In Haifa, 17 Israeli civilians are killed by a Hamas suicide bomb in the Haifa bus 37 massacre.

In Mecca, 35 Muslim pilgrims are crushed to death during the annual Hajj pilgrimage.

Paul Okalik is elected first Premier of Nunavut.

The Constitution of Turks and Caicos Islands is restored and revised.

6,000 miners in the United Kingdom begin their strike at Cortonwood Colliery.

The Soviet probe Venera 14 arrives at the planet Venus.

America's Voyager 1 spacecraft has its closest approach to Jupiter, 172,000 miles.

Soviet probes Venera 11, Venera 12 and the American solar satellite Helios II all are hit by "off the scale" gamma rays leading to the discovery of soft gamma repeaters.

The Landsat 3 is launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

First meeting of the Homebrew Computer Club

Yom Kippur War: Israeli forces withdraw from the west bank of the Suez Canal.

Donald DeFreeze, the future Symbionese Liberation Army leader, escapes from Vacaville Prison.

The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty goes into effect after ratification by 43 nations.

BOAC Flight 911 crashes on Mount Fuji, Japan, killing 124.

March Intifada: A Leftist uprising erupts in Bahrain against British colonial presence.

Alister Hardy publicly announces his idea that ape-human divergence may have been due to a coastal phase, giving rise to the Aquatic Ape Hypothesis.

The Explorer 2 spacecraft launches and fails to reach Earth orbit.

Hungarian Communists and Social Democrats co-found the Left Bloc.

Winston Churchill uses the phrase "Iron Curtain" in his speech at Westminster College, Missouri.

First flight of Gloster Meteor jet aircraft in the United Kingdom.

United States Navy Seabees established.

Members of Soviet politburo sign an order for the execution of 25,700 Polish intelligentsia, including 14,700 Polish POWs, known also as the Katyn massacre.

Great Depression: President Franklin D. Roosevelt declares a "bank holiday", closing all U.S. banks and freezing all financial transactions.

Italian forces are the first to use airships for military purposes, employing them for reconnaissance behind Turkish lines.

Nikola Tesla, in ''Electrical World and Engineer'', describes the process of the ball lightning formation.

Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery becomes First Lord of the Treasury.

George Westinghouse patents the air brake.

''Mefistofele'', an opera by Arrigo Boito receives its première performance at La Scala.

A court of impeachment is organized in the United States Senate to hear charges against President Andrew Johnson.

Parma, Tuscany, Modena and Romagna vote in referendums to join the Kingdom of Sardinia.

The Britannia Bridge across the Menai Strait between the Isle of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales is opened.

Louis Antoine Garnier-Pages is named French minister of Finance.

Samuel Colt makes the first production-model revolver, the .34-caliber.

First Burmese War: The British officially declare war on Burma.

Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney is named President of the Board of Trade.

Boston Massacre: Five Americans, including a black man named Crispus Attucks, and a boy, are killed by British troops in an event that would contribute to the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War five years later.

Antonio de Ulloa, the first Spanish governor of Louisiana, arrives in New Orleans.

Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham is named Secretary of State for the Northern Department.

King Henry VII of England issues letters patent to John Cabot and his sons, authorising them to explore unknown lands.

the Livonian Order is defeated in the Battle of Aizkraukle by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania

Naser Khosrow begins the seven-year Middle Eastern journey which he will later describe in his book ''Safarnama''.

Roman Emperor Julian moves from Antioch with an army of 90,000 to attack the Sassanid Empire, in a campaign which would bring about his own death.