On This Day: October 20th

Liz Truss steps down as British Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party amid the country's political crisis, serving for the least time of any British Prime Minister (49 days).

Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) declare victory in the Raqqa campaign.

Libyan Crisis: Rebel forces capture Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi and his son Mutassim in his hometown of Sirte and kill them shortly thereafter, ending the first Libyan civil war.

The general conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) passes the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.

The Sloan Great Wall, once the largest cosmic structures known to humanity, is discovered by students at Princeton University.

Top Gear, the revived popular British TV motoring magazine, premieres on BBC.

Space Shuttle Columbia launches on STS-73.

A 6.8 Mw earthquake strikes the Uttarkashi region of India, killing more than 1,000 people.

A massive firestorm breaks out in the hills of Oakland and Berkeley, California killing 25 people and destroying more than 3,000 homes, apartments and condominiums.

Aeroflot Flight 6502 crashes while landing at Kuibyshev Airport (now Kuromoch International Airport) in Kuibyshev (now present-day Samara, Russia), killing 70 people.