November 1st Major News Events

1940 Greece - Italy Invades

1940 : A 35-mile well-populated area of Greece (Ioannina) had been seized by Italian fascists. Further reported indicated that Italy was moving towards the border of Albania. Meanwhile, the British had made advances on Naples, a city in Southern Italy.

1941 U.S.A. - U.S. Coast Guard

President Roosevelt announces that the U.S. Coast Guard will now be under the direction of the U.S. Navy, and tasks will include escorting ships, providing port security, and inspecting ships for everything from illegal drugs to munitions.

1952 U.S.A. - Hydrogen Bomb

The United States detonates the world's first thermonuclear weapon, the hydrogen bomb, on Eniwetok atoll in the Pacific.

1953 Russia - Christians

Canon Mervin Stockwood, an English clergyman had just returned from his trip to Russia and had reported that an atheist tour guide claimed that Jesus was a Christian invention. Moreover, Stockwood had announced that only 45 of Russia's 1,600 churches were open. The few churches still in operation were very crowded.

1955 U.S.A. - United Airlines Flight 629

United Airlines Flight 629 is blown up shortly after takeoff over Longmont, Colorado killing all passengers and crew. The FBI after some investigation charged John Gilbert Graham, who had planted the bomb in his mother's suitcase to collect the insurance money on her death.

1957 U.S.A. - Mackinac Bridge

The Mackinac suspension bridge opens connecting Mackinaw City and St. Ignace connecting the non-contiguous Upper and Lower peninsulas of the U.S. state of Michigan. It becomes the longest suspension bridge between anchorages in the Western hemisphere

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1958 Switzerland - Nuclear A Test Ban

Delegates of Russia, America and Great Britain met informally today at a meeting to discuss their positions on the policing of a nuclear A-tests ban . The Russians want an immediate suspension of all tests and then to take on the control and policing of such a ban. The west wants the control and policing sorted first then the ban implemented.

1961 U.S.A. - Nuclear Testing

The United States was one country that was urged by the United Nations to put a moratorium on nuclear testing. The U.S. has not yet agreed at this time and has planned on still making test explosions in the atmosphere to counter tests being made by Soviets.

1966 Vietnam - Bombing Saigon

North Vietnam begins a bombing campaign using artillery in the jungle surrounding the city against the South Vietnamese capital Saigon. Altogether about 30 artillery shells struck the city killing at least 10 and injuring many more, the shelling also caused panic in the city with people trying to find some form of cover.

1967 U.S.A. - Marijuana

The problems facing the country over the use of Marijuana continues to grow with new figures released showing more US Servicemen have been court martial for smoking Marijuana than any other offence and a police official in San Diego California saying 1/4 of all high school students currently smoke Marijuana. .

1970 France - Nightclub Fire

A fire at a nightclub a mile from the town of St Laurent du Pont, near Grenoble, was packed with revellers when a fire started trapping clubbers and leaving 142 mostly teenagers dead, plus the 60 who did survive many of them are in hospital with up to 90% burns.

1973 Israel - Bedouin Market

Beersheba, Israel has long been the location of the prosperous Bedouin market. However, this market had just re-opened after being shut down temporarily. As of this date, traders had arrived again with commodities such as goats, turnkeys, and vegetables. This is the first time the market has resumed since October 6th.

1976 U.S.A. - Election

1976 : As the two candidates wind up campaigning for the Presidency most pundits believe the race is too close to call with some polls showing a one point lead for Carter and another poll showing a one point lead for Ford.

1982 U.S.A. - Honda

Honda opens the first car manufacturing company factory to produce Japanese cars ( Honda Accord ) in the United States at Marysville, Ohio

1983 U.S.A. - George Burns

1983 : Actor/comedian George Burns had signed a five-year contract with Caesar's World. He made jokes in reference to his age. For instance Burns said that he planned to follow through with this performance agreement, because he could not afford to die while booked (had a performance scheduled). George Burns was 87 years old when he began to fulfill his contract at Caesar's World. Incidentally, he had lived to be 100 years old.

1984 India - Indira Gandhi

Following yesterdays assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by Sikh members of her bodyguard. Angry mobs have set fire to four Sikh temples and many Sikh-owned businesses.

1986 Switzerland - Chemical Spill

Chemical spill and a major fire at a chemicals factory near Basel, Switzerland, is sending tons of toxic chemicals into the nearby river Rhine and turning it red.

1986 England - Mad Cow Disease

The first case of BSE or "mad cow disease" is found in cattle in England .

1990 Iraq - Americans Hostages

Iraq made a promise to free four more Americans hostages, while insisting they were treating hostages well. However, President Bush was more interested in making sure Saddam Hussein was driven out of Kuwait-which was an action of high priority at this time. Therefore, he had condemned the freeing of American hostages at that time.

1993 Europe - Maastricht Treaty

During the Delors Commission The Maastricht Treaty which was signed in February the previous year comes into force on this day in history .

1998 Europe - European Court of Human Rights

European Court of Human Rights becomes a permanent court with full-time judges replacing earlier enforcement courts. The court allows individuals or other states to bring cases of human rights violations against member states.

2002 Italy - Earthquake

A report circulated regarding an incident that took place in Italy a few days prior. This account revealed that an earthquake hit a nursery school which had collapsed and killed 20 children. A gymnasium was made into a site of where families of children paid respects for the lost children's lives.

2005 Cuba - Guantanamo Bay

The U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has refused the United Nations commission access to inmates at the Guantanamo Bay detention center

2006 South Africa - Nelson Mandela is appointed Ambassador of Conscience

Nelson Mandela is awarded Amnesty International's award as Ambassador of Conscience 2006. The former South African president and anti-apartheid campaigner was being praised for his "invincible dedication to the freedom of his people". Mandela also issued a statement on the death of PW Botha, which paid tribute to the former South African President, who died at the age of 90 on October 31st.

2006 Colombia - Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia's (FARC) attack on a rural police station in Colombia, which killed sixteen officers. Considered a bad blow to President Uribe's US-backed campaign to end the 40-year conflict. The attack was in the province of Cordoba, and part of a two-week offensive by FARC. It has dampened hopes of talks with Uribe's government on the release of rebel hostages and a peace accord. Authorities said that about one hundred rebels used improvised mortars and attacked the town of Tierradentro in Cordoba province, about 235 miles (380 km) from Bogota.

2006 United States - Jackson Pollock's No. 5 1948 is sold for $140 million

Art experts have said that the Hollywood magnate David Geffen has sold a drip painting by Jackson Pollock for about $140 million. Geffen declined to comment on whether he sold the painting, but Tobias Meyer of Sotheby's is said to have brokered the deal. The art-world experts have identified the buyer as the Mexican financier David Martinez. The price, if confirmed, would be the highest sum ever known to have been paid for a painting, and would exceed the $135 million that was paid for Gustav Klimt's Adele Bloch-Bauer I.

2007 United States - Paul W. Tibbets Jr. dies

The pilot of Enola Gay ( Hiroshima Bomb ), Paul Tibbets, dies after two-months of ill-health. He has asked for no funeral nor headstone as he was worried that opponents of the bombing would use it as a place of protest. The bombing of Hiroshima marked the beginning of the end of the war in the Pacific. Japan surrendered shortly after a second bomb was dropped, on Nagasaki, three days later. The Enola Gay was named after his mother.

2007 United States - Tesco opens its first Quick and Easy in America

Tesco, the UK's leading food retailer, begins opening its Fresh and Easy outlets in the US. It had over sixty stores, including thirty in southern California, by April 1, 2008. There were 168 stores as of September 22nd, 2010, which are based in California, Arizona, and Nevada.

2008 United States - Obama unaware of his aunt being an illegal alien

Barack Obama says that he did not know that his Kenyan aunt was living illegally in the United States. Reports say that Zeituni Onyango lost a bid for asylum in 2004. She lives in public housing in Boston. Obama's presidential campaign has issued a statement that: "Senator Obama has no knowledge of her status but obviously believes that any and all appropriate laws be followed."

2009 Kosova - A statue of Bill Clinton is unveiled in Kosovo

Bill Clinton attends the unveiling of a statue of himself in Pristina. The 3.5m (11 ft) bronze statue was inaugurated on the Kosovan capital's Bill Clinton Boulevard, and received loud cheers from the thousands of ethnic Albanians that attended. Mr. Clinton is their hero for launching Nato's bombing campaign to drive the Yugoslav troops out of the Serbian province in 1999. Kosovo declared independence from Belgrade in 2008. The move was supported by the Western states, even though China and Russia still regard Kosovo as part of Serbia.

2011 United States - Eastern US Hit By Large Snowstorm

Nearly two million homes went without power after an early snowstorm hit the Eastern coast of the United States. The snowstorm was being blamed for the death of twenty-three people and it brought up to 30 inches of snowfall in some areas.

2012 Saudi Arabia - Truck Crash Kills 22

About twenty-two people died after a fuel truck crashed and exploded in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Another one-hundred and eleven people were injured in the explosion.

2013 Germany - Germany to Allow Third Gender

Germany is the first European country to allow parents of babies who are born with characteristics of both sexes to leave the gender line on birth certificates blank. This was done to alleviate pressure over choosing a gender and performing surgery on intersex newborns that could cause physical and emotional harm throughout their lives. People of the third gender would have it designated by an X on their passports.