2007 - A road bridge on the verge of completion in China has collapsed, killing 22 people and injuring 22. At least 39 people were missing after the 320-metre bridge, spanning the Tuo river in Fenghuang County, in the southern province of Hunan, collapsed during the evening rush hour, even as workers were stripping scaffolding from the bridge. Pictures on state-run China Central Television showed bulldozers and rescue workers picking through a massive pile of debris stretching between two hills on the banks of the river, which flows through a scenic area in western Hunan popular with tourists. A total of 123 workers were at the site of the arched concrete bridge, which had been scheduled for completion this month.
Other important events
1624 - France’s King Louis XIII names Cardinal Richelieu as first minister.
1784 - Britain’s India Act places East India Company under government-appointed Board of Control.
1792 - French revolutionaries imprison France’s royal family.
1814 - Britain agrees to hand back all Dutch colonial possessions, including Indonesia.
1868 - Earthquakes in Peru and Ecuador kill 25,000 and damage property worth $300 million.
1898 - Carl Gustav Witt discovers 433 Eros, the first near-Earth asteroid to be found.
1898 - US forces capture Manila from Spain during the Spanish-American War.
1960 - The Central African Republic and Chad proclaim their independence from Franc.
1961 - East Germany closes the Brandenburg Gate to seal border between East and West Berlin.
1970 - Iraq and Syria reaffirm their opposition to Egyptian efforts to seek a peaceful solution to the Middle East crisis.
1980 - US President Jimmy Carter wins second term for presidency candidate.
1983 - The Indian government starts to erect a barbed-wire fence along the entire 2,500-mile (4,023km) border with Bangladesh.
1994 - Nato secretary-general Manfred Woemer dies after a long battle with cancer.
1995 - Norwegian hostage Hans Christian Ostroe is killed by Kashmir militants.
1999 - German tennis legend Steffi Graf retires from tennis.
2000 - Mika Hakkinen of Finland wins Hungarian Grand Prix.
2001 - Macedonia’s rival political leaders sign a landmark peace accord aimed at ending six months of bloody conflict.
2005 - Former New Zealand Prime Minister David Lange dies at the age of 63, oversaw a tumultuous time in the country’s history.
2008 - Lebanon’s newly chosen president Michel Sulaiman arrives in Syria on a landmark visit.
2011 - The 50th anniversary of the building of the Berlin Wall is marked.
2016 - Michael Phelps retires from swimming after winning 23rd Olympics gold medal.
