GMT 12/11//2017

Today in History December 11

1688--James II abdicates the throne because of William of Orange landing in England.

1816--Indiana is admitted to the Union as the 19th state.

1861--A raging fire sweeps the business district of Charleston, South Carolina, adding to an already depressed economic state.

1862--Union General Ambrose Burnside occupies Fredericksburg and prepares to attack the Confederates under Robert E. Lee.

1863--Union gunboats Restless, Bloomer and Caroline enter St. Andrew's Bay, Fla., and begin bombardment of both Confederate quarters and saltworks.

1882--A production of Gilbert and Sullivan's Iolanthe at Boston's Bijou Theatre becomes the first performance in a theatre lit by incandescent electric lights.

1927--Nearly 400 world leaders sign a letter to President Calvin Coolidge asking the United States to join the World Court.

1930--As the economic crisis grows, the Bank of the United States closes its doors.

1933--Reports say Paraguay has captured 11,000 Bolivians in the war over Chaco.

1936--Britain's King Edward VIII abdicates the throne to marry American Wallis Warfield Simpson.

1941--The United States declares war on Italy and Germany.

1943--U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull demands that Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria withdraw from the war.

1945--A Boeing B-29 Superfortress shatters all records by crossing the United States in five hours and 27 minutes.

1951--Joe DiMaggio announces his retirement from baseball.

1955--Israel raids Syrian positions on the Sea of Galilee.

1964--Frank Sinatra, Jr., is returned home to his parents after being kidnapped for the ransom amount of $240,000.

1967--The Concorde, a joint British-French venture and the world's first supersonic airliner, is unveiled in Toulouse, France.

1972--Challenger, the lunar lander for Apollo 17, touches down on the moon's surface, the last time that men visit the moon.

1978--Massive demonstrations take place in Tehran against the shah.

1981--Military forces in El Salvador kill over 800 civilians in what is known as the El Mozote massacre during the Salvadoran Civil War.

1997--The Kyoto Protocol international treaty intended to reduce emissions of greenhouse gasses, opens for signature.

2001--People's Republic of China joins the World Trade Organization.

2005--Cronulla riots begin in Cronulla, a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

2006--President of Mexico Felipe Calderon launches a military-led offensive against drug cartel violence in the state of Michoacan.

2008--Bernard "Bernie" Madoff arrested and charged with securities fraud in what was called a $50-billion Ponzi scheme.


Born on December 11


1940--Donna Mills, actress (Knots Landing TV series, Play Misty for Me movie).

1944--Brenda Lee, singer; her 37 US chart hits in the 1960s is surpassed only by Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Ray Charles and Connie Francis ("I'm Sorry," "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree").

1950--Christina Onassis, businesswoman; inherited and operated the Onassis shipping businessh.


JOKE OF THE DAY

- I’ve heard you have married?
- Yes.
- And?
- I’m not allowed to drink and smoke.
- Do you regret?
- No. I’m not allowed to