On this day in 1994, American teenager Michael P. Fay was caned in Singapore for theft and vandalism, a punishment that the United States deemed to be excessive for a teenager committing a non-violent crime.
On this day in 2010, a series of demonstrations in Athens and general strikes across Greece began in response to austerity measures imposed by the government as a result of the debt crisis.
On this day in 2012, Japan shut down its nuclear reactors, leaving the country without nuclear power for the first time since 1970.