Today in History September 21

Reuters

1939 - In Romania, Prime Minister Armand Calinescu was murdered by the fascist Iron Guard.

1964 - Malta became independent after 164 years of British rule.

1976 - Former Chilean cabinet minister Orlando Letelier was killed in Washington by a bomb placed in his car.

1988 - U.S. athlete Florence Griffith Joyner died at the age of 38 from heart complications.

1999 - An earthquake of magnitude 7.6 struck Taiwan, killing at least 2,321 people and injuring 8,712.

2001 - The Dow Jones industrial index of 30 blue chip companies lost 140 points, bringing its loss for the week to 14.2 percent, second only to a 15.5 percent drop in 1933.

2003 - U.S.-controlled Iraq unveiled sweeping reforms that allowed foreign investors into all sectors except oil and ended 30 years of state economic control.

2003 - NASA's Galileo space probe made a controlled, fiery crash into Jupiter, ending a 14-year mission that yielded dramatic discoveries about Solar System's largest planet and its moons.

2004 - Major cigarette makers went on trial in a $280 billion case brought by the U.S. government, which accused the tobacco industry of deliberately deceiving the public about the risks of smoking since the 1950s.

2006 - The British billionaire Richard Branson pledged to spend all the profits from his airline and rail businesses -- an estimated $3 billion over the next 10 years -- on combating global warming.

2013 - Al Shabaab gunmen attack Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya.