Today in History, 21/10
Highlights in history on this date:
1872 - Adelaide becomes the first city in Australia to be connected to Europe by telegraph with the completion of the Overland Telegraph Line to Darwin.
1879 - Thomas Edison invents the electric lamp.
1938 - Japanese troops take Canton in China.
1944 - US troops capture Aachen, the first big German city to fall to the Allies in World War II.
1945 - Women vote for first time in France.
1947 - UN General Assembly asks Greece and Balkan powers to settle differences peacefully.
1950 - Chinese forces begin occupation of Tibet.
1957 - Start of Australia's first automatic telephone weather service, in Melbourne.
1959 - The Guggenheim Museum opens to the public in New York.
1963 - Cuba's Premier Fidel Castro asks for immediate end of United States' economic blockade of Cuba.
1964 - Movie musical My Fair Lady, starring Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison, has world premiere in New York.
1971 - North Vietnam's Premier Phan Van Dong says his government is ready to accept ceasefire as first step toward settlement of Vietnam War.
1973 - Four Gulf states cut off oil supplies to United States to protest US arms shipments to Israel in Middle East conflict.
1989 - At least 120 people are killed when a Honduran jet breaks apart in flight and crashes outside Tegucigalpa.
1991 - American hostage Jesse Turner is released in Beirut, Lebanon.
1993 - NATO ministers endorse a plan to form limited partnerships with Russia and other former East bloc foes, but stops short of offering full membership.
1994 - The United States and North Korea sign a pact to end the war of nerves over Pyongyang's nuclear program.
1995 - Presidents and premiers from around the world gather in New York City for the 50th anniversary of the United Nations.
1996 - A UN envoy arrives in Kabul, Afghanistan, to try to avert an all-out war for the shattered city.
1997 - Aid begins pouring into Brazzaville, the war-torn capital of the Republic of Congo.
2000 - About 23,000 Afghans flee to Pakistan as fighting rages in the north eastern provinces between the ruling Taliban militia and opposition forces.
2001 - In a joint statement, Russia and United States pledge to co-operate to prevent nuclear, biological or chemical weapons being used in terrorism.
2002 - About 14 Israelis are killed when a vehicle packed with explosives slams into a bus in the country's north.
2003 - At least 22 people are killed during a series of massive wildfires in southern California.
2004 - Japan starts the clean up a day after a deadly typhoon slams into the country, killing 55 and leaving 24 missing.
2005 - The body of a defence lawyer in Saddam Hussein's mass murder trial is found dumped in the street with two bullet wounds in the head.
2006 - Donations of clothing set off stampedes in impoverished Bangladesh leaving at least eight people dead.
2008 - The first flight of an Airbus A380 by Qantas touches down in Los Angeles.
2009 - US Vice President Joe Biden seeks reconciliation with America's staunch allies in eastern Europe, starting with Poland, which eagerly signs on to a revamped US missile shield.
2011 - NATO says it plans to end its seven-month bombing campaign in Libya at the end of the month, leaving the battle-scarred country's new authorities on their own to ensure security
2012 - The funeral for Lebanon's slain intelligence chief descends into chaos as soldiers fire tear gas at protesters who tried to storm the government palace.
2013 - France joins a growing list of angry allies who are demanding answers from the United States over aggressive surveillance tactics by the National Security Agency.
2014 - Former Australian prime minister Gough Whitlam dies aged 98.
2015 - Remains of a two-year-old girl dumped in a suitcase on an SA roadside are identified as Khandalyce Pearce, five years after the body of her mother Karlie Pearce-Stevenson was found in Belango State Forest, NSW. Daniel James Holdom, 41, is later charged with their murders.
2016 - An Australian ban on the Adler gun - which can shoot eight bullets in as many seconds - is upheld after the states fail to agree on how to reclassify it.
2017 - Three racing greyhounds in Darwin die from a rare flesh-eating disease, temporarily shutting down the local greyhound racing industry.
Today's Birthdays:
Judith Sheindlin, American lawyer and judge, better known as Judge Judy (1942-); Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli prime minister (1949-); Carrie Fisher, US actress-writer (1956-2016); Kim Kardashian, American socialite and reality TV star (1980-); Bernard Tomic, Australian tennis player (1992-).
Thought for Today:
You will never "find" time for anything. If you want time you must make it - Charles Buxton, English author (1823-1871).
