April 8th Major News Events

1986 Germany Terrorist Bomb Attack

1986 : A Terrorist Bomb Attack on American Servicemen in a Berlin Disco has left 2 dead and 100 injured. The attacks are believed to be from a Libyan Terrorist group and the army and Berlin Police are following up every lead.

1986 U.S.A. Mayor Clint Eastwood

1986 : Residents of the Californian town of Carmel have overwhelmingly voted for actor Clint Eastwood as their mayor.

1992 England Punch Magazine Closes

1992 : The satirical British magazine Punch publishes it's final issue on This day after 150 years due to falling sales and subscriptions.

1992 U.S.A. Arthur Ashe

1992 : Tennis player Arthur Ashe announces that he has AIDS.

1994 U.S.A. Kurt Cobain

1994 : Rock musician Kurt Cobain commits suicide he was found with a single gunshot wound to the head. A gun and suicide note were found nearby.

1997 UK Martin Bell

1997 : A BBC veteran war reporter Martin Bell is campaigning as an independent candidate on a platform of "an anti-corruption candidate" ( Because of the allegations surrounding the sitting MP Neil Hamilton ) in the general election for the constituency of Tatton. Mr Hamilton has been accused of taking cash in return for asking parliamentary questions and denied taking bribes from Mohamed Al Fayed, the owner of Harrods in the cash-for-questions scandal and failing to declare a luxury stay at the Paris Ritz, Mr Hamilton claimed innocence of all charges and filed a libel suit which failed and in 2001 he was declared bankrupt. Mr Bell went on to win the seat with a majority of over 11,000, overturning what had once been the third biggest Tory majority in the country.

2005 Vatican Pope John Paul II Funeral

2005 : World leaders joined pilgrims and prelates during the Rite of Visitation which took place from 4 April to 7 April at St. Peter's Basilica. for the Funeral of Pope John Paul II.

2006 United States Immigration bill blocked in the Senate

2006 : The Senate has not approved the compromise bill that was designed for millions of illegal immigrants to become citizens. The bill's supporters were only able to muster 38 of the 60 votes that were needed to protect it from amendments that its opponents had introduced. Both parties have blamed each other for the deal's collapse.

2008 US Homeland Security chief warns of cyber-attacks

2008 : Michael Chertoff, the Homeland Security chief, has asked Silicon Valley workers to help in the fight to secure the cyber- highway. He told San Francisco's R.S.A. Conference that threats to cyberspace are on "a par this country tragically experienced on 9/11". He elaborated by saying that such attacks could hit financial bodies and a government's powers. "We take threats to the cyber-world as seriously as we take threats to the material world." The government is shutting down thousands of points from which outsiders can access federal computer networks to about fifty. He compared this to a digital "Manhattan Project" in terms of impact and importance.

2009 Indian Ocean Maersk Alabama hijacking

2009 : Pirates in the Indian Ocean board the cargo ship MV Maersk Alabama with a crew of 23 240 nautical miles southeast of Eyl, Somalia. Pirates capture Captain Richard Phillips and several other crew members minutes after boarding, but found that they could not control the ship.

2010 The Czech Republic signs Nuclear Arms Treaty

2010 : Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, have signed a nuclear arms treaty in Prague. The treaty will commit the former Cold War enemies to reduce their number of deployed strategic warheads to 1,550. A reduction of 30%. The signing will be taking place in Prague Castle, and will have to be ratified by lawmakers of both countries. The treaty will replace the now expired Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) of 1991.

2010 Death Toll Continues To Rise Following Mudslides In Rio de Janeiro

2010 : The death toll and flooding increase with more than 200 dead and tens of thousands of shanty homes in the favelas / slum Areas in the State of Rio de Janeiro, the worst effected in Morro do Bumba, The shanty towns are built on the hillsides above downtowns and as the rains have increased they have been worst effected because many are temporary structures which can not withstand the mud slides caused by excessive rain.

2011 China Construction Begins on Shanghai Disneyland

2011 : Ground was broken by government officials and Walt Disney executives on the future site of the first Disneyland park to be built in China. The deal to build a Disneyland park in Shanghai had taken ten years of talks and was expected to cost nearly four billions dollars to build.

2012 United States Journalist Mike Wallace Dies

2012 : Mike Wallace, famous for his interviews on the US news program 60 minutes, died at the age of ninety-three after suffering from poor health for several years. Wallace was one of the original hosts of the program when it started in 1968 and had worked there until he announced his retirement in 2006. Some of his most famous interviews include talking to Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Yasser Arafat, and Jack Kevorkian.

2013 United Kingdom Margaret Thatcher Dies

2013 : Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Baroness Margaret Thatcher died at the age of eighty-seven after suffering from a stroke. Thatcher had served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom between 1979 and 1990 as a leader of the Conservative party. She was the first female Prime Minister in the country.

2014 Hong Kong Chicken Cup Auctioned

2014 : A rare Chinese Ming dynasty porcelain cup featuring images of chickens was sold at auction in Hong Kong for a record-breaking thirty-six million dollars. The cup was thought to be about five hundred years old and is just over three inches in diameter.