Summary of the Day ✨ 28 October (28/10)
Across the globe, Hurricane devastated Jamaica with over 30 fatalities while becoming one of the most intense landfalls in North Atlantic history, and South Africa made rugby history by winning their fourth World Cup title in a dramatic final against New Zealand. Meanwhile, Brazil elected Jair Bolsonaro president ending 16 years of Workers’ Party rule, a NASA rocket mission to the ISS exploded shortly after launch, and a car attack at Tiananmen Square left five dead and dozens injured in China.
Historical Events 📜
- 2025: Hurricane Melissa makes landfall near Black River, Jamaica, killing over 30 people, as well as tying the 1935 Labor Day hurricane as the most intense landfall in the North Atlantic.
- 2023: The 2023 Rugby World Cup final is held at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, France. It saw South Africa defeat New Zealand 12 to 11, claiming their fourth Webb Ellis Cup, becoming the first nation to do so.
- 2018: Jair Bolsonaro is elected president of Brazil with 57 million votes, with Workers’ Party candidate Fernando Haddad as the runner-up. It is the first time in 16 years that a Workers’ Party candidate is not elected president.
- 2014: A rocket carrying NASA’s Cygnus CRS Orb-3 resupply mission to the International Space Station explodes seconds after taking off from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Wallops Island, Virginia.
- 2013: Five people are killed and 38 are injured after a car crashes into barriers at Tiananmen Square in China.
- 2009: The 28 October 2009 Peshawar bombing kills 117 and wounds 213.
- 2009: NASA successfully launches the Ares I-X mission, the only rocket launch for its short-lived Constellation program.
- 2009: US President Barack Obama signs the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.
- 2007: Cristina Fernández de Kirchner becomes the first directly elected female President of Argentina.
- 2006: A funeral service takes place at the Bykivnia graves for Ukrainians who were killed by the Soviet secret police.
- 1995: The Baku Metro fire sees 289 people killed and 270 injured.
- 1990: Georgia holds its only free election under Soviet rule.
- 1989: Aloha Island Air Flight 1712, a Twin Otter 300, crashed into terrain at night in Hawaii killing all 20 occupants onboard.
- 1982: The Spanish general election begins fourteen years of rule by the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party.
- 1971: Prospero becomes the only British satellite to be launched by a British rocket.
Famous Births 👶
- 2006: Yoon Do-young, South Korean footballer
- 2001: Sonay Kartal, British tennis player
- 1998: Nolan Gould, American actor
- 1997: Stetson Bennett, American football player
- 1997: Taylor Fritz, American tennis player
- 1997: Georgia Godwin, Australian artistic gymnast
- 1996: Jasmine Jessica Anthony, American actress
- 1996: Jack Eichel, American ice hockey player
- 1996: Una Raymond-Hoey, Irish cricketer
- 1995: Glen Kamara, Finnish footballer
- 1995: Jae’Sean Tate, American basketball player
- 1995: An Ye-seul, South Korean singer
- 1994: Andrew Harrison, American basketball player
- 1992: Lexi Ainsworth, American actress
- 1992: Jeon Ji-hee, South Korean table tennis player
Notable Deaths 🕊️
- 2024: Renato Martino, Italian Roman Catholic cardinal (born 1932)
- 2024: Paul Morrissey, American director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1938)
- 2024: Jamshid Sharmahd, German-American affiliate of Kingdom Assembly of Iran (born 1955)
- 2024: Kazuo Umezu, Japanese manga artist (born 1936)
- 2023: Matthew Perry, American-Canadian actor (born 1969)
- 2023: Adam Johnson, American ice hockey player (born 1994)
- 2022: Jerry Lee Lewis, American singer-songwriter and pianist (born 1935)
- 2018: Colin Sylvia, Australian rules footballer (born 1985)
- 2014: Galway Kinnell, American poet and academic (born 1927)
- 2014: Michael Sata, Zambian police officer and politician, 5th President of Zambia (born 1937)
- 2013: Tetsuharu Kawakami, Japanese baseball player and manager (born 1920)
- 2013: Tadeusz Mazowiecki, Polish journalist and politician, Prime Minister of Poland (born 1927)
- 2013: Aleksandar Tijanić, Serbian journalist (born 1949)
- 2013: Rajendra Yadav, Indian author (born 1929)
- 2012: Gordon Bilney, Australian dentist and politician (born 1939)
Holidays & Observances 🎉
- Christian feast day:
Abdias of Babylon - Christian feast day:
Abgar V of Edessa (Eastern Orthodox Church) - Christian feast day:
Eadsige - Christian feast day:
Faro - Christian feast day:
Fidelis of Como (Roman Catholic Church) - Christian feast day:
Firmilian - Christian feast day:
Godwin of Stavelot - Christian feast day:
Job of Pochayiv (repose) (Eastern Orthodox Church) - Christian feast day:
The Apostles Simon and Jude (Western Christianity) - Christian feast day:
Lord of Miracles (Lima) - Christian feast day:
October 28 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) - Day of the Establishment of an Independent Czecho-Slovak State, celebrates the independence of Czechoslovakia from Austria-Hungary in 1918. (Czech Republic and Slovakia)
- International Animation Day (ASIFA)
- Ohi Day (Greece, Cyprus and the Greek communities), a national day in Greece.
- Prefectural Earthquake Disaster Prevention Day (Gifu Prefecture)