re: Today in History
5th June 1967 : The Six-Day War begins when Israel launches simultaneous attacks against Egypt and Syria, Jordan also joined the fray, but the Arab coalition was no match for Israel's proficient armed forces. In six days of fighting, Israel occupied the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt, the Golan Heights of Syria, and the West Bank and Arab sector of East Jerusalem, By the time the United Nations cease-fire took effect on June 11, Israel had more than doubled its size.
5th June 1953 : An Alco Fireworks and Specialty Company warehouse and factory exploded killing four people in Houston, Texas. Over 400,000 pounds of fireworks exploded in the factory which in addition to the deaths injured 73 people. The cause of the explosion was said to be due to a general manager hammering nails into a display.
5th June 1956 : Elvis Presley introduces his new single, "Hound Dog," on The Milton Berle Show. and scandalized the audience with his suggestive hip gyrations
5th June 1968 : Senator Robert Kennedy is assassinated at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles after winning the California presidential primary
5th June 1981 : The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a report announcing that cases of rare pneumonia were found among five homosexual men in Los Angeles, California which was later identified as the Aids Virus
5th June 2000 : An earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale has struck the western island of Sumatra leaving many dead and buried and hundreds of buildings down, the airport is now closed and electricity and water supplies to the area have been cut.
5th June 2002 : Elizabeth Smart a 14 yr old girl is kidnapped from her bedroom in her family's Salt Lake City home. She was found alive on March 12, 2003 in Sandy, Utah, just a few from her home. She had been kidnapped by Brian David Mitchell who had been a handyman the family had employed for one day the previous year.
5th June, 2005 : Two women, Fatima al-Sabah and Fawzia al-Bahr, were appointed to Kuwait's municipal council, the first time in its history. The council mainly focused on civic planning, including roads and public services, and the appointment was hailed as a gain for women's rights in the country
5th June, 2008 : The funeral for fashion legend Yves Saint Laurent was held in Paris as hundreds of admirers and colleagues mourned the designer's death. Saint Laurent died at the age of seventy-one from a brain tumor earlier in the week and was survived by his ninety-five year old mother. The designer became famous for creating fashions that better reflected women's shifting roles in society with such classics as a women's tuxedo and suits.
5th June, 2010 : Fourteen year old Anamika Veeramani from Ohio won the National Spelling Bee in the United States. The talented teenager collected a forty thousand dollar prize for correctly spelling the word stromuhr, a medical term.
5th June, 2011 : An active chain of volcanoes in Southern Chile began erupting, spewing plumes of smoke and ash into the air and forcing the evacuation of residents in the area. Before the Puyehue-Cordon-Caulle range began erupting, there were several small earthquakes recorded around the area, and authorities issued a red alert for residents in the area. The chain had not experienced a serious eruption on this scale since 1960