Six-year-old Elian Gonzalez is reunited with his father from Cuba after a frantic and forceful end to a five-month stand-off between the US Government and the Cuban boy’s Miami relatives.
TODAY’S HIGHGLIGHT
2000: Six-year-old Elian Gonzalez is reunited with his father from Cuba after a frantic and forceful end to a five-month stand-off between the US Government and the Cuban boy’s Miami relatives.
OTHER EVENTS
1509: Henry VIII becomes king of England following the death of his father, Henry VII.
1529: Treaty of Saragossa defines interests of Spain and Portugal in the Pacific; Spain gives up claim to the East Indies.
1821: Greek Patriarch of Constantinople is slain by Turks as reprisal for Greek massacre of Turks in the Peloponnese.
1822: Turkish fleet captures island of Chios off Greece and massacres Christian inhabitants or sells them as slaves.
1864: Congress authorises the use of the phrase “In God We Trust” on US coins.
1889: American homesteaders swarm into the Oklahoma territory; staking claim to free land.
1898: The first shot of the Spanish-American War rings out as the USS Nashville captures a Spanish merchant ship off Key West, Florida.
1915: In first reported use of gas in a conflict, German army releases a cloud of chlorine that causes havoc among French troops at Ypres, Belgium.
1931: Egypt and Iraq sign treaty of friendship — the first pact between Egypt and another Arab state.
1945: Allied forces take Bologna in Italy during World War II.
1956: China appoints Dalai Lama chairman of committee to prepare Tibet for regional autonomy within Chinese People’s Republic.
1970: Millions of Americans concerned about the environment observe the first “Earth Day”.
1975: First Vietnamese refugees arrive on US West Coast while South Vietnam is falling to communists.
1990: Pro-Iranian kidnappers in Lebanon free American hostage Robert Polhill after nearly 39 months of captivity.
1992: Gasoline leaked from a nearby refinery explodes in the sewerage system of Guadalajara, Mexico, ripping open streets and killing 194 people.
1993: A military court in Cairo sentences to death seven of 49 Islamic militants for attacks against tourists.
1995: Hutu refugees flee the refugee camp at Kibeho, Zaire, after thousands are gunned down by soldiers or trampled to death in stampedes.
1997: Peruvian troops storm the Japanese ambassador’s mansion in Lima, Peru, and rescue 72 hostages held for four months, but one dies on the way to the hospital. All 14 Tupac Amaru rebels and two soldiers die in the shoot-out.
1999: NATO destroys Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic’s home in Belgrade with bombs, claiming it is part of his military machine.
2007: Gunmen execute 23 members of the ancient Yazidi religious sect in northern Iraq after stopping their bus and separating out followers of other faiths.
2010: President Barack Obama rebukes Wall Street for risky practices, even as he seeks its leaders’ help for “updated, commonsense” banking regulations to head off any new financial crisis.
2011: Syrian security forces fire bullets and tear gas at tens of thousands of protesters across the country, killing at least 75 people in the bloodiest day of the month-long uprising against President Bashar Assad.
2012: The US and Afghanistan reach a deal on a long-delayed strategic partnership agreement that ensures Americans will provide military and financial support to the Afghan people for at least a decade beyond 2014, the deadline for most foreign forces to withdraw.
2014: Most Sherpa mountain climbers decide to leave Mount Everest, confirming a walkout certain to disrupt the climbing season that was already marked by grief over the 16 lives lost in Everest’s deadliest disaster.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
Henry Fielding, English author (1707-1754); Immanuel Kant, German philosopher (1724-1804); Vladimir Lenin, Russian communist leader (1870-1924); Sir Yehudi Menuhin, US-born violinist (1916-1999); Sir Sidney Nolan, Australian artist (1917-1993); Aaron Spelling, US television producer (1923-2006); Alan Bond, Australian entrepreneur and America’s Cup sponsor (1938- ); Jack Nicholson, US actor (1937-); John Waters, US director (1946- )
