Greece’s political elite, foreign dignitaries and 100,000 left-wing supporters braved sweltering heat to bury Andreas Papandreou, a socialist hero who was elected prime minister three times. Papandreou died aged 77 after a heart attack. Although he held no national office at the time, he was given a full state funeral and lay in state for three days. Central Athens was packed with Greeks who had arrived from all over the country to pay their last respects to Papandreou, one of his country’s most loved, influential and controversial leaders this century. A Harvard-trained economist, Papandreou returned home after 20 years in the United States in 1959. His reputation soared during his fierce opposition to a 1967 military coup.
Other important events:
1541 Francisco Pizarro, Spanish conqueror of Peru, is slain in Lima by rival conquistadors.
1549 The 17 provinces of The Netherlands are declared independent of the Holy Roman Empire.
1714 Spain and Holland sign Peace of Utrecht.
1843 Hong Kong is proclaimed a British Crown Colony.
1858 Treaty of Tientsin ends war between Britain and China.
1945 Charter establishing United Nations is signed in San Francisco, California.
1948 The Berlin airlift begins after the Soviets blockade West Berlin. The lift feeds two million Berliners for eleven months.
1959 Queen Elizabeth II and US President Dwight Eisenhower open St Lawrence Seaway.
1960 Madagascar proclaims its independence as the Malagasy Republic.
1960 British Somaliland becomes independent.
1972 Australian bowler Bob Massie takes 16 wickets (8-84 and 8-53) on Test cricket debut vs England.
1979 Brazil suspends diplomatic relations with Nicaragua.
1981 Morocco and Algeria agree on referendum.
1988 A new Airbus 320 crashes and explodes during an air show on France’s border with Switzerland, killing four of its passengers.
1991 Martial law is lifted in Kuwait.
1992 UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali gives Serbs 48 hours to halt their offensive against Bosnian capital of Sarajevo.
1993 Despite peace talks in Brussels, seven people are killed in shelling attacks on Sarajevo between Croats and Muslims.
1995 Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak survives an assassination bid in Ethiopia.
1998 In a ceremony heavy in symbolism, US President Bill Clinton opens a state visit to China in Tiananmen Square.
1999 Nobel Peace Prize winner Jose Ramos Horta returns to East Timor following 24 years in self-exile.
2000 The International Cricket Council approves to make Bangladesh the tenth Test playing nation.
2005 Gunmen on motorcycles in Sao Paulo, Brazil, kill six people after opening fire at patrons of an outdoor bar.
2006 East Timor’s Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri resigns as a result of the two-month crisis in the country.
2008 South Korea lifts its ban on US beef imports.
2011 Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel wins the European Grand Prix in Valencia.
2013 Chinese astronauts celebrate after the safe landing of Shenzhou 10 spacecraft in Siziwang Banner in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
2015 Richard Matt, one of two escaped killer from an upstate maximum-security prison is shot dead in US.
