Highlights in history on this date:
From Taiwan News Online LINK
1509 - French defeat Venetians at Agnadello and become masters of northern Italy.
1702 - Sweden's King Charles XII takes Warsaw.
1796 - First smallpox inoculation in England administered by Edward Jenner.
1801 - The pasha of Tripoli declares war on the United States for its refusal to pay for safe passage of its ships in the Mediterranean. The Tripolitan pirates are defeated four years later.
1811 - Paraguay gains independence from Spain. Now celebrated as National Independence Day holiday.
1897 - Britain by treaty with Ethiopia abandons certain claims in Somaliland but Emperor Menelek refuses to surrender claims to land near the Nile.
1921 - Fascists gain in Italian elections supplying a springboard for Benito Mussolini's dictatorship.
1948 - British mandate in Palestine ends and an independent state of Israel is formed; Arab Legion of Transjordan invades Palestine and enters Jerusalem.
1955 - Warsaw Pact formed by Albania Bulgaria Czechoslovakia East Germany Hungary Poland Romania and the Soviet Union.
1972 - Okinawa reverts to Japan after 27 years under U.S. jurisdiction.
1988 - Iraqi warplanes attack and set ablaze five ships at offshore oil-loading terminal that belongs to Iran.
1994 - In a challenge to the United States North Korea says that is has begun removing nuclear fuel from its largest reactor without international inspectors present.
2004 - A senior Pentagon official says that Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez the senior U.S. commander in Iraq has moved to limit the military's allowable interrogation tactics eliminating most coercive techniques from even being considered. In the past requests for such methods were allowed with specific permission.
2007 - A Chinese rocket blasts a Nigerian communications satellite into orbit marking an expansion of China's commercial launching services for foreign space hardware.
2009 - Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is charged with breaking the terms of her house arrest just two weeks before she was to go free a move seen as an attempt by Nigerian's military junta to silence its chief opponent ahead of 2010 elections.
Today's Birthdays:
Gabriel D. Fahrenheit, German physicist (1686-1736); Otto Klemperer, German conductor (1885-1973); Pakistani ruler Ayub Khan (1907-1974); George Lucas, U.S. film director and producer (1944--); Robert Zemeckis, U.S. film director (1952--); David Byrne, Scottish-born pop singer (1952--); Shanice, singer (1973--); Cate Blanchett, Australian actress (1969--).
