NOW & THEN

0 Soviet newspaper Pravda commemorates Sputnik, which went into orbit above earth on this day in 1957 against Boris Yeltsin was crushed as Russian parliament leaders surrendered to troops loyal to the president.

1994: At the Labour Party conference in Blackpool, leader Tony Blair proposed ditching Clause 4, the party’s commitment to common ownership.

1996: The Ministry of Defence admitted some British troops who served in the Gulf campaign might have been poisoned by pesticides.

2008: OJ Simpson, the former American football star and actor, was found guilty of 12 charges of armed robbery, conspiracy to kidnap and assault with a deadly weapon after being accused of robbing two dealers of sports memorabilia in 2007.

2012: Nineteen people were killed when they were buried by a landslide in Yunnan, China.