GMT

Today in 1753
George Washington, the adjutant of Virginia, delivers an ultimatum to the French forces at Fort Le Boeuf, south of Lake Erie, reiterating Britain's claim to the entire Ohio River valley.
1770
The British soldiers responsible for the "Boston Massacre" are acquitted on murder charges.
1862
The Union loses its first ship to a torpedo, USS Cairo, in the Yazoo River.
1863
Orders are given in Richmond, Virginia, that no more supplies from the Union should be received by Federal prisoners.
1901
Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi receives the first transatlantic radio transmission in St. John's Newfoundland.
1927
Communists forces seize Canton, China.
1930
The last Allied troops withdraw from the Saar region in Germany.
1930
The Spanish Civil War begins as rebels take a border town.
1931
Under pressure from the Communists in Canton, Chiang Kai-shek resigns as president of the Nanking Government but remains the head of the Nationalist government that holds nominal rule over most of China.
1943
The German Army launches Operation Winter Tempest, the relief of the Sixth Army trapped in Stalingrad.

1943
The exiled Czech government signs a treaty with the Soviet Union for postwar cooperation.
1956
The United Nations calls for immediate Soviet withdrawal from Hungary.
1964
Kenya becomes a republic.
1964
Three Buddhist leaders begin a hunger strike to protest the government in Saigon.
1967
The United States ends the airlift of 6,500 men in Vietnam.

1979
South Korean Army Major General Chun Doo-hwan, acting without authorization from President Choi Kyu-ha, orders the arrest of Army Chief of Staff General Jeong Seung-hwa, alleging that the chief of staff was involved in the assassination of ex-President Park Chung Hee.
1985
Arrow Air Flight 1285 crashes after takeoff at Gander, Newfoundland; among the 256 dead are 236 members of the US Army's 101st Airborne Division.
1991
The Russian Federation becomes independent from the USSR.
1995
Willie Brown beats incumbent mayor Frank Jordon to become the first African-American mayor of San Francisco.
2000
The US Supreme Court announces its decision in Bush v. Gore, effectively ending legal changes to the results of that year's Presidential election.



Joke of the Day

I’m giving up drinking until Christmas!
Sorry, bad punctuation.
I’m giving up, drinking until Christmas!