Today in History, 24/9

Highlights in history on this date:

1143 - Death of Innocent II, pope from 1130 to 1143.

1568 - Spanish capture English ships and booty at San Juan, Puerto Rico.

1688 - France's King Louis XIV declares war against Holy Roman Empire, called the War of the League of Augsburg.

1852 - French inventor Henri Giffard makes the first flight in a powered airship, cruising with steam power over Paris.

1869 - Thousands of businesses are ruined in a Wall Street panic that becomes known as Black Friday, after financiers Jay Gould and James Fisk attempt to corner the gold market.

1932 - The Poona Pact between Hindu religious leaders, forced by Mahatma Gandhi's hunger strike, gives new electoral rights to "untouchables".

1943 - Soviet army crosses Dnieper River north of Kiev as Germans retreat in World War II.

1968 - In the US, the CBS current affairs program 60 Minutes premieres on television.

1971 - Britain expels 90 Soviets for espionage activities.

1973 - Sydney Opera House Official Opening Citizens' Committee receives 4000 applications for free tickets for the official opening of the House by the Queen on October 20.

1975 - Britons Dougal Haston and Doug Scott become the first to climb Mount Everest by the south-west face.

1976 - American newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst is sentenced to seven years in prison for her part in a 1974 bank robbery.

1984 - Secret Australian Government papers on the Petrov affair are released publicly for first time.

1988 - Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson sets a world record of 9.79 seconds to win the men's 100m sprint gold medal at the Seoul Summer Olympics. He is later stripped of the medal for taking drugs.

1993 - Former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos is convicted of corruption and sentenced to at least 18 years in jail.

1994 - Officials stop trucks and hand out antibiotics to those fleeing a deadly plague outbreak in western India in an effort to keep the disease from spreading to major cities.

1995 - Thirteen people are killed in the southern French town of Cuers when Eric Borel runs amok with a rifle a day after killing his mother, step-father and half-brother.

1996 - The US and the world's major nuclear powers override the objections of India and sign a treaty to end all testing and development of nuclear weapons.

1998 - Britain and Iran reach a landmark deal to upgrade diplomatic relations after Tehran dissociates itself from the "fatwa" death edict against British author Salman Rushdie.

2002 - Two gunmen attack a Hindu temple complex in Gandhinagar, the capital of western Gujarat state in India, killing at least 30 people and wounding 74 before being killed by commandos.

2002 - Britain publishes a dossier on Iraq's weapons program which claims Saddam Hussein can launch a weapon of mass destruction at just 45 minutes' notice.

2005 - The International Atomic Energy Agency passes a resolution requiring that Iran be reported to the UN Security Council over its nuclear program.

2009 - For the first time, an experimental vaccine prevents infection with the AIDS virus, a watershed event in the deadly epidemic.

2010 - Nigerian authorities open the gates at two swollen dams in the country's rain-soaked north, sending a flood into a neighbouring state that displaces two million people.

2013 - A 7.7-magnitude earthquake strikes southern Pakistan, killing more than 327 people.

2014 - Disgraced former Australian House of Representatives speaker Peter Slipper is given 300 hours of community service for dishonestly using taxpayer-funded taxi vouchers.

2015 - The federal government commits $100 million to boost domestic violence services.

2016 - Jeremy Corbyn is re-elected leader of Britain's opposition Labour Party, ending a "coup" attempt by more moderate MPs who said his left-wing agenda could never deliver victory at the polls.

2017 - Disturbing images of a Tasmanian devil with large portions of fur missing have emerged from the north of the state, alarming authorities who suspect a type of skin cancer is causing the fur loss.

.Today's Birthdays:

Horace Walpole, British writer (1717-1797); F Scott Fitzgerald, US writer (1896-1940); Lord (Howard Walter) Florey, Australian scientist (1898-1968); Sir William Dobell, Australian artist (1899-1970); Konstantin Chernenko, Soviet politician (1911-1985); Anthony Newley, English actor-singer (1931-1999); Linda McCartney, US-born wife of Beatle Sir Paul (1941-1998); Gerry Marsden, British singer (1942-); Phil Hartman, US actor (1948-1998); Kevin Sorbo, US actor (1958-); Collette Dinnigan, Australian fashion designer (1965-); Liam Finn, New Zealand musician and songwriter (1983-).

Thought For Today:

Fear cannot be without hope nor hope without fear - Baruch Spinoza, Dutch philosopher (1632-1677).

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