On This Day: June 17th

Juneteenth National Independence Day is signed into law by President Joe Biden, to become the first federal holiday established since Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983.

A series of wildfires in central Portugal kill at least 64 people and injure 204 others.

Nine people are killed in a mass shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

Following a televised low-speed highway chase, O. J. Simpson is arrested for the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman.

A "joint understanding" agreement on arms reduction is signed by U.S. president George Bush and Russian president Boris Yeltsin (this would be later codified in START II).

Apartheid: The South African Parliament repeals the Population Registration Act which required racial classification of all South Africans at birth.

Interflug Flight 102 crashes during a rejected takeoff from Berlin Schönefeld Airport, killing 21 people.

With the death of the last individual of the species, the dusky seaside sparrow becomes extinct.

Space Shuttle program: STS-51-G mission: Space Shuttle Discovery launches carrying Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the first Arab and first Muslim in space, as a payload specialist.

Watergate scandal: Five White House operatives are arrested for burgling the offices of the Democratic National Committee during an attempt by members of the administration of President Richard M. Nixon to illegally wiretap the political opposition as part of a broader campaign to subvert the democratic process.