Yvonne Fletcher was fatally wounded on 17 April 1984 by a shot coming from the Libyan embassy on St James's Square in London. She had been deployed as a constable of the Metropolitan Police to monitor a demonstration against the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. During the protest, two unknown gunmen opened fire with Sterling submachine guns, killing Fletcher and wounding eleven Libyans. The inquest found that she was "killed by a bullet coming from one of two windows on the west side of the front on the first floor of the Libyan People's Bureau". After an eleven-day siege of the embassy, those inside were expelled from the United Kingdom, and diplomatic relations with Libya were severed. In 1999 a warming of diplomatic relations with Britain led to the payment of compensation and a statement from the Libyan government admitting culpability in Fletcher's shooting. British police continued their investigation until 2017, but no one has been convicted of Fletcher's murder. ( Full article...)

Dalek

• ... that the budget for the Doctor Who serial The Daleks allowed for only four Daleks (one pictured) to be made?
• ... that despite its bright colouring, the firebrick starfish is inconspicuous among the sponges and other organisms in its habitat?
• ... that Saw Ganesan initiated construction of a temple to the Tamil language?
• ... that at the conclusion of the 2018 AFL Women's Grand Final, acting captain Ellie Blackburn called upon her suspended skipper Katie Brennan to help hoist the team's trophy?
• ... that da share z0ne is a satirical social media account run by a skeleton character?
• ... that in 2015, Kjell Lindgren played a plastic set of bagpipes made by McCallum Bagpipes on the International Space Station?
• ... that Captain Ruck-Keene's command of HMS Cochrane ended a few days after Admiral Jellicoe wrote that he had become "lazy, lacks energy & has run to seed"?
• ... that upon hearing the Confederate song " I'm A Good Ol' Rebel", the future King Edward VII requested a repeat performance of "that fine American song with the cuss words in it"?

Augusta National Golf Club

• The United States, United Kingdom and France strike multiple government targets in Syria in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack in Douma.
• At least 257 people are killed as an Algerian Air Force Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft crashes in Algeria.
• In golf, Patrick Reed wins the Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club (pictured) in the United States.
• In the Hungarian parliamentary election, a coalition led by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán wins its third consecutive supermajority in the Hungarian National Assembly.

April 17: Evacuation Day ( 1946); Tax Day in the United States (2018)

Kaunas Castle (reconstructed)

• 1080 – The death of Harald III allowed his brother Canute IV, who later became the first Dane to be canonized, to become King of Denmark.
• 1362 – Lithuanian Crusade: After a month-long siege, the Teutonic Order captured and destroyed Kaunas Castle (reconstruction pictured) in Lithuania.
• 1907 – The first of three dreadnought battleships for Brazil was laid down, sparking a vastly expensive South American naval arms race.
• 1951 – The Peak District was designated the first national park in the United Kingdom.
• 1973 – George Lucas began writing a 13-page film treatment entitled The Star Wars.

Marino Faliero (d. 1355) · Cap Anson (b. 1852)  · Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu (d. 1954)