1870 – US President Ulysses S Grant signs law resulting in US Army Signal Service’s establishment of its “Division of Telegrams and Reports for the Benefit of Commerce”, later known as the National Weather Service
1934 – Balkan Entente alliance forms (Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey and Romania)
1955 – Dutch 2nd Chamber accepts crematory law
1972 – British government declares a state of emergency after a month-long coal miners’ strike
1979 – New York City premiere of Paul Schrader’s allegedly fact based film “Hardcore”
1984 – Finnish cross-country skier Marja-Liisa Hämäläinen wins the 10k gold medal at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics; first of 3 individual medal sweep, also winning 5k and 20k events
1995 – Augustus and Ruth Goetz’ stage drama “The Heiress” opens at Cort Theater, NYC; runs for 340 performances
2000 – 50th Berlin International Film Festival: “Magnolia” wins the Golden Bear