Today in History

July 29

1858 - The United States and Japan sign their first commercial treaty.

1890 - Dutch Artist Vincent van Gogh dies of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in Auvers, France, at the age of 37.

1900 - Italy’s King Humbert I is assassinated.

1937 - Eighteen-year-old Crown Prince Farouk is crowned king of Egypt.

1938 - Jenny Kammersgaad of Denmark becomes the first person to swim across the Baltic Sea.

1948 - King George VI opens 14th modern Olympic Games in London.

1958 - The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is founded in the United States.

1965 - The Beatles’ film Help! is released in the United Kingdom.

1967 - Fire sweeps the USS Forrestal in the Gulf of Tonkin, killing 134 sailors.

1973 - Voters in Greece endorse the abolition of the Greek monarchy.

1979 - Singapore Airline’s flight carrying the Prime Minister of Singapoer, Lee Kuan Yew, aborts its take off at Dubai airport when two tyres burst and the plane skids off the runway.

1980 - Iran’s Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi is laid to rest in Al Rifaie mosque in Cairo.

1987 - Sri Lankan President Junius Jayewardene and Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi sign a controversial peace pact.

1989 - Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani wins the presidential election in Iran.

1992 - Former East German leader Erich Honecker, the man who built the infamous Berlin Wall, returns to Berlin to face manslaughter charges.

1994 - Former Italian prime minister Bettino Craxi is sentenced to eight and-a-half years in jail after being convicted of fraud.

1999 - The first express rail service between Amman and Damascus begins with six new trains.

2002 - Egypt’s rights activist Sa’ad Ebrahim is sentenced to seven years in jail.

2007 - Iraq wins the 2007 football Asian Cup in Jakarta.

2008 - Emirates’ A380 makes a historic landing at Dubai International Airport.

2009 - Microsoft and Yahoo unveil a 10-year deal which gives Microsoft access to Yahoo users.