poor harvests and the increased use of ethanol based fuel. The people who are the most affected are the poorest members of the world who spend the highest percentage of income on feeding themselves. The World Bank President Robert Zoellick has appealed to richer nations to increase the food aid to some of the countries worst effected after riots in Haiti, Bangladesh, Egypt and other countries over surging food prices.
2008 United States Pope Benedict XVI Visit
2008: Pope Benedict XVI has received a Presidential greeting from George Bush and his wife on his first official visit to the United States. Mr. Bush was waiting on the tarmac at Andrews Air Force Base when the Pontiff's plane touched down. As part of his six-day visit, the Pope will be addressing the U.N. and leading prayers at Ground Zero. The Pope will be leaving on April 20th.
2010 Volcanic Ash Grounds European Flights
2010: All flights in and out of several European countries have been suspended as ash from the volcanic eruption in Iceland continues to move south. Up to four thousand flights are being canceled with airspace closed in Norway, Britain, Sweden, France, Finland and Denmark. The U.K.'s air traffic control service has said that no flights will be allowed to enter U.K. airspace until at least 0700 BST on April 16th. Eurocontrol has said that the problem will persist for at least forty-eight hours. The volcano is still spewing ash and the wind direction is expected to continue bringing clouds into European airspace for some time.
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