24 August 1946

The International Astronomical Union passed a resolution redefining the term planet and classifying Pluto as a dwarf planet.

Hurricane Andrew, the third-most intense Category 5 cyclone to impact the United States in the 20th century, made landfall in southern Florida.

Cultural Revolution: Red Guards vandalised the Jokhang (depicted), the holiest Buddhist temple in Tibet.

Buddhist crisis: The U.S. State Department ordered Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. (pictured) to encourage South Vietnamese Army officers to oust Ngo Dinh Diem if he did not willingly remove Ngo Dinh Nhu from his unofficial position of power.

In the midst of a political crisis, Brazilian president Getúlio Vargas fatally shot himself in the Catete Palace in Rio de Janeiro.

World War II: At the Battle of the Eastern Solomons, bombers from the U.S. aircraft carrier Saratoga sank the Japanese aircraft carrier Ryūjō near Santa Isabel Island, contributing to an Allied victory.

Adolf Hitler ordered the suspension of the T4 euthanasia program of the mentally ill and disabled, although killings continued in secret for the remainder of World War II.

The Royal Navy's R.38, the world's largest airship at the time, was destroyed by a structural failure over Hull, killing 44 of the 49 crew aboard.

The Battle of Cer ended with the first Allied victory of World War I.

The New Zealand Native football team, predominantly comprising Māori players, concluded their 107-game tour, the longest in rugby union history.

War of 1812: British forces invaded Washington, D.C., setting fire to various U.S. government buildings, including the White House (pictured).

American Revolutionary War: Near present-day Aurora, Indiana, American Indians led by Joseph Brant killed or captured all members of a Pennsylvania militia.

War of the Spanish Succession: An Anglo-Dutch fleet engaged a French naval force at the Battle of Málaga in the Mediterranean Sea.

The 1662 Book of Common Prayer was legally enforced as the liturgy of the Church of England, precipitating the Great Ejection of Dissenter ministers from their benefices.

A Dutch expedition arrived at the mouth of the Valdivia River, in present-day Chile, to establish a new colony in the ruins of the abandoned Spanish settlement of Valdivia.

The oldest known version of the Gutenberg Bible, the first major book produced on a printing press, was completed.

Rome was sacked for the first time in approximately 800 years by the Visigoths under Alaric I.

Caesar's Civil War: Forces loyal to Julius Caesar led by Gaius Scribonius Curio were defeated by Pompeian Republicans under Publius Attius Varus and King Juba I of Numidia.

Japan officially begins discharging treated radioactive water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean, sparking international concerns and condemnation.

Erin O'Toole is elected leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.

The National Space Agency of Taiwan successfully launches the observation satellite Formosat-5 into space.

An earthquake strikes Central Italy with a magnitude of 6.2, with aftershocks felt as far as Rome and Florence. Around 300 people are killed.

Proxima Centauri b, the closest exoplanet to Earth, is discovered by the European Southern Observatory.

A magnitude 6.0 earthquake strikes the San Francisco Bay Area; it is the largest in that area since 1989.