NOW & THEN

0 On this day in 1887, Emile Berliner patented the first gramophone, bringing music to the masses agreement to return Hong Kong to Chinese rule in 1997.

1989: Soviet foreign minister Eduard Shevardnadze told the United Nations General Assembly that Moscow would join the United States in reducing or destroying all chemical weapons.

2000: The MS Express Samina sank off Paros in the Aegean sea, killing 80 passengers.

2002: The overcrowded Senegalese ferry MV Joola capsized off the coast of Gambia killing more than 1,000.

2008: German commandos arrested two men on a KLM plane at Cologne airport. They were suspected of planning attacks and had intended to carry out “holy war”.

2009: Typhoon Ketsana hit the Philippines, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand, causing 700 fatalities.