1862

The French attack the Ba Ria citadel on Viet Nam's southern coast.

1895

Korea proclaims its independence from China.

1904

Introduction of the shipping distress call CQD "seek you, danger." It was replaced by SOS two years later.

1910

Death of Russian author and philosopher Count Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy (born 1828). His two most famous novels are War and Peace and Anna Karerina.

1953

President Harry Truman announces that the US has developed a hydrogen bomb.

1961

The African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights is issued in Casablanca by African heads of state.

1972

Viet Nam and India upgrade bilateral diplomatic relations to ambassadorial level.

1973

Establishment of Viet Nam-Guatemala diplomatic relations.

1979

The Cambodian people led by the Kamphuchean United Front for National Salvation overthrow the genocidal rule of the Khmer Rouge.

1984

The Kingdom of Brunei becomes the 6th member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

1986

Death of Vu Dinh Chi, who wrote under the name Tam Lang, a pioneer of investigative reporting in Viet Nam early this century.

1990

The Leaning Tower of Pisa, officially listed as a public danger to the anger of locals, is closed to tourists for the first time in its 800-year history for restoration work.

1998

The Canadian government formally apologises to the country's indigenous people for 150 years of oppression and establishes a healing fund.

1999

The US Senate opens the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton, the first such trial in 130 years.

2001

A general practitioner in Manchester, England, may have killed more than 200 patients over almost 24 years, a clinical study of Dr Harold Shipman's medical practice shows. He is sentenced to life in prison for the deaths of 15 patients.

2003

A Congo military court sentences 26 defendants to death for the January 2001 assassination of President Laurent Kabila, who was shot by a bodyguard in the presidential palace.

2005

The Irish Republican Army stole $50 million from a Belfast bank, the Northern Ireland police chief announces – a development that rocks the foundations of the peace process. — REUTERS/AP/VNS