This day in history – October 31

• 445 BC Ezra reads the Book of the Law to the Israelites in Jerusalem.

• 802 Empress Irene of Byzantium driven out.

• 1517 Martin Luther posts 95 theses on Wittenberg church – precipitates the Protestant Reformation.

• 1541 Michelangelo Buonarroti finishes painting “The Last Judgement” in the Sistine Chapel, in the Vatican City.

• 1756 Giacomo Casanova escapes from prison in Venice by climbing onto the roof.

• 1876 Great Backerganj Cyclone of 1876 ravages British India (Modern-day Bangladesh), over 200 000 killed.

• 1892 Arthur Conan Doyle publishes The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

• 1922 Benito Mussolini (Il Duce) becomes premier of Italy.

• 1926 Failed assassination attempt on Benito Mussolini by 15-year-old Anteo Zamboni, who was lynched on the spot.

• 1940 Deadline for Warsaw Jews to move into the Warsaw Ghetto.

• 1941 Mount Rushmore Monument is completed.

• 1953 TV broadcasting begins in Belgium.

• 1954 Algerian Revolution against French begins.

• 1963 Leaking propane gas explodes kills 64 at ‘Holiday on Ice’ in Indiana.

• 1968 US President Lyndon B. Johnson orders a halt to all bombing of North Vietnam.

• 1969 George Harrison’s “Something” is released in UK

• 1971 The Irish Republican Army (IRA) explode a bomb at the Post Office Tower in London.

• 1973 Three Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteers escape from Mountjoy Prison in Dublin using a hijacked helicopter.

• 1974 Ted Bundy victim Laura Aime disappears in Utah

• 1975 Bob Geldof’s first appearance with The Boomtown Rats

• 1978 People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen (South Yemen) adopts constitution

• 1980 Julian Nott sets world hot-air balloon altitude record (16,806 m).

• 1980 Senegal routes troops to Gambia due to Libyan threat.

• 1984 Puerto Rican tanker ‘San Francisco’ explodes spilling two million gallons of oil as ship catches fire.

• 1988 Journalists demand greater press freedom in Yugoslavia.

• 1993 25 people killed during Ghana-Ivory Coast soccer match.

• 1993 Rapper Tupac Shakur charged with aggravated assault.

• 1994 American Eagle ATR-72 crashed at Gary, Indiana: 68 killed.

• 1994 “Creep” single released by TLC – their first US No.1 (Billboard Song of the Year 1995)

• 1997 British au pair Louise Woodward, 19, sentenced to life for the death of Matthew Eappen 8½ months (judge changes to time served)

• 1998 Iraq disarmament crisis begins: Iraq announces it would no longer cooperate with United Nations weapons inspectors.

• 1999 EgyptAir Flight 990 traveling from New York City to Cairo crashes off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, killing all 217 on-board.

• 2000 A Singapore Airlines Boeing 747-400 operating as Flight 006 collides with construction equipment upon takeoff in Taipei, Taiwan killing 79 passengers and four crew members.

• 2003 Bethany Hamilton, aged 13, has her arm bitten off by a shark while surfing in Hawaii.

• 2011 The world population reaches seven-billion inhabitants according to the United Nations.

• 2012 The New York stock exchange opens after being closed for two days after Hurricane Sandy.

• 2015 Russian airliner crashes killing all 224 on board in Sinai Peninsula, Egypt – Russia’s worst air disaster.

• 2016 Lebanon parliament elects Michel Aoun President after 2 1/2 years without a leader.

Source: www.onthisday.com