Today in News History

On July 2, several notable moments in the history of News stand out. In 626, Li Shimin, the future Emperor Taizong of Tang, ambushes and kills his rival brothers Li Yuanji and Li Jiancheng in the Xuanwu Gate Incident. In 1816, The French frigate Méduse strikes the Bank of Arguin and 151 people on board have to be evacuated on an improvised raft, a case immortalised by Géricault's painting The Raft of the Medusa. In 1822, Thirty-five slaves, including Denmark Vesey, are hanged in South Carolina after being accused of organizing a slave rebellion. In 1839, Twenty miles off the coast of Cuba, 53 kidnapped Africans led by Joseph Cinqué mutiny and take over the slave ship Amistad. In 1940, Indian independence leader Subhas Chandra Bose is arrested and detained in Calcutta. In 1957, Jüri Raidla, Estonian lawyer and politician, Estonian Minister of Justice was born. In 1965, Norbert Röttgen, German lawyer and politician was born. In 1986, Rodrigo Rojas and Carmen Gloria Quintana are burnt alive during a street demonstration against the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet in Chile. In 2010, The South Kivu tank truck explosion in the Democratic Republic of the Congo kills at least 230 people. In 2015, Jacobo Zabludovsky, Mexican journalist (born 1928) passed away. Together, these milestones provide historical context for today's news news and ongoing narratives.