Today in history : US pay Algeria, Panama declares independence

1843 Ka Lahui: Hawaiian Independence Day - The Kingdom of Hawaii is officially recognized by the United Kingdom and France as an independent nation.

1847 Bologna: church of San Francisco dei Minori Conventuali initiated with premier of Rossini's Tantum ergo

1853 Olympia forms as capital of Washington Territory

1854 Dutch army stops Chinese uprising in Borneo

1861 Confederate congress officially admits Missouri to Confederacy

1862 Battle at Cane Hill, Arkansas (475 casualties)

1862 Battle of Hooly Spring, MS

1864 3rd day of Battles at Waynesboro/Jones's Plantation, Georgia

1864 Battle of New Creek, WV (Rosser's Raid, Ft Kelly)

1871 Ku Klux Klan trials began in Federal District Court in South Carolina

1875 British explorer Verney Cameron reaches East Africa

1879 Battle at Lydenburg South Africa: Gen Wolseley beats Sekhukhenes Pedi-Zulu.

1893 Women vote in a national election for the first time, in the New Zealand general election
1895 America's 1st auto race organised by the "Chicago Times-Herald" Chicago to Evanston and back; 6 cars, 55 miles, winner avg 7 MPH
1899 Battle of Mud River (Boer general Cronjé beats British gen Methuen)
1901 Gustav Mahler's 4th Symphony in G premieres
1904 Germany defeats Hottentotten in Warmbad SW-Africa
1905 Arthur Griffith forms Sinn Fein in Dublin.
1907 In Haverhill, Massachusetts, scrap-metal dealer Louis B. Mayer opens his first movie theater.
1908 154 men die in coal mine explosion at Marianna, Pa
1911 Zapata proclaims Plan of Ayala Mexico
1912 Ismail Qemali declares Albania independent from Turkey
1913 Heavyweight Jack Johnson KOs Andre Spaul in Paris
1914 World War I: Following a war-induced closure in July, the New York Stock Exchange re-opens for bond trading.
1914 10th Australasian Championships: Arthur O'Hara Wood beats Gerald Patterson (6-4, 6-3, 5-7, 6-1)
1916 1st German air attack on London
1917 Sigmund Romberg's revue "Over the Top" premieres in NYC.
1918 Bucovina voted for the union with the Kingdom of Romania
1919 US-born Lady Astor elected first female member of British House of Commons
1920 Kilmichael Ambush, Battle of the Irish War of Independence.
1921 Ascension of 'Abdu'l-Baha (Baha'i festival-Qawl 6, 78)
1922 6 ex-ministers executed in Greece
1922 Capt Cyril Turner (RAF) gives 1st skywriting exhibition (NYC) Turner spelled out "Hello USA. Call Vanderbilt 7200." 47,000 called
1924 Pieter Jelle Troelstra leaves Dutch 2nd Chamber
1925 7th French government of Briand sworn-in
1925 Grand Ole Opry premieres as WSM Barn Dance on WSM radio Nashville Tn
1938 4th Heisman Trophy Award: Davey O'Brien, Texas Christian (QB)
1939 Hans Frank, Nazi Governor-General of Poland, organizes Judenrat
1939 Soviet government revokes Russian-Finnish non-aggression treaty
1940 Dutch law professor Rudolph Cleveringa arrested by nazis
1941 German troops vacate Rostov
1942 492 die in a fire that destroyed Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Boston

1944 1st allied ship sails into Schelde Antwerp
1944 400 Rotterdammers attack coal warehouse
1944 Hal Newhouser is named AL MVP
1944 In reprisal 40 Dutch men are executed by Nazis
1944 US 121st Infantry regiment occupies Hurtgen
1945 Australian Services draw second Victory Test Cricket v India at Calcutta
1946 French Fouth Republic government led by Georges Bidault resigns
1946 Dutch Nazi Anton Mussert sentenced to death
1948 "Hopalong Cassidy" premieres on TV
1949 "Texas, Li'l Darlin'" opens at Mark Hellinger NYC for 293 performances
1950 Walter O'Malley fires Burt Shotton as Dodgers manager
1951 John Van Druten's "I am a Camera" premieres in NYC
1951 Military coup under Col Adib el-Shishakli in Syria
1953 "Wish You Were Here" closes at Imperial Theater NYC after 597 performances
1953 41st CFL Grey Cup: Hamilton Tiger-Cats defeats Winn Blue Bombers, 12-6
1953 18th Iron Bowl: Alabama beats Auburn 10-7 in Birmingham
1954 1st pro football game in Netherlands
1954 Cleveland Browns' Horace Gillom sets club record with 80-yard punt
1954 KCKT (now KSNC) TV channel 2 in Great Bend, KS (NBC) 1st broadcast
1955 KMVI (now WMAU) TV channel 12 in Wailuku, HI (IND) begins broadcasting
1955 KTHV TV channel 11 in Little Rock, AR (CBS) begins broadcasting
1955 1956 NFL Draft: Gary Glick from University of Colorado A&M first pick by Pittsburgh Steelers
1956 Photography begins on "... & God Created Women".
1957 Warren Spahn of the Braves wins Cy Young Award
1958 AL announces Opening Day in 1959 will be earliest ever, April 9
1958 Chad becomes an autonomous republic within French community
1958 Congo & Mauritania become autonomous members of French Community
1958 George "Punch" Imlach becomes coach of NHL's Toronto Maple Leafs
1958 KCOO (now KABY) TV channel 9 in Aberdeen, SD (ABC) begins broadcasting
1958 Test Cricket debut for Wes Hall, v India at Bombay
1958 US reports 1st full-range firing of an ICBM
1959 47th CFL Grey Cup: Winn Blue Bombers defeats Hamilton Tiger-Cats, 21-7
1959 KOMC (now KSNK) TV channel 8 in McCook - Oberlin, NB (NBC) begins.

1959 24th Iron Bowl: Alabama beats Auburn 10-0 in Birmingham, breaking a streak of five consecutive victories by Auburn in the series

1960 CBS radio expands hourly news coverage from 5 to 10 minutes

1960 Mauritania gains independence from France (National Day)

1961 General Meeting of UN debates New-Guinea

1961 Martin Walser's "Der Abstecher" premieres in Munich

1962 Telegraph between Netherlands & Indonesia restored

1963 1st million copy record prior to release "I Want to Hold Your Hand"

1963 Beatles "She Loves You" returns to #1 in UK record chart

1963 Crusher beats Verne Gagne in St Paul, to become NWA champ

1963 WHNT TV channel 19 in Huntsville, AL (CBS) begins broadcasting

1964 52nd CFL Grey Cup: BC Lions defeats Hamilton Tiger-Cats, 34-24

1964 France performs underground nuclear test at Ecker Algeria

1964 Mariner 4 launched; 1st probe to fly by Mars

1964 1965 NFL Draft: Tucker Frederickson from University of Auburn first pick by New York Giants

1965 Browns' Leroy Kelly sets club record for most punt return yds (109)

1965 Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA Titleholders Golf Championship

1966 Coup in Burundi overthrows monarchy; a republic is declared

1966 Dominican Republic adopts constitution

1967 33rd Heisman Trophy Award: Gary Beban, UCLA (QB)

1967 1st radio pulsars detected by British postgraduate Jocelyn Burnell and her supervisor Antony Hewish at Cambridge University

1968 John Lennon is fined £150 for unauthorized drug possession

1969 Ted Sizemore becomes 7th Dodger to win NL Rookie of Year

1970 58th CFL Grey Cup: Montreal Alouettes defeat Calgary Stampeders, 23-10

1970 35th Iron Bowl: Auburn beats Alabama 33-28 in Birmingham

1971 "Me Nobody Knows" closes at Helen Hayes Theater NYC after 587 performances

1971 59th CFL Grey Cup: Calgary Stampeders defeats Toronto Argonauts, 14-11

1972 "Via Galactica" opens at Uris Theater NYC for 7 performances

1972 LA Dodgers trade Frank Robinson to California Angels

1972 2 members of the IRA are killed in a premature bomb explosion in the Bogside area of Derry

1973 Arab League summit in Algiers recognizes Palestine

1973 Balt Oriole Al Bumbry wins AL Rookie of Year

1975 Democratic Republic of East-Timor proclaimed
1975 Test Cricket debut of Michael Anthony Holding, WI v Australia Brisbane
1975 Wings release "Venus & Mars/Rock Show" medley
1975 As the World Turns and The Edge of Night, the final two American soap operas that had resisted going to pre-taped broadcasts, air their last live episodes.
1979 "King of Schnorrers" opens at Playhouse Theater NYC for 63 performances
1979 Air New Zealand DC-10 crashes into Mt Erebus on Antarctica kills 257
1979 LA Dodger Rick Sutcliffe wins NL Rookie of Year

1981 "Merrily We Roll Along" closes at Alvin Theater NYC after 16 performances
1981 Bear Bryant wins his 315th game to out distance Alonzo Stagg & become college football's winningest coach
1981 46th Iron Bowl: Alabama beats Auburn 28-17 in Birmingham
1982 "Pirates of Penzance" closes at Uris Theater NYC after 772 performances
1982 70th CFL Grey Cup: Edmonton Eskimos defeats Toronto Argonauts, 32-16
1982 71st Davis Cup: USA beats France in Grenoble (4-1)
1983 9th Space Shuttle Mission-Columbia 6-is launched.
1993 "Gray's Anatomy" opens at Beaumont Theater NYC for 13 performances
1993 "Mixed Emotions" closes at John Golden Theater NYC after 48 performances
1993 81st CFL Grey Cup: Edmonton Eskimos defeats Winn Blue Bombers, 33-23
1993 Carlos Reina wins Honduras presidential election
1994 Norway votes against joining European Union.
1995 James Brady, former white house press secretary, suffers a heart attack
1997 Final episode of "Beavis & Butt-head" on MTV
1997 First public appearance of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), an ethnic Albanian guerrilla group that fought for the independence of Kosovo from Serbia.
1998 The people of Albania vote for their new Constitution in a referendum.
1999 87th CFL Grey Cup: Hamilton Tiger-Cats defeats Calgary Stampeders, 32-21
2000 Ukrainian politician Oleksander Moroz begins the Cassette Scandal by publicly accusing President Leonid Kuchma of involvement in the murder of journalist Georgiy Gongadze
2004 Male Poʻo-uli dies of Avian malaria in the Maui Bird Conservation Center in Olinda, Hawaii before it could breed, making the species in all probability extinct.
2008 Canada remains the only OECD country out of the recession at this time
2008 Sweden technically enters the recession after experiencing contraction of 0.1% in the second and third quarter
2010 98th CFL Grey Cup: Montreal Alouettes defeats Saskatchewan Roughriders, 21-18
2010 24th Soul Train Music Awards: Ron Isley, Anita Baker win
2012 54 people are killed and 120 are injured by two car bombs in Damascus, Syria.