Today in History ...

Posted
1784 – American Revolutionary War: Ratification Day, United States - Congress ratifies the Treaty of Paris with Great Britain. 1943 – World War II: Japan begins Operation Ke, the successful operation to evacuate its forces from Guadalcanal during the Guadalcanal Campaign. 1953 – Josip Broz Tito is inaugurated as the first President of Yugoslavia. 1954 – The Hudson Motor Car Company merges with Nash-Kelvinator Corporation forming the American Motors Corporation. 1975 – Teenage heiress Lesley Whittle is kidnapped by Donald Neilson, aka "the Black Panther." 1993 – In Poland's worst peacetime maritime disaster, ferry MS Jan Heweliusz sinks off the coast of Rügen, drowning 55 passengers and crew; nine crewmembers are saved. 1999 – Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman becomes the first mayor in Canada to call in the Army to help with emergency medical evacuations and snow removal after more than one meter of snow paralyzes the city. 2005 – The Huygens probe lands on Saturn's moon Titan. 2010 – Yemen declares an open war against the terrorist group al-Qaeda. 2011 – Former president of Tunisia, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali flees his country to Saudi Arabia after a series of street demonstrations against his regime and corrupt policies, asking for freedom, rights and democracy, considered as the anniversary of the Tunisian Revolution and the birth of the Arab Spring.