18 Azar 1385

Events

• 1856 (170 years ago) The Iranian city of Bushehr surrenders to occupying British forces.
• 1935 (91 years ago) Student protests occur in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, and are subsequently dispersed by government authorities.
• 1940 (86 years ago) World War II: Operation Compass: British and Indian troops under the command of Major-General Richard O'Connor attack Italian forces near Sidi Barrani in Egypt.
• 1941 (85 years ago) World War II: China, Cuba, Guatemala, and the Philippine Commonwealth declare war on Germany and Japan.
• 1992 (34 years ago) American troops land in Somalia for Operation Restore Hope.
• 2008 (18 years ago) Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich is arrested by federal officials for crimes including attempting to sell the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.
• 2013 (13 years ago) At least seven are dead and 63 are injured following a train accident near Bintaro, Indonesia.
• 2017 (9 years ago) The Marriage Amendment Bill receives royal assent and comes into effect, making Australia the 26th country to legalize same-sex marriage.

Births

• 1608 (418 years ago) John Milton, English poet and philosopher (died 1674)
• 1842 (184 years ago) Peter Kropotkin, Russian zoologist, economist, geographer, and philosopher (died 1921)
• 1868 (158 years ago) Fritz Haber, Polish-German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1934)
• 1906 (120 years ago) Grace Hopper, American admiral and computer scientist, designed COBOL (died 1992)
• 1916 (110 years ago) Kirk Douglas, American actor, singer, and producer (died 2020)
• 1934 (92 years ago) Judi Dench, English actress
• 1946 (80 years ago) Sonia Gandhi, Italian-Indian politician
• 1954 (72 years ago) Jean-Claude Juncker, Luxembourger lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of Luxembourg

Deaths

• 1437 (589 years ago) Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (born 1368)
• 1565 (461 years ago) Pope Pius IV,
• 1641 (385 years ago) Anthony van Dyck, Belgian-English painter and illustrator (born 1599)
• 1669 (357 years ago) Pope Clement IX,
• 1916 (110 years ago) Natsume Sōseki, Japanese author and poet (born 1867)
• 1937 (89 years ago) Gustaf Dalén, Swedish physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1869)
• 1971 (55 years ago) Ralph Bunche, American political scientist, academic, and diplomat, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1904)
• 1996 (30 years ago) Mary Leakey, English archaeologist and anthropologist (born 1913)

All 431 events, births and deaths of December 9