On This Day — 12 November

2000s

2022

A Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and a Bell P-63 Kingcobra collide in mid-air over Dallas Executive Airport during an airshow, killing six.

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

2021

The Los Angeles Superior Court formally ends the 14-year conservatorship to pop singer Britney Spears.

Los Angeles County Superior Court

2020

The PlayStation 5 is released.

PlayStation 5

2017

The 7.3 Mw  Kermanshah earthquake shakes the northern Iran–Iraq border with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). At least 410 people are killed and over 7,000 are injured.

2017 Iran–Iraq earthquake

2015

Two suicide bombers detonate explosives in Bourj el-Barajneh, Beirut, killing 43 people and injuring over 200 others.

Suicide attack

2014

The Philae lander, deployed from the European Space Agency's Rosetta probe, reaches the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.

Philae (spacecraft)

2014

An Armenian Mil Mi-24 attack helicopter is shot down by Azerbaijani forces, killing all three people on board.

Mil Mi-24

2011

Silvio Berlusconi tenders his resignation as Prime Minister of Italy, effective November 16, due in large part to the Euro area crisis.

Silvio Berlusconi

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2011

A blast in Iran's Shahid Modarres missile base leads to the death of 17 of the Revolutionary Guards members, including Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam, a key figure in Iran's missile program.

Bid Kaneh explosion

2003

Iraq War: In Nasiriyah, Iraq, at least 23 people, among them the first Italian casualties of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, are killed in a suicide bomb attack on an Italian police base.

Iraq War

2003

Shanghai Transrapid sets a new world speed record of 501 kilometres per hour (311 mph) for commercial railway systems, which remains the fastest for unmodified commercial rail vehicles.

Shanghai maglev train

2001

In New York City, American Airlines Flight 587, an Airbus A300 en route to the Dominican Republic, crashes minutes after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport, killing all 260 on board and five on the ground.

American Airlines Flight 587

2001

War in Afghanistan: Taliban forces abandon Kabul, ahead of advancing Afghan Northern Alliance troops.

War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)

1900s

1999

The 7.2 Mw  Düzce earthquake shakes northwestern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). At least 845 people are killed and almost 5,000 are injured.

1999 Düzce earthquake

1997

Ramzi Yousef is found guilty of masterminding the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

Ramzi Yousef

1996

A Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 747 and a Kazakh Ilyushin Il-76 cargo plane collide in mid-air near New Delhi, killing 349 in the deadliest mid-air collision to date.

Saudia

1995

Erdut Agreement regarding the peaceful resolution to the Croatian War of Independence is reached.

Erdut Agreement

1995

Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on STS-74 to deliver the Mir Docking Module to the Russian space station Mir.

Space Shuttle Atlantis

1991

Santa Cruz massacre: The Indonesian Army open fire on a crowd of student protesters in Dili, East Timor.

Santa Cruz massacre

1990

Crown Prince Akihito is formally installed as Emperor Akihito of Japan, becoming the 125th Japanese monarch.

Crown prince

1990

Tim Berners-Lee publishes a formal proposal for the World Wide Web.

Tim Berners-Lee

1982

USSR: Yuri Andropov becomes the General Secretary of the Communist Party's Central Committee, succeeding Leonid I. Brezhnev.

Soviet Union

1981

Space Shuttle program: Mission STS-2, utilizing the Space Shuttle Columbia, marks the first time a crewed spacecraft is launched into space twice.

Space Shuttle program

1980

The NASA space probe Voyager I makes its closest approach to Saturn and takes the first images of its rings.

NASA

1979

Iran hostage crisis: In response to the hostage situation in Tehran, U.S. President Jimmy Carter orders a halt to all petroleum imports into the United States from Iran.

Iran hostage crisis

1977

France conducts the Oreste nuclear test as 14th in the group of 29, 1975–78 French nuclear tests series.

France

1975

The Comoros joins the United Nations.

Comoros

1971

Vietnam War: As part of Vietnamization, U.S. President Richard Nixon sets February 1, 1972 as the deadline for the removal of another 45,000 American troops from Vietnam.

Vietnamization

1971

Aeroflot Flight N-63 crashes on approach to Vinnytsia Airport, killing 48.

Aeroflot Flight N-63

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1970

The Oregon Highway Division attempts to destroy a rotting beached sperm whale with explosives, leading to the now infamous "exploding whale" incident.

Oregon Department of Transportation

1970

The 1970 Bhola cyclone makes landfall on the coast of East Pakistan, becoming the deadliest tropical cyclone in history.

1970 Bhola cyclone

1969

Vietnam War: Independent investigative journalist Seymour Hersh breaks the story of the My Lai Massacre.

Vietnam War

1961

Terry Jo Duperrault is the sole survivor of a series of brutal murders aboard the ketch Bluebelle.

Ketch

1958

A team of rock climbers led by Warren Harding completes the first ascent of The Nose on El Capitan in Yosemite Valley.

Warren Harding (climber)

1956

Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia join the United Nations.

Morocco

1956

In the midst of the Suez Crisis, Palestinian refugees are shot dead in Rafah by Israel Defense Force soldiers following the invasion of the Gaza Strip.

Suez Crisis

1954

Ellis Island ceases operations.

Ellis Island

1948

Aftermath of World War II: In Tokyo, the International Military Tribunal for the Far East sentences seven Japanese military and government officials, including General Hideki Tojo, to death for their roles in World War II.

Aftermath of World War II

1944

World War II: The Royal Air Force sink the German battleship Tirpitz, moored off Tromsø, Norway.

Royal Air Force

1942

World War II: Naval Battle of Guadalcanal between Japanese and American forces begins near Guadalcanal. The battle lasts for three days and ends with an American victory.

Naval Battle of Guadalcanal

1941

World War II: Temperatures around Moscow drop to −12 °C (10 °F) as the Soviet Union launches ski troops for the first time against the freezing German forces near the city.

Soviet Union

1941

World War II: The Soviet cruiser Chervona Ukraina is destroyed during the Battle of Sevastopol.

Soviet cruiser Chervona Ukraina

1940

World War II: The Battle of Gabon ends as Free French Forces take Libreville, Gabon, and all of French Equatorial Africa from Vichy French forces.

World War II

1940

World War II: Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov arrives in Berlin to discuss the possibility of the Soviet Union joining the Axis Powers.

Vyacheslav Molotov

1938

Nazi Germany issues the Decree on the Elimination of Jews from Economic Life prohibiting Jews from selling goods and services or working in a trade, totally segregating Jews from the German economy.

Economy of Nazi Germany

1936

In California, the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge opens to traffic.

San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge

1933

Nazi Germany uses a referendum to ratify its withdrawal from the League of Nations.

Nazi Germany

1928

SS Vestris sinks approximately 200 miles (320 km) off Hampton Roads, Virginia, killing at least 110 passengers, mostly women and children who die after the vessel is abandoned.

SS Vestris

1927

Leon Trotsky is expelled from the Soviet Communist Party, leaving Joseph Stalin in undisputed control of the Soviet Union.

Leon Trotsky

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1920

The 1920 Cork hunger strike by Irish republicans ends after three deaths.

1920 Cork hunger strike

1920

Italy and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes sign the Treaty of Rapallo.

Kingdom of Yugoslavia

1918

Dissolution of Austria-Hungary: Austria becomes a republic. After the proclamation, a coup attempt by the communist Red Guard is defeated by the social-democratic Volkswehr.

Dissolution of Austria-Hungary

1912

First Balkan War: King George I of Greece makes a triumphal entry into Thessaloniki after its liberation from 482 years of Ottoman rule.

First Balkan War

1912

The frozen bodies of Robert Scott and his men are found on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica.

Robert Falcon Scott

1905

Norway holds a referendum resulting in popular approval of the Storting's decision to authorise the government to make the offer of the throne of the newly independent country.

1905 Norwegian monarchy referendum

1800s

1893

Abdur Rahman Khan accepts the Durand Line as the border between the Emirate of Afghanistan and the British Raj.

Abdur Rahman Khan

1892

Pudge Heffelfinger becomes the first professional American football player on record, participating in his first paid game for the Allegheny Athletic Association.

Pudge Heffelfinger