2019: Upwards of 2,000,000 people participate in the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests, the largest in Hong Kong’s history.
2016: Shanghai Disneyland Park, the first Disney Park in mainland China, opens to the public.
2015: American businessman Donald Trump announces his campaign to run for President of the United States in the upcoming election.
2013: A multi-day cloudburst, centered on the North Indian state of Uttarakhand, causes devastating floods and landslides, becoming the country’s worst natural disaster since the 2004 tsunami.
2012: China successfully launches its Shenzhou 9 spacecraft, carrying three astronauts, including the first female Chinese astronaut Liu Yang, to the Tiangong-1 orbital module.
2012: The United States Air Force’s robotic Boeing X-37B spaceplane returns to Earth after a classified 469-day orbital mission.
2010: Bhutan becomes the first country to institute a total ban on tobacco.
2002: Padre Pio is canonized by the Roman Catholic Church.
2000: The Secretary-General of the UN reports that Israel has complied with United Nations Security Council Resolution 425, 22 years after its issuance, and completely withdrew from Lebanon. The Resolution does not encompass the Shebaa farms, which is claimed by Israel, Syria and Lebanon.
1997: Fifty people are killed in the Daïat Labguer (M’sila) massacre in Algeria.
1995: The Astronomy Picture of the Day website is launched.
1989: Revolutions of 1989: Imre Nagy, the former Hungarian prime minister, is reburied in Budapest following the collapse of Communism in Hungary.
1981: US President Ronald Reagan awards the Congressional Gold Medal to Ken Taylor, Canada’s former ambassador to Iran, for helping six Americans escape from Iran during the hostage crisis of 1979–81; he is the first foreign citizen bestowed the honor.
1977: Oracle Corporation is incorporated in Redwood Shores, California, as Software Development Laboratories (SDL), by Larry Ellison, Bob Miner and Ed Oates.
1976: Soweto uprising: A non-violent march by 15,000 students in Soweto, South Africa, turns into days of rioting when police open fire on the crowd.
Famous Births 👶
2003: Anna Cathcart, Canadian actress
2002: Sam Walker, English-Australian rugby league player
2000: Bianca Andreescu, Canadian tennis player
1999: Justin Jefferson, American football player
1999: Ibrahima Koné, Malian footballer
1999: Snail Mail, American singer-songwriter
1998: Karman Thandi, Indian tennis player
1995: Euan Aitken, Australian rugby league player
1995: Akira Ioane, New Zealand rugby Union player
1995: Joseph Schooling, Singaporean swimmer
1995: Ki Hui-hyeon, South Korean singer-songwriter and actress
1994: Rezar, Albanian wrestler
1993: Park Bo-gum, South Korean actor
1993: Gnash, American singer, songwriter, rapper, DJ and record producer
1992: Maik Brückner, German politician
Notable Deaths 🕊️
2025: Kim Woodburn, English television personality and expert cleaner (born 1942)
2024: Ludwig Adamovich Jr., Austrian constitutional scholar (born 1932)
2024: Barbara Gladstone, American art dealer and film producer (born 1934)
2023: Gino Mäder, Swiss cyclist (born 1997)
2022: Tyler Sanders, American actor (born 2004)
2021: Frank Bonner, American actor and television director (born 1942)
2020: Eduardo Cojuangco Jr., Filipino businessman and politician (born 1935)
2017: Helmut Kohl, German politician, Chancellor of Germany (born 1930)
2016: Jo Cox, English political activist and MP (born 1974)
2015: Charles Correa, Indian architect and urban planner (born 1930)
2015: Jean Vautrin, French director, screenwriter, and critic (born 1933)
2014: Tony Gwynn, American baseball player and coach (born 1960)
2014: Cándido Muatetema Rivas (born 1960), Equatoguinean politician and diplomat, Prime Minister of Equatorial Guinea
2013: Sam Farber, American businessman, co-founded OXO (born 1924)
2013: Hans Hass, Austrian biologist and diver (born 1919)
Holidays & Observances 🎉
Birthday of Leonard P. Howell (Rastafari)
Bloomsday (Dublin, Ireland)
Christian feast days:
Aurelianus of Arles
Christian feast days:
Aureus of Mainz (and his sister Justina)
Christian feast days:
Benno
Christian feast days:
Cettin of Oran
Christian feast days:
Curig of Llanbadarn
Christian feast days:
Ferreolus and Ferrutio
Christian feast days:
George Berkeley and Joseph Butler (Episcopal Church)
Christian feast days:
June 16 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Christian feast days:
Lutgardis
Christian feast days:
Quriaqos and Julietta
Engineer’s Day (Argentina)
Father’s Day (Seychelles)
International Day of the African Child (Organisation of African Unity)
