Thursday, July 8

2004-07-08 07:12

Today is Thursday, July 8, the 189th day of 2004. There are 176 days left in the year.

Highlights in history on this date:

1524 - Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazano arrives in France to report on his discoveries in the New World, which include the New York Bay. His voyage becomes the basis for French claims of territory.

1709 - Russian forces under Peter the Great defeat Swedish forces under Charles XII at Poltava, Ukraine.

1792 - France declares war on Prussia.

1833 - Turkey and Russia sign Treaty of Hunkar Iskelesi, a defensive alliance under which the Sultan agrees to close Dardanelles Straits to all but Russian warships.

1846 - Denmark's King Christian VIII declares Danish state indivisible and heritable by females.

1853 - US Commodore Matthew Perry arrives in Tokyo Bay with two armed frigates to force Japan to open up to the West after more than 200 years of isolation.

1858 - The British proclaim victory after a year of bitter fighting to put down the Indian Mutiny.

1885 - The Wall Street Journal is first published.

1895 - The opening of Delagoa Bay Railway gives Transvaal - now in South Africa - an outlet to the sea.

1920 - Britain annexes East African Protectorate as Kenya Colony.

1940 - Norwegian government moves to London 62 days after Nazi Germany invades that country.

1950 - US General Douglas MacArthur is named commander-in-chief of UN forces in Korea.

1976 - Indonesian government says 9 000 people died in earthquake in New Guinea.

1986 - Kurt Waldheim is inaugurated as Austria's president despite admitting he lied about serving in the German army during World War 2.

1987 - Angolan news agency Angop reports that South African troops, backed by planes, tanks and artillery, used chemical weapons in attacks inside Angola. The SA Defence Force says the allegations are an attempt to minimise setbacks incurred by Unita victories in the area.

1990 - The Rev Allan Boesak resigns all his positions of responsibility in the Dutch Reformed Mission Church after allegations of an extra-marital affair.

1991 - Foreign Minister Pik Botha signs accession to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty on behalf of South Africa. The signing opens South Africa's nuclear facilities for inspection.

1991 - South Africa opens an office of representation in Moscow.

1992 - Heavy artillery battles rage across Sarajevo as Bosnia's President Alija Izetbegovic leaves the country to seek help at an international summit.

1993 - Seven Muslim radicals are hanged in Egypt for attacking foreign tourists in their campaign to overthrow the government.

1994 - Kim Il Sung, North Korea's longtime ruler, dies.

1995 - Phanor Arizabaleta, one of the top leaders of the Cali cocaine cartel, surrenders in Bogota, Colombia. He later gets 28 years in prison.

1996 - The first Islamist-led government in Turkey's modern history narrowly wins a vote of confidence.

1997 - Nato extends membership invitations to three former Eastern European countries - Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

1998 - The Taliban religious army in Afghanistan outlaws televisions and video cassette recorders.

2000 - Pakistani police end a nine-hour standoff with the wife of deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, forcing her to drive to the family home outside the eastern Punjab capital of Lahore. The standoff began when police tried to prevent Kulsoom Sharif from launching an anti-government march.

2001- Philippine authorities arrest a leader of the Islamic extremist group Abu Sayyaf, accusing him of plotting the kidnapping of 20 people from a resort on Palawan island.

2002 - A group of about 150 women occupy the ChevronTexaco Corp oil pipeline terminal in Escravos, Nigeria, trapping some 700 workers inside in a seven-day siege. The women demand that ChevronTexaco employ their sons and provide their villages with electricity.

2003 - Ladan and Laleh Bijani, 29-year-old Iranian twins who were joined at the head, die in Singapore after doctors in a 54-hour operation managed to separate their brains but were unable to stop blood loss.

Today's Birthdays:

Jean de La Fontaine, French writer and fabulist (1621-1695); Count Ferdinand Zeppelin, German inventor of dirigible (1838-1917); John D Rockefeller, US. financier (1839-1937); Kathe Kollwitz, German artist (1867-1945), Angelica Huston, US actress/director (1951--), Kevin Bacon US actor (1958--), Joan Osborne, US singer (1962--).

Thought For Today:

History must stay open, it is all humanity - William Carlos Williams, American author and poet (1883-1963). - Sapa-AP

- SAPA