49 BC-Julius Caesar defies the Roman Senate and crosses the Rubicon, uttering "alea iacta est" (the die is cast), signaling the start of civil war and his appointment as Roman dictator for life
1839-First tea from leaves of indigenous plants of Assam, India, arrives in the United Kingdom [date approximate
1900-British generals Frederick Roberts and Herbert Kitchener reach Cape Town during the Second Boer War
1914-Yuan Shih-kai, president of the new Chinese republic, dissolves parliament and prepares a constitution of his own design: he will set himself up as dictator, preparatory to an attempt to make himself emperor
1946-U.N. General Assembly meets for the first time in London
1990-China lifts martial law, imposed after the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989
1991-Japan ends routine fingerprinting of all adult ethnic Koreans
2005-A mudslide occurs in La Conchita, California, killing 10 people, injuring many more and closing the Highway 101, the main coastal corridor between San Francisco and Los Angeles, for 10 days.