Mount Etna erupts, eventually producing its largest lava flow (1669), and Students in Pristina protest for greater political rights in Kosovo (1981). Born on this day: Douglas Adams, Didier Drogba and Harold Wilson. Died: Alexander Fleming, Elagabalus and James Tobin.
29 events, 56 births and 62 deaths on this date.
Sicily's towering volcano burst into eruption and eventually sent out the largest molten stream in its recorded past. The flow damaged Catania and other towns on the island's east coast.
Jacopo Werther · CC BY-SA 4.0Hundreds of students at the University of Pristina marched to demand fuller political rights for Kosovo, then a province of Yugoslavia. Their protests quickly spread across the country, becoming a nationwide movement that unsettled Belgrade.
The World Health Organization classed the spread of the coronavirus disease as a pandemic, meaning it had reached many countries across several continents at once. The announcement pushed governments worldwide toward travel limits, lockdowns and emergency health measures.
Joe Biden put his name to a $1.9 trillion package of pandemic relief, sending cheques to households and money to schools, vaccine programmes and struggling businesses. It was one of the largest financial interventions in American history, passed without a single Republican vote in Congress.
The International Criminal Court opened its inaugural session in The Hague, launching the first permanent international tribunal able to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and aggression. It only steps in when national courts are unwilling or unable to act.
Thomas Wolf , www.foto-tw.de · CC BY-SA 3.0 de
The earliest probable cases of the H1N1 virus behind the pandemic were documented in Haskell County, Kansas. The illness went on to infect roughly a third of humanity, and it is estimated to have killed between 17 and 50 million people.
Otis Historical Archives, National Museum of Health and Medicine · Public domain
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Douglas Adams was an English writer and humourist best known for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which began as a BBC radio comedy and grew into a five-book series selling over 14 million copies.
Michael Hughes · CC BY-SA 2.0
The Ivorian former striker is best remembered for his years at Chelsea, where he scored more than any other overseas player. He also became his country's leading goalscorer and twice won African Footballer of the Year.
Y.Leclercq© · CC BY-SA 4.0
Harold Wilson led Labour to power in 1964 and again in 1974, serving as prime minister for most of two decades. He also liked to say he was an Esperantist and a statistician, though his fame rests on Westminster.
Eric Koch for Anefo · CC0
Alexander Fleming was a Scottish bacteriologist who discovered penicillin in 1928, the first antibiotic, after noticing a mould killing bacteria on a dish. He shared the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for that work.
Official photographer · Public domain
Roman emperor from 218, raised to power as a teenager and remembered for a short reign of religious upheaval, forcing the cult of the Syrian sun god Elagabal on Rome. Hostile ancient accounts of his conduct are now treated with caution, and he was murdered by his own Praetorian Guard at eighteen.
José Luiz · CC BY-SA 4.0
James Tobin was an American economist who won the 1981 Nobel Memorial Prize for his work on financial markets and spending decisions. He is also remembered for the Tobin tax, a proposed levy on foreign exchange transactions meant to curb currency speculation.
Unknown author Unknown author · Public domain
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