On This Day — 29 October
2000s
2022
At least 156 die at a crowd crush during a Halloween celebration in Itaewon district, Seoul, South Korea.
Seoul Halloween crowd crush
2022
At least 100 people are killed and over 300 are injured by a double car bombing in Mogadishu, Somalia.
2022 Somali Ministry of Education bombings
2020
Jeremy Corbyn, former Leader of the Labour Party and of the Opposition in the United Kingdom is suspended from the Labour Party following his response to findings from the EHRC on the issue of antisemitism within the party.
Jeremy Corbyn
2018
A Boeing 737 MAX plane crashes after taking off from Jakarta, Indonesia killing 189 people on board. This is the first of two crashes that will lead to the plane being grounded worldwide.
Boeing 737 MAX
2015
China announces the end of its one-child policy after 35 years.
China
2014
A mud slide; the 2014 Badulla landslide, in south-central Sri Lanka, kills at least 16 people, and leaves hundreds of people missing.
2014 Badulla landslide
2012
Hurricane Sandy hits the east coast of the United States, killing hundreds, while leaving nearly $70 billion in damages and causing major power outages.
Hurricane Sandy
2008
Delta Air Lines merges with Northwest Airlines, creating the world's largest airline and reducing the number of US legacy carriers to five.
Delta Air Lines
2008
A pair of deadly earthquakes hits Baluchistan, Pakistan, killing 215.
2008 Ziarat earthquakes
2006
ADC Airlines Flight 053 crashes after takeoff from Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, Nigeria killing 96 people and injuring nine.
ADC Airlines Flight 053
2005
Bombings in Delhi, India kill 67 and injure over 200 people.
2005 Delhi bombings
2004
The Arabic-language news network Al Jazeera broadcasts an excerpt from a 2004 Osama bin Laden video in which the terrorist leader first admits direct responsibility for the September 11, 2001 attacks and references the 2004 U.S. presidential election.
Al Jazeera Media Network
2002
A fire destroys a luxurious department store in Ho Chi Minh City, where 1,500 people are shopping. More than 60 people die and over 100 are unaccounted for in the deadliest peacetime disaster in Vietnam.
2002 Ho Chi Minh City ITC fire
1900s
1999
A large cyclone devastates Odisha, India.
1999 Odisha cyclone
1998
In South Africa, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission presents its report, which condemns both sides for committing atrocities.
Truth and Reconciliation Commission (South Africa)
1998
Space Shuttle Discovery blasts off on STS-95 with 77-year-old John Glenn on board, making him the oldest person to go into space at that time.
Space Shuttle Discovery
1998
ATSC HDTV broadcasting in the United States is inaugurated with live coverage of the launch of the STS-95 space shuttle mission.
ATSC standards
1998
Hurricane Mitch, the second deadliest Atlantic hurricane in history, makes landfall in Honduras.
Hurricane Mitch
1998
The Gothenburg discothèque fire in Sweden kills 63 and injures over 200.
1998 Gothenburg discotheque fire
1994
Francisco Martin Duran fires over two dozen shots at the White House; he is later convicted of trying to kill U.S. President Bill Clinton.
Francisco Martin Duran
1991
The American Galileo spacecraft makes its closest approach to 951 Gaspra, becoming the first probe to visit an asteroid.
Galileo (spacecraft)
1986
British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher opens the last stretch of the M25 motorway.
Margaret Thatcher
1985
Major General Samuel K. Doe is announced as the winner of the first multi-party election in Liberia.
Samuel Doe
1980
Demonstration flight of a secretly modified C-130 for an Iran hostage crisis rescue attempt ends in a crash landing at Eglin Air Force Base's Duke Field, Florida, leading to the cancellation of Operation Credible Sport.
Lockheed C-130 Hercules
1972
The three surviving perpetrators of the Munich massacre are released from prison in exchange for the hostages of the hijacked Lufthansa Flight 615.
Munich massacre
1969
The first-ever computer-to-computer link is established on ARPANET, the precursor to the Internet.
Computer
1967
Montreal's World Fair, Expo 67, closes with over 50 million visitors.
Montreal
1964
The United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar is renamed to the United Republic of Tanzania.
Tanganyika (1961–1964)
1964
Biggest jewel heist in American history when Murph the Surf and gang burgle the American Museum of Natural History stealing the Star of India and other gems.
Gemstone
1960
An airplane carrying the Cal Poly football team crashes on takeoff in Toledo, Ohio.
California Polytechnic State University football team plane crash
1957
Israel's prime minister David Ben-Gurion and five of his ministers are injured when Moshe Dwek throws a grenade into the Knesset.
David Ben-Gurion
1956
Suez Crisis begins: Israeli forces invade the Sinai Peninsula and push Egyptian forces back toward the Suez Canal.
Suez Crisis
1955
The Soviet battleship Novorossiysk sinks after probably striking a World War II mine in the harbor at Sevastopol, with a loss of more than 600 sailers.
Italian battleship Giulio Cesare
1953
BCPA Flight 304 DC-6 crashes near San Francisco.
BCPA Flight 304
1948
Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Safsaf massacre: Israeli soldiers capture the Palestinian village of Safsaf in the Galilee; afterwards, between 52 and 64 villagers are massacred by the IDF.
Israeli–Palestinian conflict
1944
World War II: The Dutch city of Breda is liberated by 1st Polish Armoured Division.
World War II
1944
World War II: The Soviet Red Army enters Hungary.
Red Army
1941
The Holocaust: In the Kaunas Ghetto, over 10,000 Jews are shot by German occupiers at the Ninth Fort, a massacre known as the "Great Action".
The Holocaust
1929
Black Tuesday: The New York Stock Exchange crashes, ending the Great Bull Market of the 1920s and eventually contributing to the Great Depression.
New York Stock Exchange
1923
Turkey becomes a republic following the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire.
Republic Day (Turkey)
1918
World War I: the German High Seas Fleet is incapacitated when sailors mutiny, an action which would trigger the German Revolution of 1918–19.
German Empire
1914
World War I : the Ottoman Empire enters the war on the side of the Central Powers.
World War I
1800s
1888
The Convention of Constantinople is signed, guaranteeing free maritime passage through the Suez Canal during war and peace.
Convention of Constantinople
1863
Eighteen countries meet in Geneva and agree to form the International Red Cross.
Geneva
1863
American Civil War: Battle of Wauhatchie: Forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant repel a Confederate attack led by General James Longstreet in one of the few night battles of the war, protecting the Union's recently opened supply line into Chattanooga, Tennessee.
American Civil War
Before 1800
1792
Mount Hood (Oregon) is named after Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood by Lt. William E. Broughton who sighted the mountain near the mouth of the Willamette River.
Mount Hood
1675
Leibniz makes the first use of the long s (∫) as a symbol of the integral in calculus.
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
1665
Portuguese forces defeat the Kingdom of Kongo and decapitate King António I of Kongo, also known as Nvita a Nkanga.
Battle of Mbwila
1658
Second Northern War: Naval forces of the Dutch Republic defeat the Swedes in the Battle of the Sound.
Northern War of 1655–1660
1621
The London Pageant of 1621 celebrates the inauguration of Edward Barkham (Lord Mayor).
The London Pageant of 1621
1611
Russian homage to the King of Poland, Sigismund III Vasa.
Shuysky Tribute
1467
Battle of Brustem: Charles the Bold defeats Prince-Bishopric of Liège.
Battle of Brustem
1390
First trial for witchcraft in Paris leading to the death of three people.
Witchcraft
437
Valentinian III, Western Roman Emperor, marries Licinia Eudoxia, daughter of his cousin Theodosius II, Eastern Roman Emperor in Constantinople unifying the two branches of the House of Theodosius.
Valentinian III
312
Constantine the Great enters Rome after his victory at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, stages a grand adventus in the city, and is met with popular jubilation. Maxentius' body is fished out of the Tiber and beheaded.
Constantine the Great