Today is the 193rd day of 2022. There are 172 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

2007: French First Lady Cecilia Sarkozy visits five Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death in Libya for allegedly infecting hundreds of children with HIV. The diplomatic efforts of Cecilia and husband Nicolas Sarkozy eventually win their release.

OTHER EVENTS

1536: Dutch humanist Desiderius Erasmus dies in Basel Switzerland.

1679: Britain’s King Charles II ratifies Habeas Corpus Act allowing prisoners right to be imprisoned to be examined by a court.

1742: Evaristo Felice dall’Abaco, Italian cellist and composer, dies on his 67th birthday.

1790: During the French Revolution the Civil Constitution of the Clergy is adopted, putting the Catholic Church in France under the control of the State.

1804: Former United States Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton dies after being shot in a pistol duel the previous day by Vice-President Aaron Burr.

1856: American adventurer William Walker declares himself president of Nicaragua, a position he holds for about a year before being forced out by neighbouring states.

1862: The Medal of Honor, awarded for battlefield bravery, is created for the US Army.

1863: In New Zealand, British forces invade Waikato, home of the Maori King Movement, beginning a new phase of the wars between Maori and Colonial British

1892: Despite Daniel Lucius “Doc” Adams, president of the New York Knickerbockers Base Ball Club, authoring documents titled the Laws of Base Ball in 1857 which established the essentials of the modern game, Alexander Cartwright is credited as the American inventor of modern baseball in 1860. Cartwright dies of natural causes at age 72 on this day.

1902: Australia’s Parliament passes Immigration Restriction Act to stop non-European immigration, and gives women the right to vote.

1920: The independent republic of Lithuania, having successfully expelled invading Soviet troops, signs a peace treaty with Russia.

1921: Babe Ruth sets record of 137 career home runs.

1928: First televised tennis match takes place.

1913: 150,000 Ulstermen gather and resolve to resist Irish Home Rule by force of arms; since the British Liberals have promised the Irish nationalists home rule, civil war appears imminent.

1933: Fifth-Greatest Male Star of All Time Fred Astaire weds socialite Phyllis Livingston Potter.

1941: British-Soviet mutual aid pact of World War II is signed.

1943: In the World War II Battle of Prokhorovka the Russians defeat German forces in one of the largest-ever tank battles.

1957: US Surgeon General Leroy Burney connects smoking with lung cancer. Prince Karim, 20-year-old student at Harvard University, becomes Aga Khan and leader of 20 million Ismaili Muslims following the death of his grandfather.

1960: France agrees to independence of Dahomey, Niger, Upper Volta, Ivory Coast, Chad, Central Africa and the Congo.

1962: Rolling Stones’ first performance is held at Marquee Club in London.

1971: Orangemen in Northern Ireland march in city streets to celebrate half-century of Protestant rule.

1975: The island nation of Sao Tome and Principe is granted independence from Portugal.

1976: The television game show Family Feud begins airing on ABC. It became hugely popular in part because of the personal charm and witty banter of host Richard Dawson; the show continued — with different hosts, including Steve Harvey — into the 21st century.

1983: Britain and China begin formal, year-long negotiations in Beijing on the return of Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty.

1984: Democratic presidential candidate Walter F Mondale puts forward Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate, making her the first woman ever nominated for vice-president by a major US political party.

1985: Singin’ in the Rain, the musical adaptation of the 1952 film, opens at Gershwin Theater, NYC and runs for 367 performances.

1990: Les Miserables opens at National Theatre, Washington, DC. Boris Yeltsin resigns from the Soviet Union’s Communist Party during the 28th meeting of the Party Congress.

1991: The five permanent members of the UN Security Council tell Iraq’s ambassador his country must swiftly disclose the extent of its nuclear programme or face serious consequences.

1992: Axl Rose is arrested on riot charges in St Louis stemming from a concert on July 2.

1993 Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Sunset Boulevard, based on Billy Wilder’s 1950 film starring Patti Lupone and Daniel Benzali, opens at the Adelphi Theatre, London.

1994: Germany’s highest court clears the way for German forces to take part in military operations beyond the country’s borders, reversing a post-World War II strategy intended to keep the country from becoming a threat.

1995: Among the captured after the fall of Srebrenica, Bosnian Serbs separate men from women and children and take over the UN base that was supposed to protect them.

1998: Zinedine Zidane scores twice as France wins their first World Cup, beating Brazil 3-0 in the final at Stade de France.

1999: The 52-member Organization of African Unity begins a conference in Algeria to address African problems ranging from a US$ 220-billion debt to civil conflicts.

2000: The long-delayed International Space Station’s service module is lifted off into orbit.

2001: Bulgaria’s former king, Simeon II, is named prime minister.

2002: UN Security Council approves a resolution that grants US peacekeepers serving in UN missions immunity from prosecution by the International Criminal Court, for at least a year.

2003: Salamat Hashim, the leader of the rebel Moro Islamic Liberation Front, dies. The group had been fighting to establish a breakaway Islamic state in the southern Philippines.

2004: Israel’s Prime Minister Ariel Sharon asks the Opposition Labour Party to join his coalition — an alliance that would strongly boost chances for an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

2005: Prince Albert II of Monaco accedes to the throne of a 700-year-old dynasty, a bachelor prince coming into his own as a retiring but modern ruler.

2008: North Korea agrees to disable its main reactor by the end of October and allow international inspections to verify its nuclear disarmament. 2008 “Black Eyed Peas” rapper Taboo weds fashion publicist Jaymie Dizon at St Andrews Catholic Church in Pasadena, California.

2009: President Barack Obama gets a rapturous reception in Ghana from Africans overjoyed at the visit of America’s first black president to a country south of the Sahara.

2015: Former football player Ledley King weds long-term girlfriend Amy Kavanagh at Syon House in West London.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Elijah Wedgewood, British pottery maker (1730-1795); Henry David Thoreau, US author-naturalist (1817-1862); Hipolito Yrigoyen, first democratically elected president of Argentina (1852-1933); George Eastman, US inventor (1854-1932); Amedeo Modigliani, Italian artist (1884-1920); Pablo Neruda, Chilean poet and Nobel laureate (1904-1973); Ken Chaplin, Jamaican journalist and football referee (1930-2019 ); Van Cliburn, US pianist (1934-2013); Bill Cosby, US actor-comedian (1937-); Cheryl Ladd, US actress (1951-); Brock Lesnar, professional wrestler (1977- ).

– AP and Jamaica Observer