Opinion - The Korea Times

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2007

Today is Friday, December 14, the 348th day of 2007. There are 17 days left in the year. 644 _ Osman ibn Affan appointed the third kalief of islam 1911 _ The South Pole first reached by Norwegian Roald Amundsen 1913 _ Greece formally takes possession of Crete 1924 _ Chiang Kai-shek occupies Hankou 1937 _ Japanese troops conquer/plunder Nanjing 1939 _ The Soviet Union attacks Finland ― the League of Nations drops the Soviet Union 1950 _ The U.N. General Assembly establishes High Commissioner for Refugees (Nobel 1954) 1952 _ Uprising of captives in Pongam, South Korea, 82 die 1960 _ The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) forms 1967 _ DNA created in a test tube 1977 _ Egypt and Israel representatives gather in Cairo for 1st formal peace conference 1977 _ ``Saturday Night Fever", starring John Travolta, premieres in New York City

Dec 13, 2007

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2007

Today is Thursday, December 13, the 347th day of 2007. There are 18 days left in the year. 863 _ Boudouin with the Iron Arm weds Charles de Kales' daughter Judith 1294 _ Pope Coelestinus V ends term 1545 _ Pope Paul III opens the Council of Trente (19th ecumenical council) 1570 _ Sweden and Denmark signs the Peace of Stettin 1621 _ Emperor Ferdinand II delegates the first anti-Reformation decree 1642 _ New Zealand discovered by Dutch navigator Abel Tasman 1668 _ Jean Racines ``Britannicus" premieres in Paris 1734 _ England and Russia sign a trade agreement 1833 _ HMS Beagle/Charles Darwin arrives in Port Deseado, Patagonie 1843 _ ``A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens published 1913 _ Mona Lisa stolen in August 1911 returned to Louvre 1920 _ League of Nations establishes the International Court of Justice in The Hague 1966 _ The first U.S. bombing of Hanoi 1974 _ Malta becomes a republic 1981 _ The Polish government declares martial law, arrests Solidarity activists 1984 _ Artificial heart recipient William Schroeder suff

Dec 12, 2007

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2007

Today is Wednesday, December 12, the 346th day of 2007. There are 19 days left in the year. 627 _ Battle at Nineveh: Byzantine emperor Heraclius beats Perzen 1098 _ First Crusaders capture and plunder Mara Syria 1474 _ Isabella crowns herself queen of Castile and Aragon 1878 _ Joseph Pulitzer begins publishing ``St. Louis Dispatch" 1915 _ Russian troops overrun Hamadan, Persia 1932 _ The USSR and China resume diplomatic relations 1936 _ Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek declares war on Japan 1941 _ German occupying army do a house search in Paris looking for Jews 1979 _ Gold hits record $462.50 an ounce 1979 _ Rhodesia becomes the independent nation of Zimbabwe 1983 _ A truck bomb explodes at the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait 1988 _ PLO leader Yasser Arafat accepts Israel's right to exist 1991 _ The Maastricht Treaty signed to create a European Community 1992 _ Japanese crown prince Naruhito announces engagement to Masaka Owada 1997 _ Japanese train builders (Maglev) claim world speed record at 332mph

Dec 11, 2007

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2007

Today is Tuesday, December 11, the 345th day of 2007. There are 20 days left in the year. 384 _ St. Damasus I ends his reign as Catholic pope 1618 _ Russia and Poland signs the peace treaty of Dailino 1620 _ 103 Mayflower pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock 1792 _ France's King Louis XVI went on trial, accused of treason 1903 _ British forces under MacDonald and Young march into Tibet 1931 _ Japan leaves the Golden Standard 1936 _ King Edward VIII abdicates throne to marry Mrs. Wallis Simpson; Duke of York becomes King George VI 1937 _ Italy withdraws from the League of Nations 1941 _ Japanese occupy Guam 1945 _ Het Parool publishes 1st Captain Rob-strip 1946 _ U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) established 1961 _ JFK provides U.S. military helicopters and crews to South Vietnam 1967 _ People's front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) established 1981 _ The U.N. Security Council chose Javier Perez de Cuellar of Peru as 5th secretary-general

Dec 10, 2007

MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2007

Today is Monday, December 10, the 344th day of 2007. There are 21 days left in the year. 741 _ Zacharias becomes Pope 1520 _ Martin Luther publicly burned papal edict demands he recant 1799 _ The Metric system established in France 1887 _ Austria-Hungary/Italy/Great-Britain signs the military treaty of Balkan 1898 _ The Spanish-American War ends; U.S. acquires the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Guam 1903 _ Nobel for physics awarded to Pierre/Marie Curie 1906 _ The first American awarded Nobel Peace Prize ― President Theodore Roosevelt 1907 _ Ruyard Kipling receives Nobel prize for literature 1914 _ The French government returns to Paris 1920 _ President Woodrow Wilson receives Nobel Peace Prize 1925 _ George Bernard Shaw awarded Nobel 1936 _ King Edward VIII abdicates throne to marry Mrs. Wallis Simpson 1941 _ Japanese troops overrun Guam 1948 _ The U.N. General Assembly adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1954 _ Albert Schweitzer receives Nobel Peace Prize 1964 _ Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Dr. Martin Luther

Dec 9, 2007

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2007

Today is Saturday, December 8, the 342nd day of 2007. There are 23 days left in the year. 1326_ Daitokuji temple and Rinzai line established in Kyoto by Daito Kokushi 1813 _ Ludwig von Beethoven's 7th Symphony in A premieres 1854 _ Pope Pius IX proclaims Immaculate Conception, makes Mary, free of Original Sin 1863 _ Abraham Lincoln announces plan for Reconstruction of South 1869 _ The 20th Roman Catholic ecumenical council, Vatican I, opens in Rome 1914 _ British and German fleets battle at Falkland Island 1923 _ The German-U.S. friendship treaty signed 1948 _ Jordan annexes Arabic Palestine 1949 _ The Chinese Nationalist government moves from Chinese mainland to Formosa 1965 _ Pope Paul VI signs the second Vatican council 1977 _ Portugal's premier Soares resigns 1981 _ France performs nuclear test 1987 _ Occupied Palestinians start ``intefadeh" (uprising) against Israel 1987 _ U.S. President Reagan and Soviet leader Gorbachev sign a treaty eliminating medium range nuclear missiles 1991 _ Russia, Byelorussia and Ukraine form

Dec 7, 2007

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2007

Today is Friday, December 7, the 341st day of 2007. There are 24 days left in the year. 36 _ B.C. ― Earliest known Mayan inscription, Stela 2 at Chiapa de Corzo 43 _ B.C. ― Marcus Tullius Cicero, Roman writer, gets his head and right hand chopped off by Mark Antony's soldiers 185 _ Chinese Emperor Lo-Yang sees supernova 1741 _ Elisabeth Petrovna becomes tsarina of Russia 1842 _ New York Philharmonic's first concert 1877 _ Thomas Edison demonstrates the gramophone 1917 _ The U.S. becomes the 13th country to declare war on Austria during World War I 1926 _ Gas refrigerator patented 1941 _ Japanese attack Pearl Harbor 1941 _ The first Japanese submarine sunk by a U.S. ship 1949 _ Chiang Kai-shek flees to Taiwan 1960 _ Ivory Coast claims independence from France 1965 _ Pope Paul VI and Orthodox Patriarch Athenagoras I simultaneously lift mutual excommunications that led to split of the 2 churches in 1054 1970 _ West Germany and Poland normalize relations 1975 _ Indonesian army occupies East Timor 1976 _ The U.N. Security Counc

Dec 6, 2007

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2007

Today is Thursday, December 6, the 339th day of 2007. There are 26 days left in the year. 963 _ Leo VIII elected pope 1240 _ Mongols under Batu Khan occupy and destroy Kiev 1768 _ The first edition of ``Encyclopedia Brittanica" published (Scotland) 1877 _ The Washington Post publishes its first edition 1904 _ Theodore Roosevelt confirms Monroe-doctrine (Roosevelt Corollary) 1912 _ China votes for universal human rights 1917 _ Finland declares independence from Russia 1921 _ The Anglo-Irish Treaty signed; Ireland receives dominion status; partition creates Northern Ireland 1929 _ Turkey introduces female suffrage 1933 _ A ban on James Joyce' ``Ulysses" in the U.S. lifted 1941 _ Dutch and British pilots see Japanese invasion fleet in Singapore 1956 _ Nelson Mandela and 156 others arrested for political activities in South Africa 1957 _ Indonesia begins nationalizing Dutch possessions 1966 _ Polio vaccination becomes obligatory in Belgium 1978 _ Spain adopts constitution 1982 _ Bomb attack on Londonderry, North Ireland disco

Dec 5, 2007

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2007

Today is Wednesday, December 5, the 338th day of 2007. There are 27 days left in the year. 448 _ Bshop Jona of Moscow chosen as metropolitan of Kiev/Intoxication 1456 _ Earthquake strikes Naples; about 35,000 die 1496 _ Jews are expelled from Portugal by order of King Manuel I 1602 _ Giulio Caccini's ``Euridice" premieres in Florence 1766 _ London auctioneers Christie's hold their first sale 1792 _ George Washington re-elected U.S. president, John Adams vice-president 1879 _ First automatic telephone switching system patented 1925 _ The German government of Luther falls 1926 _ Sergei Eisenstein's ``Battleship Potemkin" debuts 1932 _ German physicist Albert Einstein granted a visa 1941 _ Russian anti-offensive in Moscow drives out the Nazi army 1972 _ Australia Labour party wins parliamentary election 1977 _ Egypt breaks diplomatic relations with Syria, Libya, Algeria, Iraq and South Yemen 1978 _ The European Union establishes the uropean Monetary System (EMS) 1989 _ France TGV train reaches world record speed of 482.4 kph

Dec 4, 2007

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2007

Today is Tuesday, December 4, the 338th day of 2007. There are 27 days left in the year. 1576 _ Spanish defeat Walloons and take Antwerp Belgium 1842 _ Abraham Lincoln marries Mary Todd in Springfield, Ill. 1866 _ The Kingdom of Italy annexes Venetia 1890 _ Great Britain proclaims Zanzibar as a protectorate 1952 _ Eisenhower elected 34th president of the U.S. 1956 _ 200,000 Russian troops attack anti-Stalinist revolt in Budapest 1956 _ Israel captures the Straits of Tiran from Egypt 1979 _ 500 Iranian ``students" seize the U.S. Embassy, take 90 hostages (444 days) 1984 _ Nicaragua holds the first free elections in 56 years; Sandinistas win 63 percent 1986 _ Democrats gain control over the U.S. Senate 1990 _ Iraq says it is preparing for a ``dangerous war" 1990 _ Secretary of State James Baker visits U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia 1991 _ A Mideast peace conference ends in Madrid Spain

Dec 3, 2007

Today in History