TV actor Alejandro Speitzer

Events in 1995 and 31-5

Events in the world in the birth year of Alejandro Speitzer

• US rescues Mexico's economy with $20-billion aid program (Feb. 21).
• Russian space station Mir greets first Americans (March 14). US shuttle docks with station (June 27).
• Nerve gas attack in Tokyo subway kills eight and injures thousands. The Aum Shinrikyo ("Supreme Truth") cult is to blame (March 20). Background: International Terrorism
• Death toll 2,000 in Rwanda massacre (April 22).
• Fighting escalates in Bosnia and Croatia (May 1). Warring parties agree on cease-fire (Oct. 5); sign peace treaty (Dec. 14).
• France explodes nuclear device in Pacific; wide protests ensue (Sept. 5). Background: nuclear weapons
• Israelis and Palestinians agree on transferring West Bank to Arabs (Sept. 24). Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin slain by Jewish extremist at peace rally (Nov. 4).

Birthday Alejandro Speitzer (31-5) in history

• Day 31-5 year 1790: The first U.S. Copyright Law was enacted, protecting books, maps, and other original materials.
• Day 31-5 year 1889: Heavy rains caused the South Fork Dam to collapse, sending 20 million tons of water into Johnstown, Pa. Over 2,200 people were killed and the town was nearly destroyed.
• Day 31-5 year 1911: The hull of the Titanic was launched in Belfast. At the ceremony, a White Star Line employee claimed, “Not even God himself could sink this ship.”
• Day 31-5 year 1961: South Africa became an independent republic.
• Day 31-5 year 1962: Former Gestapo official Adolf Eichmann was hanged in Israel.
• Day 31-5 year 1970: An earthquake in Peru left more than 50,000 dead.
• Day 31-5 year 2004: Alberta Martin, 97, one of the last widows of a U.S. Civil War veteran, died. She had married Confederate veteran William Martin in 1927 when she was 21 and he was 81.
• Day 31-5 year 2010: Nine people are dead after an Israeli navy commando attacks a flotilla of cargo ships and passenger boats on their way to Gaza to provide aid and supplies for the area.