POPnews - July 12th

[This shows what you can do with an Etch-a-Sketch.
The best I could ever manage was stairs.]
1191 - Saladin's garrison surrendered, ending the two-year Siege of Acre, following which Conrad of Montferrat (who had negotiated the surrender) raised the banners of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and of the Third Crusade leaders - England's Richard I, France's Philip II, and Austria's Leopold V - on the city's walls and towers.

1543 - England's King Henry VIII married Catherine Parr who, unlike her predecessors, managed to keep her head while all those around her were losing theirs.

1580 - Ostrog Bible - the first such book to be printed in a Slavic language - was published by Ivan Fyodorov in Ostroh.

1790 - The Civil Constitution of the Clergy was passed by France's National Assembly during the French Revolution, subordinating the power and authority of the Roman Catholic Church to the French government - a measure favoured by such revolutionary priests as Pierre Claude François Daunou and Henri Grégoire, but acquiesced to only reluctantly by King Louis XVI.

1804 - Alexander Hamilton died at the home of William Bayard in Manhattan, of the injuries he received the previous day dueling Vice President Aaron Burr at Weehawken, New Jersey; he was later buried in Trinity Churchyard Cemetery.

1806 - Sixteen of Germany's imperial states left the Holy Roman Empire to form the Confederation of the Rhine.

1812 - The United States invaded Canada via Windsor, precipitating the War of 1812.

1862 - The Medal of Honor was authorized by the US Congress.

1917 - The Bisbee Deportation occurred as vigilantes kidnapped and deported nearly 1,300 striking miners and others from Bisbee, Arizona, to New Mexico under appalling conditions.

1918 - The Japanese Imperial Navy's battle ship Kawachi blew up - owing to the spontaneous ignition of unstable cordite in its ammunition magazine - while anchored at Tokuyama Bay, killing at least 621 of a crew numbering 1059.

1933 - The US Congress passed its first minimum-wage law, providing workers with a minimum of 33 cents per hour worked.

1960 - The first Etch-a-Sketch went on sale.

1962 - The Rolling Stones performed their first ever concert, at London's Marquee Club.

1973 - A fire destroyed the entire 6th floor of the US National Personnel Records Center located in the St. Louis suburb of Overland, Missouri; in all some 16-18 million military personnel records were lost in the blaze.

1975 - São Tomé and Príncipe declared their independence from Portugal.

1979 - The island nation of Kiribati declared its independence from Great Britain.

2002 - The Superior Court of Ontario ordered the government of that province to recognize same-sex marriages. (Supreme Court of Ontario: Look! There they are!)

2005 - Albert II assumed the throne of Monaco following the death of his father, Rainier III.

2006 - Hezbollah initiated Operation True Promise.
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