What happend on 31st August

30.08
01.09
2004

Mel Gibson's film The Passion of the Christ is released on DVD and VHS in stores across the United States, selling approximately 4.1 million copies by the end of the day.

1999

The first of a series of Russian Apartment Bombings in Moscow, killing one person and wounding 40 others.

1998

North Korea reportedly launchs Kwangmyongsong, its first satellite.

1997

Diana, Princess of Wales, dies in a car crash in Paris.

1994

The Provisional Irish Republican Army declares a ceasefire.

1992

Pascal Lissouba is inaugurated as the President of the Republic of the Congo after a multiparty presidential election, ending a long history of one-party oppressive rule under the Congolese Workers Party.

1991

Kyrgyzstan declares its independence from the Soviet Union.

1989

Buckingham Palace officials confirm that Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips are to be separated.

1986

The Soviet passenger liner Admiral Nakhimov sinks in the Black Sea after colliding with the bulk carrier Pyotr Vasev, killing 398.

1986

An Aeroméxico Douglas DC-9 collides with a Piper PA-28 over Cerritos, California, killing 67 in the air and 15 on the ground.