1921

Greek forces defeat Turks at Kutania in Turkey.

1940

Hitler gives orders to prepare the invasion of Britain.

1941

German forces pierce Soviet Stalin Line and take Smolensk.

1945

First atomic bomb is exploded by the United States over desert in New Mexico, heralding start of atomic age.

1966

India's Prime Minister Indira Gandhi ends visit to Moscow with promise of US$1 billion in Soviet aid for her country.

1969

US Apollo 11 spacecraft is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, to land first men on Moon.

1979

Saddam Hussein takes over as president of Iraq.

1991

US tentatively decides to give up Clark Air Base in Philippines after the base is damaged in volcanic eruption of Mount Pinatubo earlier in the year.

1993

The Republic of Congo's democratically elected government imposes a 15-day state of emergency to put down an armed rebellion in the capital by the former military dictator.

1994

The first fragment from comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 crashes into Jupiter, creating a 1,930-km-wide fireball.

1999

A plane piloted by John F Kennedy Jr, son of the late president, disappears over the sea north of Long Island, New York. The plane also carried his wife and sister-in-law. The wreckage is found five days later and the bodies are recovered.

2001

Russia and China sign their first friendship treaty in more than half a century.

2005

Negotiators of the Free Aceh Movement and the Indonesian government reach a tentative agreement to end the long-running war in the tsunami-ravaged Aceh province. — ap