Opinion - The Korea Times

FRIDAY, MAY 16, 2008

Today is Friday, May 16, the 137th day of 2008. There are 229 days left in the year. 1527 _ Florence becomes a republic 1532 _ Sir Thomas More resigns as English Lord Chancellor 1792 _ Denmark abolishes slave trade 1875 _ Quake in Venezuela and Colombia kills 16,000 1920 _ Joan of Arc canonized a saint in Rome 1974 _ Helmut Schmidt becomes West German chancellor 1985 _ Michael Jordan named NBA Rookie of Year 1988 _ Surgeon General C. Everett Koop reports nicotine as addictive as heroin 1989 _ Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev and Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping ended a 30-year rift when they formally met in Beijing 1991 _ Queen Elizabeth becomes first British monarch to address U.S. congress

May 15, 2008

THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2008

Today is Thursday, May 15, the 136th day of 2008. There are 230 days left in the year. 1525 _ German Boer army surrounds, slaughters 5,000; ends Boer War 1536 _ Anna Boleyn and Lord Rochford accused of adultery, incest 1602 _ Cape Cod discovered by English navigator Bartholomew Gosnold 1618 _ Johannes Kepler discovers harmonics law 1730 _ Robert Walpole becomes England's first prime minister (was chief minister) 1905 _ Las Vegas, Nev., founded 1940 _ Nylon stockings go on sale for first time (U.S.) 1970 _ Beatles' last LP, ``Let It Be" is released in U.S. 1989 _ Soviet President Gorbachev in Beijing for first Sino-Soviet summit in 30 years 1991 _ Edith Cresson becomes France's first female premier

May 14, 2008

WEDNESDAY, MAY 14, 2008

Today is Wednesday, May 14, the 135th day of 2008. There are 231 days left in the year. 1787 _ Delegates gather in Philadelphia to draw up U.S. constitution 1796 _ First smallpox inoculation administered, by Edward Jenner 1918 _ Sunday baseball is made legal in Washington D.C. 1941 _ 3,600 Parisian Jews arrested 1948 _ U.S. grants Israel de facto recognition 1955 _ Warsaw Pact is signed by the Soviet Union, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland and Romania 1962 _ Princess Sophia of Greece weds Don Juan Carlos of Spain 1966 _ ``A Lover's Concerto" by Miller hits No. 1 1989 _ Demonstration for democratic reforms in Beijing's Tiananmen square 1995 _ Dalai Lama proclaims six-year-old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima 11th reincarnation of Panchen Lama, Tibet's second most senior spiritual leader

May 13, 2008

TUESDAY, MAY 13, 2008

Today is Tuesday, May 13, the 134th day of 2008. There are 232 days left in the year. 1110 _ Crusaders march into Beirut causing a bloodbath 1637 _ Cardinal Richelieu of France creates the table knife 1643 _ Heavy earthquake strikes Santiago Chile; kills 1/3 of population 1767 _ Mozart's opera ``Apollo et Hyacinthus" premieres in Salzburg 1888 _ Brazil abolishes slavery 1945 _ U.S. troops conquer Dakeshi Okinawa 1958 _ Rioters attack U.S. Vice President Nixon in Venezuela 1966 _ Rolling Stones release ``Paint it Black" 1981 _ Pope John Paul II shot, wounded by assailant in St. Peter's Square 1996 _ O.J. Simpson appears on British TV discussing his not guilty verdict

May 12, 2008

MONDAY, MAY 12, 2008

Today is Monday, May 12, the 133rd day of 2008. There are 233 days left in the year. 1733 _ Maria Theresa crowned queen of Bohemia in Prague 1777 _ First ice cream advertisement (Philip Lenzi-New York Gazette) 1792 _ Toilet that flushes itself at regular intervals is patented 1925 _ Uzbekistan and Kirgizistan become autonomous Soviet republics 1932 _ Body of kidnapped son of Charles Lindbergh is found in Hopewell NJ 1942 _ Nazi U-boat sinks American cargo ship at mouth of Mississippi River 1959 _ Liz Taylor's fourth marriage (Eddie Fisher) 1963 _ Bob Dylan walks off Ed Sullivan Show 1965 _ Israel and West Germany exchange letters beginning diplomatic relations 1997 _ 14 North Koreans defect to South Korea

May 11, 2008

SATURDAY, MAY 10, 2008

Today is Saturday, May 10, the 131st day of 2008. There are 235 days left in the year. 1503 _ Columbus discovers Cayman Islands 1752 _ Benjamin Franklins first tests the lightning rod 1774 _ Louis XVI ascends to throne of France 1787 _ Parliament impeaches Warren Hastings 1945 _ Allies capture Rangoon from the Japanese 1968 _ Vietnam peace talks began in Paris between the U.S. and North Vietnam 1972 _ Overloaded South Korean bus plunges into reservoir, killing 77 1983 _ Lee Chin-yong performs 170 continuous chin-ups in Seoul 1994 _ Nelson Mandela sworn in as South Africa's first black president 1995 _ Britain lifts a 23-year ban on ministerial talks with Sinn Fein

May 9, 2008

FRIDAY, MAY 9, 2008

Today is Friday, May 9, the 130th day of 2008. There are 236 days left in the year. 1936 _ Italy takes Addis Ababa, annexing Abyssinia (Ethiopia) 1944 _ Russians recapture Crimea by taking Sevastopol 1945 _ Czechoslovakia liberated from Nazi occupation (National Day) 1945 _ Victory celebration at Red Square 1949 _ Prince Rainier III becomes leader of Monaco 1960 _ U.S. is first country to use the birth control pill legally 1966 _ People's Republic of China performs nuclear test at Lop Nor 1974 _ House Judiciary Committee begin formal hearings on Nixon impeachment 1995 _ Kinshasa, Zaire under quarantine after an outbreak of Ebola virus 1997 _ First U.S. ambassador since Saigon fell arrives in Vietnam

May 8, 2008

THURSDAY, MAY 8, 2008

Today is Thursday, May 8, the 129th day of 2008. There are 237 days left in the year. 1521 _ Parliament of Worms installs edict against Martin Luther 1660 _ English parliament asks King Charles II to resign 1823 _ ``Home Sweet Home" first sung (London) 1895 _ China cedes Taiwan to Japan under Treaty of Shimonoseki 1944 _ First eye bank opens (NYC) 1945 _ V-E Day; Germany signs unconditional surrender, WWII ends in Europe 1958 _ Vice President Nixon is shoved, stoned, booed and spat upon by protesters in Peru 1967 _ Muhammad Ali is indicted for refusing induction in U.S. Army 1970 _ Beatles release ``Let it Be" album 1980 _ World Health Organization announced smallpox had been eradicated

May 7, 2008

WEDNESDAY, MAY 7, 2008

Today is Wednesday, May 7, the 128th day of 2008. There are 238 days left in the year. 1429 _ English siege of Orleans broken by Joan of Arc 1824 _ Beethoven's 9th (Choral) Symphony, premieres in Vienna 1832 _ Greece becomes independent republic 1920 _ USSR recognizes independence of Georgia 1928 _ England lowers age of women voters from 30 to 21 1942 _ Nazi decree orders all Jewish pregnant women of Kovno Ghetto executed 1945 _ Formal undertaking of complete German surrender 1966 _ Mamas & Papas ``Monday Monday" hits No. 1 1975 _ President Ford declares an end to ``Vietnam Era" 1993 _ South Africa agrees to multiracial elections

May 6, 2008

TUESDAY, MAY 6, 2008

Today is Tuesday, May 6, the 127th day of 2008. There are 239 days left in the year. 1833 _ John Deere makes first steel plow 1835 _ First edition of New York Herald (price 1 cent) 1840 _ First postage stamps (Penny Black) issued (Great Britain) 1851 _ John Gorrie patents a ``refrigeration machine" 1861 _ Jefferson Davis approves a bill declaring war between U.S. and Confederacy 1940 _ Pulitzer prize awarded to John Steinbeck (Grapes of Wrath) 1941 _ Joseph Stalin became premier of Russia 1962 _ First nuclear warhead fired from Polaris submarine (Ethan Allen) 1974 _ West German chancellor W. Brandt resigns 1994 _ Nelson Mandela and his ANC finally confirmed winners in South Africa

May 5, 2008

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