Today’s Highlight

1962: Jamaica becomes an independent dominion within the British Commonwealth.

Other Notable Events

1661: Portuguese and Dutch sign treaty whereby Portugual retains Brazil and the Dutch keep Ceylon — now Sri Lanka.

1806: Holy Roman Empire ends as Francis II formally resigns the Imperial Dignity and becomes Francis I, Emperor of Austria.

1824: Simon Bolivar defeats Spanish forces at Junin in Peru.

1825: Bolivia declares its independence from Peru.

1890: Convicted murderer William Kemmler is the first person executed by electric chair. He is put to death at Auburn State Prison in New York.

1896: The French Parliament votes for the annexation of Madagascar, a protectorate since the year before.

1926: Warner Brothers Studios premieres the first movie with sound in New York.

1945: The first atomic bomb ever used in a war is dropped by US plane, Enola Gay, on Hiroshima, Japan. The world learns of the horrifying effects of radiation for years to come.

1965: US President Lyndon Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act.

1980: Edgar Z Tekere, a senior Zimbabwe Cabinet minister, is arrested for murdering an elderly white farmer. Even though it had been determined Tekere murdered Gerald Adams, he is acquitted on December 8.

1986: William J Schroeder dies after living 620 days with the “Jarvik 7” artificial heart.

1990: Pakistan’s Benazir Bhutto is ousted by the military after 20 months as prime minister.

1991: Yugoslavia’s presidency proclaims an unconditional ceasefire in Croatia.

1992: The US grants full diplomatic recognition to Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

1993: Morihiro Hosokawa, head of reformist coalition, is elected Japanese prime minister.

1995: US opens embassy in Hanoi, Vietnam.

1998: The World Bank approves a US$1.5 billion loan to Russia as part of a US$22.6-billion emergency rescue package designed to help the financially troubled nation restructure its economy.

2001: The Irish Republican Army agrees on gradually getting rid of its weapons, but offers no timetable on when it will start. Britain, Ireland and Catholic leaders welcome the move as a breakthrough.

2002: Five suspected Muslim separatist militants kill nine Hindu pilgrims and wound 28 in India’s Jammu and Kashmir state.

2003: Action film star Arnold Schwarzenegger announces that he would run as a Republican candidate to replace California Governor Gray Davis in a recall election.

2004: Battles between coalition forces and Iraqi insurgents in the Shiite holy city of Najaf kill 300 militants, the US military says, the worst fighting here since the height of a spring insurrection.

2005: Iran rejects a European proposal for a settlement of its nuclear standoff, saying the offer fails to recognise its right to enrich uranium, as ultraconservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is sworn in as president.

2006: A boat capsizes in a rain-swollen river near New Dehli, leaving at least six people dead and 16 others missing, as monsoon rains trigger floods across western India and force thousands to evacuate.

2008: Army commanders oust Mauritania’s freely elected president Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi in a bloodless coup.

2009: Sonia Sotomayor wins confirmation as the first Hispanic justice on the US Supreme Court, a landmark Senate vote that caps a summer-long debate heavy with ethnic politics and hints of high court fights to come.

Today’s Birthdays

Alfred Lord Tennyson, English poet (1809-1892); Alexander Fleming, British discoverer of penicillin (1881-1945); Lucille Ball, US actress (1911-1989); Robert Mitchum, US actor (1917-1997); Andy Warhol, US artist (1928-1987); Peggy and Patsy Lynn, US country singers (1964-); M Night Shyamalan, US film director (1970-); Charlie Haden, jazz bassist (1937-); Abbey Lincoln, jazz singer/actress (1930-).