March 9 –
Approximately a dozen armed HanafiMuslims take over 3 buildings in Washington,
D.C., killing 1 person and taking more than 130
hostages. The hostage situation ends 2 days later.
April 4 – Grundy,
Virginia experienced a major flood that made around $15
million in damages to 228 residential and commercial structures.To
date the town is still recovering.
May 14 – In Milan, Italy, during a
far-left demonstration, a hooded person shoots at the police,
killing a policeman, Antonio Custra. The scene is
photographed and the picture [6095] of the hooded man shooting in the middle
of the street appears in many magazines around the world.
May 23 – Moluccan terrorists take over a school in Bovensmilde, northern Netherlands (105 hostages), and a passenger train on the
Bovensmilde-Assen route
nearby (90 hostages) at the same time. On June 11, Dutch Royal
Marines storm the train; 6 terrorists and 2 hostages are
killed.
May 25 – Star Wars opens in
cinemas and subsequently becomes the then-highest grossing film of
all time.
June 26 – Elvis
Presley performs his last-ever concert, in Indianapolis,
Indiana's Market Square Arena.
June 26 – Some
200,000 protesters march through the streets of San Francisco, protesting Anita
Bryant's anti-gay remarks and the murder of Robert
Hillsborough.
July 24 – Led
Zeppelin plays their last U.S. concert in Oakland, CA at the
Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. A brawl erupts between Led
Zeppelin's crew and promoter Bill
Graham's staff, resulting in criminal assault charges for
several of Led Zeppelin's entourage including drummer John Bonham.
August 9 – The
military-controlled government of Uruguay announces that it will return the nation to
civilian rule through general elections in 1981
for a President and Congress.
September 7 –
Treaties between Panama and the
United
States on the status of the Panama Canal are signed. The U.S. agrees to transfer
control of the canal to Panama at the end of the 20th century.
September 8 –
INTERPOL issues a resolution against the piracy of video
tapes and other material, which is still cited in warnings on
opening pre-credits of videocassettes and DVDs today.
October 14 – Anita Bryant is famously pied by four gay
rights activists during a press conference in Des Moines, Iowa.
This event resulted in her political fallout from anti-gay
activism.
October 26 – The
last natural smallpox case is discovered in
Merca district, Somalia. The WHO and the CDC consider this
date the anniversary of the eradication of smallpox, the most
spectacular success of vaccination and,
by extension, of modern science.
November 9 – Gen.Hugo Banzer,
president of the military government of Bolivia, announces that the constitutional democracy
will be restored in 1978 instead of 1980 as previously provided.
December 13 – A
DC-3 charter plane carrying the University of Evansville basketball team to Nashville, Tenn., crashes in
rain and dense fog about 90 seconds after takeoff from Evansville Dress Regional Airport. Twenty-nine people
die in the crash, including 14 members of the team and head coach
Bob Watson.