Thursday, June 5, 1997
Today's events
Multiparty legislative elections are scheduled to be held in Algeria, the first since authorities annulled 1992's general election.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif chairs a meeting of the Pakistan Environmental Protection Council as a nod to the U.N.-sponsored World Environment Day.
Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres address American International Club of Geneva on the search for world, and Middle East, peace.
The Royal Scottish Automobile Club International Scottish Rally, attracting an estimated 200,000 onlookers, gets underway in Scotland.
The 33rd annual Polkabration opens to throngs of Polka fans at Strawberry Park Resort in Preston, Connecticut.
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On the horizon
On Friday, June 6, the 44th Sydney Film Festival takes place
in Australia.
On Saturday, June 7, the 129th running of the Belmont Stakes,
third leg of thoroughbred
racing's Triple Crown, will be run at Belmont Park.
On Sunday, June 8, Nordic and Baltic defense ministers are
scheduled to meet in Saaremaa, Estonia.
On Monday, June 9, the Bank for International Settlements,
holds an annual meeting attended by world's senior central
banker in Basle, Switzerland.
On Tuesday, June 10, British violinist Nigel Kennedy and cellist Julian Lloyd Webber perform in Hong Kong.
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On this day
In 1249, in the Sixth Crusade, Louis IX of France landed in Egypt.
In 1783, Joseph and Jacques Montgolfier launched the first sustained, manned flight when their balloon, dubbed a "globe aerostatique," rose an estimated 1,500 feet and flew 7,500 feet at Annonay, France.
In 1806, Holland was declared a kingdom with Louis Bonaparte as its king.
In 1873, under pressure from the British, the Sultan of Zanzibar signed a treaty abolishing slavery.
In 1900, British troops under Redvers Buller captured Pretoria in the Boer War.
In 1916, Lord Horatio Herbert Kitchener of Khartoum, Irish soldier, statesman and conqueror of Sudan, was lost at sea when his ship struck a mine off the Orkneys.
In 1944, the first British gliders touched down on French soil in preparation for D-Day.
In 1945, at the end of World War II, the Allied Control Commission took control of Germany, dividing it into four occupation zones.
In 1947, U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall announced his plan to help Europe recover financially from the effects of World War Two.
In 1953, King Frederick signed the new Danish constitution into effect, under which Greenland and the Faroes became integral parts of Denmark.
In 1963, British War Minister John Profumo resigned from government and parliament after admitting he had lied to the House of Commons about his affair with call-girl Christine Keeler.
In 1967, the Six-Day War between Israel and her Arab neighbors Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon began.
In 1968, U.S. Senator Robert Kennedy was shot in Los Angeles by Palestinian-Arab Sirhan Sirhan. He died the next day.
In 1975, the Suez Canal was reopened to all but Israeli shipping after eight years by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.
In 1988, solo yachtswoman Kay Cottee sailed into Sydney Harbor to become the first woman to circle the globe alone.
In 1989, Solidarity's defeat of the Communists in Poland's
first free elections since World War II was confirmed.
In 1991, the South African parliament voted to repeal the apartheid Group Areas Act and Land Acts of 1913 and 1936.
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Newslink
PolkaNet is the Web's definitive polka resource. Visit PolkaNet for everything from information on today's Polkabration in Connecticut to lists of Polka radio shows around the nation. PolkaNet is guaranteed to keep your feet tapping.
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Holidays and more
Denmark celebrates Constitution Day.
Equatorial Guinea celebrates its President's Birthday.
Iran celebrates the 15th Khordad Uprising.
The Seychelles celebrate Liberation Day.
Artist Bosin Blackbear is 76.
Filmmaker Jacques Demy is 66.
Actor and performance artist Spalding Gray is 56.
Actor Robert Lansing is 68.
Journalist Bill Moyers is 63.
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Sources: Associated Press,
Chase's Calendar of Events 1997, J.P. Morgan
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