Today in History 03 July 2024
1844: The Great Auks go extinct.
The last known pair of Great Auks, members of a species of flightless birds, were killed off the coast of Iceland at the request of a collector. It is believed that the extinction of these birds was caused by human activities and hunting due to the high demand for their feathers.
1863: Battle of Gettysburg ends
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The 3-day long battle during the American Civil War was fought between the Union and Confederacy in-and-around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Thought to be one of the bloodiest battles of the war – around 50,000 soldiers were lost on both sides – the Battle of Gettysburg marked a key turning point in the conflict. The decisive Union victory led to the retreat of Confederate soldiers from the north.
1928: A policeman’s helmet and a bunch of roses were among the pictures shown on John Logie Baird’s first colour television test transmission at Baird Studios, in London.
1962: Algeria gains its independence from France
Algeria’s independence from France, after 132 years of French rule, was finalized after the signing of the Évian Accords in the spa town of Évian-les-Bains. The accords ended a 7-year-long violent war of independence. Independence was finally achieved after the July 1, 1962, referendum favored complete Algerian independence. Ahmed Ben Bella became the first President of the country.
1967: Saboteurs tried to blow up Lagos police headquarters with a car-load of explosives and killed at least four people.
1976: An Israeli commando squad, led by Dan Shomron, launched a rescue of hostages held by airplane hijackers in Entebbe, Uganda.
1988: Iran Air flight 655 is shot down by a US Navy ship
The USS Vincennes mistakenly shot down the airplane en route to Dubai, killing all 290 people aboard. The Vincennes, a guided missile cruiser, incorrectly identified the plane as a military aircraft. In 1996, the United States government made a cash settlement with Iran in order to close the case Iran had brought against the US in the International Court of Justice.
1995: Gani Fawehinmi, lawyer and founder of the National Conscience Party (NCP), is arrested in Lagos, one day after a press conference at which he criticized the terms for lifting the ban on political activities.
2009: Nigeria, Algeria, and Niger signed an agreement on a proposed Trans-Saharan pipeline that will take natural gas from Nigeria to Europe.
2013: After days of national demonstrations seeking his ouster, Egypt President Mohamed Morsi is removed from office by a military coup d’état led by General Abdul Fatah el-Sisi. Sisi appoints the head of the Constitutional Court to temporarily occupy the presidency, an office that will be held by Sisi himself in 2014.
2018: Camel’s milk “fresh, hygienic, delicious” is now available from electronic vending machines in Kenya—cost: 100 Kenyan shillings (US$1) per pint. Kenya is a major world producer of camel’s milk.
BIRTHS ON THIS DAY: July 03
Julian Assange, 53 years
Julian Paul Assange is an Australian editor, publisher, and activist who founded WikiLeaks in 2006. He came to international attention in 2010 after WikiLeaks published a series of leaks from Chelsea Manning, a former United States Army intelligence analyst: footage of a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad, U.S. military logs from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, and U.S. diplomatic cables. Assange has won multiple awards for publishing and journalism.
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