| 1979-12-12
Rhodesia changes its name to Zimbabwe-Rhodesia.
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| 1979-11-04
Iran hostage crisis begins: a group of Iranians, mostly students, invades the US embassy in Tehran and takes 90 hostages (53 of whom are American).
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| 1979-12-05
Sonia Johnson is formally excommunicated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for her outspoken criticism of the church concerning the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
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| 1979-12-24
The first European Ariane rocket is launched.
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| 1979-12-12
President of Pakistan, Zia-ul-Haq, confers Nishan-e-Imtiaz on Nobel laureate Dr Abdus Salam.
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| 1979-07-09
A car bomb destroys a Renault motor car owned by famed "Nazi hunters" Serge and Beate Klarsfeld at their home in France. A note purportedly from ODESSA claims responsibility.
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| 1979-03-30
Airey Neave, a British Member of Parliament, is killed by a car bomb as he exits the Palace of Westminster. The Irish National Liberation Army claims responsibility.
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| 1979-10-12
The lowest recorded non-tornadic atmospheric pressure, 87.0 kPa (870 mbar or 25.69 inHg), occurred in the Western Pacific during Typhoon Tip.
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| 1979-09-22
The Vela Incident (also known as the South Atlantic Flash) is observed near Bouvet Island, thought to be a nuclear weapons test.
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| 1979-04-22
The Albert Einstein Memorial is unveiled at The National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC.
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| 1979-09-07
The Chrysler Corporation asks the United States government for USD $1.5 billion to avoid bankruptcy.
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| 1979-06-20
ABC News correspondent Bill Stewart is shot dead by a Nicaraguan soldier under the regime of Anastasio Somoza Debayle. The murder is caught on tape and sparked international outcry of the regime.
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| 1979-06-23
Titus succeeds his father Vespasian as the tenth Roman Emperor.
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| 1979-05-25
American Airlines Flight 191: In Chicago, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 crashes during takeoff at O'Hare International Airport killing 271 on board and two people on the ground.
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| 1979-07-12
Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park Chicago, IL
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| 1979-07-03
[[U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul.
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| 1979-06-03
A blowout at the Ixtoc I oil well in the southern Gulf of Mexico causes at least 3,000,000 barrels of oil to be spilled into the waters, the worst oil spill ever recorded
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| 1979-12-03
In Cincinnati, Ohio, eleven fans are suffocated in a crush for seats on the concourse outside Riverfront Coliseum before a Who concert .
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| 1979-03-31
The last British soldier leaves the Maltese Islands. Malta declares its Freedom Day (Jum il-Helsien).
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| 1979-03-14
In China, a Hawker Siddeley Trident crashes into a factory near Beijing, killing at least 200.
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| 1979-04-15
A disastrous earthquake (of M 7.1) occurs on Montenegro coast.
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| 1979-02-18
Snow falls in the Sahara Desert in southern Algeria for the only time in recorded history.
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| 1979-07-25
Another section of the Sinai Peninsula is peacefully returned by Israel to Egypt.
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| 1979-12-16
Libya joins four other OPEC nations in raising crude oil prices, having an immediate dramatic effect on the United States.
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| 1979-09-29
Pope John Paul II becomes the first pope to set foot on Irish soil with his pastoral visit to the Republic of Ireland.
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| 1979-09-07
The Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, better known as ESPN, makes its debut.
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| 1979-10-20
The John F. Kennedy library is opened in Boston, Massachusetts.
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| 1979-10-21
Moshe Dayan resigns from the Israeli government because of strong disagreements with Prime Minister Menachem Begin over policy towards the Arabs.
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| 1979-02-11
Islamic revolution of Iran establishes an Islamic theocracy under the leadership of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
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| 1979-07-15
U.S. President Jimmy Carter gives his so-called "malaise" speech, where he characterizes the greatest threat to the country as "this crisis in the growing doubt about the meaning of our own lives and in the loss of a unity of purpose for our nation" but in which he never uses the word malaise
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| 1979-09-24
Compu-Serve launches the first consumer internet service, which features the first public electronic mail service.
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| 1979-07-19
The Sandinista rebels overthrow the government of the Somoza family in Nicaragua.
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| 1979-04-10
Red River Valley Tornado Outbreak: A tornado lands in Wichita Falls, Texas killing 42 people.
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| 1979-01-30
Varig 707-323C freighter, flown by the same commander as Flight 820, disappears over the Pacific Ocean 30 minutes after taking off from Tokyo.
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| 1979-08-23
Soviet dancer Alexander Godunov defects to the United States.
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| 1979-11-14
Iran hostage crisis: US President Jimmy Carter issues Executive order 12170, freezing all Iranian assets in the United States in response to the hostage crisis.
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| 1979-08-07
Several tornadoes struck the city of Woodstock, Ontario, Canada and the surrounding communities.
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| 1979-10-12
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the first of five books in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comedy science fiction series by Douglas Adams is published.
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| 1979-01-16
The Shah of Iran flees Iran with his family and relocates to Egypt.
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| 1979-11-23
In Dublin, Ireland, Provisional Irish Republican Army member Thomas McMahon is sentenced to life in prison for the assassination of Lord Mountbatten.
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| 1979-08-23
Mount Vesuvius begins stirring, on the feast day of Vulcan, the Roman god of fire.
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| 1979-10-14
The first Gay Rights March on Washington, D.C., the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, demands "an end to all social, economic, judicial, and legal oppression of lesbian and gay people," draws 200,000 people.
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| 1979-07-17
Nicaraguan president General Anastasio Somoza Debayle resigns and flees to Miami, Florida.
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| 1979-03-28
The British House of Commons passes a vote of no confidence against James Callaghan's government, precipitating a general election.
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| 1979-05-28
Constantine Karamanlis signs the full treaty of the accession of Greece with the European Economic Community.
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| 1979-03-08
Philips demonstrates the Compact Disc publicly for the first time.
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| 1979-08-24
Mount Vesuvius erupts. The cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabiae are buried in volcanic ash.
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| 1979-02-14
In Kabul, Muslims kidnap the American ambassador to Afghanistan, Adolph Dubs who is later killed during a gunfight between his kidnappers and police.
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| 1979-11-20
Grand Mosque Seizure: About 200 Sunni Muslims revolt in Saudi Arabia at the site of the Kaaba in Mecca during the pilgrimage and take about 6000 hostages. The Saudi government receives help from French special forces to put down the uprising.
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| 1979-10-06
Pope John Paul II becomes the first pontiff to visit the White House.
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| 1979-11-19
Iran hostage crisis: Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini orders the release of 13 female and black American hostages being held at the US Embassy in Tehran.
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| 1979-12-12
Coup d'état of December Twelfth: South Korean Army Major General Chun Doo-hwan orders the arrest of Army Chief of Staff General Jeong Seung-hwa without authorization from President Choi Kyu-ha, alleging involvement in the assassination of ex-President Park Chung Hee.
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| 1979-02-01
Convicted bank robber Patty Hearst is released from prison after her sentence is commuted by President Jimmy Carter.
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| 1979-12-21
Lancaster House Agreement: An independence agreement for Rhodesia is signed in London by Lord Carrington, Sir Ian Gilmour, Robert Mugabe, Joshua Nkomo, Bishop Abel Muzorewa and S.C. Mundawarara.
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| 1979-10-26
Park Chung-hee, President of South Korea is assassinated by KCIA head Kim Jae-kyu. Choi Kyu-ha becomes the acting President; Kim is executed the following May.
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| 1979-02-13
An intense windstorm strikes western Washington and sinks a 1/2-mile-long section of the Hood Canal Bridge.
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| 1979-12-23
Soviet war in Afghanistan: Soviet forces occupy Kabul, the Afghan capital.
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| 1979-08-20
The East Coast Main Line rail route between England and Scotland is restored when the Penmanshiel Diversion opens.
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| 1979-08-13
The roof of the uncompleted Rosemont Horizon near Chicago, Illinois collapses, killing 5 workers and injuring 16.
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| 1979-06-04
Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings takes power in Ghana after a military coup in which General Fred Akuffo is overthrown.
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| 1979-02-22
Independence of Saint Lucia from the United Kingdom.
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| 1979-11-28
Air New Zealand Flight 901, a DC-10 operated sightseeing flight over Antarctica, crashes into Mount Erebus, killing all 257 people on board.
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| 1979-10-17
Mother Teresa awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
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| 1979-11-03
Greensboro massacre: Five members of the Communist Workers Party are shot dead and seven are wounded by a group of Klansmen and neo-Nazis during a "Death to the Klan" rally in Greensboro, North Carolina, United States.
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| 1979-10-15
Black Monday in Malta. The Building of the Times of Malta, the residence of the opposition leader Eddie Fenech Adami and several Nationalist Party clubs are ransacked and destroyed by supporters of the Malta Labour Party.
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| 1979-05-04
Margaret Thatcher becomes the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
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| 1979-08-28
An IRA bomb explodes on the Grand Place in Brussels.
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| 1979-06-18
SALT II is signed by the United States and the Soviet Union.
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| 1979-07-01
Sony introduces the Walkman.
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| 1979-01-01
Formal diplomatic relations are established between the People's Republic of China and the United States of America.
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| 1979-11-09
Nuclear false alarm: the NORAD computers and the Alternate National Military Command Center in Fort Ritchie, Maryland detected purported massive Soviet nuclear strike. After reviewing the raw data from satellites and checking the early warning radars, the alert is cancelled.
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| 1979-11-16
The first line of Bucharest Metro (Line M1) is opened from Timpuri Noi to Semanatoarea in Bucharest, Romania.
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| 1979-02-15
Don Dunstan resigns as Premier of South Australia, ending a decade of sweeping social liberalisation.
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| 1979-04-11
Ugandan dictator Idi Amin is deposed.
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| 1979-09-01
The American space probe Pioneer 11 becomes the first spacecraft to visit Saturn when it passes the planet at a distance of 21,000 km.
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| 1979-03-05
Soviet probes Venera 11, Venera 12 and the American solar satellite Helios II all are hit by "off the scale" gamma rays leading to the discovery of soft gamma repeaters.
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| 1979-03-05
America's Voyager 1 spacecraft has its closest approach to Jupiter, 172,000 miles.
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| 1979-12-03
Shadow Traffic begins broadcasting in the New York City metropolitan area.
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| 1979-11-15
A package from the Unabomber Ted Kaczynski begins smoking in the cargo hold of a flight from Chicago to Washington, forcing the plane to make an emergency landing.
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| 1979-11-21
The United States Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan is attacked by a mob and set on fire, killing four. (see: Foreign relations of Pakistan)
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| 1979-12-27
Soviet Union invades Afghanistan
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| 1979-12-09
The eradication of the smallpox virus is certified, making smallpox the first and to date only human disease driven to extinction.
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| 1979-11-10
A 106-car Canadian Pacific freight train carrying explosive and poisonous chemicals from Windsor, Ontario, Canada derails in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada just west of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, causing a massive explosion and the largest peacetime evacuation in Canadian history and one of the largest in North American history.
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| 1979-05-25
Six-year-old Etan Patz disappears from the street just two blocks away from his New York home, prompting an International search for the child, and causing President Ronald Reagan to designate May 25th as National Missing Children's Day (in 1983).
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| 1979-03-25
The first fully functional space shuttle orbiter, Columbia, is delivered to the John F. Kennedy Space Center to be prepared for its first launch.
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| 1979-01-07
Third Indochina War – Cambodian-Vietnamese War: Phnom Penh falls to the advancing Vietnamese troops, driving out Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge.
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| 1979-12-26
Opening night of the Concerts for the People of Kampuchea at the Hammersmith Odeon; a benefit concert for the citizens of Cambodia who were victims of dictator Pol Pot.
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| 1979-06-02
Pope John Paul II first official visit to his native Poland, becoming the first Pope to visit a Communist country.
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| 1979-07-12
The island nation of Kiribati becomes independent from Great Britain.
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| 1979-04-04
The 2nd Congress of the Communist Youth of Greece starts.
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| 1979-02-17
The Sino-Vietnamese War begins.
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| 1979-05-10
The Federated States of Micronesia become self-governing.
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| 1979-04-04
President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan is executed.
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| 1979-12-04
The Hastie fire in Hull, kills three schoolboys and eventually leads police to arrest Bruce George Peter Lee.
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| 1979-07-16
Iraqi President Hasan al-Bakr resigns and is replaced by Saddam Hussein.
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| 1979-10-01
The United States returns sovereignty of the Panama canal to Panama.
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| 1979-11-17
Brisbane Suburban Railway Electrification. The first stage from Ferny Grove to Darra is commissioned.
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| 1979-12-13
The Canadian Government of Prime Minister Joe Clark is defeated in the House of Commons, prompting the 1980 Canadian election.
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| 1979-06-01
The first black-led government of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in 90 years takes power.
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| 1979-02-08
Denis Sassou-Nguesso becomes the President of the Republic of the Congo for the first time.
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| 1979-01-29
Brenda Spencer kills two people and wounds eight at the Grover Cleveland Elementary School shootings.
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| 1979-02-07
Pluto moves inside Neptune's orbit for the first time since either was discovered.
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| 1979-04-01
Iran becomes an Islamic Republic by a 98% vote, officially overthrowing the Shah.
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| 1979-03-17
The Penmanshiel Tunnel collapses during engineering works, killing two workers.
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| 1979-03-19
The United States House of Representatives begins broadcasting its day-to-day business via the cable television network C-SPAN.
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| 1979-06-09
The Ghost Train Fire at Luna Park Sydney (New South Wales, Australia) kills seven.
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| 1979-03-28
Operators of Three Mile Island's Unit 2 nuclear reactor outside of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania fail to recognize that a relief valve in the primary coolant system has stuck open following an unexpected shutdown. As a result, enough coolant drains out of the system to allow the core to overheat and partially melt down.
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| 1979-02-01
The Ayatollah Khomeini is welcomed back to Tehran, Iran after nearly 15 years of exile.
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| 1979-11-12
Iran hostage crisis: In response to the hostage situation in Tehran, US President Jimmy Carter orders a halt to all petroleum imports into the United States from Iran.
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| 1979-07-11
America's first space station, Skylab, is destroyed as it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere over the Indian Ocean.
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| 1979-05-21
White Night riots in San Francisco following the manslaughter conviction of Dan White for the assassinations of George Moscone and Harvey Milk.
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| 1979-08-27
An IRA bomb kills British World War II admiral Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma and 3 others while they are boating on holiday in Sligo, Republic of Ireland. Another bomb near Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland kills 18 British soldiers.
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| 1979-10-17
The Department of Education Organization Act is signed into law creating the US Department of Education and US Department of Health and Human Services.
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| 1979-09-30
The Hong Kong MTR commences service with the opening of its Modified Initial System (aka. Kwun Tong Line).
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| 1979-03-13
The New Jewel Movement, headed by Maurice Bishop, ousts Prime Minister Eric Gairy in a nearly bloodless coup d'etat in Grenada.
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| 1979-01-08
The tanker Betelgeuse explodes in Bantry Bay, Ireland.
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| 1979-08-17
Two Soviet Aeroflot jetliners collide in mid-air over Ukraine, killing 156
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| 1979-09-12
Indonesia is hit with an earthquake that measures 8.1 on the Richter scale.
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| 1979-12-12
A major earthquake and tsunami kill 259 people in Colombia.
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| 1979-09-27
The United States Department of Education receives final approval from the U.S. Congress to become the 13th US Cabinet agency.
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| 1979-09-13
South Africa grants independence to the "homeland" of Venda (not recognised outside South Africa).
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| 1979-08-05
In Afghanistan, Maoists undertake an attempted military uprising.
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| 1979-09-20
Lee Iacocca is elected president of the Chrysler Corporation.
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| 1979-06-12
Bryan Allen wins the second Kremer prize for a man powered flight across the English Channel in the Gossamer Albatross.
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| 1979-09-20
A coup d'état in the Central African Empire overthrows Emperor Bokasa I.
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| 1979-03-26
Anwar al-Sadat, Menachem Begin and Jimmy Carter sign the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty in Washington, D.C..
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