1989: China's Communist Party replaces Zhao Ziyang as party chief, accusing him of serious errors by supporting democratic demands.

2001: Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic lashes out at a decree ordering his extradition to The Hague to stand trial for war crimes, calling it “legal savagery”.

2006: Thousands of protesters demand the ouster of East Timor's prime minister, blaming him for provoking violence and political chaos.

2013: Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's flamboyant former premier, is sentenced to seven years in prison and banned from politics for life for paying an underage prostitute for sex during infamous “bunga bunga” parties.

2014: Former News of the World editor Andy Coulson is convicted of conspiracy to hack phones in the British scandal that led to the newspaper's shutdown, split Rupert Murdoch's powerful media empire and brought an apology from Prime Minister David Cameron, who employed Coulson as a spokesman.