Saturday, April 26, 1997
Today's events
The New Orleans Jazz And Heritage Festival opens for its yearly ten-day run in New Orleans, Louisiana.
An international conference on Jerusalem opens at Al-Azhar
University in Cairo, Egypt.
Argentina's President Carlos Menem visits Brazil to discuss Mercosur customs union issues with Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso.
A preview of the Royal Academy of Arts exhibition "Living Bridges" is scheduled in Hong Kong. The exhibition will present a spectacular array of scale models of famous bridges and proposed bridges. Exhibits include Hong Kong's Lantau Link, the world's longest combined road and rail suspension bridge.
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On the horizon
On Sunday, April 27, President Clinton, former Presidents
Bush and Carter, retired Gen. Colin Powell and Nancy Reagan
are scheduled to attend the Presidents' Summit for the
American Future in Philadelphia.
On Monday, April 28, Turkey's President Suleyman Demirel is
scheduled to visit Cairo for talks with Egyptian President
Hosni Mubarak.
On Tuesday, April 29, the official campaign period begins for
Indonesian general elections.
On Wednesday, April 30, French Foreign Minister Herve de Charette visits Washington.
On Thursday, May 1, British general elections held, as well as English local elections.
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On this day
In 1807, Russia and Prussia signed the Convention at Bartenstein, forming an alliance to drive France out of German states.
In 1828, Russia declared war on Turkey to support Greece's battle for independence.
In 1865, John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, died in a shoot-out with federal troops 11 days after Lincoln's death.
In 1915, Italy secretly signed the Pact of London with
Britain, France and Russia which would put them on the side of the allies in World War I.
In 1923, the Duke of York -- Britain's future King George VI -- married Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon in Westminster Abbey.
In 1937, the Spanish Basque town of Guernica was bombed by German planes sent by Hitler to help Franco during the Spanish Civil War.
In 1942, at least 1,540 people died in the world's worst
mining disaster at a colliery in Benxi, in Japanese-occupied
China.
In 1945, Marshal Henri Philippe Petain, leader of France's Vichy collaborationist regime during World War Two, was arrested on treason charges.
In 1962, Britain's first satellite, Ariel I, was launched from Cape Canaveral by a Thor-Delta booster.
In 1964, Tanganyika, Zanzibar and Pemba joined to form the
United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar. It was re-named
Tanzania on October 29.
In 1986, the fourth reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear complex in the Ukraine exploded and caught fire, spreading a radioactive cloud across Europe in the world's worst nuclear disaster.
In 1990, Carlos Pizarro Leongomez, leader of the leftist
Colombian guerrilla movement M-19 who gave up violence to run
for president, was assassinated on a plane.
In 1994, South Africa held its first all-race elections for the national assembly and provincial parliaments.
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Newslink
Cairo's Al-Azhar University is holding a conference today that will look at the dispute between Arabs and Israelis over the city of Jerusalem. Chances are the conference will not produce any revelations, but that's not to say Al-Azhar is not an institution of learning with impressive credentials. Indeed, it is one of the crown jewels in Egypt's educational system. Visit the Egyptian Universities Network Home Page to learn more about Al-Azhar and Egypt's other institutions of higher learning.
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Holidays and more
Holidays and more
Afghanistan celebrates the Independence Day of Islamic Revolution.
Iran celebrates Id-E-Qorban.
Tanzania celebrates Union Day.
The Virgin Islands continue to celebrate Carnival.
Actress Carol Burnett is 61.
Musician Duane Eddy is 59.
Dancer Bambi Linn is 71.
Television journalist Boyd Matson is 50.
Singer Bobby Rydell is 55.
Musician Gary Wright.
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Sources: Associated Press,
Chase's Calendar of Events 1997, J.P. Morgan
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