TODAY in HISTORY: September 16

Following are some of the major events to have occurred on Sept 16  

 

Reuters


1940 - U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Selective Service Bill, making all American men between 21 and 35 liable to be called for military service.

 

1945 - The last remnants of the Japanese army in Hong Kong surrendered to the British.

 

1977 - Operatic soprano Maria Callas died in Paris at the age of 53.

 

1996 - McGeorge Bundy, a top aide to presidents John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson and an architect of U.S. policy in Vietnam, died.

 

1998 - In Spain, the Basque guerrilla group ETA announced a "total and indefinite" truce to take effect on September 18.

 

1999 - Algerians voted almost unanimously to endorse President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's drive to end years of violence.

 

2000 - Australian swimmer Ian Thorpe and teammates set new world record at Olympics.

 

2004 - Africans opened a new home near Johannesburg for the Pan-African Parliament, Africa's first representative body.

 

2005 - Agbar Tower inaugurated by King Juan Carlos in Barcelona.

 

2007 - A budget airliner packed with foreign tourists crashed on the Thai resort island of Phuket, killing 89 people as it was trying to land in heavy rain.

 

2013 - Fatal shooting at Navy Yard in Washington, D.C. kills 12 people.