1802 - Britain sells Suriname to the Netherlands 1913 - Vladimir Mayakovsky's self titled tragedy "Vladimir Mayakovsky" premieres at Saint Petersburg's Luna Park theatre 1929 - First skull of Peking man found in the caves of Zhoukoudian‚ 50 km outside of Peking‚ China. Later dated roughly 750‚000 years old. 1939 - British Imperial Airways and British Airways merge to form BOAC 1954 - Taiwan (ROC) and US sign the Mutual Defense Treaty‚ preventing Mainland China (PRC) from taking Taiwan between 1955-1979 1975 - Laos king Sisavang Vatthana resigns‚ Lao People's Democratic Republic founded (National Day) 1990 - First time 12 people in space at the same time 2014 - The World Food Programme suspends critical food aid to more than 1.7 million Syrian refugees in Jordan‚ Lebanon‚ Turkey‚ Iraq and Egypt because of a lack of funds 2018 - Trade war truce agreed between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at G-20 meeting in Argentina 2020 - The UK becomes the first western country to authorize a vaccine for COVID-19‚ the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine More Historical Events »