1945: Benito Mussolini executed. Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, “Il Duce,” who, after a series of military misadventures, became unpopular even among his fellow Fascists, was captured while trying to flee Italy and was executed on this day in 1945.
1947: Thor Heyerdahl begins his legendary journey on Kon-Tiki. The Norwegian explorer and his crew set out on the 101-day journey on the self-built raft to prove that South Americans could have reached and settled Polynesia in pre-Columbian.
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1967: Boxing champion Muhammad Ali refuses to be inducted into the U.S. Army and is immediately stripped of his heavyweight title. Ali, a Muslim, cited religious reasons for his decision to forgo military service.
1979: America’s worst commercial nuclear accident occurred with a partial meltdown inside the Unit 2 reactor at the Three Mile Island plant near Middletown, Pennsylvania.
1988: Aloha Airlines Flight 243 miraculously lands after losing its roof.
On April 28, 1988, a seemingly routine, 35-minute flight from Hilo to Honolulu turns into terror when an 18-foot-long section of the upper fuselage suddenly tore off Aloha Airlines Flight 243. The explosive decompression and roof loss sweep flight attendant Clarabelle “C.B.” Lansing off the Boeing 737, send freezing winds of hurricane force through the cabin, and leave passengers in the first five rows of the plane completely exposed to the sky.
1994: Former CIA officer Aldrich Ames admits he forwarded U.S. secrets to the Soviet Union
Ames was sentenced to life imprisonment for his activities which amounted to one of the most damaging spy cases in U.S. history.
1998: A special military tribunal headed by Major General Victor Malu, tries and finds some alleged coup plotters guilty of treason and conspiracy. Generals Diya, Adisa, and Olanrewaju, and four others are sentenced to death; while others receive various jail terms.
2001: Dennis Tito becomes the first space tourist in history. American businessman Dennis Tito became the first space tourist when he was launched into orbit aboard a Russian supply mission to the International Space Station; he paid approximately $20 million for the six-day trip.
2004: The first Abu Ghraib torture pictures are published. The images aired in a 60 Minutes II report showed gross human rights violations, including torture and murder, committed by U.S. soldiers and CIA personnel in the Baghdad prison.
2010: Swaziland (Eswatini) leads the world with its high HIV prevalence rate. More than a quarter of the population is HIV positive. Polygamy is legal in Eswatini, and preventive measures like condoms are disdained by Swazis.
2014: Amaka Igwe, an actress and film producer died at about 8:30 pm after a failed effort to save her from an asthma attack.
BIRTHS ON THIS DAY APRIL 28
Oby Ezekwesili, 61 years
Obiageli Katryn Ezekwesili was born on 28 April 1963. She is an economic policy expert, an advocate for transparency, accountability, good governance, and human capital development, a humanitarian, and an activist. Co-convener of the Bring Back Our Girls (Chibok girls) and presidential candidate of ACPN party for the 2019 presidential election. Co-founder of Transparency International.
Kenneth Kaunda (28 April 1924 – 17 June 2021)
Zambian independence leader and President of Zambia was born on April 28, 1924.
After years of leading the independence struggle against Britain, he departed his nearly three-decade-long presidency as one of Africa’s senior statesmen. He died at the age of 97.
Ferruccio Lamborghini (28 April 1916 – 20 February 1993)
Ferruccio Lamborghini, the founder of the company that bears his name and is known for stylish, high-performance cars, is born this day in Italy. He died at the age of 76.
Saddam Hussein (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006)
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was born on 28 April 1937. He was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 to 2003. He also served as prime minister of Iraq from 1979 to 1991 and later from 1994 to 2003. He died at the age of 69.
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