@rh18bold:Today in History

Today is Thursday, December 4, the 339th day of 2008. There are 27 days left in the year.

On this date

In 1918, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was proclaimed in what later became Yugoslavia, with Alexander I as prince regent.

In 1942, US bombers struck the Italian mainland for the first time in the Second World War.

In 1943, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, US president Franklin D Roosevelt and President Ismet Inonu of Turkey met at the second Cairo Conference.

In 1977, in Malaysia, 100 people were killed when a plane hijacked by the Japanese Red Army guerrilla group crashed near Singapore.

In 1993, the Angolan government and its UNITA guerrilla foes formally adopted terms for a truce to end a conflict that had killed an estimated average of 1,000 people a day.

In 1997, a historic treaty to ban anti-personnel land mines worldwide became reality when 121 nations signed it in Ottawa.

In 1998, the last Khmer Rouge fighters surrendered, ending a 20-year war against the Cambodian government.

Thought for Today

"There is always room at the top — after the investigation." — Oliver Herford, American author (1863-1935).