On This Day in History

A magnitude-6.7 earthquake struck near Chlef, killing over 1,200 people and forcing the Algerian government to implement comprehensive reforms in building codes.

U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1957, the first civil rights bill since Reconstruction.

French president Charles de Gaulle delivered his "speech to the German youth" to 20,000 people in the courtyard of Ludwigsburg Palace (pictured).

Allegheny Airlines Flight 853 collided in mid-air with a Piper PA-28 Cherokee flown by a student pilot near Fairland, Indiana, killing all 83 occupants of and destroying both aircraft.

Imagine, the second solo album by John Lennon (pictured), was released.

The first banknotes of the Portrait Series of the Singapore dollar were introduced by the Board of Commissioners of Currency.

Two al-Qaeda attackers assassinated Ahmad Shah Massoud, a pivotal Afghan resistance leader, two days before the September 11 attacks in the United States.

A natural-gas pipeline in San Bruno, California, exploded and "shot a fireball more than 1,000 feet (300 m) in the air", killing eight people.

Elizabeth II (pictured) became the longest-reigning monarch of the United Kingdom, surpassing Queen Victoria.