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Ed Sheeran is at #1 on the UK album chart

"x" is the second studio album by English singer-songwriter, Ed Sheeran. The album received positive reviews from music critics. It was an international commercial success, peaking at No. 1 in fifteen countries while topping both the UK Albums Chart and the US Billboard 200.

'Elysium' premieres in Taiwan

Elysium is a 2013 American science fiction action film produced, written, and directed by Neill Blomkamp. It stars Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, Alice Braga, and Sharlto Copley. The film takes place on both a ravaged Earth, and a luxurious space habitat called Elysium.

Colfer's 'Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox' is published

Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox is the sixth book in the series Artemis Fowl by Irish writer Eoin Colfer. At 432 pages, it is the longest book in the series. In Colfer's video blogs, he mentioned the book, saying it may not be the last, but the last one for at least three years. It is followed by Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex.

Stephenie Meyer's 'Eclipse' is published

Eclipse is the third novel in the Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer. The novel explores Bella's compromise between her love for Edward and her friendship with shape-shifter Jacob Black, along with her dilemma of leaving her mortality behind in a terrorized atmosphere, a result of mysterious vampire attacks in Seattle.

2007

Barry Bonds hits his 756th career home run to break Hank Aaron's record

At Oracle Park in San Francisco, Bonds hit a 435 foot home run, his 756th, off a pitch from Mike Bacsik of the Washington Nationals, breaking the all-time career home run record, formerly held by Hank Aaron. Coincidentally, Bacsik's father had faced Aaron after Aaron had hit his 755th home run.

World's greatest bank robbery takes place in Brazil

The Banco Central burglary at Fortaleza was the theft of about R$160 million from the vault of the Banco Central branch located in Fortaleza, in the state of Ceará, Brazil. It is one of the world's largest heists. In the aftermath of the burglary, of the 25 people thought to be involved, just eight had been arrested, and R$20 million recovered.

2004

A riot explodes on the streets of Beijing after Japan defeat China

The defending champions Japan defeated China in the Asian Cup Final in Beijing. The final match between China and Japan was marked by post-match rioting by Chinese fans near the north gate of Beijing Workers' Stadium, in part due to controversial officiating and anti-Japanese sentiment resulting from historical tensions.

Bali bomber smiles at verdict when he is sentenced to death

Ali Amrozi bin Haji Nurhasyim was an Indonesian who was convicted and executed for his role in carrying out the 2002 Bali bombings, an act of terrorism. Amrozi was the brother of Huda bin Abdul Haq, also known as Muklas, who coordinated the bombing attack. Amrozi was executed together with Muklas and their co-conspirator, Imam Samudra.

1999

Genk and Westerlo play out a 6-6 draw

Genk's Branko Strupar claimed a hat-trick of penalties while Westerlo's Toni Brogno scored four, including two from the spot. Both sides ended the game with nine men as Genk's Wilfried Delbroek and Chris van Geem, together with Westerlo's Marc Schaessens and Benoit Thans, all received their marching orders from an over-worked referee.

War of Dagestan

The War of Dagestan began when the Chechnya-based Islamic International Peacekeeping Brigade, an Islamist group, led by Shamil Basayev and Ibn al-Khattab, invaded the neighboring Russian republic of Dagestan, in support of the Shura of Dagestan separatist rebels. The war ended with a victory for the Russian Federation and Dagestan Republic.

United States embassy bombings

Terrorists from the Islamic Al Qaeda organization have carried out bombing through trucks loaded with explosives against the US Embassy in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi. In total, 224 people died and at least 1,000 others were seriously injured.

Garth Brooks plays to the largest crowd ever in NY's Central Park

Garth: Live from Central Park was a concert held by American country pop musician Garth Brooks in New York City's Central Park. Dubbed "Garthstock", the concert was free of charge and became the largest concert ever held in the park, with an estimated 980,000 fans in attendance.

1987

The first person swims from the US to the Soviet Union

Cox is perhaps best known for swimming 2 hours 5 minutes in the Bering Strait from the island of Little Diomede in Alaska to Big Diomede, then part of the Soviet Union, where the water temperature averaged around 43 to 44 °F. Her accomplishment a few years before the end of the Cold War earned praise from both Reagan and Gorbachev.

Tom Selleck marries Jillie Mack

Thomas William Selleck is an American actor and film producer. Selleck married Jillie Mack in 1987. They have one daughter, Hannah. The family lives in Thousand Oaks-Westlake Village, California on a 60-acre avocado farm.

The Washington Star newspaper goes bankrupt

The Washington Star was a daily afternoon newspaper published in Washington, D.C. After 128 years, the Washington Star ceased publication and filed for bankruptcy. In the bankruptcy sale, The Washington Post purchased the land and buildings owned by the Star, including its printing presses.

John Lennon begins recording his final album in NYC

"Double Fantasy" is a 1980 album released by John Lennon and Yoko Ono. It is the seventh and final studio album released by Lennon during his lifetime. The album was initially poorly received. However, following Lennon's murder three weeks after its release, it became a worldwide commercial success.

'Shenandoah' closes after 1,050 performances

"Shenandoah" is a musical that was composed during 1974 with music by Gary Geld, lyrics by Peter Udell, and book by Udell, Philip Rose, and James Lee Barrett. The musical is based on Barrett's original screenplay for the 1965 film Shenandoah.

Elton John and Kiki Dee are at #1 on the US singles chart

"Don't Go Breaking My Heart" is a duet by Elton John and Kiki Dee. "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" was the first No. 1 single in the UK for both John and Kiki Dee, topping the chart for six weeks in mid-1976. In the U.S. it has been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.

Viking 2 enters into orbit around Mars

The probe consisted of an orbiter and a lander. After orbital insertion, the probe took detailed pictures of the planned landing site. It turned out that it was inappropriate. The mission controls therefore choose another site. Main mission goals were search for life and soil analysis. Viking 2 also sent very good pictures of the red planet.

1974

Petit walk across twin towers of the WTC

Philippe Petit performed for 45 minutes, making eight passes along the wire, during which he walked, danced, lay down on the wire, and knelt to salute watchers. Crowds gathered on the streets below, and he said later he could hear their murmuring and cheers. Petit got off when it started to rain.

Herman's Hermits goes to #1 on the US singles chart

"I'm Henery the Eighth, I Am" is a 1910 British music hall song by Fred Murray and R. P. Weston. It was a signature song of the music hall star Harry Champion. In 1965, it became the fastest-selling song in history to that point when it was revived by Herman's Hermits, becoming the group's second number-one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Côte d'Ivoire gaines independence from France

France had direct control over the Ivory Coast since 1886, soon after the occupation. The country later became an autonomous republic, following a referendum. Less than 2 years after that, thanks to the efforts of leading inter-territorial political party RDA, France agreed to Ivory Coast becoming independent.

Oliver Hardy dies

After a series of strokes, Hardy died from cerebral thrombosis at the age of 65. Hardy was cremated and his ashes are interred in the Masonic Garden of Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery in North Hollywood. Stan Laurel was too ill to attend the funeral of his friend and film partner, stating, "Babe would understand."

Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering sells its first radios

The name "Sony" was chosen for the brand as a mix of two words: one was the Latin word "sonus", which is the root of sonic and sound, and the other was "sonny", a common slang term used in America to call a young boy. The first Sony-branded product, the TR-55 transistor radio, appeared in 1955 but the company name did not change to Sony until 1958.

Kon-Tiki raft smashes into the reef at Raroia

Captained by Norwegian experimental archaeologist Thor Heyerdahl, she sailed 6 900 kilometres from Peru to French Polynesia. Heyerdahl wanted to prove that people from South America could have settled Polynesia in pre-Columbian times. He built the Kon-Tiki with materials and technologies available to those people at the time.

IBM dedicates the first program-controlled calculator

An American technological company started designing the SSEC, an electromechanical calculator that was able to treat instructions as data. It provided great publicity for the company. It used roughly 12,500 vacuum tubes, 8 registers with an access time of less than 1ms, 150 low-speed registers and 21,400 relays for control.

Battle of Guadalcanal begins

The Guadalcanal Campaign was a conflict between the combined forces of the Allies against the Japanese army. Thanks to the bad weather, Allied forces arrived unseen by the Japanese and took them by surprise. On the of Tulagi, Gavutu and Tanambogo they suffered 122 casualties and only 13 on Guadalcanal.

The building of Mauthausen concentration camp begins

Prisoners from Dachau concentration camp near Munich were sent to the town of Mauthausen in Austria, to begin the construction of a new slave labour camp. The site was chosen because of the nearby granite quarry, and its proximity to Linz. In 1939 it was converted to a labour camp which was mainly used for the incarceration of political prisoners.

The last confirmed lynching of blacks in the Northern United States

J. Thomas Shipp and Abraham S. Smith were young African-American men who were murdered in a spectacle lynching by a mob of thousands in Marion, Indiana. They were taken from jail cells, beaten, and hanged from a tree in the county courthouse square. They had been arrested that night as suspects in a robbery, murder and rape case.

Alice Huyler Ramsey becomes the first women to complete a transcontinental auto trip

22-year-old housewife and mother from Hackensack, New Jersey, began a 3,800-mile journey from Hell Gate in Manhattan, New York, to San Francisco, California, in a green Maxwell 30. On her 59-day trek she was accompanied by two older sisters-in-law and 19 year-old friend Hermine Jahns, none of whom could drive a car.

Possible first performance of Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth

Macbeth is a tragedy by William Shakespeare; it is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatizes the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those who seek power for its own sake.

Anniversaries of the (in)famous