On This Day — 23 November

2019

The last Sumatran rhinoceros in Malaysia, Imam, dies, making the species officially extinct in the country.

Sumatran rhinoceros

2018

Founders of Italian fashion brand Dolce & Gabbana issue an apology following a series of offensive advertisements on social media promoting a fashion show in Shanghai, China, which was canceled.

Dolce & Gabbana

2015

Blue Origin's New Shepard space vehicle became the first rocket to successfully fly to space and then return to Earth for a controlled, vertical landing.

Blue Origin

2011

Arab Spring: After 11 months of protests in Yemen, Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh signs a deal to transfer power to the vice president, in exchange for legal immunity.

Arab Spring

2010

Bombardment of Yeonpyeong: North Korean artillery attack kills two civilians and two marines on Yeonpyeong Island, South Korea.

2010 Yeonpyeongdo bombardment

2009

The Maguindanao massacre occurs in Ampatuan, Maguindanao, Philippines; 58 opponents of Andal Ampatuan Jr. are kidnapped and killed.

Maguindanao massacre

2007

MS Explorer, a cruise liner carrying 154 people, sinks in the Antarctic Ocean south of Argentina after hitting an iceberg near the South Shetland Islands. There are no fatalities.

MV Explorer (1969)

2006

A series of bombings kills at least 215 people and injures 257 others in Sadr City, making it the second deadliest sectarian attack since the beginning of the Iraq War in 2003.

23 November 2006 Sadr City bombings

2005

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is elected president of Liberia and becomes the first woman to lead an African country.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

2004

The Holy Trinity Cathedral of Tbilisi, the largest religious building in Georgia, is consecrated.

Holy Trinity Cathedral of Tbilisi

2003

Rose Revolution: Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze resigns following weeks of mass protests over flawed elections.

Rose Revolution

2002

Space Shuttle Endeavour launches on STS-113 to the International Space Station carrying the Expedition 6 crew and the P1 truss.

Space Shuttle Endeavour

2001

The Budapest Convention on Cybercrime is signed in Budapest, Hungary.

Budapest Convention on Cybercrime

1996

Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 is hijacked, then crashes into the Indian Ocean off the coast of Comoros after running out of fuel, killing 125.

Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961

1992

The first smartphone, the IBM Simon, is introduced at COMDEX in Las Vegas, Nevada.

IBM Simon

1991

Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury announces in a statement that he is HIV-positive. He dies the following day.

Queen (band)

1985

Gunmen hijack EgyptAir Flight 648 en route from Athens to Cairo. When the plane lands in Malta, Egyptian commandos storm the aircraft, but 60 people die in the raid.

Aircraft hijacking

1981

Iran–Contra affair: Ronald Reagan signs the top secret National Security Decision Directive 17 (NSDD-17), giving the Central Intelligence Agency the authority to recruit and support Contra rebels in Nicaragua.

Iran–Contra affair

1980

The 6.9 Mw  Irpinia earthquake shakes southern Italy with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), killing 2,483–4,900, and injuring 7,700–8,934.

1980 Irpinia earthquake

1978

Cyclone kills about 1,000 people in eastern Sri Lanka.

1978 Sri Lanka cyclone

1978

The Geneva Frequency Plan of 1975 goes into effect, realigning many of Europe's longwave and mediumwave broadcasting frequencies.

Geneva Frequency Plan of 1975

1976

Jacques Mayol is the first man to reach a depth of 100 m (330 ft) undersea without breathing equipment.

Jacques Mayol

1974

Sixty Ethiopian politicians, aristocrats, military officers, and other persons are executed by the provisional military government.

Massacre of the Sixty

1972

The Soviet Union makes its final attempt at launching the N1 rocket.

N1 (rocket)

1971

Representatives of the People's Republic of China attend the United Nations, including the United Nations Security Council, for the first time.

China and the United Nations

1963

The first episode of Doctor Who ("An Unearthly Child") is broadcast by the BBC, which is now the world's longest running science fiction drama.

Doctor Who

1959

French President Charles de Gaulle declares in a speech in Strasbourg his vision for "Europe, from the Atlantic to the Urals".

President of France

1955

The Cocos Islands are transferred from the control of the United Kingdom to that of Australia.

Cocos (Keeling) Islands

1946

French naval bombardment of Hai Phong, Vietnam, kills thousands of civilians.

Haiphong

1944

World War II: The Lotta Svärd Movement is disbanded under the terms of the armistice treaty in Finland after the Continuation War.

Lotta Svärd

1943

World War II: The Deutsche Opernhaus on Bismarckstraße in the Berlin neighborhood of Charlottenburg is destroyed. It will eventually be rebuilt in 1961 and be called the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

Deutsche Oper Berlin

1943

World War II: Tarawa and Makin atolls fall to American forces.

Tarawa

1940

World War II: Romania becomes a signatory of the Tripartite Pact, officially joining the Axis powers.

Kingdom of Romania

1939

World War II: HMS Rawalpindi is sunk by the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau.

World War II

1934

An Anglo-Ethiopian boundary commission in the Ogaden discovers an Italian garrison at Walwal, well within Ethiopian territory. This leads to the Abyssinia Crisis.

Ogaden

1924

Edwin Hubble's discovery, that the Andromeda "nebula" is actually another island galaxy far outside our own Milky Way, is first published in The New York Times.

Edwin Hubble

1923

Thousands of Irish Republicans end the 1923 Irish hunger strikes, five die from starvation.

Irish republicanism

1921

Warren G. Harding, 29th President of the United States, signs the Willis–Campbell Act into law, prohibiting doctors from prescribing beer or liquor for medicinal purposes.

Warren G. Harding

1914

Mexican Revolution: The last of U.S. forces withdraw from Veracruz, occupied seven months earlier in response to the Tampico Affair.

Mexican Revolution

1910

Johan Alfred Ander becomes the last person to be executed in Sweden.

Johan Alfred Ander

1890

King William III of the Netherlands dies without a male heir and a special law is passed to allow his daughter Princess Wilhelmina to succeed him.

William III of the Netherlands

1876

Corrupt Tammany Hall leader William Magear Tweed (better known as Boss Tweed) is delivered to authorities in New York City after being captured in Spain.

Tammany Hall

1867

The Manchester Martyrs are hanged in Manchester, England, for killing a police officer while freeing two Irish Republican Brotherhood members from custody.

Manchester Martyrs

1863

American Civil War: Battle of Chattanooga begins: Union forces led by General Ulysses S. Grant reinforce troops at Chattanooga, Tennessee, and counter-attack Confederate troops.

American Civil War

1808

French and Poles defeat the Spanish at Battle of Tudela.

Battle of Tudela

1733

The start of the 1733 slave insurrection on St. John in what was then the Danish West Indies.

1733 slave insurrection on St. John

1644

John Milton publishes Areopagitica, a pamphlet decrying censorship.

John Milton

1499

Seven days after being convicted of treason, Perkin Warbeck, a pretender to the throne of England, is hanged for attempting to escape from the Tower of London; his supporter John Atwater is executed with him.

Perkin Warbeck

1248

Conquest of Seville by Christian troops under King Ferdinand III of Castile.

Siege of Seville

-534

Thespis of Icaria becomes the first recorded actor to portray a character on stage.

Thespis