Today in News History

On June 20, several notable moments in the history of News stand out. In 1718, At least 73,000 people died in the 1718 Tongwei-Gansu earthquake due to landslides in the Qing dynasty. In 1876, Nigel Gresley, Scottish-English engineer (died 1941) was born. In 1906, Ernst Boris Chain, German-Irish biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1979) was born. In 1914, Alan Cranston, American journalist and politician (died 2000) was born. In 1947, Pan Am Flight 121 crashes in the Syrian Desert near Mayadin, Syria, killing 15 and injuring 21. In 1987, Aeroflot Flight N-528 crashes at Berdiansk Airport in present-day Ukraine, killing eight people. In 1987, Basque separatist group ETA commits one of its most violent attacks, in which a bomb is set off in a supermarket, Hipercor, killing 21 and injuring 45. In 2007, The al-Khilani Mosque bombing in Baghdad leaves 78 people dead and another 218 injured. In 2009, Mass riots involving over 10,000 people and 10,000 police officers break out in Shishou, China, over the dubious circumstances surrounding the death of a local chef. In 2020, Animal rights advocate Regan Russell is run over and killed by a transport truck outside of a pig slaughterhouse in Burlington, Ontario. Together, these milestones provide historical context for today's news news and ongoing narratives.