Significant and interesting snippets of news, with a South African angle, from this day in history
1789 Bastille Day – the French Revolution begins with the storming of the much-hated Bastille Prison in Paris (now celebrated as France’s national day).
1933 Germany begins mandatory sterilisation of people with hereditary illnesses.
1957 The Soviet steamer Eshghbad sinks in Caspian Sea; 270 people drown.
1983 Mario Bros. is first released by Nintendo in Japan as an arcade game about an Italian-American plumber.
1987 Taiwan ends 37 years of martial law.
1992 386BSD is released by Lynne and William Jolitz, starting the open-source computer operating system revolution. Linus Torvalds releases Linux soon afterwards.
1998 Violence erupts in Richmond, reflecting political tensions between the ANC and the IFP.
2002 French President Jacques Chirac escapes an assassination attempt unscathed during Bastille Day celebrations.
2012 A suicide bomber attacks a wedding reception and kills 22 people and injures another 22 in northern Afghanistan.
2018 Haitian Prime Minister Jack Guy Lafontant resigns after violent protests against fuel price rises.
2019 Senior Players Championship Men’s Golf: Retief Goosen of South Africa birdies the final 2 holes to secure his first Champions Tour win by 2 strokes from Jay Haas and Tim Petrovic.
2020 A new study shows the Andean condor, the world’s heaviest flighted bird, can fly for 5 hours without flapping its wings.
2021 Crowds looting and setting alight shopping centres clash with police in several cities, with fires started, highways blocked and businesses and warehouses ransacked across KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng. Ambulances also came under attack by rioters in some areas. In Durban’s CBD, a toddler is dropped by its mother from the first floor of a building after those stealing from shops on the ground floor of a Smith Street building had started a fire which spread, affecting those living upstairs. A group of strangers catch the child before the passers-by and neighbours rush to get ladders to help other residents, including children, escape. The mother was reunited with her youngster.