Today in History

US President Barack Obama signs a law officially repealing the 17-year-old policy known as “Don’t ask, don’t tell”; the new law permits homosexuals to serve openly in the US military.

Some 1.1 billion gallons of coal fly ash slurry flood part of Tennessee after an ash dike breaks at a solid waste containment area in Roane County, in the eastern part of the state.

A passenger on American Airlines Flight 63 from Paris, Richard Reid, unsuccessfully attempts to destroy the plane in flight by igniting explosives he’d hidden in his shoes.

Hussein Farrah Aidid relinquishes his disputed title of President of Somalia, an important step toward reconciliation in the country.

What became known as the Archives of Terror are discovered in a police station near the capital of Paraguay. The records detail tens of thousands of Latin Americans who had been secretly imprisoned, tortured and / or killed by the security services of several South American governments.

The division of East and West Germany effectively ends when the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin reopens for the first time in nearly 30 years.

The United States announces the allocation of 900,000 tons of grain to fight the famine in India.

The EF-105F Wild Weasel makes its first kill over Vietnam.

Major-General Gerald Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster, owner of the property company Grosvenor Group.

Robin and Maurice Gibb, singers, songwriters; co-founders of the Bee Gees band.

Rick Nielsen, musician, vocalist, primary songwriter of the band Cheap Trick.

Diane Sawyer, journalist; anchor of ABC World News.