September 9th

Queen Elizabeth II becomes Great Britain's longest-reigning monarch at 63 years and seven months, beating the previous record set by her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria.

Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., shouted 'You lie!' during President Barack Obama's speech to Congress on health care.

Manuel Noriega's sentence in the United States ends. Manuel Noriega, former military ruler of Panama, was released after 17 years of imprisonment in the US. He was imprisoned on charges of drug trafficking, money laundering, and racketeering.

The Boston Roman Catholic Archdiocese agreed to pay $85 million to 552 people to settle clergy sex abuse cases.

Afghanistan's military opposition leader Ahmed Shah Massood was fatally wounded in a suicide attack by assassins posing as journalists.

Sinn Fein, the Irish Republican Army's political ally, formally renounced violence as it took its place in talks on Northern Ireland's future.

The Palestine Liberation Organization agreed to recognize Israel's right to exist, and Israel agreed to recognize the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people.

Tajikistan Declares its Independence from the Soviet Union. The Central Asian country had been conquered by Russia in the late 19th century. In 1929, the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic was created as a constituent republic of the Soviet Union. Independence in 1991 came after the collapse of the USSR.

Communist Chinese leader Mao Zedong died in Beijing at age 82.

Prisoners seized control of the maximum-security Attica Correctional Facility near Buffalo, N.Y., beginning a four-day siege that claimed 43 lives.

Sandy Koufax of the Los Angeles Dodgers pitched a perfect game in a 1-0 victory over the Chicago Cubs.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed into law the first civil rights bill to pass Congress since Reconstruction.

Elvis Presley appeared on television for the first time on The Ed Sullivan Show.

The People's Democratic Republic of Korea (North Korea) was created.

The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) was created by the Radio Corporation of America.

First fully mechanized unit in the British Army created - the Canadian Automobile Machine Gun Brigade (WWI).

President Grover Cleveland's daughter, Esther Cleveland, became the first president's child to be born in the White House.

California became the 31st state of the union.

Alexander Twilight, probably first African American to graduate from a US college, receives BA degree at Middlebury College.

The Second Continental Congress changed the name of the nation to the United States of America, from the United Colonies.

Battle of Svolder, Baltic Sea. King Olaf on board the Long Serpent defeated in one of the greatest naval battles of the Viking Age.