1916 - General Paul von Hindenburg became the Chief of the German General Staff during World War I.
1995 - Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze survived an assassination attempt when a car bomb exploded near his convoy.
1996 - A Tupolev 154 rented by a Russian mining company crashed while en route to the remote Svalbard Island in the Arctic, killing all 129 passengers and 12 crew members onboard.
1998 - A Cubana de Aviación Tupolev aircraft crashed shortly after takeoff from Quito, Ecuador, resulting in the deaths of 81 people.
2002 - Ethiopia and Eritrea released all prisoners of war held following the border conflict that occurred between 1998 and 2000.
2003 - In Iraq, a car bomb explosion killed 83 Iraqis, including top Shiite leader Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, in what appeared to be an assassination at the Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf.
2004 - Greece held a vibrant closing ceremony to mark the end of the Athens Games, which returned the Olympics to its roots.
2005 - Hurricane Katrina swept across the U.S. Gulf Coast with winds of 140 mph (225 km/h) and a storm surge of 30 feet (9 meters), leading to the devastation of New Orleans and the deaths of 1,330 people throughout the region.
2007 - Britain honored Nelson Mandela by unveiling a bronze statue of the first black president of South Africa, alongside statues of statesmen like Winston Churchill and Abraham Lincoln.
2012 - Samsung launched the world's first smartphone using Microsoft's latest mobile software, days after losing a pivotal patent battle with Apple Inc.
