- Moldova is marking National Reconciliation Day, established in 2002 to commemorate the victims of a Jewish pogrom in Chisinau on April 7, 1903.
- Prague's Charles University (Univerzita Karlova) was set up 656 years ago today (1348); this is one of the oldest European institutions of higher learning and the world's first Slavic university.
- Today marks the 232nd birth anniversary of Charles Fourier (1772-1837), a French Utopist who professed peaceful propaganda of socialist ideas.
- Gabriela Mistral, a Chilean poetess and peace champion, was born this day 115 years ago (1889-1957). She won the 1945 Nobel Prize in Literature.
- Today is the 95th birth anniversary of Mikhail Chikovani (1909-1983), a Georgian linguist known primarily for his research on Georgian folk literature and mythology.
- The U.S. film director Francis Ford Coppola (born in 1939) is celebrating his 65th birthday today. His filmography includes "The Godfather," "Apocalypse Now, " and "The Great Gatsby," to give just a few titles.
- Federal Chancellor of Germany Gerhard Schroeder (born in 1944) has turned 60.
- The telecommunications satellite Asiasat-1 was launched in China exactly 14 years ago.
RUSSIA
- Today is Remembrance Day in Russia, commemorating the sinking of the nuclear-powered submarine Komsomolets off the northern coast of Norway. The ship caught fire and sank on this day 15 years ago. Forty-two of its 69-member crew died in the disaster.
- Leonid Kirensky (1925-1969), an outstanding physicist who founded the Krasnoyarsk Institute of Physics, in Siberia, was born this day 95 years ago.
- Today marks 79 years since the death of Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Tikhon (1865-1925). The Russian Orthodox Church canonized him in 1988.
- Russian scientist Alexander Bogdanov (1873-1928) died this day 76 years ago. He was involved with medical experiments, and founded a blood transfusion institute. He is also known as the author of sci-fi novels, such as "The Red Star" and "Engineer Manny." - Today is 58 years since the establishment of the Kaliningrad Region, a former Prussian territory annexed to the Soviet Union following Germany's defeat in WWII.
- The Soviet interplanetary station Luna 14 was rocketed towards the Moon this day 36 years ago.
- Three years ago today, the Proton M booster blasted off from the Baikonur launch site, in Kazakhstan, for its first space mission.
- The Russian Orthodox Church is today celebrating the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
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