Today in History – Monday November 30, 2015
Today is Monday, November 30, the 334th day of 2015. There are 31 days left in the year.
Highlights in history on this date:
1652 – Dutch defeat English fleet off Dungeness, England.
1710 – Turkey declares war on Russia.
1718 – Sweden’s “warrior king” Charles XII dies at Fredrikshald in Norway after being hit by a bullet in the head. The day was later declared a holiday for Swedish nationalists.
1782 – Americans and British sign preliminary peace articles in Paris, ending American Revolutionary War.
1838 – Mexico declares war on France after French occupation of Vera Cruz.
1853 – Turkish fleet is destroyed by Russia off Sinope.
1918 – Transylvania proclaims union with Romania.
1934 – Moroccan Nationalist movement is founded.
1938 – Members of Romanian Iron Guard are shot as government attempts to destroy Fascism.
1939 – The Soviet Union invades Finland.
1949 – Chinese Communists capture city of Chungking.
1953 – A U.S. delegate charges before the U.N. General Assembly in New York that Russians headed Korean prison camps where 38,000 Allied troops and Korean civilians were victims of Communist atrocities during the War.
1962 – U Thant of Burma is elected U.N. Secretary-General, succeeding the late Dag Hammarskjold.
1964 – Soviet Union launches spacecraft toward Mars in apparent race with U.S. Mariner 4.
1967 – Aden, South Yemen and Protectorate of South Arabia gain independence from Britain.
1975 – Four Timorese parties proclaim independence of the territory and its integration with Indonesia.
1981 – The United States and the Soviet Union open negotiations in Geneva aimed at reducing nuclear weapons in Europe.
1988 – Ethnic clashes between Armenians and Azerbaijanis kill 11 people in five Armenian cities.
1991 – Fighting escalates in Croatia despite cease-fire as U.N. envoy Cyrus Vance prepares for talks on deploying up to 10,000 U.N. peacekeepers in Yugoslavia.
1992 – The European Community agrees to speed up expulsions of bogus asylum seekers, and turns down an appeal by Germany to share the influx of refugees.
1998 – The British hospital where General Augusto Pinochet is staying says he doesn’t need medical care — a blow to the Chilean ex-dictator’s plan to plead he is too ill to stand trial for extradition to Spain.
1999 – The opening of a 135-nation trade gathering in Seattle is disrupted by at least 40,000 demonstrators, some of whom clash with police.
2000 – South and North Korean relatives, separated for half a century, are reunited in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang.
2004 – A powerful storm triggers landslides and flash floods that kill nearly 340 people in the eastern Philippines.
2005 – For the first time, women win elected posts in Saudi Arabia, picking up two seats in a city chamber of commerce.
2008 – Space shuttle Endeavour returns to Earth after a nearly 16-day mission to repair and upgrade the international space station.
2009 – President Barack Obama spells out a costly Afghanistan war expansion to a skeptical American public, coupling an infusion of as many as 35,000 more troops with a vow that there will be no endless U.S. commitment.
2011 – The central banks of the wealthiest countries, trying to prevent a debt crisis in Europe from exploding into a global panic, sweep in to shore up the world financial system by making it easier for banks to borrow American dollars
2013 – Aggressive political protests in the Thai capital turn violent, with at least one man killed and five wounded by gunshots in street fighting between supporters and opponents of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
2014 — Pope Francis and the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians demand an end to the persecution of religious minorities in Syria and Iraq and call for a “constructive dialogue” with Muslims.
Today’s Birthdays:
Jonathan Swift, English satirist (1667-1745); Sir Winston Churchill, British statesman (1874-1965); Mark Twain, U.S. author (1835-1910); Ridley Scott, British film director (1937–); Mandy Patinkin, U.S. actor/singer (1952–); David Mamet, U.S. writer/director (1947–).
Thought For Today:
The real problem is what to do with the problem solvers after the problems are solved — Gay Talese, American author and journalist.
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