TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

1945: International star and Jamaican reggae icon Robert Nesta “Bob” Marley — who blended early ska, rocksteady, and reggae forms into an electrifying hybrid— is born in Nine Miles, St Ann, to 18-year-old Cedella Booker and 60-year-old Norval Marley, a captain in the British Marines and plantation overseer of English and Syrian descent.

OTHER EVENTS

1778: The first US treaty, the Treaty of Alliance, is signed in Paris by France, after it recognises the USA.

1840: The Treaty of Waitangi, guaranteeing Maori tribal chiefs their lands and certain other rights, is signed in return for British sovereignty over New Zealand.

1899: The Treaty of Paris is ratified whereby Spain cedes Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines to the United States for US$20 million.

1952: Britain’s King George VI dies and is succeeded by his daughter, Elizabeth II, who then reigns for 70 years.

1964: Cuba cuts off normal water supply to the US naval station at Guantanamo, in retaliation for the seizure of Cuban fishing vessels.

1975: Three paintings — one by Raphael and two by Piero della Francesca — are stolen from the National Gallery in Urbino, Italy.

1993: African American tennis player Arthur Ashe, ranked number one in the world, the first black player ever selected to the United States Davis Cup team, and the only black man ever to win the singles Grand Slam title three times — at Wimbledon, the US Open, and the Australian Open — dies at age 49.

1996: More than 1,000 Palestinians challenge Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem by filing claims for property they once owned in the Jewish part of the disputed city.

1997: Marking his first year as president of Haiti, Rene Preval distributes land to peasants.

2000: Hillary Rodham Clinton announces her candidacy for US Senate in New York and later becomes the only US first lady ever elected to public office.

2001: Ariel Sharon is elected Israeli prime minister in a landslide win over Ehud Barak.

2002: Athanase Seromba, a Roman Catholic priest accused of participating in the 1994 slaughter of Tutsis by ethnic Hutus in Rwanda, surrenders to the UN tribunal in Arusha, Tanzania.

2006: Anger over caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad spills violently onto the streets of Afghanistan where protesters direct their anger against the US; police gun down at least four people, some as they try to break into a US military base.

2007: A total of 60 countries worldwide endorse the Paris Commitments regarding child fighters, including African, Asian, and South American nations where child fighters had been used in war; it is an agreement that commits countries to stopping the practice and punishing those who recruit youngsters as combatants.

2008: Seven doctors and pharmacists go on trial in Paris for the deaths of more than 100 young people who contracted a brain-destroying illness, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, after being treated with tainted human growth hormones; the trial follows a more than 16-year investigation.

2011: Two Americans accused of spying begin their vtrial in Iran following an 18-month detention that brought a stunning bail deal to free their companion, and backdoor diplomatic outreach by Washington through an Arab ally in the Gulf.

2014: Italian President Giorgio Napolitano signs an emergency law making the unauthorised burning and disposal of garbage punishable by prison sentences.

2015: At the 46th NAACP Image Awards Selma wins Outstanding Motion Picture.

2017: Qatar Airways achieves the longest-ever commercial flight with a 16-hour, 23-minute journey from Doha to Auckland.

2018: In Rio de Janeiro, Brazilian jockey Jorge Ricardo equals the 12,844 world record number of victories for a jockey.

2019: Honeybees are able to add, subtract, and understand the concept of zero, according to research from RMIT University in Australia.
QuadrigaCX, Canada’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, is unable to access CAD$145 million of bitcoin assets after its CEO dies with its access passwords.

2020: The USA has its first COVID-19-related death, as confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on April 21.

2023: Powerful earthquakes strike Turkey and Syria, first a magnitude-7.8 at 4:15 am, then a second 7.5-magnitude quake at 1:24 pm; strong aftershocks cause buildings to collapse, with resultant death tolls of 59,000 in Turkey and 8,000 for Syria.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Babe Ruth, US baseball star (1895-1948); Ronald Reagan, US president (1911-2004); Eva Braun, wife of Hitler (1912-1945 ); Zsa Zsa Gabor, Hungarian actress (1917-2016); Bob Marley, Jamaican musician (1945-1981); Rick Astley, British singer (1966- ); William Alexander Anthony “Bunny Rugs” Clarke, Jamaican musician (1948-2014); Derrick Clifton Harriott, Jamaican singer and record producer (1939- )

— AP/ Jamaica Observer