12 November 720

The European Space Agency's lander Philae touched down on 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, becoming the first spacecraft to land on a comet.

Although the Georgian government declared it illegal, South Ossetia held a referendum on independence, with more than 99 percent of voters in favour of preserving the region's status as a de facto independent state.

American Airlines Flight 587 crashed into residential buildings five minutes after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, killing a total of 265 people.

A Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 747 and a Kazakhstan Airlines Ilyushin Il-76 collided in mid-air near New Delhi, killing 349 people, the deadliest such collision in history.

Indonesian forces opened fire on student demonstrators protesting the occupation of East Timor in the capital Dili, killing at least 250 people.

The first episode of Last of the Summer Wine, the longest-running television sitcom in history, premiered on the BBC.

The deadliest tropical cyclone in history made landfall on the coast of East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh), killing at least 250,000 people.

Suez Crisis: During an invasion of Rafah, Israeli soldiers shot and killed an estimated 111 Palestinian refugees and local inhabitants.

Second World War: In Operation Catechism, the Royal Air Force sank the German battleship Tirpitz (video featured) near Tromsø, Norway, killing about 1,000 sailors on board.

World War II: The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, the decisive engagement in a series of sea battles between Allied and Japanese forces during the months-long Guadalcanal campaign in the Solomon Islands, began.

World War II: Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov arrived in Berlin to discuss the possibility of the Soviet Union joining the Axis powers.

World War II: Free French forces captured Gabon from Vichy France.

At the request of the Government of Western Australia, the Australian military officially resumed fighting the Emu War after their prior withdrawal.

The Kingdom of Italy and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes signed the Treaty of Rapallo to establish national borders east of the Adriatic Sea.

Eight months after perishing during the ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition, the bodies of Robert Falcon Scott (pictured) and his companions were discovered on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica.

The Corozal, the most powerful dredger built to that time, was launched in London for service in construction of the Panama Canal.

William Heffelfinger was paid $500 by the Allegheny Athletic Association, becoming the first professional American football player.

Led by the voivode Basarab I, Wallachian forces defeated the Hungarian army in an ambush at the Battle of Posada (depicted).

A Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and a Bell P-63 Kingcobra collide in mid-air over Dallas Executive Airport during an airshow, killing six.

The Los Angeles Superior Court formally ends the 14-year conservatorship to pop singer Britney Spears.

The PlayStation 5 is released.

The 7.3 Mw Kermanshah earthquake shakes the northern Iran–Iraq border with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). At least 410 people are killed and over 7,000 are injured.

Two suicide bombers detonate explosives in Bourj el-Barajneh, Beirut, killing 43 people and injuring over 200 others.

The Philae lander, deployed from the European Space Agency's Rosetta probe, reaches the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.