1996 — After 20 years as a fugitive in Europe, ex-hippie guru Ira Einhorn returned to the United States in handcuffs and entered a prison cell where the convicted murderer will await a new trial for the 1977 bludgeoning death of his girlfriend Holly Maddux. The goateed 61-year-old radical, who once hobnobbed with 1960s luminaries including Abbie Hoffman, stepped uneasily down the gangway of a US government chartered jet shortly at Philadelphia International Airport. He walked tensely to a waiting US Marshal Service squad car wearing a blue bullet-proof vest. He was taken to Graterford state prison, a maximum security facility 40 km from Philadelphia in the farmlands of southeastern Pennsylvania. Einhorn, who claims he was framed by the CIA because of his anti-war activities, disappeared just before he was scheduled to go to trial in 1981. He was discovered living in France with his Swedish-born wife, Annika, only four years ago.
Other important events
1810 - Colombia declares its independence from Spain.
1870 - France declares war on Prussia, heralding the beginning of the Franco-Prussian War.
1913 - Turkey recaptures Adrianople from Bulgaria.
1917 - Serbs, Croats and Slovenes agree to the Pact of Corfu, forming a union called Yugoslavia.
1923 - Revolutionary leader Francisco Villa is assassinated in Hidalgo del Parral, Mexico.
1951 - Jordan’s King Abdullah is assassinated in Jerusalem by a Palestinian gunman.
1956 - Tunisia’s independence is recognised by France.
1958 - United Arab Republic severs relations with Jordan.
1965 - The song Like a Rolling Stone by Bob Dylan is released.
1969 - US astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin take first walk on the moon.
1976 - US spacecraft Viking I lands on Mars after an 11-month flight and begins sending back clear pictures of the planet.
1983 - Polish authorities announce an end to 19 months of martial law. 1988 - South Africa, Angola and Cuba formally accept agreement on withdrawal of foreign troops from Angola.
1989 - Myanmarese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is placed under house arrest.
1991 - Russian Federation President Boris Yeltsin bans political activity in government offices and republic-run businesses.
1993 - A Dh200 million dhow wharfage, providing berths for more than 200 traditional trading dhows, is inaugurated in Dubai.
1994 - South Africa rejoins Commonwealth.
1997 - An IRA truce after 28 years of guerrilla war in Northern Ireland takes effect.
2005 - Hurricane Emily slams into northeastern Mexico.
2009 - A UN war crimes court convicts two Bosnian Serb cousins for a 1992 killing spree that included burning Muslims alive.
2012 - A masked gunman opens fire at a crowded cinema and kills 12 people in Colorado.
2015 - The UN Security Council unanimously endorses the landmark nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers.
