1901 - The leaders of the Boxer Rebellion in China, Chi-hsui and Hsu Cheng-yu, were beheaded in public.

1916 - The Germans sank the French transport ship Provence II during World War I, killing 930 people.

1935 - Scottish inventor Robert Watson-Watt demonstrated the first practical version of radar.

1936 - Adolf Hitler opened the first factory to produce the "People's Car" -- The Volkswagen -- in Saxony.

1952 - Prime minister Winston Churchill announced that Britain had produced its own atomic bomb and would test it in Australia.

1961 - Prince Hassan acceded to the Moroccan throne as King Hassan II following the sudden death of his father, Mohammed V.

1969 - Levi Eshkol, Israeli prime minister since 1963, died in office.

1980 - Egypt and Israel established diplomatic relations.

1986 - Philippines president Ferdinand Marcos and his entourage fled the country after a popular uprising.

1993 - A bomb at New York's World Trade Center killed six people and injured more than 1,000. Militant Muslims were later convicted on charges related to the bombing.

1995 - The British merchant bank Barings collapsed after losses run up in Singapore by trader Nick Leeson.