2009-07-02 02:11:01 -

Today is Thursday, July 9, the 190th day of 2009. There are 175 days left in the year.
Highlights in history on this date
1519 - Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes lands in Mexico, founds the town of Veracruz and begins conquering the surrounding land.
1540 - Marriage of England's King Henry VIII to Anne of Cleves is annulled by convocations of Canterbury and York so he can marry 20-year-old Catherine Howard, his fifth wife.
1609 - Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II is forced to grant charter permitting freedom of religion in Bohemia in what is now the Czech Republic.
1816 - The United Provinces of La Plata _ now Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and part of Bolivia _ declare themselves independent from Spain.
1915 - German forces in southwest Africa surrender to South Africans under Louis Botha.
1925 - Revolution breaks out in Ecuador.
1944 - Allied forces take Caen, France, from the Germans.
1947 - The engagement of England's Princess Elizabeth to Lt. Philip Mountbatten is announced.
1963 - An agreement is signed to create Federation of Malaysia, uniting Malaya, Singapore, Sarawak and North Borneo.
1971 - Last U.S. base guarding demilitarized zone in Vietnam is turned over to South Vietnamese troops. Some 2,000 men storm King Hassan's birthday party in Morocco, killing 100 people in an attempted coup; the king survives.
1989 - Carlos Menem is sworn in as president in the first civilian succession in 60 years in Argentina.
1991 - The International Olympic Committee readmits South Africa after three decades.
1992 - The former prime minister of Bulgaria, Andrei Lukanov, is arrested on allegations of economic mismanagement.
1994 - The brother of media magnate and future Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi is indicted on corruption charges involving pension funds held by Italy's largest savings bank.
1995 - French navy commandos firing tear gas storm a Greenpeace ship shortly after it enters French waters heading for the site of planned nuclear tests in the South Pacific.
1996 - Russia resumes an offensive in Chechnya after President Boris Yeltsin wins re-election.
1997 - Nevada Athletic Commission revokes Mike Tyson's boxing license and fines him US$3 million after he bites Evander Holyfield's ear in a title match.
1998 - Colombian president-elect Andres Pastrana has a surprise meeting with leaders of the leftist FARC guerillas, the first time a Colombian president meets directly with rebels.
1999 - The leaders of China and Japan reach a secret agreement on trade terms ahead of China's bid to join the World Trade Organization.

2000 - Police fire tear gas at unruly fans during a World Cup qualifying soccer game between Zimbabwe and South Africa, setting off a stampede that kills 12 people.
2001 - A Chilean appeals court rules that Gen. Augusto Pinochet cannot be tried on violation of human rights charges because of the former dictator's deteriorating health.
2002 - U.S. President George W. Bush delivers a speech in New York City's financial district urging greater corporate responsibility and proposing tougher penalties for white-collar crimes.
2003 - Canada's government announces a provisional distribution system for medical marijuana that would involve shipping government supplies of the drug directly to eligible patients' doctors.
2004 - The U.N.'s highest judicial authority rules Israel's planned 680-kilometer-long (425-mile-long) barrier in the West Bank violates international law and must be dismantled.
2006 - A Russian commercial plane careens into garages as it lands in a fiery crash, killing at least 125 people in the country's second major commercial airline disaster in two months.
2007 - The 22-nation Arab League announces it will send a delegation to Israel for the first time in its history, with the mission of discussing a sweeping peace initiative as well as the threat posed by Hamas and other Islamic extremists.
2008 _ Iran test-fires nine missiles, including ones capable of hitting Israel, making a dramatic show of its readiness to strike back if the United States or Israel attacks it over its nuclear program.
Today's Birthdays
Frederich Henle, German pathologist and anatomist (1809-1885); Elias Howe, U.S. inventor of sewing machine (1819-1867); Nikola Tesla, Serbian-American inventor (1856-1943); Barbara Cartland, British writer (1901-2000); Morocco's King Hassan (1929-1999); Orenthal James (O.J.) Simpson, U.S. football player (1947--); Tom Hanks, U.S. actor (1956--).
Thought For Today: Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome _ Isaac Asimov, US Writer (1920-1992