Today in History

May 4

1626 - Dutch explorer Peter Minuit lands on what is now Manhattan. 1776 - Rhode Island declares its freedom from England.

1814 - King Ferdinand VII of Spain abolishes the 1812 Constitution and returns Spain to an absolute monarchy.

1843 - Britain annexes Natal.

1904 - The United States begins construction of the Panama Canal. 1931 - Mustafa Kemal Pasha becomes President of Turkey.

1945 - German forces in the Netherlands, Denmark and northwest Germany agree to surrender during Second World War. 1949 - The entire Torino FC football team is killed in a plane crash near Turin, Italy.

1979 - Margaret Thatcher becomes the first woman Prime Minister in the history of Britain.

1980 - Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito dies at the age of 87. 1986 - Babrak Karmal resigns as president of Afghanistan.

1987 - Prime Minister Rashid Karami announces his resignation that threatened to plunge war-torn Lebanon into a constitutional crisis. 1989 - Tens of thousands of Chinese students march to Tiananmen Square calling for freedom and democracy.

1990 - Latvia’s parliament declares independence from Soviet Union. 1994 - The Gaza-Jericho Agreement is signed, granting selfrule in the Gaza Strip and Jericho. 2002 - A passenger plane of Nigeria’s private EAS Airlines crashes in northern city of Kano, killing 148 people.

2008 - 78,000 people are killed when tropical cyclone Nargis rips through Myanmar.

2009 - Nepal’s Maoist Prime Minister Prachanda resigns after a crisis sparked by his sacking of the country’s army chief.

2011 - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announces the signing of a reconciliation accord between Fatah and Hamas in Cairo.

2012 - Saudi Arabia reopens its missions in Egypt after they were shut last week in the wake of angry protests.

2015 - Dubai issues a law on Dubai Free Zones Council.

2017 - US House passes bill to repeal Obamacare.