June 21

June 21, 1945 - Japanese forces on Okinawa surrender to Americans

Today is Friday, June 21, the 173rd day of 2008. There are 193 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On June 21, Japanese forces on Okinawa surrender to Americans in World War II.

On this date:

1798 - British under Lord Lake defeat Irish rebels at Vinegar Hill and enter Wexford, stronghold of Irish Rebellion. 1813 - British under Duke of Wellington rout French completely at Vitoria, forcing Joseph Bonaparte to flee from Spain to France.

1871 - The French consul and some 20 other foreigners are killed by a mob in Tientsin, an attack that almost leads the European powers to attack China.

1887 - Britain annexes Zululand, blocking Transvaal's attempts to gain access to Africa's coast.

1960 - Britain, France, Netherlands and United States provide for a Caribbean organisation for economic cooperation.

1963 - France withdraws Atlantic naval forces from NATO.

1965 - Army officer Houari Boumedienne organises new government in Algeria after ousting and arresting President Ahmed Ben Bella.

1970 - Indochina war erupts on dozen fronts in heaviest fighting since Vietnam conflict spread to Cambodia in April.

1971 - International Court of Justice in the Hague rules that South Africa's administration of territory of Southwest Africa is illegal.

1976 - Rioting breaks out in black townships around Pretoria in South Africa.

1990 - Massive earthquake strikes northern Iran, killing as many as 100,000.

1991 - Croatian troops launch a drive against Knin, the capital of the rebel Serbs, gaining some ground.

1992 - Ethiopians vote in their country's first multiparty elections, but balloting is marred by opposition boycotts.

1994 - US President Bill Clinton's administration offers North Korea high-level talks if it will confirm a willingness to halt its nuclear program.

1996 - In Managua, Nicaragua, dozens of election officials who had been kidnapped and held for two days by rearmed Contra rebels are released.

1997 - The United States, France and Russia agree to toughen sanctions against Iraq until UN inspectors confirm Baghdad is cooperating in the elimination of its weapons of mass destruction.

2000 - Chile's Senate approves a plan aimed at investigating what happened to 1,000 people who disappeared during the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet.

2001- A US federal grand jury indicts 13 Saudis and one Lebanese in the 1996 bombing that killed 19 Americans servicemen in Saudi Arabia.

2002 - Brazilians celebrate their team's Soccer World Cup victory over England as the real, the nation's currency, hits an all-time low against the US dollar and stocks plunge.

2003 - Iran says it will increase its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, but suggests that the country will keep up controversial plans to enrich uranium. The United States accuses Iran of trying to build a nuclear bomb. Iran denies the charge.

2004 - Assailants armed with grenade- and rocket-launchers seize the Interior Ministry headquarters in Ingushetia, a Russian region bordering warring Chechnya, killing the acting minister, local officials report.

2005 - An 80-year-old former Ku Klux Klansman is convicted of manslaughter in the slayings of three civil rights workers that shocked the US exactly 41 years ago and helped spur passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

2006 - The parties behind Ukraine's Orange Revolution agree to form a coalition government, ending talks to preserve a pro-Western administration that has sought to shed Russia's influence.

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