April 27th Major News Events

1974 USA Calls For Impeachment Nixon

1974: Calls for the impeachment of president Nixon gathered pace as a march by thousands of protesters demanding Nixon to be impeached.

1978 Afghanistan Rebels Take Over

1978: Military rebels in Afghanistan murdered both the president and his brother during the coup and have taken over all news TV and radio stations in the capital Kabul and have sealed off the countries airports and roads.

1984 England Libyan Embassy Siege Ends

1984: Earlier in the week diplomatic ties are severed between England and Libya and Libyan embassy officials are given 7 days to leave the country. The British ambassador to Libya was given the same deadline to leave Tripoli. Today Libyan diplomats under diplomatic immunity are escorted to Heathrow and onto a plane out of the country which allows the person or persons unknown who shot and killed WPC Fletcher to leave the country and not have to face murder charge.

1992 England Betty Boothroyd

1992: Betty Boothroyd, is elected as Speaker in the house of commons becoming the first woman speaker in its 700-year history.

1994 South Africa Nelson Mandela

1994: South Africans vote in the country's first multiracial parliamentary elections. Nelson Mandela of the ANC is voted by a landslide to be the next president of South Africa and head the new coalition government.

2005 France Airbus A380

2005: The Airbus A380 makes it's maiden test flight in Toulouse, France. The Airbus A380 (Superjumbo) is the largest passenger airliner in the world, it is a double-deck wide-body, four-engine aircraft which is capable of carrying up to 853 people in all economy class configurations, This is about 300 more than the Jumbo Jet from Boeing which has been in service for nearly 40 years. The Airbus A380 has now been in commercial use since 2007, Boeing is working on a similar aircraft with similar passenger carrying capabilities.

2007 Saudi Arabia detains multiple terror suspects

2007: Saudi Arabia claims to have foiled a plot to carry out suicide air attacks on oil installations and military bases in the area. Foreign nationals are among the suspects that are being held from a series of raids. Large amounts of weapons and $32.4 million in cash were seized in these. The Saudi authorities have been battling al-Qaeda since 2003.

2008 Josef Fritzl Arrested for Imprisoning Daughter for 24 Years

2008: A 73-year-old Austrian, Josef Fritzl, has been arrested on suspicion of keeping his daughter locked in a cellar for 24 years, and fathering seven children with her. The existence of the woman, believed missing since 1984 and now 42, was discovered after her teenage daughter was taken to hospital. Both the woman and teenage girl are receiving medical treatment. The police investigation in Amstetten, Lower Austria Province, is continuing.

2011 US President Obama Releases Birth Certificate

2011: President Obama released his long-form birth certificate from the US state of Hawaii in an effort to quell "birther" conspiracy theorists. Obama stated that he hoped the release of this information would put to rest questions of his presidential eligibility and refocus the political debate on important issues.

2012 Romania Government Falls After No Confidence Vote

2012: After only two months of being in office, Romania's government fell due to a no confidence vote and prime minister Mihai Razvan Ungureanu was ousted. The Romanian president, Traian Basecu, then designated Victor Ponta, the opposition leader, as the new prime minister. The no confidence vote came after the opposition seized on public anger over salary cuts and raised taxes.

2014 Two Popes Declared Saints by Vatican

2014: The Vatican has declared Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII as saints. This was the first time in history that two popes were canonized at the same time. A crowd of thousands gathered to hear the news.