Monday, July 21

2003-07-21 11:18

Today is Monday, July 21, the 203nd day of 2002. There are 162 days left in the year.

Highlights in history on this date:

1542 - Pope Paul III establishes the Roman Inquisition to fight Protestantism.
1683 - Lord William Russell is beheaded in England for plotting to kill the king.
1718 - Austria and Venice gain substantial lands in the Balkans from Turkey by the Peace of Passarowitz (Pozarevac, now in Yugoslavia).
1773 - Pope Clement XIV dissolves Roman Catholic Jesuit order after pressure from anti-clerical countries, but the order is re-established in 1814.
1798 - France's Napoleon Bonaparte defeats the Egyptians at Battle of the Pyramids and becomes master of Egypt.
1820 - Danish physicist Hans Christian Oersted announces his discovery that an electrical current creates a magnetic field.
1831 - Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg is crowned the first king of newly independent Belgium, prompting the Dutch to invade.
1861 - The Confederate army defeats Union troops at the Battle of Bull Run in the US state of Virginia.
1873 - Jesse James and his gang pull off the first train robbery in America taking dlrs 3 000 from the Rock Island Express in Adair, Iowa.
1920 - Sinn Fein and unions riot in Belfast, Ireland. King Faisal recognizes French mandate in Syria.
1925 - The "Monkey Trial" ends in Dayton, Tenn., with John T Scopes convicted of violating state law for teaching Darwin's theory of evolution. The conviction is later overturned.
1944 - American forces land on Guam during World War II.
1954 - An armistice is signed in Geneva, dividing Vietnam into a communist north and a US-supported south as France surrenders North Vietnam to the Communists.
1959 - US District Court judge in New York City rules that DH Lawrence's famous book "Lady Chatterley's Lover" is not pornographic.
1960 - Sirimavo Bandaranaike of Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, becomes the world's first woman prime minister.
1962 - Indian and Chinese troops clash in two disputed areas of Kashmir. 1969 - US Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin Jr blast off from Moon and head back to Earth after man's first lunar landing.
1973 - France explodes nuclear device over South Pacific island despite worldwide protests.
1974 - United States announces that Greece and Turkey agree to cease-fire in war on island of Cyprus.
1975 - Soviet Soyuz spacecraft lands safely in Soviet Central Asia after its rendezvous in space with US Apollo craft.
1987 - American TV personality Mary Hart of Entertainment Tonight, insures her legs by Lloyd's of London for $2 million.
1989 - Top Communist Party leaders in Soviet Union call for sterner restrictions on freedom of the press.
1990 - Thousands of protesters clash with riot police in Seoul following demonstration that attracted nearly 300 000 South Koreans.
1991 ? The South African government admits it secretly gave R1.5m in recent years to African National Congress rival Inkatha.
1993 - Floods and landslides caused by four weeks of torrential rains across India, Bangladesh and Nepal kill nearly 1 000 people and drive millions from their homes.
1994 - Former dissident author Alexander Solzhenitsyn returns to Moscow 20 years after he was expelled.
1995 - A 16-nation conference in London warns Bosnia's Serbs that further moves on the UN "safe area" of Gorazde will be met_ with a "substantial and decisive response."
1996 - Rain-swollen rivers inundate much of southern Quebec, sweeping away houses and sending thousands of people to shelters.
1997 - Palestinian police discover bomb factory near Bethlehem that contained explosives and disguises that would enable bombers to pose as Israelis.
1998 - Concerned that violence in Kosovo could spill over, the UN security council decides to add about 300 troops to the 750-strong UN peacekeeping force in Macedonia.
1999 - Kosovo rebels meet a midnight deadline for turning over their heavy weapons to Nato troops.
2000 - Bolivian drug trafficker, Roberto Suarez Gomez, self-proclaimed "King of Cocaine" dies at age 68. He is believed to be the model for the acclaimed US movie "Scarface."
2001 - Flash floods triggered by torrential rain and hailstorms leaves at least 30 people dead and 100 injured in northwest Iran.

Today's Birthdays:

Saint Philip Neri, Italian churchman (1515-1595), Baron Paul Julius von Reuter, German-born news service pioneer (1816- 1899), Ernest Hemingway, US author and Nobel laureate (1899- 1961), Marshall McLuhan, Canadian media theorist (1911-1980), Isaac Stern, Russian-born violinist (1920-2001), Don Knotts, US actor (1924--), Norman Jewison, Canadian director (1926--), Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens), British pop singer (1948--); Robin Williams, US actor (1952--), Josh Hartnett, US actor (1978--)

Thought For today:

A good scare is worth more to a man than good advice - Edgar Watson Howe, American editor and author (1853-1937). -Sapa-AP

- SAPA