On August 12

The state-owned Taedonggang Brewing Company inaugurated the first beer festival in North Korea.

Kursk, an Oscar-class submarine of the Russian Navy, suffered an on-board explosion and sank in the Barents Sea during a military exercise, killing 118 people.

Near Faith, South Dakota, American paleontologist Sue Hendrickson found one of the most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeletons, nicknamed Sue (pictured).

Japan Air Lines Flight 123 (aircraft involved pictured) crashed into Mount Takamagahara in Gunma Prefecture, killing 520 of 524 people on board, including singer Kyu Sakamoto, in the world's worst single-aircraft aviation disaster.

The Troubles: Riots erupted in the neighbourhood of Bogside in Derry, and spread across much of Northern Ireland.

Thirteen Jewish poets were executed in Moscow for espionage based on false confessions.

An official administrative history of the Manhattan Project, written by American physicist Henry DeWolf Smyth, was released to the public days after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

World War II: In Sant'Anna di Stazzema, Italy, the Waffen-SS and the Brigate Nere murdered about 560 local villagers and refugees and burned their bodies.

World War I: Belgian troops won a victory at the Battle of Halen, but were ultimately unable to stop the German invasion of Belgium.

The last known quagga (example pictured), a subspecies of the plains zebra, died at Natura Artis Magistra, a zoo in Amsterdam.

Franco-American children as young as seven years old began striking against Cabot Mill in Brunswick, Maine, shutting down operations for three days.

A race riot in Philadelphia destroyed African-American businesses and killed two people.

Crusades: Fatimid forces under al-Afdal Shahanshah began retreating to Egypt after the Battle of Ascalon, concluding the First Crusade.