Today in News History

On July 12, several notable moments in the history of News stand out. In 1302, Battle of the Golden Spurs (Guldensporenslag in Dutch): A coalition around the Flemish cities defeats the king of France's royal army. In 1735, Mathematical calculations suggest that it is on this day that dwarf planet Pluto moved inside the orbit of Neptune for the last time before 1979. In 1893, A revolution led by the liberal general and politician José Santos Zelaya takes over state power in Nicaragua. In 1931, Thurston Harris, American doo-wop singer (died 1990) was born. In 1960, Congo Crisis: The State of Katanga breaks away from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In 1962, Project Apollo: At a press conference, NASA announces lunar orbit rendezvous as the means to land astronauts on the Moon, and return them to Earth. In 1978, Los Alfaques disaster: A truck carrying liquid gas crashes and explodes at a coastal campsite in Tarragona, Spain killing 216 tourists. In 1979, America's first space station, Skylab, is destroyed as it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere over the Indian Ocean. In 1990, Oka Crisis: First Nations land dispute in Quebec begins. In 1999, Jan Sloot, Dutch computer scientist and electronics technician (born 1945) passed away. Together, these milestones provide historical context for today's news news and ongoing narratives.