On July 28, 1976, an earthquake devastated northern China, killing at least 242,000 people, according to an official estimate.

Ten yea rs ago

Actor-director Mel Gibson went into an anti-Semitic tirade as he was being arrested on the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, California, on suspicion of driving while drunk; Gibson later apologized and was sentenced to probation and alcohol treatment. Former Peruvian President Alan Garcia was inaugurated for a second term, 16 years after leaving office.

Five yea rs ago

The body of the military chief of the Libyan rebels’ National Transitional Council, Abdel-Fattah Younis, was found dumped outside Benghazi along with those of two top aides. The president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Rev. Howard Creecy Jr., died in a fall in his Atlanta home seven months after taking office; he was 57.

One yea r ago

President Barack Obama wrapped up his trip to Kenya and Ethiopia in Addis Ababa, where he urged African leaders to leave office peacefully after their terms expired. In a case that outraged animal lovers, Zimbabwean police said they were searching for an American who had shot and killed a well-known protected lion known as Cecil during a bow hunt; Walter Palmer, a Minnesota dentist, issued a statement saying he thought everything about his trip was legal. (Officials in Zimbabwe later said Palmer had not broken the country’s hunting laws.)

— By The Associated Press