November 23rd, 2008

Today in History

1996:
The Republic of Angola officially joins the World Trade Organization, as Angola.

1991:
Queen frontman Freddie Mercury publicly announces that he has AIDS. Freddie dies peacefully the next day.

1980:
A series of earthquakes in southern Italy kills approximately 4,800 people.

1890:
King William III of the Netherlands dies without a male heir and a special law is passed to allow his daughter Princess Wilhelmina to become Queen.

1869:
In Dumbarton, Scotland, the clipper Cutty Sark is launched -- one of the last clippers ever to be built, and the only one still surviving to this day.