HISTORY
1939 -- In Romania, Prime Minister Armand Calinescu was murdered by the fascist Iron Guard.
1957 -- King Haakon VII of Norway died and was succeeded by his son, Olav V.
1964 -- Malta became independent after 164 years of British rule.
1974 -- The American film actor Walter Brennan died. He was the first actor to win three Academy Awards and was best known for his roles in Westerns.
1976 -- Former Chilean cabinet minister Orlando Letelier was killed in Washington by a bomb placed in his car.
1978 -- Nigeria's rulers announced a new constitution and lifted a ban on political parties that had been in effect since 1966.
1990 -- Marshal Xu Xiangqian, a former Chinese defense minister and veteran of the Communist revolution, died aged 88.
1992 -- The Vatican and Mexico established full diplomatic relations, ending a rift of 130 years.
1999 -- An earthquake of magnitude 7.6 struck Taiwan, killing at least 2,321 people and injuring 8,712.
2001 -- The Dow Jones industrial index of 30 blue chip companies lost 140 points, bringing its loss for the week to 14.2 percent, second only to a 15.5 percent drop in 1933.
2002 -- France's new center-right leaders officially disbanded President Jacques Chirac's 26-year-old Gaullist party to make way for a broader party that restored their conservative majority.
2003 -- U.S.-controlled Iraq unveiled sweeping reforms, allowing foreign investors into all sectors except oil and ending 30 years of state economic control.
2003 -- NASA's Galileo space probe made a controlled, fiery crash into Jupiter, ending a 14-year mission that yielded dramatic discoveries about the largest planet and its moons.
2004 -- Major cigarette makers went on trial in the U.S. government's $280 billion case, which charged the tobacco industry with deliberately deceiving the public about the risks of smoking since the 1950s.