Today in history
1728 – A huge fire ravages Copenhagen, Denmark, destroying most of the city. 1792 – United States President George Washington writes about religious differences as the cause of the world’s troubles: ‘‘Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind those which are caused by a difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the most inveterate and distressing and ought to be deprecated.’’ 1903 – A joint commission rules in favour of the US in a boundary dispute between the District of Alaska and Canada. 1945 – Egypt, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon warn the US that creation of a Jewish state could lead to war in Middle East; Arab League is formed. 1968 – Jacqueline Kennedy and Aristotle Onassis are wed on his privately owned island of Skorpios in Ionian Sea. 1977 – The civilian government in Thailand is ousted in a bloodless coup by military junta that installed the regime one year earlier. 1989 – Hungarian parliament disbands the Communist Party’s armed guard, known as the Worker’s Militia. 1991 – Earthquake strikes Himalayan foothills in India, killing at least 341 people and destroying tens of thousands of homes. 1995 – NATO Secretary-general Willy Claes resigns to face corruption charges in his native Belgium. 2004 – Two Muslim girls who refuse to remove their headscarves in class are expelled from their schools, and two more risk the same fate as officials begin taking action against those who defy a new French law banning conspicuous religious symbols from public schools. 2005 – A UN investigation concludes that high-ranking Syrian and Lebanese security officials were involved in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. 2008 – Taliban gunmen kill Christian aid worker Gayle Williams, a Britishsouth African national, in Kabul, Afghanistan. 2010 – The US says Pakistan should support Afghanistan’s peace talks with the Taliban and is pressing Pakistan to take stronger military action against militant groups sheltering within its borders. 2011 – Moammar Gadhafi, Libya’s dictator for 42 years until he was ousted in an uprising-turned-civil war, is killed as revolutionary fighters overwhelm his hometown of Sirte and capture the last major bastion of resistance two months after his regime fell.
Today’s birthdays:
Thomas Bartholin, Danish physician, mathematician, and theologian (1616-1680); Sir Christopher Wren, English architect (1632-1723); Charles Goldie, NZ artist (1870-1947); Snoop Dogg, US rapper (1971-).