Today in News History

On July 9, several notable moments in the history of News stand out. In 551, A major earthquake strikes Beirut, triggering a devastating tsunami that affects the coastal towns of Byzantine Phoenicia, causing thousands of deaths. In 869, The 8.4-9.0 Mw Sanriku earthquake strikes the area around Sendai in northern Honshu, Japan. Inundation from the tsunami extended several kilometers inland. In 969, The Fatimid general Jawhar leads the Friday prayer in Fustat in the name of Caliph al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah, thereby symbolically completing the Fatimid conquest of Egypt. In 1850, Persian prophet Báb is executed in Tabriz, Persia. In 1955, The Russell-Einstein Manifesto calls for a reduction of the risk of nuclear warfare. In 1979, A car bomb destroys a Renault motor car owned by "Nazi hunters" Serge and Beate Klarsfeld outside their home in France in an unsuccessful assassination attempt. In 1995, The Navaly church bombing is carried out by the Sri Lanka Air Force killing 125 Tamil civilian refugees. In 1999, Days of student protests begin after Iranian police and hardliners attack a student dormitory at the University of Tehran. In 2006, One hundred and twenty-five people are killed when S7 Airlines Flight 778, an Airbus A310 passenger jet, veers off the runway while landing in wet conditions at Irkutsk Airport in Siberia. In 2011, A rally takes place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to call for fairer elections in the country. Together, these milestones provide historical context for today's news news and ongoing narratives.