Today in history
1955 — West Germany and Soviet Union establish diplomatic relations, their first since World War II.
1970 — Israel arrests 450 Arabs in occupied Jordan and says it will exchange them for hostages held by guerillas.
1982 — Lindy and Michael Chamberlain go on trial for allegedly murdering their baby Azaria, who they say was killed by a dingo at Ayers Rock.
1993 — Israel and the PLO sign peace accord in Washington.
1995 — A military transport aircraft crashes into the sea off the coast of western Sri Lanka. All 75 people on board are killed.
1997 — Mother Teresa is buried in Calcutta.
1998 — The Yugoslav republic of Montenegro deports thousands of Kosovo refugees to Albania.
1999 — The fourth major blast in Russia in two weeks destroys an apartment building in Moscow and kills 118 people.
2001 — President George W Bush calls the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington ‘‘the first war of the 21st century’’ as his administration labels fugitive Osama bin Laden a prime suspect.
2002 — Two United States pilots are charged with involuntary manslaughter and assault for mistakenly bombing Canadian forces near Kandahar in southern Afghanistan in April.
2004 — North Korea says a huge cloud caused by an explosion was the planned demolition of a mountain for a hydro-electric project and invites a British diplomat to visit the site.
2005 — US President George W Bush takes responsibility for the government’s failures in dealing with Hurricane Katrina.
2006 — A gunman opens fire at a Montreal college and wounds at least 20 people – six critically – before shooting himself dead.
2006 — Billionaire financier George Soros pledges US$50 million to help the United Nations tackle extreme poverty and Aids in Subsaharan Africa.
2012 — More than 33,000 people are evacuated from communities surrounding a volcano in Guatemala after a series of eruptions.
2015 — Hundreds of pilgrims are killed or injured during a stampede near Mecca in Saudi Arabia during the hajj. Today’s Birthdays: Clara Schumann, German pianist (1819-1896); John Joseph Pershing, US general (1860-1948); Roald Dahl, Welsh-born author (1916-1990); Anne Geddes, Australian photographer (1956-); Shane Warne, Australian cricketer (1969-); Stella Mccartney, British fashion designer (1971-); Goran Ivanisevic, Croatian tennis player (1971-); Niall Horan, British singer of One Direction fame (1993-).