On This Day in History

Alfred C. Glassell Jr. caught a black marlin weighing 1,560 lb (710 kg) (pictured) off the coast of Peru, setting the record for the largest bony fish caught by hand.

Vietnam War: The National Security Agency falsely claimed that a U.S. Navy destroyer was attacked a second time by North Vietnamese vessels in the Gulf of Tonkin, leading Congress to authorize the use of military force.

President Idi Amin announced the expulsion of Asians from Uganda.

Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo, the president of Upper Volta, was ousted in a coup d'état led by Thomas Sankara.

An explosion on the Greek cruise ship MTS Oceanos (pictured) ruptured its hull, causing it to sink off the east coast of South Africa, with all 571 people on board rescued.

Yugoslav Wars: The Croatian Army initiated Operation Storm, the last major battle of the Croatian War of Independence and the largest European land battle since the Second World War.

French supercentenarian Jeanne Calment died at the age of 122 years, 164 days, with the longest confirmed human lifespan in history.

Sri Lankan civil war: Seventeen employees of the French nongovernmental organization ACF International were massacred in Mutur.

An airport police officer discovered a suitcase containing approximately US$800,000 as it passed through security at Jorge Newbery Airfield in Buenos Aires, sparking an international scandal involving Venezuela and Argentina.

Julieka Ivanna Dhu, an Aboriginal Australian woman, died in police custody after her deteriorating condition was mocked and ignored.

A large explosion of ammonium nitrate stored at the Port of Beirut in Lebanon killed 218 people and caused US$15 billion in damage.