Thursday, September 21

2006-09-21 07:50

Today is Thursday, September 21, the 264th day of 2006. There are 101 days left in the year.

Highlights in history on this date:

1327 - Edward II of England is murdered at Berkely Castle, eight months after he was forced to abdicate by his queen and her lover.

1529 - Turks under Suleiman I begin an unsuccessful siege of Vienna.

1746 - French forces conquer Madras, India, after brief siege.

1792 - The National Convention formally abolishes the monarchy in France and declares a republic the next day.

1802 - Napoleon Bonaparte of France annexes Piedmont in Italy.

1860 - Anglo-French troops defeat Chinese at Pa-Li-Chau.

1896 - British force under Horatio Kitchener takes Dongola in Sudan.

1898 - Tzu-Hsi, dowager Empress of China, seizes power and revokes reforms.

1931 - Britain goes off the gold standard.

1939 - Premier Armand Calinescu of Romania is assassinated by the Iron Guard.

1938 - Hurricane kills more than 700 people in New England and on Long Island in the northeastern United States.

1949 - West Germany comes into existence as the US, British and French occupation zones are transferred to German control; People's Republic of China is proclaimed by its Communist leaders.

1950 - United Nations forces spring an offensive in South Korea by invading Inchon and Seoul with the US Marines fighting on the outskirts of Seoul.

1956 - Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza is shot by a liberal poet. He dies eight days later and is succeeded by his son.

1960 - UN deploys 4 000 troops to Katanga to prevent the massacre of Baluba tribesmen by provincial troops and police in Congo.

1964 - Malta becomes independent state within the British Commonwealth.

1969 - More than 120 people are killed in rioting in western India that stems from alleged Muslim abuse of cattle, which Hindus regard as sacred.

1972 - Ferdinand Marcos proclaims martial law in the Philippines and jails thousands of opponents. He stays in power till 1986.

1985 - Mexico counts at least 2 000 dead from earthquake that devastated four states.

1987 - Iraqi warplanes make bombing forays deep into Iran in Gulf War.

1988 - Coup leader general San Maung is named Burma's prime minister.

1991 - Nine members of Iran's only legal domestic opposition party are convicted and sentenced to prison as "enemies of the Islamic revolution" for signing a letter critical of the Iranian government.

1992 - The last power line to Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, is severed by shellfire. The electric supply to the besieged city is intermittent for years.

1993 - Russian President Boris Yeltsin dissolves parliament. Hard-line parliamentarians subsequently vote to impeach him and hole up in parliament building.

1995 - Pakistan expels 13 Afghan diplomats in retaliation for a deadly attack on its embassy in Islamabad.

1996 - In Bogota, Colombia, an anonymous tip leads to the discovery of nearly four kilograms of heroin on the jet President Ernesto Samper was to fly to the US. His government calls it a setup.

1998 - The first trial against Croats accused of wartime atrocities against Serb rebels opens in Croatia. The three soldiers are later acquitted.

1999 - Taiwan's strongest quake in decades with a 7.6 magnitude, kills more than 2 300 people, injures 10 000 and destroying hundreds of homes.

2000 - The Russian government says that it will freeze a deal to sell laser technology to Iran in light of the US concerns that the laser technology would be used to develop nuclear weapons.

2001 - Japanese foreign ministry says all banks and financial institutions operating in Japan are forbidden to make transactions with companies and individuals linked to bin Laden and the Taliban without first obtaining government permission.

2003 - NASA directs the unmanned space probe Galileo to plunge into the atmosphere of the planet Jupiter, destroying the craft after a 14-year mission to observe the planet and its satellites. NASA opted to crash Galileo after it ran out of fuel.

2004 - Floodwaters recede and rescue workers reach homes buried in mud, but Tropical Storm Jeanne has killed more than 700 Haitians and left a quarter million homeless.

2005 - Indonesia scrambles to calm public fears of a possible bird flu epidemic after two children suspected of having the disease die, potentially raising the death toll to six.

Today's Birthdays: Girolamo Savonarola, Italian preacher and reformer (1452-1498); Herbert George Wells, English author (1866-1946); Gustav Holst, British composer (1874-1934); Chuck Jones, US animator (1912-2002); Larry Hagman, US actor (1931); Leonard Cohen, Canadian poet-singer (1934); Stephen King, US writer (1947).

Thought For Today: We believe at once in evil, we only believe in good upon reflection. Is this not sad? - Madame Dorothee Deluzy, French actress (1747-1830).

- AP