November 12 in history — What Happened Today in History

In New York City, American Airlines Flight 587, an Airbus A300 en route to the Dominican Republic, crashes minutes after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport, killing all 260 on board and five on the ground.

War in Afghanistan: Taliban forces abandon Kabul, ahead of advancing Afghan Northern Alliance troops.

The 7.2 Mw Düzce earthquake shakes northwestern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). At least 845 people are killed and almost 5,000 are injured.

Ramzi Yousef is found guilty of masterminding the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

A Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 747 and a Kazakh Ilyushin Il-76 cargo plane collide in mid-air near New Delhi, killing 349 in the deadliest mid-air collision to date.

Erdut Agreement regarding the peaceful resolution to the Croatian War of Independence is reached.

Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on STS-74 to deliver the Mir Docking Module to the Russian space station Mir.

Santa Cruz massacre: The Indonesian Army open fire on a crowd of student protesters in Dili, East Timor.

Crown Prince Akihito is formally installed as Emperor Akihito of Japan, becoming the 125th Japanese monarch.

Tim Berners-Lee publishes a formal proposal for the World Wide Web.

USSR: Yuri Andropov becomes the General Secretary of the Communist Party's Central Committee, succeeding Leonid I. Brezhnev.

Space Shuttle program: Mission STS-2, utilizing the Space Shuttle Columbia, marks the first time a crewed spacecraft is launched into space twice.

The NASA space probe Voyager I makes its closest approach to Saturn and takes the first images of its rings.

Iran hostage crisis: In response to the hostage situation in Tehran, U.S. President Jimmy Carter orders a halt to all petroleum imports into the United States from Iran.

France conducts the Oreste nuclear test as 14th in the group of 29, 1975–78 French nuclear tests series.

The Comoros joins the United Nations.

Vietnam War: As part of Vietnamization, U.S. President Richard Nixon sets February 1, 1972 as the deadline for the removal of another 45,000 American troops from Vietnam.

Aeroflot Flight N-63 crashes on approach to Vinnytsia Airport, killing 48.

The Oregon Highway Division attempts to destroy a rotting beached sperm whale with explosives, leading to the now infamous "exploding whale" incident.

The 1970 Bhola cyclone makes landfall on the coast of East Pakistan, becoming the deadliest tropical cyclone in history.

Vietnam War: Independent investigative journalist Seymour Hersh breaks the story of the My Lai Massacre.

Terry Jo Duperrault is the sole survivor of a series of brutal murders aboard the ketch Bluebelle.

A team of rock climbers led by Warren Harding completes the first ascent of The Nose on El Capitan in Yosemite Valley.

Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia join the United Nations.

In the midst of the Suez Crisis, Palestinian refugees are shot dead in Rafah by Israel Defense Force soldiers following the invasion of the Gaza Strip.

Ellis Island ceases operations.

Aftermath of World War II: In Tokyo, the International Military Tribunal for the Far East sentences seven Japanese military and government officials, including General Hideki Tojo, to death for their roles in World War II.

World War II: The Royal Air Force sink the German battleship Tirpitz, moored off Tromsø, Norway.

Tomáš Hertl, Czech ice hockey player

Dāvis Bertāns, Latvian basketball player

Trey Burke, American basketball player

Adam Larsson, Swedish ice hockey player

Luguelín Santos, Dominican sprinter

Cairo Santos, Brazilian gridiron football player

Gijs Van Hoecke, Belgian cyclist

Florent Manaudou, French swimmer

Marcell Ozuna, Dominican baseball player

Harmeet Singh, Norwegian footballer

Siim-Sander Vene, Estonian basketball player

Russell Westbrook, American basketball player

Jason Day, Australian golfer

Ravi Chopra, Indian director and producer (born 1946)

Warren Clarke, English actor, director, and producer (born 1947)

Marge Roukema, American educator and politician (born 1929)

Valery Senderov, Russian mathematician and academic (born 1945)

Steve Rexe, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (born 1947)

Konrad Rudnicki, Polish astronomer and academic (born 1926)

Aleksandr Serebrov, Russian engineer and astronaut (born 1944)

John Tavener, English composer and educator (born 1944)

Kurt Trampedach, Danish painter and sculptor (born 1943)

Hans Hammarskiöld, Swedish photographer (born 1925)

Sergio Oliva, Cuban-American bodybuilder (born 1941)

Daniel Stern, American psychologist and theorist (born 1934)

Henryk Górecki, Polish composer (born 1933)