Today in History: April 26, the Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster

At present is Saturday April the th day of There are days left in the year In the modern day in history On April in the worst nuclear calamity in history an explosion and fire at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine caused radioactive fallout to begin spewing into the atmosphere Dozens of people were killed in the immediate aftermath of the catastrophe while the long-term death toll from radiation poisoning is thought to number in the thousands Also on this date In English colonists went ashore at present-day Cape Henry Virginia on an expedition to establish the first permanent English settlement in the Western Hemisphere Related Articles Virginia Giuffre who accused Britain s Prince Andrew in Epstein sex trafficking outrage has died Kennedy Center events scheduled for LGBTQ pride celebration have been canceled organizers say As immigrant arrests surge complaints of abuse mount at America s oldest detention center in Miami Luigi Mangione pleads not guilty to federal death penalty charge in UnitedHealthcare CEO s killing Thousands gather in New Mexico for the largest powwow in North America In John Wilkes Booth the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln was surrounded by federal troops near Port Royal Virginia and killed In Mary Phagan a -year-old worker at a Georgia pencil factory was strangled Leo Frank the factory superintendent was convicted of her murder and sentenced to death Frank s death sentence was commuted but he was lynched by an antisemitic mob in In the African nations of Tanganyika and Zanzibar merged to form what is now known as Tanzania In the legendary nightclub Studio had its opening night in New York In voting began in South Africa s first all-race elections which resulted in achievement for the African National Congress and the inauguration of Nelson Mandela as president In Vermont Gov Howard Dean signed the nation s first bill allowing same-sex couples to form civil unions In former Liberian President Charles Taylor became the first head of state since World War II to be convicted by an international war crimes court as he was detected guilty of aiding and abetting war crimes and crimes against humanity including murder rape and the use of child soldiers Taylor was sentenced to years in prison In comedian Bill Cosby was convicted of drugging and molesting Temple University employee Andrea Constand at Cosby s suburban Philadelphia mansion in Cosby was later sentenced to three to years in prison but Pennsylvania s highest court threw out the conviction and circulated him from prison in June ruling that the prosecutor in the affair was bound by his predecessor s agreement not to charge Cosby This day s Birthdays Actor-comedian Carol Burnett is Composer-producer Giorgio Moroder is Olympic swimming gold medalist Donna de Varona is Actor Giancarlo Esposito is Actor Joan Chen is Actor Jet Li is Actor-comedian Kevin James is Former U S Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey is Actor Marianne Jean-Baptiste is First lady Melania Trump is Singer Tionne T-Boz Watkins TLC is Country musician Jay DeMarcus Rascal Flatts is Actor Tom Welling is Actor Pablo Schreiber is Actor Jordana Brewster is Actor Channing Tatum is New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge is