Today in History
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2015 Queen Elizabeth II becomes longest reigning British monarch
She broke the record set by Queen Victoria, who ascended to the throne on June 20, 1837, and reigned for 63 years, 7 months and 2 days.
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2007 Manuel Noriega’s sentence in the United States ends
Manuel Noriega, Panama’s former military ruler, was released after serving 17 years in prison in the United States. He was imprisoned on drug trafficking, money laundering, and racketeering charges.
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2001 Unix Billennium is Celebrated
Unix time, also known as Unix epoch, POSIX time, or Unix timestamp, is a time system that counts the seconds since midnight UTC on January 1, 1970, excluding leap seconds. On September 9, 2001, at 01:46:40 UTC, Unix time reached the billionth-second timestamp.
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1991 Tajikistan Declares its Independence from the Soviet Union
Russia had conquered the Central Asian country in the late 19th century. In 1929, the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic was created as a constituent republic of the Soviet Union. Independence in 1991 came after the collapse of the USSR.
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1948 Kim Il-sung Establishes North Korea
After the Second World War, the Korean peninsula had been divided across the 38th parallel. The Soviets occupied the northern part, while the Americans occupied the south. The Cold War impeded unification, and on October 9, 1948, Kim Il-sung declared the creation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea with the support of the USSR.
Births On This Day, September 9
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1975 Michael Bublé
Canadian singer-songwriter, actor
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1960 Hugh Grant
English actor, producer
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1941 Otis Redding
American singer-songwriter, producer
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1890 Colonel Sanders
American businessman, founded KFC
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1828 Leo Tolstoy
Russian author
Deaths On This Day, September 9
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2003 Edward Teller
Hungarian/American physicist
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2001 Ahmad Shah Massoud
Afghan commander
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1978 Jack Warner
Canadian/American film producer
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1976 Mao Zedong
Chinese military leader, politician
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1087 William the Conqueror
King of England, Duke of Normandy