Wednesday, December 3, 1997
Today's events
The United Nations marks the International Day of Disabled Persons.
The European Parliament holds a mini-session in Brussels.
The 11th Latin American Congress of Sexually Transmitted Diseases opens in Lima, Peru.
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On the horizon
On Thursday, December 4, the English National Ballet will
hold a special performance of "The Nutcracker" dedicated to
patron Diana, Princess of Wales.
On Friday, December 5, the 5th China International
Environmental Protection Exhibition and Conference is set to
begin in Beijing.
On Saturday, December 6, about 50 heads of state are expected
to attend the Organization
of the Islamic Conference summit in Tehran.
On Sunday, December 7, the Eleventh International Conference
on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases in Africa opens.
On Monday. December 8, amnesty hearings resume into the death
in detention of black consciousness activist Steve Biko in
South Africa.
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On this day
In 1800, in the War of the Second Coalition, 60,000 French
under Moreau defeated 70,000 Austrians under Archduke John at
the Battle of Hohenlinden in upper Bavaria.
In 1810, Britain seized the islands of Reunion and Mauritius
from French control.
In 1818, Illinois became the 21st state of the United States.
In 1910, the neon lamp, developed by French physicist Georges
Claude, was displayed for the first time at the Paris Motor
Show.
In 1912, an armistice was signed by Turkey, Bulgaria, Serbia
and Montenegro, ending the first Balkan War.
In 1919, French impressionist painter Pierre Auguste Renoir
died; his painting of sunlight through leaves and a series of
pictures portraying bathers are amongst his best-known works.
In 1931, the Statute of Westminster was passed, under which
British dominions gained complete legislative independence.
In 1944, virtual civil war broke out in Athens, Greece,
between the government backed by Britain and the National
Liberation Front (EAM).
In 1962, Edith Spurlock Sampson was sworn in as the first
American black woman judge; she was elected associate judge
of the Municipal Court in Chicago.
In 1967, Dr. Christiaan Barnard carried out the world's first
heart transplant operation in Cape Town on Louis Washkansky.
Washkansky lived for 18 days.
In 1969, Kliment Voroshilov, former head of the presidium of
the Supreme Soviet, died.
In 1971, The Pakistani air force attacked Indian airfields
and Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared a state of
emergency.
In 1984, a gas leak at the Union Carbide pesticide plant near
Bhopal, India, killed at least 3,000 people and disabled
thousands.
In 1989, Presidents Bush and Gorbachev hailed their first
summit as the start of a new era in U.S.-Soviet relations.
In 1989, the leader of East Germany's orthodox Communist
Party, Egon Krenz, and the entire party hierarchy voted
themselves out of office.
In 1993, Angola's government and its rebel foes agreed to a
cease-fire in their 18-year war.
In 1993, Britain's Princess Diana said she was bowing out of
the public spotlight because she wanted privacy and time to
herself.
In 1995, former South Korean President Chun Doo Hwan was
arrested over charges of military rebellion stemming from a
1979 coup and a later army massacre.
In 1996, former Afghan Communist leader Babrak Karmal, who
personified the Kremlin's ill-fated nine-year intervention in
Afghanistan, died of liver cancer in Moscow.
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Newslink
Holidays and more
Sudan celebrates Isra'a and Mierag.
Filmmaker Jean Luc Godard is 67.
Auto racer Rick Mears is 46.
Singer Jaye P. Morgan is 65.
Singer Ozzy Osbourne is 49.
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Sources: Associated Press,
Chase's Calendar of Events 1997, J.P. Morgan
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