In his Regnal Year 12, the development of a nasty dispute between Panehsy the Viceroy of Nubia and High Priest Amenhotep presented Ramses XI with the opportunity he needed to reassert his authority as Pharaoh.

Ramses XI decides to Man-upThe coffers of the treasury were running dangerously low because of the same economic problems that were causing widespread lawlessness, disorder and famine. And it was only his control of the army that enabled him to retain his flimsy grip on Upper Egpyt. Attempting to fill this power vacuum was the Amun Priesthood and the inevitable result was a coming showdown between religious and military authorities that threatened to destroy the centralised monarchy.

Then Panehsy made his own bid for power, invading the South and forcing the Head Priest out of his temple in Luxor. Realising that the "enemy of my enemy is my friend", Ramses rejected the conventional wisdom of his vizierate who recommended that he order Panehsy back to Nubia and re-instate Amenhotep. Instead, he secretly organized a "false flag" operation under which members of his bodyguard murdered Amenhotep and destroyed the Temple. He then blamed this dastardly crime on Panehsy and had him executed.

In 1977, in an audaciously daring mission planned by Astrid Pflaume herself, members of the African-Semitic Resistance (ASR) strike Port Elizabeth Security; during the brutal firefight that follows, police officers Harold Snyman and Gideon Nieuwoudt are both killed and brother Steve Biko sprung from his incarceration in Police Interrogation Room 619. Click to listen to the Peter Gabriel tribute song "Biko"

Business as usual in Police Room 619When neo-Nazi reinforcements arrive, they find the building in a smoking ruin; the only trace of the detention is a signed copy of his banned publication I Write What I Like containing a hand written note "You can blow out a candle, but you can't blow out a fire".

As a charismatic student leader, he had founded the Black Consciousness Movement, playing a decisive role in the empowerment and mobilization of much of the urban black population. When Pflaume was later assassinated by her former allies he would assume the iconic leadership of the ASR. Appealing to the broader ethnicity of this larger group, he continued to articulate his core message that liberation was unattainable until the enemies of the Third Reich united to break their chains of servitude. Only now, the eyes of the world were watching. All of Robbie Taylor's novels are available for download at Amazon.

In AD 61, during the short-lived rebellion by Queen Boudica of the Iceni, the province of Britannia was caught in the grip of terror as barbarians besieged isolated Roman forces.

Roman Testudi Ferrei Overrun Iceni RebelsThe governor, Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, had left for the campaigning season in Wales to settle more territory valuable to the Roman Empire with its many coal mines. Coal had become an invaluable resource to the Romans since the invention of practical steam engines late in the rule of Caesar Augustus. Much of Rome now rested under blackish-green clouds of progress as foundries and factories churned out ever-improving materials.

Progress did not come without cost, however, and the Roman Empire spent much of its time furthering conquest to ensure a supply of slaves and raw materials for the industrial behemoth. Much of the Scipio Academy's research into engineering sought to aid in conquest (as well as to receive handsome rewards from the emperors) by improving the Empire's war machine. Furthered metallurgical science aided in better armor and weapons while Archimedes' calculus helped the effectiveness of artillery.

A new story by Jeff ProvinePerhaps the greatest leap forward would be the application of a portable steam engine to carts, increasing the speed and comfort of travel by a half-breed Greek-Egyptian from Alexandria named Hero. He designed wonders for temples while schooling in Alexandria and soon left for Rome, where he would introduce his steam engine during the reign of Claudius. With an imperial grant, he worked on improving his engine and applying it to military service. He combined the steam-powered carts used for supply convoys and the testudo (tortoise) formation to create a shield-covered, self-powered armored car from which soldiers might attack without fear of reprisal. A pair of the devices were dispatched along with a cohort of the IX Legion commanded by Quintus Petillius Cerialis and were instrumental in wiping out the Iceni siege at Camulodunum. The belching smoke, grinding iron, and roaring furnace, along with the monstrous ornaments, sent barbarian soldiers fleeing in panic, many of them being run down by the front claws and heavy wooden wheels of the testudo ferreus.

In reality, the dispatch from the IX Legion attempting to relieve Camulodunum was nearly wiped out by the Iceni with only some of the cavalry managing to escape. The Briton revolt would eventually be put down after much bloodshed on both sides. Roman technological advancement with weapons such as the pila throwing spear would be instrumental in achieving an upper hand.

In 1942, in the midst of the darkest times of the Second World War, Germany and its allies had conquered most of Europe, devastated much of Britain with the Blitz, invaded the Soviet Union, and dug in over most of North Africa. Stalin demanded the rest of the Allies open a new front with Germany, but Americans and Britons disagreed where. FDR wanted to move directly on Europe, while Churchill hoped to check the Axis expansion into Africa and then strike at the "soft underbelly of Europe".

Dieppe Raid CanceledAs an exercise in logistics as well as to prove that Europe was not as wholly invincible as the Axis wanted to believe, Operation Jubilee (earlier known as Operation Rutter) was designed as a combined Canadian and British raid on the French port city of Dieppe. They would seize the major port, though holding it permanently would be out of the question.

A new story by Jeff ProvineTwo days before the launch, the Daily Telegraph published a crossword with the answer of the clue "French port (6)" as Dieppe. Suspicious, an investigation was launched under Lord Tweedsmuir and MI5. The report showed that the answer may have been a fluke, but Allied command decided not to risk the chance. Just after midnight, the mission was canceled, and the test of raiding had to be conducted elsewhere.

Churchill suggested moving forward with Operation Torch into North French Africa, but Stalin was furious at having to face Hitler's European armies alone. The cancellation at Dieppe made it seem as if the Allies were not even attempting to support the Soviet Union. Britain needed to strike somewhere to keep face, and finally the exiled King Haakon VII of Norway offered a suggestion. His country had been invaded by Germany two years before and gave fair resistance. With Norway's ports and airfields at Hitler's command, the Battle of the Atlantic continued as Nazi forces could penetrate the North Atlantic around British blockades. Churchill fell to agreement, and the raid was planned for the end of the month.

Using many of the resources already in place for Dieppe and adding much more, an Allied fleet of British, Canadians, and volunteer Americans left Scotland while battleships protected their flank from U-boats. The force landed at Trondheim in the middle of Norway, catching the German forces unawares. After a major struggle, the port was captured. German forces fell back to regroup for counterattack.

Just as Churchill prepared to pull back the assault with his point proven, word of the liberation had spread throughout the country. Rumors said that the raid was the establishment of a beachhead to march in forces for the overthrow of German invaders. The whole country erupted into rebellion, and the Germans were unable to conduct their counterattack. The Allies were left with an accidental foot in the door of Scandinavia.

At the urging of FDR and Stalin, Churchill opened up reserves of troops meant for Africa and poured them into Norway. With only a few real weeks left before winter set in, the Allies seized as much ground as they could. Hitler sent reinforcements wherever they could be spared from the Russian front, but continual assault from Norwegian sabotage and snipers slowed down the German counterattack. By November 1942, when the weather halted large military movements, Norway had been split with the north in the hands of the Allies.

During the winter, Operation Torch moved the main battles south to Africa, but Hitler was furious at the loss of gained ground in Europe. In spring of 1943, Africa fell due to lack reinforcements, all of which Hitler had reassigned to retake Norway. German forces departed from Denmark and began to raze the countryside as nearly continual fighting pressed the defending Allies back. Resources were stretched thin as the Allies pressed with Operation Husky to take Sicily, which succeeded on August 17. Italy fell apart, and Hitler had to shift soldiers to control what of Italy remained, ending the major assaults in Norway. Patton was reassigned to Norway, and the Americans pushed down the peninsula long after the rational fighting season had ended.

In spring of 1944, Operation Checkmate began with the amphibious invasion of Denmark. Smaller raids kept German forces occupied in Italy, Finland, Poland, Vichy, and Normandy in northern France, but the brunt of the attack was focused on piercing Germany. Supported by superior air power from Norwegian airbases, Allies were able to leave behind many of the Nazi satellite countries and strike straight for Berlin. Seeing that the end of the war was coming soon, Germans rebelled against an increasingly frantic Hitler. Upon the overthrow and execution of Hitler on October 12, 1944, the war with Germany was finished. Through the course of the next months, the puppet governments around Europe fell while bloody anarchy reigned over most of the continent.

At the Treaty of Yalta in 1945, Europe was broken up among the Allies for occupation and reconstruction. The Soviet Union became responsible for Eastern Europe, while Britain and America handled most of the West. North and South France were broken into occupied zones until being eventually reunited in 1955. Scholars understand that the real winners of the war was America, as the USA captured nearly all of the German scientists promoted by the Nazi government. Taking something of a generational leap ahead in development over the rest of the world, along with singly controlling atomic bomb technology until successful Soviet tests in 1954, America became the undisputed world leader for the rest of the twentieth century.

In 1996, US President Bill Clinton was assassinated on this day. Kill Bill
"He had his big fiftieth birthday party at Radio City Music Hall and [beforehand] there was a cocktail reception [at the Sheraton Hotel], and when he and [Hillary] came to the rope line .. I had my back to him, and I just kind of put .. my hand behind me and touched him [in the crotch area]". ~ Monica Lewinsky, stalker
"Entering the the vast six-thousand seat auditorium, Monica checked her ticket stub. For the first time, she noticed that she had been relegated to the cheap seats in the back of the orchestra. Suddenly, she lost it. Blinded by all the rage and resentment that had accumulated since she was exiled from the White House the previous spring, Monica turned on her heels and raced up to the stage". ~ Edward Klein, biographer
"'I need to be near him! I need to be near him on his birthday. I need to be closer.' screamed Lewinsky. Nobody was surprised about Monica. The Secret Service knew all about her. Suddenly, I put two and two together: Monica had a relationship with the President". ~ DNC Official
"Monica had become unglued. I could hear her saying the President's name over and over - Bill! Bill! Bill! And my husband's brains splattered over his Ermenegildo Zeghna necktie, a gift from this crazy stalker". ~ Hillary Clinton, US President
"Hillary had been interested in power all her life, but without Monica Lewinsky, she would have remained a scandal-scarred, unpopular First Lady without a promising political future" ~ Edward Klein, biographer
"The great irony of [Hillary's] life [was] that she achieved the Presidency not because of her widespread admiration for something she had done, but because of public sympathy over something that was done to her" ~ Michael Tomasky, political observer

	On this day in 1970, Black September made its first major attack on Israel, firing rockets across the Syrian border at a kibbutz five miles from the edge of the Golan Heights.
Black September

On this day in 1944, Joseph Stalin announced that Red Army troops had liquidated the last pockets of German resistance in Warsaw.
	Joseph Stalin

NYC Governor	In 1960, on this day New York State governor Nelson Rockefeller visited New York City to assess first-hand the damage inflicted by the Jamaica Bay hurricane. By the time he left, four of New York's five boroughs had been declared state disaster areas, paving the way for the residents of said boroughs to start receiving state recovery aid.
Nelson Rockefeller

On Staten Island, the one borough not seriously damaged by the hurricane, the United Nations opened a temporary headquarters while the organization's regular offices in Manhattan's Turtle Bay district underwent repair and cleanup. The UN would return to its Manhattan home in June of 1961.

In 2008, on this day the mastermind of the Virginia bogus colonial documents scheme was indicted on federal and state fraud charges. Documents had been discovered in the forger's house which he claimed would prove the United States was still under British control.

	On this day in 1941, Wehrmacht and SS infantry troops in Russia seized Kuvsinovo. News of the village's fall sparked panic and riots in Moscow proper; during the riots senior Red Army commander General Georgi Zhukov disappeared, never to be seen or heard from again.
Georgi Zhukov

In 1913, author H.G. Wells releases the followup to his game Little Wars, Little Warriors. In this game, the players are able to take on the role of the individual warriors in a battle, while a War Master plays the part of enemy combatants. It is even more successful than Little Wars, and spawns a new genre of games called role-playing games.

In 1902, tragic poet Ogden Nash was born in Rye, New York. Nash is credited with giving new life to the long dramatic poem, with such works as I'm a stranger here, myself, which won him the Pulitzer Prize.

In 1892, the Curies lead a last-ditch effort to repair the earth's mantle, with the last ships working on the North American continent. During this heroic effort, both of the Curies are killed as their ship is swallowed by magma in a sudden violent explosion. The rest of the team manages to finish, though, and the remaining population of the earth waits to see if their work was successful.

In 477, Saracens armed with the one true faith defeated Christian infidels in the Battle of Ascalon. Combined with the defeat of the Crusaders at Jerusalem, this served to push Christians out of the Holy Land altogether.

In 1953, Ealing Studios released The Cruel Sea, brilliantly adapted by screenplay writer Eric Ambler and directed by Charles Frend from the 1951 novel of the same name by Nicholas Monserrat.

DVD Times reports - Ealing's film of Nicholas Monserrat's bestseller The Cruel Sea was a massive commercial success in 1952/53 and provided a valuable reminder, amidst talk of a new Elizabethan era and nostalgia for the finest hour, of the horror of the war which Britain had so narrowly won. In later years, it became a by-word for the stiff-upper-lip war drama which seemed out of date and the brilliant realism and integrity of the film was forgotten. But looked at today, The Cruel Sea seems like one of Ealing's most enduring dramatic achievements and an influential film in the genre. The Cruel Sea is the story of a ship, a Flower Class corvette convoy vessel called the Compass Rose. It is led by a merchant seaman, Ericson (Hawkins), and his officers Lockhart (Sinden), Morell (Elliott) and Ferraby (Stratton). We follow them through the war as they rescue survivors of U-Boat attacks, wait for battle and suffer terrible losses.

A good measure of the success of the film is due to Jack Hawkins, an actor who never got his due when he was alive and is still all too often forgotten when British films are discussed. The tragedy of his life is perhaps better known than much of his career, the throat cancer with which he was afflicted destroying his renowned voice and forcing him, for the sake of his career, to accept re-voicing by Charles Gray or Robert Rietty.

But I think Hawkins was one of the pivotal planks of British cinema during the 1950s and 1960s, moving effortlessly between realistic war drama, comedy thriller, tragedy and domestic cosiness. He had a glorious knack of suggesting intelligence and thoughtfulness and could either turn this to sympathetic characterisations or ambiguous ones, as in his General Allenby who plays such a vital role in Lean's Lawrence of Arabia. The Cruel Sea is one of the highlights of his career, giving a role which he had played countless times before in films such as Angels One Five - but he never played it better or with more principled intellect than he does here. He is an extraordinarily principled actor - he doesn't go soft on us or try to pretend that men in war are saints, and this is exemplified in the famous scene where he ploughs on through merchant seamen stranded in the ocean in order to depth-charge a U-Boat. This is horrific but we accept this from Hawkins because of his strength of character - and we even sympathise with him because he shows the moral price that such decisions exact on men in command.

Wikipedia closes - After close to three years of service, including one U-Boat almost certainly sunk, the Compass Rose is herself torpedoed and her men forced to abandon ship. Ericson survives this ordeal along with his First Lieutenant, Lockhart (Donald Sinden), although most of the crew do not.

Together with his now-promoted 'number one', Ericson takes command of a new ship, HMS Saltash Castle, and they continue the monotonous, but vital duty of convoy escort. Late in the war, they sink one German submarine, the Saltash Castle's only 'kill'. As the war ends, the ship is shown returning to port, guarded by several German submarines after her surrender. With the exhaustion brought on by so many years of almost endless seagoing struggle, Ericson concedes at the film's end that the only victor is the 'Cruel Sea'.

In 1914, Imperial German army defeat a combined army of French and British soldiers.

In 1965, Vice President Lyndon Baines Johnson resigned his position after Attorney General Robert Kennedy produced unmistakeable evidence of corruption. The casus belli for the resignation was a witness summoned to the Capitol November 22, 1963. The man was a salesman who encountered LBJ when he was attempting a sale to Lady Bird's TV station Johnson extorted a deluxe television set from the fellow as a condition of doing business with the station. (Lyndon opened a sales catalog and pointed to the telvision he wanted to get as a bribe.) Kennedy reflected that had Oswald suceeeded, by 12 noon, Texas time, that day, the whole shebang would have been moot. Everyone would have realized that President Lyndon Johnson was not going to be removed from office over a television set. And the matter would have been dropped forever.

In 1980, official biographer Robert Rhodes summed up Anglo-Arab relations by asking, 'who can now claim that Eden was right?' Nasser's apparent role in the dismissal of British military leader Glubb Pasha in Jordan prior to the canal company nationalization had greatly annoyed British Prime Minister Anthony Eden. The French were befouled by Nasser's support for Muslim insurgents in French Algeria. Similar to the British, the French news called Nasser a 'dictator'. However King Hussein of Jordan refused to bow to anti-British pressure and reappointed Lieutenant-General Sir John Bagot Glubb prior to the Six Day War. Better known as Glubb Pasha, he headed the Arab Legion, repaying this loyalty by capturing Jerusalem for Jordan in 1967.

In 1945, in a televised address to the nation, US President Harry S. Truman announced that following a fanatic militarists' rebellion, irregular elements were now in control of the government of the Empire of Japan. It appeared that the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had not forced a surrender as hoped, rather pushed the military up into a corner from which they had come out fighting.

In 1914, on this night Kaiser Wilhelm II suffered a dreadful nightmare in which he witnessed the defeat and fall of the Second Reich. At the end of the dream, Field Marshal Alfred, Graf von Schlieffen had urged him to 'keep the right wing strong'.

It is 1960, and the four Kennedy Brothers have joined the Irish Republican Army in their home town of Dublin.

Up the Rebel Kennedys!Their mother, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, supports them to the fullest, saying that they are needed to protect the Catholics in Belfast from the Protestants. Their father, Joseph, is much more realistic, but he doesn't mind throwing the IRA a few pounds now and again, even though they have not been active for several years. With his thriving whiskey export business, he can afford the expense .. and besides, it does not hurt to stay on the boyos' good side, does it now? And he still has not forgotten World War II, when his oldest boy Joe, Jr. died fighting for the English, whom he blames for causing the conflict.

The three remaining brothers combine Irish charm, movie-star good looks, dazzling smiles and rousing speeches in a combination that few can resist. Seeing this, the leaders assign them to raise money and support in America and Ireland both. John is especially effective, with his ringing cry: "Ask not what Ireland can do for you .. ask what you can do for Ireland".

On one of those trips abroad, he meets a beautiful .. and wealthy .. debutante named Jacqueline Bouvier. Her charm and money are equally helpful to the cause, to the point where they are soon gracing the covers of Hollywood fan magazines and Irish newspapers both. Their sister Patricia plays her part by marrying an equally glamorous movie star, Peter Lawford. With the staunch support that the Kennedys are creating in Ireland and America both, the IRA is soon a force to be reckoned with once more.

In 484 BC, on this day Herodotus was born in the ancient Greek city of Halicarnassus.

Birth of HerodotusThe brutal execution of the poet Panyasis finally sparked a revolt that had been long brewing under a series of murderous rulers starting with Artemesia, the famous naval commander at the battle of Salamis. A man of modest literary ambition, Herodotus was so thoroughly enraged by this senseless murder of a fellow artist that he became an outspoken leader of the revolt.

After the overthrow of the despot Lygdamis, he settled into a middle-ranking position in the new Government. Evidently the occupation was far from fulfilling, because his personal account includes heartfelt regrets that his Halicarnassian loyalty prevented him from giving expression to his wander lust. Nevertheless, towards the end of his civic career, he wrote a charming account of the history of the city which was praised by his contemporaries for its sweetness and charm.

In 1590, on this day a relief fleet comprising the Moonlight, Little John, Hopewell, and other ships commanded by Captain Christopher Newport arrived off the Chesapeake Bay in present-day North Carolina.

CroatoanReuniting with his daughter Eleanor, Governor John White had arrived just in time to celebrate the third birthday of his grand daughter Virginia Dare, the first English child born in the Americas. But White's initial joy soon gave way to deep disquiet. His suspicion that something was very wrong at Roanoke Colony began as soon as he noticed the word "Croatoan" carved into a post of the fort and "Cro" carved into a nearby tree.

In fact, during the voyage from England White had greatly feared that upon his return that he would find the settlement completely deserted. Because in late 1587 a dispute had developed with the neighboring Croatan tribe. A fellow colonist Ralph Lane mysteriously disapppeared while searching for crabs alone in the Albemarle Sound. Fearing for their lives, the Roanoke Islanders had urged White to return to England to explain the colony's situation and ask for help. Before he left the colony, White had instructed them that if anything happened to them, they should carve a Maltese cross on a tree nearby, indicating that their disappearance had been forced.

But the England to which White returned had a much bigger problem than the future of Roanoke Colony. That problem was called the Spanish Armada. All suitable vessels were requisitioned for the defence of the country, delaying his return by three agnosingly long years. Because of these troubles, by the time he returned to the colony his famously blond hair had gone completely grey.

During the night White was startled awake by the noise of nearby trees crashing. Something huge was approaching the colony, and at a truly frightening high speed. The unidentified source of John White's fears was about to take a very definite shape.

In 1935, on this day the US Secretary of General Welfare, Smedley Butler announced the long-expected retirement of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Press photographs of the wheel-chair ridden and clearly sick President had convinced many Americans that Roosevelt was not in good health. Fortunately, since his appointment, Butler had succeeded in "taking all the worries and details off of his shoulders", and consequently FDR had spent much of the previous year "christening babies, dedicating bridges and kissing children".

Business Plot Part 2: Roosevelt RetiresFormer bond trader and current US Secretary of the Treasury, Mr Gerald MacGuire would be moving forward with improved plans for the New Deal. Especially for First World War Veterans - because the planned reversion to the Gold Standard would ensure that the 1945 bonus would be paid in gold. Compensation for all workers in defence industries, from the lowest labourer to the highest executive, would be limited to "thirty dollars a month, the same wage as the lads in the trenches get".

"We want to see the soldiers' bonus paid in gold. We do not want the soldiers to have rubber money or paper money".The constructive dismissal of the thirty-second President of the United States presented an unexpected opportunity for Huey P. Long.

The disgraced former Governor of Lousiana had been impeached in 1929. According to the Kingfish, his removal from office was the result of illegal political manoerves by Standard Oil who contested his proposal for five cents tax per barrel to pay for his "Share the Wealth" programme. Long would claim with some merit that FDR's removal was the result of a similiar business plot, but on a national scale.

Under the banner of "Every Man a King, but none wears the Crown", Long would seize upon popular resentment, launching an audacious bid for the White House in 1936.

In 1991, Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev is overthrown in a coup led by hard-line Stalinist military officers unhappy with the results of his policies of glasnost and perestroika, which they blame for the collapse of Soviet control over Eastern Europe. He and his wife Raisa are held prisoner at Gorbachev's dacha in the Crimea. A so-called "Emergency Committee for the Restoration of State Order" proclaims itself the acting government of the USSR.

Gorby Toppled by Eric LippsNews of the coup sparks panic buying of gold in Europe, Asia and America. The price of gold, which had stood at 321 USD per ounce before the takeover, soars.

U.S. President Jack F. Kemp denounces the toppling of Gorbachev. In a televised address, he warns: ~ "The reckless action of the so-called 'Emergency Committee' threatens the peace of the world. Premier Gorbachev has demonstrated since coming to power a flexibility and openness to reform not previously seen in the leadership of the Soviet state. If those attitudes are now repudiated in favor of bluster and bullying in the style of Stalin and Khrushchev, the Soviet people and the world at large will suffer a great reversal. We can only hope that this seizure of power will fail, and that duly constituted authority under the recognized premiership of Mr. Gorbachev will be restored".

"The reckless action of the so-called 'Emergency Committee' threatens the peace of the world" ~ President Jack KempConservatives will mock the President's speech as an example of "Gorbymania", and in an article in right-wing magazine Human Events, exiled Russian dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn declares, ~ "There is not, and never was, a 'duly constituted authority' under the Communists. Premier Gorbachev's removal is merely the replacement of one totalitarian terrorist who has managed to deceive gullible Westerners as to his nature with a gang of such tyrants who see no need to do so".

In 1951, New York City's legendary Empire State Building, severely damaged by seismic tremors set off when cosmic debris ravaged the US Eastern Seaboard during the Bellus-Zyra disaster, collapsed into rubble, killing dozens of National Guardsmen who were part of a convoy passing down Fifth Avenue on their way to deliver relief supplies to Manhattan residents left without food or water by the crisis.	Empire State
	Building

In 1949, Menachem Begin and his personal bodyguard are captured as they are attempting to plant bombs at the New Reich Embassy in Salonika, Greece. They are taken to Berlin, where Hitler shoots Begin himself. "This is what we shall do with all of your kind," he shouts at Begin's men, before they are executed themselves. With Begin's death, the Greater Zionist Resistance is practically destroyed; only a few holdouts remain to fight against the Reich in Eurasia.

	On this day in 1971, violent mobs in the Chinese capital Beijing sacked the Communist Party of China's central committee headquarters and lynched most of the CPC's senior officials, including Chinese ruler Mao Zedong and Mao's chief deputy Zhou Enlai. The riots were a reaction to the Chinese government's failure to stem the China virus pandemic within its own borders.

On this day in 1587, Virginia Dare, the first American child of European parents, was born at the Roanoke colony in what is today North Carolina. The child's parents were killed two years later by a creature known only as 'the Devourer', and Virginia herself might have also perished had she not been rescued by members of the Haliwa-Saponi Indian nation.	The discovery
	of 'Croatoan'

Adopted into the Haliwa-Sapone tribe, she was given the new name 'White Doe' and would later be credited with discovering the secret for ending the Devourer's reign of terror.

	On this day in 1944, Allied ground forces entered Luxembourg.

On this day in 1947, movie director John Ford began filming a documentary about the city of Roswell's efforts to recover from the July 6th asteroid strike.	Director
	John Ford

	In 1965, at the urging of President Johnson, the Medicare bill is reintroduced in the House. Conservatives immediately begin stalling while they marshal the votes to defeat the measure again. On Sept. 10, after three and a half weeks of debate and delay, the House of Representatives narrowly passes President Johnson's legislation, which has been loaded with pork-barrel items to attract added support. Conservative senators, led by Strom Thurmond and Barry Goldwater, vow to defeat it in the Senate.
LBJ

On this day in 1984, Tom Brady pitched a one-hitter for the San Mateo Little League Minors team against the Bridgeport, Connecticut Minors team in the opening round of the Little League World Series. Though San Mateo was eliminated in the semifinals by eventual US bracket champion Altamonte Springs, Florida Brady would establish himself during San Mateo's tournament run as a potential future star.
	Tom Brady

In 1937, Charles Redford, Jr. was born in Santa Monica, California. The good-looking actor originally played pretty-boy fluff roles in such films as The Sting and Barefoot in the Park, but used the money he gained in these roles to finance later projects such as the Sundance Film Festival, which he started to bring attention to independent film.

In 1892, transport ships began evacuating Great Britain, the North American Confederation, Japan and Ml'Astra as the Bandai Group's mantle repair appears to be unsuccessful. French scientists Pierre and Marie Curie beg the Congress of Nations for more time to rebuild; the Executive Committee votes, narrowly, to give it to them.

In 1812, Governor-General of British North America and Commander-in-Chief of the British forces Sir George Prevost, 1st Baronet received a vital communication from London. The British government had upheld all of the orders in council which the United States regarded as a cause of war. General Isaac Brock crosses the Niagara which results in the Battle of Lewiston Heights where the ill prepared American force under General von Renssellear are badly defeated.

In 1750, Antonio Salieri was born in Italy. The famed composer of Tatare, Salieri also taught legendary composers Beethoven, Liszt and Schubert. Beethoven, in particular, called him the greatest musical talent of his era, and much of Beethoven's music shows Salieri's influence.

In 3923, the Chinese Empire's greatest enemy, Genghis Khan, dies in battle against Emperor Xiaozong Peng's soldiers at Karakorum, his capital. Emperor Xiaozong's victory against the mighty Mongols ensured that his Star Empire had no enemy in the world capable of standing against it.

Steve Biko	In 1977, on this day thirty-year old anti-apartheid activity Steve Bantu Biko was arrested at a police roadblock under the Terrorism Act No 83 of 1967. He suffered a major head injury while in police custody, and was chained to a window grille for a full day. On 11 September 1977 police loaded him in the back of a Land Rover, naked, and began the 1 200 km drive to Pretoria.

He died shortly after arrival at the Pretoria prison, on 12 September. The police claimed his death was the result of an extended hunger strike. He was found to have massive injuries to the head, which many saw as strong evidence that he had been brutally clubbed by his captors. Then journalist and now political leader, Helen Zille, exposed the truth behind Biko's death. Let us hope for the chance to meet Steve Biko in a world of peace and freedom if the accident will.

In 1587, on this day Virginia Dare, granddaughter of Governor John White of the Colony of Roanoke, became the first English child born in the Americas. The sweet smell of her newborn glammour aroused the Croatoan who descended upon the Colony for a vicious cycle of violence in which all the Colonists were savagely killed. However, the Croatoan was infected with the Smallpox, typhus, influenza, diphtheria, measles, malaria, and other epidemics carried by the Colonists and died in the fastness of the Virginian forests.

In 1914, a leader of a group of Flemish soldiers is shot after he tried to escape the army with some of his comrades. A Russian army entering East Prussia is defeated by German forces.

In 1993, Harry Turtledove published the counter-history novel Yellow Pearl, in which he posed the Pearl Harbour question - what if the US Navy had left the safety of San Diego for Hawaii, unnecessarily provoking the Empire of Japan?

Kevin Knight's project to publish the Catholic encyclopedia on the Internet ran from 1993 to 1995. Inspired at the 1993 World Youth Day, Knight was to understand initially that the encyclical represented 'authoritative information on the entire cycle of Catholic interests, action and doctrine'. The delegates at the Second Vatican Council, were aware of some major absences that were partially included in the supplement which was published in 1922. When Knight found this out for himself, he was deeply troubled. The 1922 supplement to the Encyclopedia is also in the public domain, but as of 2007 has not been placed on-line. Which was probably just as well.

In 1990, British r'n'b group Soul II Soul cancelled its North American tour after band members were involved in a seven-car pile-up in Illinois. Lead singer Beresford Romeo (stage name Jazzie B) was critically injured, and was quite literally brought Back to Life by a roadside medical team.

In 335 BC, Alexander III's bid for Greek hegemon was ruined by a poor decision to execute Demosthenes (pictured) and other anti-Macedonian agitators in the Athenian assembly.

The Execution of DemosthenesAlthough they had urged Greece to revolt, and even gone so far as to write to Persian Generals for support, their speeches were merely antaganonisms that his father had the good sense to ignore. Nevertheless Philip II had been assassinated, and his dreams of invading Asia Minor were left to his overbold son Alexander III to realise. Such a conquest would have required not only Greek unity, but the acquiescence of the Greek cities in Asia Minor. And the real trouble was that the once mighty Persian Empire had collapsed into satraps, such that the Greek Cities enjoyed a surprisingly large amount of freedom inhibited only be the occasional payment of taxes. By striking so overtly at Athenian democracy, Alexander had demonstrated that the real threat to Greek Civilization was his aspiration to megalomania.

In 986, on this day the Byzantine emperor Basil the Young was killed in the pass of the Gate of Trajan after his army was overwhelmed by the forces of Tsar Samuil of Bulgaria.

Basil the Young dies at the Battle of the Gates of TrajanThe Byzantine army retreated from the Sofia Valley towards Ihtiman where it stopped for the night. The rumours that the Bulgarians had barred the nearby mountain routes stirred commotion among the soldiers and on the following day the retreat continued in growing disorder. When the Bulgarians saw that, they rushed to the enemy camp and the retreat turned to flight. Only the Byzantine advance guard managed to squeeze through slopes which were not yet taken by the Bulgarian attackers. The rest of the army was surrounded by the Bulgarians. The elite Armenian unit from the infantry attempted to break out with heavy casualties and to lead their Emperor to safety through secondary routes, but they were captured along with the Imperial insignia.

Enormous numbers of Byzantine soldiers perished in the Pass. Battlefield commanders Comitopuli Samuel and Aron were now the undisputed masters of the Balkans. Because just fifteen years after the fall of their capital Preslav, an unbroken string of successes had elevated the Bulgarian Empire to the now dominant power in the region. Worse was to come, the nobility in Asia Minor, led by the general Bardas Phokas rose in rebellion, and the very future of the Byzantine Empire hung in the balance.

In 1779, the Revolutionary War ended with the final surrender of British forces to the Continental Army at Yorktown, Virginia.

Double Jeopardy Part 13
Battle of YorktownFor the American colonials this moment represented the triumphant conclusion of their four-year-long struggle for freedom from British rule; for the British themselves it was the ultimate grim evidence of their failure to tame the North American continent; and for the citizens of the Quebec Republic it meant a chance to further secure their own independence.


Ironically, the rise of Napoleon's dictatorship in France during the early 19th century would spark the establishment of an unlikely U.S.-Quebec-U.K. coaltion to stop Napoleon's quest for a global empire. In the Great European War of 1914-17, all three nations would side with France against Kaiser Wilhelm's Germany.
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In 1940, on this day Mackenzie King (pictured) and Franklin D. Roosevelt met at Ogdensburg the little border town in New York State just across the St. Lawrence River from Prescott, Ontario.

Canadian Heroes 1The negotiation of the so-called Ogdensburg Agreement was to set up the Canada-US Permant Joint Board of Defence. But a serious problem arose over the proposed exchange of American destroyers for British colonial bases.

The dismantlement of the British Empire was a privately declared war aim of Roosevelt. But King had a bigger issue at stake: the 1837 hanging of his grandfather William Lyon Mackenzie, a leading proponent of the Responsible Government movement that had delivered an Independent Canada in 1867.

In 1786, on this day the ninth President of the United States David ("Davy") Crockett (pictured) was born in Greene County, Tennessee, close to the Nolichucky River and near the community of Limestone.

Davy Crockett
9th President of the United States
March 4, 1844 - 1852At the time of his birth, however, the surrounding area was part of the autonomous territory known as the State of Franklin. He was named after his paternal grandfather, who was killed in 1777 at his home near today's Rogersville, Tennessee, by Indians led by Dragging Canoe. Crockett's father was one of the Overmountain Men who fought in the Battle of Kings Mountain during the American Revolutionary War.

Between 1811 and 1813 Crockett fought under General Andrew Jackson in the Creek War. After years as a Democratic Jacksonian, Crockett broke ties with Jackson in 1828 and became a Whig for the remainder of his political career. Ironically for a man so accustomed to death, Crockett was to witness President Jackson's assassination at the hands of Richard Lawrence in 1935.

Based upon an original idea by Robbie TaylorHero of the successful battle of Texican forces at the Alamo, Crockett returned to Tennessee and American politics in 1838 by winning the governorship of his home state. The Whigs nominated him for president in 1840, but he lost by a narrow margin to Martin Van Buren, who was widely considered one of the worst presidents America has ever elected.

Crockett was nominated again in 1844, and this time he won on a platform of small government asking voters to: "Remember that a government big enough to give you everything you want is also big enough to take away everything you have".

During his second term that principle would be pushed to the breaking point by his fellow Whigs. Seeking to expand the Union westwards at the expense of Mexico and Great Britain, those expansionist forces were about to push those two belligerent nations into a powerful alliance.

In 1985, on this day Ethiopian dictator Mengistu Haile Miriam was assassinated while reviewing a military parade in Addis Ababa.

Miriam AssassinatedAccording to a UPI reporter who was covering the parade at the time, Mengistu was shot six times by a gunman riding a Soviet-made motorcycle; the first two shots, however, were enough to kill him as the first bullet ripped through his brain just above the left eye and the second pierced the center of his heart. It would later be determined that the assassination had been carried out by three Eritrean separatists who bitterly resented the Mengistu regime's suppression of Eritrea's independence movement. The gunman himself managed to escape to neighboring Somalia(where he would later fight in that nation's civil war), but his two co-conspirators were seized by Ethiopian security forces within days and tortured to death less than two weeks after the assassination.


For the Marxist oligarchy that had ruled Ethiopia since Emperor Haile Selassie was ousted in 1974, the assassination was a fatal blow: even before Mengistu's death his government had been on shaky ground as the result of a famine which had been plaguing Ethiopia since mid-1984 and a steady decline in Soviet economic aid as the PLM's anti-Communist guerrilla war continued to rage on. Mengistu's assassination triggered a chain reaction which culminated in the violent overthrow of Ethiopia's ruling Marxist junta less than six weeks after Mengistu was killed. The end of the Mengistu regime in Ethiopia marked the beginning of a two-year span in which Communist regimes and political factions throughout Africa collapsed like a house of cards, stripping the Soviet Union of much of what little influence it still had left in the Third World. Only Libya, which boasted one of the world's largest oil industries and was capable of sustaining itself economically and militarily regardless of what happened to the U.S.S.R., managed to buck this trend.