Today in History

October 30

1817 - Simon Bolivar organises independent government in Venezuela.

1918 - Czechoslovakia is proclaimed an independent republic.

1928 - Experimental transmission of still photographs by television begins in Britain.

1930 - Treaty of friendship between Greece and Turkey is signed in Ankara.

1961 - The Soviet Union tests a hydrogen bomb with a force estimated at 58 megatons.

1963 - Algeria and Morocco sign a peace agreement in a border dispute.

1973 - The Bosphorus Bridge opens in Istanbul, Turkey.

1975 - Prince Juan Carlos becomes Spain’s acting head of state after Generalissimo Francisco Franco concedes that he is too ill to govern.

1980 - Algeria frees former president Ahmad Ben Bella.

1983 - A powerful earthquake hits eastern Turkey killing more than 1,300 people in Erzurum and Kars provinces.

1986 - The first fibre-optic undersea telecommunications cable across the English Channel goes into service.

1993 - Two gunmen open fire in a village pub in Northern Ireland, killing seven.

1995 - Quebec votes against separation from Canada by 50.6 per cent to 49.4 per cent.

1998 - Turkish police forces storm a hijacked airliner at Ankara airport, freeing 40 passengers and crew and killing an armed hijacker.

1999 - The last Indonesian troop ship sails out of East Timor, ending a bloody 24-year military engagement in the nowindependent nation.

2005 - Middle East’s first private airline Jazeera Airways lands in Dubai.

2008 - A series of coordinated bomb blasts tears through the Indian state of Assam, killing at least 61 people.

2012 - Bahrain bans all rallies and public gatherings.

2013 - A private bus travelling from Bengaluru catches fire in Mahboobnager, Andhra Pradesh, killing 45 passengers.

2014 - Sweden, the first European Union country member, officially recognises the State of Palestine.

2015 - China announces new population-control policy, allowing couples to have two children.