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Thursday, December 11, 1997

  • Today's Events
  • On Horizon
  • On This Day
  • Newslink
  • Holidays & more
  • Almanac archive
  • "I thought it was probably wise to back off, before you leave feet first or someone tells you you have to go."

    -- -- Nebraska football coach Tom Osborne





    Today's events


  • European Union foreign ministers meet in Geneva

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    On the horizon


  • On Friday, December 12, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is to arrive in Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly known as Zaire, from Rwanda as part of a six-country tour of Africa

  • On Saturday, December 13, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright visits South Africa.

  • On Sunday, December 14, the South African Truth Commission is due to expire.

  • On Monday, December 15, Guyana holds presidential and parliamentary elections.

  • On Tuesday, December 16, Nelson Mandela steps down as South Africa's African National Congress president.

  • On Wednesday, December 17, the undocking of the Progress M-36 cargo ship from the Mir space station is scheduled.

  • On Thursday, December 18, South Korea holds presidential elections.

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    On this day


  • In 1205, in England, John Grey, Bishop of Norwich, was elected Archbishop of Canterbury. He was later rejected by Pope Innocent III.

  • In 1282, Michael VIII Palaeologus, Byzantine emperor, died. He became emperor in 1259 and succeeded in restoring the empire to the Greeks after 57 years of Latin occupation when he took Constantinople. He was succeeded by his son Andronicus II.

  • In 1282, Llewelyn, the last native-born Prince of Wales, was killed in a battle with the English.

  • In 1816, Indiana became the 19th state of the United States.

  • In 1845, the Sonderbund was established by the seven Catholic Swiss cantons to oppose anti-Catholic measures by Protestant cantons.

  • In 1845, in India, the Sikhs crossed Sutlej and surprised the British, heralding the start of the Anglo-Sikh War.

  • In 1894, the world's first motor show opened in Paris with nine exhibitors.

  • In 1899, in the second British-Boer war, the British under Methuen attempted to advance and were defeated with the loss of more than 1,000 men by 9,000 Boers under Cronje at the battle of Magersfontein.

  • In 1901, the first transatlantic radio signal was sent by Italian Guglielmo Marconi from Poldhu in Cornwall and was received by Percy Wright Paget in St Johns, Newfoundland.

  • In 1917, Sir Mackenzie Bowell, Canadian statesman and prime minister, died.

  • In 1930, the Bank of the United States in New York failed and closed all of its 60 branches. The bank had at least 400,000 depositors.

  • In 1937l the Fascist Grand Council in Rome withdrew Italy from the League of Nations.

  • In 1941, Italy and Germany declared war on the United States; the U.S. Congress in turn declared war on both. Poland declared war on Japan. Cuba, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic and Guatemala all declared war on Germany and Italy.

  • In 1946, the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) was created by the U.N. General Assembly to provide relief to children in countries devastated by war.

  • In 1967, the prototype of the Anglo-French supersonic aircraft Concorde was shown for the first time at Toulouse, France.

  • In 1973, West German Chancellor Willy Brandt and Czech Prime Minister Lubomir Strougal formally signed a treaty nullifying the 1938 Munich pact which sanctioned Hitler's seizure of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland.

  • In 1983, after widespread riots, Bangladesh's Chief Martial Law Administrator, Mohammad Ershad, declared himself president.

  • In 1990, Albania's ruling Communist Party authorized the establishment of opposition political parties.

  • In 1992, in what was hoped would be an end to civil war in Somalia, warlords Ali Mahdi Mohamed and Mohamed Farah Aideed signed a peace plan.

  • In 1993, after 45 years of talks, a United Nations panel approved the creation of a new Commissioner for Human Rights to respond quickly to major rights crises around the world.

  • In 1994, Russia sent tanks and troops pouring into Chechnya to try to end the rebel territory's three-year unilateral drive for independence.

  • In 1996, shipping magnate Tung Chee-hwa swept effortlessly to a historic victory in the poll which selected Hong Kong's leader-in-waiting to take over when the British colony reverted to Chinese rule.

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    Newslink


    Want to know the latest on the food irradiation debate? Need some toy safety tips? Check out the U.S. Consumer Gateway, a link to all sorts of important federal information.


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    Holidays and more


  • Today is a national holiday in Burkina Faso.

  • U.S. Sen. Max Baucus is 56.

  • Actress Teri Garr is 48.

  • Singer David Gates is 57.

  • Activist and politician Tom Hayden is 57.

  • Singer Jermaine Jackson is 43.

  • U.S. Sen. John Kerry is 54.

  • Singer Brenda Lee is 53.

  • Actress Donna Mills is 54.

  • Singer and actress Rita Moreno is 66.

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    Sources: Associated Press,
    Chase's Calendar of Events 1997, J.P. Morgan



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