Today in History, August 13

HIGHLIGHTS IN HISTORY ON THIS DATE:

HIGHLIGHTS IN HISTORY ON THIS DATE:

1844 - Explorer Ludwig Leichhardt leaves Sydney by ship to explore unknown territory beyond the Darling Downs.

1885 - BHP is incorporated in Australia as a business.

1910 - Death of Florence Nightingale, British nurse in the Crimean War.

1914 - Australian Red Cross is established to raise funds to buy comfort supplies for Australian service personnel overseas.

1940 - Three United Australia Party ministers and the Chief of General Staff die in an air crash in Canberra.

1941 - The Australian Women's Army Service is formed to release men from certain military duties.

1942 - Walt Disney's animated feature Bambi premieres at Radio City Music Hall in New York.

1945 - World Zionist Congress demands admission of one million Jews to Palestine.

1946 - Death of HG Wells, British writer.

1960 - First two-way telephone conversation by satellite takes place via Echo 1.

1961 - East Germany seals off border between East and West Berlin, closing Brandenburg Gate to halt people fleeing the country.

1964 - Last hangings in Britain take place with two men.

1987 - Treasure hunters report finding one of Titanic's legendary safes.

1989 - Thirteen people die when a hot air balloon crashes at Alice Springs, central Australia.

1993 - More than 120 people die in a six-storey hotel collapse in Thailand.

1999 - Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger's marriage to Jerry Hall is declared null and void by a London court.

2000 - The leader of the team that created Dolly the sheep - the first clone made from an adult animal - says they are halting their research into genetically modifying pigs for human organ transplants.

2001 - Three days of floods and mudslides in north east Iran kill about 200 people.

2003 - Libya and families of victims of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland sign an agreement to pay as much as $US2.7 billion ($A2.92 billion) in reparations. The agreement also calls for Libya to acknowledge responsibility for the bombing.

2004 - The XXVIII Olympiad opens in the Greek capital Athens with a triumphal pageant to welcome home the Olympic Games.

2006 - Fidel Castro's brother Raul makes his first public appearance as Cuba's interim president while the 80-year-old leader recovers from surgery.

2010 - Russia announces it will begin the start-up next week of Iran's only atomic power plant as Tehran faces sanctions from Washington.

2011 - Queensland Police charge a 42-year-old Perth man, Brett Peter Cowan, with the murder of missing boy Daniel Morcombe who was 13 when he was last seen waiting for a bus in December 2003.

2012 - The Australian federal government accepts all 22 recommendations of an expert panel on asylum seeker policy, which recommends offshore processing. Legislation passes both houses three days later.

2013 - Israel releases 26 Palestinians inmates on the eve of renewed Mideast peace negotiations, angering families of those slain by the prisoners who are welcomed as heroes in the West Bank and Gaza.

2014 - Brazilian presidential candidate Eduardo Campos dies when a small plane carrying him and several campaign officials plunges into a residential neighbourhood in the port city of Santos.

2015 - Swedish prosecutors drop some charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as the statute of limitations expire but will continue to investigate rape claims.

2016 -Two men are arrested in Indonesia, only days after co-ordinated bomb attacks kill four and injure many in targets on tourists across five southern provinces.

2017 - US President Donald Trump is under fire for failing to immediately condemn white supremacists in the wake of deadly clashes in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Today's Birthdays:

Anders Angstroem, Swedish physicist (1814-1874); Lucy Stone, US pioneering feminist (1818-1893); Annie Oakley, US markswoman and circus performer (1860-1926); John Logie Baird, British inventor of television (1888-1946); Alfred Hitchcock, British film director (1899-1980); Alan Sainsbury, British supermarket pioneer (1902-1998); Ben Hogan, US golfer (1912-1997); Makarios III, first president of Cyprus (1913-1977); Fidel Castro, Cuban leader (1926-2016); Herb Ritts, American photographer (1952-2002); Danny Bonaduce, US actor (1959-); John Safran, Australian media personality; (1972-); Michael Klim, Australian swimmer (1977-); Stephen James King, Australian actor (1983-); James Morrison, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (1984-).

Thought For Today:

You should avoid making yourself too clear even in your explanations - Baltasar Gracian, Spanish philosopher (1601-1658).

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