Monday, September 8
2003-09-08 07:20
Today is Monday, September 8, the 251st day of 2003. There are
114 days left in the year.
Highlights in history on this date:
1380 - At Kulikovo, Russian troops led by Moscow Grand Prince
Dmitry Donskoy for the first time win a battle over the Tartars.
1494 - France's King Charles VIII enters Turin, Italy, seeking
to establish his claim to throne of Naples.
1565 - A Spanish expedition establishes the first permanent
European settlement in North America at present-day St Augustine,
Florida.
1664 - The Dutch surrender New Amsterdam to the British, who
rename it New York.
1760 - Wisconsin in North America comes under English control
after being French territory.
1831 - Russia takes Warsaw after two-day battle, and Polish
revolt collapses.
1900 - Galveston, Texas, is struck by a hurricane that kills
about 6 000 people.
1914 - General Louis Botha announces the South African government's decision to carry the war into German South West Africa.
1914 - Earl Buxton becomes Governor-General of the Union of South Africa, holding the position until August 5, 1920.
1915 - Nicholas Nicolaievich is relieved of his army command in
Russia and Czar Nicholas II takes over.
1921 - Margaret Gorman of Washington, DC, is crowned the first
Miss America in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
1926 - Germany is admitted to League of Nations. The league was
formed to foster international co-operation and world peace.
1934 - Fire aboard luxury liner Morro Castle off New Jersey
coast in the United States takes 134 lives.
1939 - US President Franklin D Roosevelt declares a "limited
national emergency" due to the outbreak of war in Europe.
1941 - The Germans begin an 872-day siege of Leningrad, now St
Petersburg, Russia.
1943 - Allied Commander Dwight D Eisenhower announces Italy's
unconditional surrender in World War II. The Germans take over Rome
and northern Italy.
1944 - The first of more than 1 000 German V-2 ballistic
missiles land in Britain.
1951 - A peace treaty with Japan is signed by 48 other nations
in San Francisco.
1952 - American writer, Ernest Hemingway's novel "The Old Man
and the Sea" is published.
1954 - Southeast Asia Defence Treaty and Pacific Charter is
signed in Manila by Britain, France, United States, Australia, New
Zealand, Pakistan, Thailand and the Philippines.
1966 - The TV series "Star Trek" premieres in America on NBC.
1972 - Israeli air force, in retaliation for slaying of Israeli
athletes at Munich Olympics, attacks 10 Palestinian guerrilla bases
and naval installations in Syria and Lebanon.
1974 - US President Gerald Ford grants an unconditional pardon
to former President Nixon.
1979 - Three armed Lebanese surrender to Iranian authorities in
Tehran after hijacking an Italian airliner the day before. The
hijackers released 175 passengers in Rome and the remaining 35 in
Teheran.
1983 - Ten people are killed in anti-government protests in
Santiago, as Chileans continue to demand the resignation of
President Augusto Pinochet and a return to civilian rule.
1988 - About 1 million demonstrators demanding democracy
paralyse Yangon, Myanmar.
1990 - ANC deputy president Nelson Mandela warns that if the SA government fails to take effective steps to end the current violence in the country, the only defence of the people will be to take up arms.
1991 - Macedonians vote to become the third of six Yugoslav
republics to choose independence.
1993 - Gunmen in Johannesburg, South Africa kill at least 21
black commuters and wound 25.
1994 - British, French and American troops pull out of Berlin,
leaving the city without foreign soldiers for the first time since
World War II.
1995 - The former Yugoslav republics agree in Geneva to create a
state within Bosnia for rebel Serbs while maintaining the country's
unity.
1996 - Okinawa residents vote more than 10-to-1 in favour of a
referendum to reduce US military bases on the Japanese island.
1997 - A ferry sinks north of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, drowning an
estimated 200 people.
1998 - Serb forces launch a new offensive against separatists in
western Kosovo a day after US envoys failed to persuade Yugoslav
President Slobodan Milosevic to halt the attacks.
1999 - The United Nations delays its withdrawal from East Timor
out of concern for the safety of some 2 000 East Timorese who have
taken refuge in the U.N compound.
2000 - The head of the US Bureau of Indian Affairs apologises
for the federal agency's "legacy of racism and inhumanity" that
included massacres, forced relocations of tribes and attempts to
wipe out native Indian cultures.
2002 - Yugoslavia wins its second straight title at the World
Basketball Championships, beating Argentina, 84-77, in overtime in
Indianapolis, Indiana. Yugoslavia also eliminated a US team
comprised of NBA stars, in a 81-78 upset.
Today's Birthdays:
Richard I, the Lion-Hearted, king of England (1157-1199); August
Schlegal, German author (1767-1845); Antonin Dvorak, Bohemian
composer (1841-1904); Jessie Wilcox Smith, US painter/illustrator
(1863-1935); Sid Caesar, US comedian (1922--); Patsy Cline, US
country singer (1932-1963); Henry Thomas, US actor (1971--).
Thought for Today:
That pestilent cosmetic, rhetoric - TH Huxley, English
biologist and author (1825-1895).
- Sapa-AP
- SAPA