On this day – Oct 27 2004

Melbourne Herald Sun, Australia
The Mercury, Australia
Advertiser, Australia
Sunday Times, Australia
26 Oct. 2004
On this day
27oct04
1999 – Up to five gunmen seize Armenia’s parliament in a torrent of
automatic weapons fire, killing the prime minister and seven others
before taking dozens hostage. The gunmen surrender the next day.
1505 – Ivan III, Ivan the Great, Tsar of Russia, who strengthened the
authority of the monarchy and laid the foundations for a centralised
state, dies.
1523 – English expedition to France fails.
1651 – Limerick, Ireland, surrenders to British after lengthy siege.
1662 – Charles II of England sells Dunkirk to France for Stg400,000.
1676 – Peace of Zurawna between Poland and Turkey.
1789 – French attempt to invade Ireland fails.
1795 – US and Spain sign the Treaty of San Lorenzo (also known as
Pinckney’s Treaty), providing free navigation of the Mississippi River.
1806 – France’s Napoleon Bonaparte occupies Berlin.
1807 – Spain and France agree to conquer Portugal.
1870 – French troops surrender Metz, France, to Prussians.
1871 – Britain annexes diamond fields of Kimberley, South Africa.
1900 – After four years of work, the first section of the New York
subway is opened.
1901 – The first known use of a getaway car occurs in Paris when
thieves drove off after holding up a shop.
1918 – Kaiser Wilhelm II accepts the resignation of General Erich
Ludendorff after the failure of the German offensive on the Western
Front.
1922 – Southern Rhodesia referendum rejects joining Union of South
Africa; The Italian government resigns under increasing pressure from
the fascist movement of Benito Mussolini.
1927 – Criminals Squizzy Taylor and Snowy Cutmore die in shootout at
Carlton, Melbourne.
1938 – Du Pont announces a name for its new synthetic yarn: nylon.
1942 – An indecisive two-day air and sea battle around the Solomon
Islands ends with severe damage to both US and Japanese fleets in WWII.
1951 – Egyptians abrogate 1936 alliance treaty with Britain and 1899
agreement over Sudan.
1954 – Walt Disney’s first television program, titled Disneyland after
his yet-to-be completed theme park, premieres on American ABC.
1961 – Mongolia and Mauritania are admitted as members of the United
Nations.
1964 – Eric Cooke, the “Moonstruck Murderer”, is hanged in Perth for
multiple killings.
1966 – The UN General Assembly votes to end South Africa’s mandate over
South West Africa – now Namibia.
1971 – Government of Congo announces the country will change its name
to the Republic of Zaire.
1973 – United Nations peacekeeping force arrives in Cairo to attempt to
set up lasting ceasefire between Israeli and Arab forces.
1977 – President Jimmy Carter rules out any US embargo on trade with
South Africa or any ban on US investment in that nation to protest its
racial policies.
1978 – Egypt’s President Anwar Sadat and Israel’s Prime Minister
Menachem Begin are awarded Nobel Peace Prize.
1986 – The Big Bang takes place on the London Stock Exchange with the
introduction of computerised dealing and deregulation of many controls.
1987 – South Korean voters overwhelmingly approve new constitution
clearing way for first direct presidential elections in 16 years.
1988 – Czech authorities arrest dozens of dissidents and impose strict
security on Prague.
1989 – Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega announces end to ceasefire
with US-backed anti-Sandinista rebels.
1990 – American journalist Terry Anderson turns 43, spending his sixth
birthday as hostage in Lebanon; New Zealand’s voters oust the Labour
Party of Mike Moore giving the National Party under James Bolger the
biggest election victory in more than 50 years.
1991 – European Community condemns Yugoslav army’s siege of Dubrovnik
and calls on forces to abide by October 18 ceasefire; Turkmenistan’s
Supreme Soviet passes a law establishing its independence from the
Soviet Union.
1992 – Israeli jets bomb Southern Lebanon avenging the deaths of six
Israelis, but the Israeli government resists calls to withdraw from
Middle East peace talks; Six people are shot dead on NSW central coast.
1993 – Brush fires in southern California destroy at least 800 homes.
1994 – In extraordinary talks in Syria, US President Bill Clinton says
President Hafez Assad “went beyond anything he said before” on making
peace with Israel.
1995 – France sets off the third in a series of nuclear tests in the
south Pacific at Mururoa atoll; After eluding a massive manhunt for
three days, a North Korean spy is fatally shot when he tries to break
through a cordon of South Korean commandos on a mountain near the
border.
1996 – A 12-storey apartment building in suburban Cairo collapses,
killing at least 15 people and trapping dozens inside.
1997 – The Dow Jones index fell 554.26 points, its largest one-day
decline ever in points terms; the decline of 7.18 per cent was the
biggest since the drop of 23 per cent in 1987.
1998 – A second deadline for Serb troop withdrawal from Kosovo passes
without NATO resorting to airstrikes, but NATO says that the use of
force is still an option.
1999 – Up to five gunmen seize Armenia’s parliament in a torrent of
automatic weapons fire, killing the prime minister and seven others
before taking dozens hostage. The gunmen surrender the next day.
1999 – The dress that Marilyn Monroe wore to sing “Happy Birthday, Mr
President” to President John F Kennedy is sold for $US1,267,500 – a
record for an item of clothing at auction.
2000 – Stormy seas prevent divers from entering the nuclear submarine
Kursk a day after naval officials reveal evidence that more than 23
seamen had survived the initial explosions that sank the vessel.
2000 – Canadian authorities arrest the men they say masterminded the
1985 bombing of an Air India jumbo jet near Ireland that claimed the
lives of all 329 people aboard.
2001 – In Washington, the search for deadly anthrax widens to thousands
of businesses and 30 mail distribution centres.
2001 – Britain announces it will provide up to 600 special forces for
operations in Afghanistan in a sign that allied forces are preparing
for a sustained campaign of raids.
2002 – Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva wins Brazil’s presidential runoff
election, becoming the nation’s first leftist and working-class
president.
2003 – Five coordinated suicide bombing attacks kill at least 35 people
in Baghdad, and wounded more than 200 others. The attacks all occurred
within a 45-minute period and the targets were located no more than 16
km apart, with the deadliest attack at the Red Cross headquarters.
–Boundary_(ID_cITyxErQFwtJ9OLAsWWU5Q)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress