How Many Days Until April 17?

This day in history: April 17

1. 1973

   George Lucas began writing a 13-page film treatment that later formed the basis of Star Wars.

2. 1975

   The Khmer Rouge captured Phnom Penh, the capital of the Khmer Republic, ending the Cambodian Civil War and establishing the socialist state of Democratic Kampuchea.

3. 1984

   Metropolitan Police officer Yvonne Fletcher was shot and killed while on duty during a protest outside the Libyan embassy in London, resulting in an 11-day police siege of the building and a breakdown of Libya–United Kingdom relations.

4. 1986

   The Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly declared peace, having hypothetically been at war for 335 years without a single shot being fired and no casualties incurred.

5. 2006

   A Palestinian suicide bomber detonated explosives in a restaurant in Tel Aviv, Israel, killing 11 people and injuring 70 others.

6. 2013

   An ammonium nitrate explosion occurred at a fertilizer company facility in West, Texas, U.S., killing 15 people and injuring 160 others.

7. 2014

   NASA announced the discovery of Kepler-186f, the first exoplanet with a radius similar to Earth's discovered in the habitable zone of another star.

Source: Wikipedia, text available under CC BY-SA 4.0.