July 1,1966 – The first color television transmission

1966 – The first color television transmission in Canada takes place from Toronto.

Color television is part of the history of television, the technology of television and practices associated with television’s transmission of moving images in color video.

In its most basic form, a color broadcast can be created by broadcasting three monochrome images, one each in the three colors of red, green, and blue (RGB). When displayed together or in rapid succession, these images will blend together to produce a full color image as seen by the viewer.

One of the great technical challenges of introducing color broadcast television was the desire to conserve bandwidth; potentially three times that of the existing black-and-white standards, and not use an excessive amount of radio spectrum. In the United States, after considerable research, the National Television Systems Committee approved an all-electronic system developed by RCA which encoded the color information separately from the brightness information and greatly reduced the resolution of the color information in order to conserve bandwidth. The brightness image remained compatible with existing black-and-white television sets at slightly reduced resolution, while color televisions could decode the extra information in the signal and produce a limited-resolution color display. The higher resolution black-and-white and lower resolution color images combine in the eye to produce a seemingly high-resolution color image. The NTSC standard represented a major technical achievement.

Although all-electronic color was introduced in the U.S. in 1953, high prices and the scarcity of color programming greatly slowed its acceptance in the marketplace. The first national color broadcast (the 1954 Tournament of Roses Parade) occurred on January 1, 1954, but during the next ten years most network broadcasts, and nearly all local programming, continued to be in black-and-white. It was not until the mid-1960s that color sets started selling in large numbers, due in part to the color transition of 1965 in which it was announced that over half of all network prime-time programming would be broadcast in color that fall. The first all-color prime-time season came just one year later.

Early color sets were either floor-standing console models or tabletop versions nearly as bulky and heavy, so in practice they remained firmly anchored in one place. The introduction of GE’s relatively compact and lightweight Porta-Color set in the spring of 1966 made watching color television a more flexible and convenient proposition. In 1972, sales of color sets finally surpassed sales of black-and-white sets. Also in 1972, the last holdout among daytime network programs converted to color, resulting in the first completely all-color network season.

Color broadcasting in Europe was not standardized on the PAL format until the 1960s, and broadcasts did not start until 1967. By this point many of the technical problems in the early sets had been worked out, and the spread of color sets in Europe was fairly rapid.

By the mid-1970s, the only stations broadcasting in black-and-white were a few high-numbered UHF stations in small markets, and a handful of low-power repeater stations in even smaller markets such as vacation spots. By 1979, even the last of these had converted to color and by the early 1980s B&W sets had been pushed into niche markets, notably low-power uses, small portable sets, or use as video monitor screens in lower-cost consumer equipment, in the television production and post-production industry.

July 1,1966 – The first color television transmission

July 1,1962 – Independence of Burundi.

Burundi /bəˈrʊndɨ/ or /bəˈrʌndi/, officially the Republic of Burundi (Kirundi: Republika y’Uburundi,[5] [buˈɾundi]; French: République du Burundi, [byˈʁyndi]), is a landlocked country in the African Great Lakes region of Southeast Africa, bordered by Rwanda to the north, Tanzania to the east and south and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west. It is also sometimes considered part of Central Africa. Burundi’s capital is Bujumbura. Although the country is landlocked, much of the southwestern border is adjacent to Lake Tanganyika.

The Twa, Hutu and Tutsi peoples have lived in Burundi for at least five hundred years and, for over two hundred years, Burundi was ruled as a kingdom. At the beginning of the twentieth century, however, Germany and Belgium occupied the region and Burundi and Rwanda became a European colony known as Ruanda-Urundi. Social differences between the Tutsi and Hutu have since contributed to political unrest in the region, leading to civil war in the middle of the twentieth century. Presently, Burundi is governed as a presidential representative democratic republic.

Burundi is one of the five poorest countries in the world. It has one of the lowest per capita GDPs of any nation in the world.The country has suffered from warfare, corruption and poor access to education. Burundi is densely populated and experiences substantial emigration. According to a 2012 DHL Global Connectedness Index, Burundi is the least globalized of 140 surveyed countries.

According to the Global Hunger Index of 2013, Burundi has an indicator ratio of 38.8 earning the nation the distinction of being the hungriest country in the world in terms of percentage.

July 1,1962 – Independence of Burundi.

July 1,1962 – Independence of Rwanda.

Rwanda (/ruːˈɑːndə/ or /ruːˈændə/), officially the Republic of Rwanda (Kinyarwanda: Repubulika y’u Rwanda; French: République du Rwanda), is a sovereign state in central and east Africa. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Rwanda is in the African Great Lakes region and is highly elevated; its geography dominated by mountains in the west and savanna to the east, with numerous lakes throughout the country. The climate of the country is temperate to subtropical, with two rainy seasons and two dry seasons each year.

The population is young and predominantly rural, with a density among the highest in Africa. Rwandans form three groups: the Hutu, Tutsi and Twa. The Twa are a forest-dwelling pygmy people descended from Rwanda’s earliest inhabitants. Scholars disagree on the origins of and differences between the Hutu and Tutsi; some believe they are derived from former social castes, while others view them as being races or tribes. Christianity is the largest religion in the country, the principal language is Kinyarwanda, spoken by most Rwandans, with French and English as official languages. Rwanda has a presidential system of government. The president is Paul Kagame of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), who took office in 2000. Rwanda today has low corruption compared with neighbouring countries, although human rights organisations report suppression of opposition groups, intimidation and restrictions on freedom of speech. The country has been governed by a strict administrative hierarchy since precolonial times; there are five provinces delineated by borders drawn in 2006. Rwanda has the world’s highest proportion of females in government positions in proportion to the population.

Hunter gatherers settled the territory in the stone and iron ages, followed later by Bantu peoples. The population coalesced first into clans and then into kingdoms. The Kingdom of Rwanda dominated from the mid-eighteenth century, with the Tutsi kings conquering others militarily, centralising power, and later enacting anti-Hutu policies. Germany colonised Rwanda in 1884 as part of German East Africa, followed by Belgium, which invaded in 1916 during World War I. Both European nations ruled through the kings and perpetuated pro-Tutsi policy. The Hutu population revolted in 1959, massacring a large number of Tutsi and ultimately establishing an independent Hutu-dominated state in 1962. The Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front launched a civil war in 1990, which was followed by the 1994 genocide, in which Hutu extremists killed an estimated 500,000 to 1 million Tutsi and moderate Hutu. The RPF ended the genocide with a military victory.

Rwanda’s economy suffered heavily during the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, but has since strengthened. The economy is based mostly on subsistence agriculture. Coffee and tea are the major cash crops for export. Tourism is a fast-growing sector and is now the country’s leading foreign exchange earner; Rwanda is one of only two countries in which mountain gorillas can be visited safely, and visitors are prepared to pay high prices for gorilla tracking permits. Music and dance are an integral part of Rwandan culture, particularly drums and the highly choreographed intore dance. Traditional arts and crafts are produced throughout the country, including imigongo, a unique cow dung art.

July 1,1962 – Independence of Rwanda.

July 1,1960 – Independence of Somalia.

Somalia (Somali: Soomaaliya; /sɵˈmɑːliə/ so-mah-lee-ə), officially the Federal Republic of Somalia (Somali: Jamhuuriyadda Federaalka Soomaaliya, Arabic: جمهورية الصومال الفدرالية‎ Jumhūriyyat aṣ-Ṣūmāl al-Fiderāliyya), is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, the Gulf of Aden to the north, the Indian Ocean to the east, and Kenya to the southwest. Somalia has the longest coastline on the continent’s mainland, and its terrain consists mainly of plateaus, plains and highlands. Climatically, hot conditions prevail year-round, with periodic monsoon winds and irregular rainfall.

Somalia has a population of around 10 million. About 85% of residents are ethnic Somalis, who have historically inhabited the northern part of the country. Ethnic minorities make up the remainder and are largely concentrated in the southern regions.The official languages of Somalia are Somali and Arabic, both of which belong to the Afro-Asiatic family. Most people in the country are Muslim, with the majority being Sunni.

In antiquity, Somalia was an important commercial centre,and is among the most probable locations of the fabled ancient Land of Punt. During the Middle Ages, several powerful Somali empires dominated the regional trade, including the Ajuran Empire, the Adal Sultanate, the Warsangali Sultanate, and the Geledi Sultanate. In the late 19th century, through a succession of treaties with these kingdoms, the British and Italians gained control of parts of the coast and established the colonies of British Somaliland and Italian Somaliland. In the interior, Muhammad Abdullah Hassan’s Dervish State successfully repelled the British Empire four times and forced it to retreat to the coastal region. The Dervishes were finally defeated in 1920 by British airpower.Italy acquired full control of the northeastern and southern parts of the area after successfully waging the so-called Campaign of the Sultanates against the ruling Majeerteen Sultanate and Sultanate of Hobyo. Italian occupation lasted until 1941, yielding to British military administration. Northern Somalia would remain a protectorate, while southern Somalia became a United Nations Trusteeship in 1949. In 1960, the two regions united to form the independent Somali Republic under a civilian government. Mohamed Siad Barre seized power in 1969 and established the Somali Democratic Republic. In 1991, Barre’s government collapsed as the Somali Civil War broke out.

In the absence of a central government, Somalia’s residents reverted to local forms of conflict resolution. A few autonomous regions, including the Somaliland, Puntland and Galmudug administrations, emerged in the north in the ensuing process of decentralization. The early 2000s saw the creation of fledgling interim federal administrations. The Transitional National Government (TNG) was established in 2000, followed by the formation of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) in 2004, which reestablished national institutions such as the military. In 2006, the TFG, assisted by Ethiopian troops, assumed control of most of the nation’s southern conflict zones from the newly formed Islamic Courts Union (ICU). The ICU subsequently splintered into more radical groups such as Al-Shabaab, which battled the TFG and its AMISOM allies for control of the region,with the insurgents losing most of the territory that they had seized by mid-2012. In 2011–2012, a political process providing benchmarks for the establishment of permanent democratic institutions was launched. Within this administrative framework a new provisional constitution was passed in August 2012 which reformed Somalia as a federation. Following the end of the TFG’s interim mandate the same month, the Federal Government of Somalia, the first permanent central government in the country since the start of the civil war, was formed. The nation has concurrently experienced a period of intense reconstruction, particularly in the capital, Mogadishu.Through the years, Somalia has maintained an informal economy, based mainly on livestock, remittances, and telecommunications.

July 1,1960 – Independence of Somalia.

July 1,1948 – Muhammad Ali Jinnah inaugurates Pakistan's central bank, the State Bank of Pakistan.

Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, making a speech at the opening of the State Bank of Pakistan.
Founder and Head of State of Pakistan, Mr Jinnah’s last public appearance on 1 July 1948 at the opening of the State Bank of Pakistan.

The State Bank of Pakistan is the central bank of Pakistan. While its constitution, as originally laid down in the State Bank of Pakistan Order 1948, remained basically unchanged until January 1, 1974, when the bank was nationalized, the scope of its functions was considerably enlarged. The State Bank of Pakistan Act 1956, with subsequent amendments, forms the basis of its operations today. The headquarters are located in the financial capital of Pakistan, Karachi with its second headquarters in the capital, Islamabad.

Before independence on 14 August 1947, during British colonial regime the Reserve Bank of India was the central bank for both India and Pakistan. On 30 December 1948 the British Government’s commission distributed the Reserve Bank of India’s reserves between Pakistan and India -30 percent (750 M gold) for Pakistan and 70 percent for India.

The losses incurred in the transition to independence, small amount taken from Pakistan’s share (a total of 230 million). In May, 1948 Muhammad Ali Jinnah (Founder of Pakistan) took steps to establish the State Bank of Pakistan immediately. These were implemented in June 1948, and the State Bank of Pakistan commenced operation on July 1, 1948

Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, making a speech at the opening of the State Bank of Pakistan.

Under the State Bank of Pakistan Order 1948, the state bank of Pakistan was charged with the duty to “regulate the issue of bank notes and keeping of reserves with a view to securing monetary stability in Pakistan and generally to operate the currency and credit system of the country to its advantage”.

A large section of the state bank’s duties were widened when the State Bank of Pakistan Act 1956 was introduced. It required the state bank to “regulate the monetary and credit system of Pakistan and to foster its growth in the best national interest with a view to securing monetary stability and fuller utilisation of the country’s productive resources”. In February 1994, the State Bank was given full autonomy, during the financial sector reforms.

On January 21, 1997, this autonomy was further strengthened when the government issued three Amendment Ordinances (which were approved by the Parliament in May 1997). Those included were the State Bank of Pakistan Act, 1956, Banking Companies Ordinance, 1962 and Banks Nationalization Act, 1974. These changes gave full and exclusive authority to the State Bank to regulate the banking sector, to conduct an independent monetary policy and to set limit on government borrowings from the State Bank of Pakistan. The amendments to the Banks Nationalization Act brought the end of the Pakistan Banking Council (an institution established to look after the affairs of NCBs) and allowed the jobs of the council to be appointed to the Chief Executives, Boards of the Nationalized Commercial Banks (NCBs) and Development Finance Institutions (DFIs). The State Bank having a role in their appointment and removal. The amendments also increased the autonomy and accountability of the chief executives, the Boards of Directors of banks and DFIs.

The State Bank of Pakistan also performs both the traditional and developmental functions to achieve macroeconomic goals. The traditional functions, may be classified into two groups: 1) The primary functions including issue of notes, regulation and supervision of the financial system, bankers’ bank, lender of the last resort, banker to Government, and conduct of monetary policy. 2) The secondary functions including the agency functions like management of public debt, management of foreign exchange, etc., and other functions like advising the government on policy matters and maintaining close relationships with international financial institutions.

The non-traditional or promotional functions, performed by the State Bank include development of financial framework, institutionalization of savings and investment, provision of training facilities to bankers, and provision of credit to priority sectors. The State Bank also has been playing an active part in the process of islamization of the banking system.

The Bank is active in promoting financial inclusion policy and is a leading member of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion. It is also one of the original 17 regulatory institutions to make specific national commitments to financial inclusion under the Maya Declaration during the 2011 Global Policy Forum held in Mexico.

July 1,1948 – Muhammad Ali Jinnah inaugurates Pakistan's central bank, the State Bank of Pakistan.

July 1,1921 – The Communist Party of China is founded.

The Communist Party of China (CPC)[note 1] is the founding and ruling political party of the People’s Republic of China. The CPC is the sole governing party of China, although it coexists alongside 8 other legal parties that make up the United Front. It was founded in 1921, chiefly by Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao. The party grew quickly, and by 1949 the CPC had defeated the Kuomintang in a 10-year civil war, thus leading to the establishment of the People’s Republic. With a membership of 86.7 million, it is the largest political party in the world.

The CPC is organized on the basis of democratic centralism, a principle conceived by Russian Marxist theoretician Vladimir Lenin which entails democratic and open discussion on policy on the condition of unity in upholding the agreed upon policies. The highest body of the CPC is the National Congress, convened every fifth year. When the National Congress is not in session, the Central Committee is the highest body, but since the body meets normally only once a year, most duties and responsibilities are vested in the Politburo and its Standing Committee. The party’s leader holds the offices of General Secretary (responsible for civilian party duties), Chairman of the Central Military Commission (responsible for military affairs) and state president (a largely ceremonial position). Through these posts the party leader is the country’s paramount leader. The current party leader is Xi Jinping, elected at the 18th National Congress (held in 2012).

The CPC is still committed to communist thought. According to the party constitution the CPC also adheres to Marxism–Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, socialism with Chinese characteristics, Deng Xiaoping Theory, Three Represents and the Scientific Outlook on Development. The official explanation for China’s economic reforms is that the country is in the primary stage of socialism, a developmental stage similar to the capitalist mode of production. The planned economy established under Mao Zedong was replaced by the socialist market economy, the current economic system, on the basis that “Practice is the Sole Criterion for the Truth” (i.e. the planned economy was deemed inefficient)

Since the collapse of Eastern European communist regimes in 1989 and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the CPC has emphasized its party-to-party relations with the ruling parties of the remaining socialist states. While the CPC still maintains party-to-party relations with non-ruling communist parties around the world, it has since the 1980s established relations with several non-communist parties, most notably with ruling parties of one-party states (whatever their ideology), dominant parties in democratic systems (whatever their ideology), and social democratic parties.

July 1,1921 – The Communist Party of China is founded.

July 1,1908 – SOS is adopted as the international distress signal.

SOS is the commonly used description for the international Morse code distress signal (· · · – – – · · ·). This distress signal was first adopted by the German government in radio regulations effective April 1, 1905, and became the worldwide standard under the second International Radiotelegraphic Convention, which was signed on November 3, 1906 and became effective on July 1, 1908. SOS remained the maritime radio distress signal until 1999, when it was replaced by the Global Maritime Distress Safety System.SOS is still recognized as a visual distress signal.

The SOS distress signal is a continuous sequence of three dits, three dahs, and three dits, all run together without letter spacing. In International Morse Code, three dits form the letter S, and three dahs make the letter O, so “SOS” became an easy way to remember the order of the dits and dahs. In modern terminology, SOS is a Morse “procedural signal” or “prosign”, and the formal way to write it is with a bar above the letters: SOS.

In popular usage, SOS became associated with such phrases as “save our ship”, “save our souls” and “send out succour”. These may be regarded as mnemonics, but SOS does not actually stand for anything and is not an abbreviation, acronym or initialism. In fact, SOS is only one of several ways that the combination could have been written; VTB, for example, would produce exactly the same sound, but SOS was chosen to describe this combination. SOS is the only 9-element signal in Morse code, making it more easily recognizable, as no other symbol uses more than 8 elements.

July 1,1908 – SOS is adopted as the international distress signal.

June 30,1911 –birthday- Czesław Miłosz, Polish poet and writer

Czesław Miłosz, Polish poet and writer, Nobel laureate (d. 2004)

Czesław Miłosz ([ˈt͡ʂɛswafˈmiwɔʂ] 30 June 1911 – 14 August 2004) was a Polish poet, prose writer, translator and diplomat of Lithuanian origin. His World War II-era sequence, The World, is a collection of twenty naive poems. Following the war, he served as Polish cultural attaché in Paris and Washington, D.C., then in 1951 defected to the West. His nonfiction book, The Captive Mind (1953), became a classic of anti-Stalinism. From 1961 to 1998 he was a professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of California, Berkeley. He became a U.S. citizen in 1970. In 1978 he was awarded the Neustadt International Prize for Literature, and in 1980 the Nobel Prize in Literature. In 1999 he was named a Puterbaugh Fellow.[8] After the fall of the Iron Curtain, he divided his time between Berkeley, California, and Kraków, Poland.

June 30,1911 –birthday- Czesław Miłosz, Polish poet and writer

June 30,1960 – Congo gains independence from Belgium

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (French: République démocratique du Congo), also known as DR Congo, DRC, Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, DROC,or RDC, is a country located in Central Africa. It borders the Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, and Sudan to the north, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania to the East, Zambia and Angola to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world. With a population of over 75 million, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the most populous officially Francophone country, the fourth most populous nation in Africa and thenineteenth most populous country in the world.

The Congolese Civil Wars, beginning in 1996, brought about the end of Mobutu Sese Seko’s 31 year reign, devastated the country, and ultimately involved nine African nations, multiple groups of UN Peacekeepers and twenty armed groups. The wars resulted in the deaths of 5.4 million people since 1998 with more than 90% of those deaths the result of malaria, diarrhea, pneumonia and malnutrition, aggravated by displacement and unsanitary and over-crowded living conditions. Nearly half of the victims were children under five.

The country is extremely rich in natural resources but political instability, a lack of infrastructure and a culture of corruption have historically limited development, extraction and exploitation efforts. Besides the capital, Kinshasa, the country’s other largest cities are both mining communities (Lubumbashi and Mbuji-Mayi) and the country’s largest exports are raw minerals with China accepting over 50% of DRC’s exports in 2012.

June 30,1960 – Congo gains independence from Belgium

June 30,1882 – Charles J. Guiteau is hanged in Washington, D.C.

Charles J. Guiteau is hanged in Washington, D.C. for the assassination of U.S. President James Garfield.

Charles Julius Guiteau (/ɡɨˈtoʊ/; September 8, 1841 – June 30, 1882) was an American preacher, writer, and lawyer who was convicted of assassinating U.S. President James A. Garfield. He was executed by hanging.

Borrowing $15 from a Mr. Maynard, Guiteau went out to purchase a revolver. He knew little about firearms, but did know that he would need a large caliber gun. He had to choose between a .442 Webley caliber British Bulldog revolverwith wooden grips or one with ivory grips. He chose the one with the ivory handle because he wanted it to look good as a museum exhibit after the assassination. Though he could not afford the extra dollar, the store owner dropped the price for him. (The revolver was recovered, and even photographed by the Smithsonian in the early 20th Century, but it has since been lost.) He spent the next few weeks in target practice—the kick from the revolver almost knocked him over the first time—and stalking Garfield.

On one occasion, he trailed Garfield to the railway station as the President was seeing his wife off to a beach resort in Long Branch, New Jersey, but he decided to shoot him later, as Garfield’s wife, Lucretia, was in poor health and Guiteau did not want to upset her. On July 2, 1881, he lay in wait for Garfield at the (since demolished) Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station, getting his shoes shined, pacing, and engaging a cab to take him to the jail later. As Garfield entered the station, looking forward to a vacation with his wife in Long Branch, Guiteau stepped forward and shot Garfield twice from behind, the second shot piercing the first lumbar vertebra but missing the spinal cord. As he surrendered to authorities, Guiteau said: “I am a Stalwart of the Stalwarts. .. Arthur is president now!’”

After a long, painful battle with infections, possibly brought on by his doctors’ poking and probing the wound with unwashed hands and non-sterilized instruments, Garfield died on September 19, eleven weeks after being shot. Most modern physicians familiar with the case state that Garfield would have easily recovered from his wounds with sterile medical care, which was common in the United States ten years later, while Candice Millard argues that Garfield would have survived Guiteau’s bullet wound had his doctors simply left him alone,Garfield’s biographer Allan Peskin stated that medical malpractice did not contribute to Garfield’s death; the inevitable infection and blood poisoning that would ensue from a deep bullet wound resulted in multiple organ damage and spinal bone fragmentation.

June 30,1882 – Charles J. Guiteau is hanged in Washington, D.C.

June 29,1976 – The Seychelles become independent

The Seychelles become independent from the United Kingdom.

Seychelles ; French: [sɛʃɛl]), officially the Republic of Seychelles (French: République des Seychelles; Creole: Repiblik Sesel), is a 155-island country (as per the Constitution) spanning an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, whose capital, Victoria, lies some 1,500 kilometres (932 mi) east of mainland Southeast Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar.

Other nearby island countries and territories include Zanzibar to the west, Mauritius, Rodrigues, Agaléga and Réunion to the south, and Comoros and Mayotte to the southwest. Seychelles, with a population of 90,024, has the smallest population of any African state.[3] It has the highest Human Development Index in Africa and the highest income inequality in the world, as measured by the Gini index. Seychelles is a member of the African Union.

 

June 29,1976 – The Seychelles become independent

June 29,1444 – Skanderbeg defeats an Ottoman invasion force at Torvioll.

The Battle of Torvioll, also known as the Battle of Lower Dibra, was fought on 29 June 1444 on the Plain of Torvioll, in what is modern-day Albania. Skanderbeg was an Ottoman captain of Albanian origin who decided to go back to his native land and take the reins of a new Albanian rebellion. He, along with 300 other Albanians fighting at the Battle of Niš, deserted the Ottoman army to head towards Krujë, which fell quickly through a subversion. He then formed the League of Lezhë, a confederation of Albanian princes united in war against the Ottoman Empire. Murad II, realizing the threat, sent one of his most experienced captains, Ali Pasha, to crush the rebellion with a force of 25,000 men.

Skanderbeg expected a reaction so he moved with 15,000 of his own men to defeat Ali Pasha’s army. The two met in the Plain of Torvioll where they camped opposite of each other. The following day, 29 June, Ali came out of his camp and saw that Skanderbeg had positioned his forces at the bottom of a hill. Expecting a quick victory, Ali ordered all of his forces down the hill to attack and defeat Skanderbeg’s army. Skanderbeg expected such a maneuver and prepared his own stratagem. Once the opposing forces were engaged and the necessary positioning was achieved, Skanderbeg ordered his forces hidden in the forests behind the Turkish army to strike their rear flanks. The result was devastating for the Ottomans, whose entire army was routed with its commander nearly being killed.

The victory lifted the morale of the Christian princes of Europe and was recognized as a great victory over the Muslim Ottoman Empire whose expansions they could not withhold by themselves. Murad thus realized the effect Skanderbeg’s rebellion would have on his realm and continued to take proper measures for his defeat, resulting in twenty-five years of war.

Aftermath

8,000[13] to 22,000 Turks died in the battle, while 2,000 were captured. The Albanians were originally attributed to have lost as little as 120 men, but modern sources suggest a higher figure of 4,000 Albanians dead and wounded. Skanderbeg remained quiet in his camp for the remainder of that day and the following night. Having addressed his troops, he directed his infantry to mount the captured horses. The spoils of the victory were abundant and even the wounded took part in the pillaging. Skanderbeg thereafter ordered a general retreat toward Krujë. Skanderbeg’s victory was praised through the rest of Europe. The European states thus began to consider a crusade to drive the Ottomans out of Europe. When Ali Pasha returned to Adrianople (Edirne), he explained to the sultan that the loss should be attributed to his forces and the “fortunes of war” and not his generalship.The battle of Torvioll thus opened up the quarter-century war between Skanderbeg’s Albania and the Ottoman Empire.

Kenneth Meyer Setton claims that majority of accounts on Skanderbeg’s activities in the period 1443–1444 “owe far more to fancy than to fact.” According to him, after Skanderbeg was allegedly victorious in Torviolli, the Hungarians are said to have sung praises about him and urged Skanderbeg to join the alliance of Hungary, the Papacy and Burgundy against the Turks.

June 29,1444 – Skanderbeg defeats an Ottoman invasion force at Torvioll.

June 29,1149 – Raymond of Poitiers is defeated and killed

29 june ,1149 – Raymond of Poitiers is defeated and killed at the Battle of Inab by Nur ad-Din Zangi

The Battle of Inab, also called Battle of Ard al-Hâtim or Fons Muratus, was fought on 29 June 1149, during the Second Crusade. The Syrian army of Atabeg Nur ad-Din Zangi destroyed the combined army of Prince Raymond of Antioch and the Hashshashin of Ali ibn-Wafa. The Principality of Antioch was subsequently pillaged and reduced in size as its eastern border was pushed west.

Background

After the death of Nur ad-Din’s father Zengi in 1146, Raymond of Antioch invaded the vulnerable province of Aleppo (part of the Seljuq Empire), which was threatened by hostile powers on all sides. After establishing his own authority in Aleppo and successfully defending Damascus in 1147, Nur ad-Din invaded Antioch in late 1148 and besieged Afamiya. Raymond beat him off and captured his baggage train.[2] When he returned a few months later to attack Yaghra, Raymond, at the head of a small force, forced him to retire to Aleppo.

In June 1149, Nur ad-Din invaded Antioch and besieged the fortress of Inab, with aid from Unur of Damascus and a force of Turcomans. Nur ad-Din had about 6,000 troops, mostly cavalry, at his disposal. Raymond and his Christian neighbor, Count Joscelin II of Edessa, had been enemies since Raymond had refused to send a relief army to Edessa in 1146. Joscelin even made a treaty of alliance with Nur ad-Din against Raymond. For their part, Raymond II of Tripoli and the regent, Melisende of Jerusalem refused to aid the Prince of Antioch. Feeling confident because he had twice defeated Nur ad-Din previously, Prince Raymond struck out on his own with an army of 400 knights and 1,000 foot soldiers.

Battle

Prince Raymond allied himself with Ali ibn-Wafa, leader of the Hashshashin and an enemy of Nur ad-Din. Before he had collected all his available forces, Raymond and his ally mounted a relief expedition. Amazed at the weakness of Prince Raymond’s army, the atabeg at first suspected that it was only an advance guard and that the main Frankish army must be lurking nearby.Upon the approach of the combined force, Nur ad-Din raised the siege of Inab and withdrew. Rather than staying close to the stronghold, Raymond and ibn-Wafa camped with their forces in open country. After Nur ad-Din’s scouts noted that the allies camped in an exposed location and did not receive reinforcements, the atabeg swiftly surrounded the enemy camp during the night.

On June 29, Nur ad-Din attacked and destroyed the army of Antioch. Presented with an opportunity to escape, the Prince of Antioch refused to abandon his soldiers. Raymond was a man of “immense stature” and fought back, “cutting down all who came near him”. Nevertheless, both Raymond and ibn-Wafa were killed, along with Reynald of Marash. A few Franks escaped the disaster. Much of the territory of Antioch was now open to Nur ad-Din, the most important of which was a route to the Mediterranean. Nur ad-Din rode out to the coast and bathed in the sea as a symbol of his conquest.

The contemporary historian William of Tyre blamed the Antiochenes’ defeat on Raymond’s rashness.One modern historian says the Crusader defeat at Inab was “as disastrous at that of the Ager Sanguinis”a generation earlier. Yet another remarks that it “was not part of a watershed moment, and should not be seen in the context of the Second Crusade”.

Aftermath

After his victory, Nur ad-Din went on to capture the fortresses of Artah, Harim and ‘Imm, which defended the approach to Antioch itself. Harim was not recovered until 1157, and then lost permanently in 1164. He sent the main party of his army to besiege Afamiya. After plundering the region, he besieged Antioch, which was virtually defenceless because of the loss of its prince and its army. The city was divided between a surrender party and a resistance party. The latter, led by Raymond’s widow, Constance, and the Patriarch, Aimery of Limoges, prevailed, and Nur ad-Din was bought off, with some of the treasure coming from the Patriarch’s own possessions. A small force was left behind to prevent reinforcements from entering the city, while Nur ad-Din went down to the sea to bathe in it as a sign of victory. He plundered the lands around Saint Simeon’s Monastery and then rejoined his forces to capture Afamiya.

Upon receiving news that King Baldwin III of Jerusalem was marching north with some Templars to relieve the siege, Nur ad-Din opened negotiations. The border between Antioch and Aleppo was re-drawn to Nur ad-Din’s gain and the armies went home. Joscelin now found that his enemy Raymond’s defeat and death placed his own possessions in extreme peril. Joscelin would soon be captured by Nur ed-Din (1150) and what remained of his County of Edessa evacuated by its Latin inhabitants.

After the victory at Inab, Nur ad-Din became a hero throughout the Islamic world. His goal became the destruction of the Crusader states, and the strengthening of Islam through jihad; he had already set up religious schools and new mosques in Aleppo, and expelled those he considered heretics from his territory, especially Shiites. Jihad was influenced by the presence of the Christian Crusader states as it could be used as an excuse for maintenance of a permanent state of war. Nur ad-Din went on to capture the remnants of the County of Edessa, and brought Damascus under his rule in 1154, further weakening the Crusader states.

June 29,1149 – Raymond of Poitiers is defeated and killed

June 28,1846 – The saxophone is patented by Adolphe Sax in Paris, France.

The saxophone (also referred to as the sax) is a family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone family was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1840.Sax wanted to create a group or series of instruments that would be the most powerful and vocal of the woodwinds, and the most adaptive of the brass—that would fill the vacant middle ground between the two sections. He patented the saxophone on June 28, 1846, in two groups of seven instruments each. Each series consisted of instruments of various sizes in alternating transposition. The series pitched in B♭ and E♭, designed for military bands, has proved extremely popular and most saxophones encountered today are from this series. Instruments from the so-called “orchestral” series, pitched in C and F, never gained a foothold, and the B♭ and E♭ instruments have now replaced the C and F instruments in classical music.

The saxophone has proved very popular in military band music, and is commonly used in jazz and classical music. There is substantial repertoire of concert music in the classical idiom for the members of the saxophone family. Saxophone players are called saxophonists.

 

June 28,1846 – The saxophone is patented by Adolphe Sax in Paris, France.

June 27,Bill Gates resigns from Microsoft

Bill Gates resigns from Microsoft to focus on his charity work

William Henry “Bill” Gates, III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate, philanthropist, investor, computer programmer, and inventor.[2][3][4] Gates is the former chief executive and chairman of Microsoft, the world’s largest personal-computer software company, which he co-founded with Paul Allen.

He is consistently ranked in the Forbes list of the world’s wealthiest people and was the wealthiest overall from 1995 to 2009—excluding 2008, when he was ranked third; in 2011 he was the wealthiest American and the world’s second wealthiest person.According to the Bloomberg Billionaires List, Gates became the world’s richest person again in May 2013, a position that he last held on the list in 2007.As of June 2014, he is still the richest.

During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions of CEO and chief software architect, and remains the largest individual shareholder, with 6.4 percent of the common stock.[a] He has also authored and co-authored several books.

Gates is one of the best-known entrepreneurs of the personal computer revolution. Gates has been criticized for his business tactics, which have been considered anti-competitive, an opinion which has in some cases been upheld by judicial courts. In the later stages of his career, Gates has pursued a number of philanthropic endeavors, donating large amounts of money to various charitable organizations and scientific research programs through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, established in 2000.

Gates stepped down as chief executive officer of Microsoft in January 2000. He remained as chairman and created the position of chief software architect for himself. In June 2006, Gates announced that he would be transitioning from full-time work at Microsoft to part-time work, and full-time work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He gradually transferred his duties to Ray Ozzie, chief software architect, and Craig Mundie, chief research and strategy officer. Gates’s last full-time day at Microsoft was June 27, 2008. He stepped down as chairman of Microsoft in February 2014, taking on a new post as technology advisor to support newly appointed CEO Satya Nadella.

June 27,Bill Gates resigns from Microsoft

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June 27,1880 – birthday-Helen Keller

Helen Adams Keller (June 27, 1880 – June 1, 1968) was an American author, political activist, and lecturer. She was the first deaf-blind person to earn a bachelor of arts degree. The story of how Keller’s teacher, Anne Sullivan, broke through the isolation imposed by a near complete lack of language, allowing the girl to blossom as she learned to communicate, has become widely known through the dramatic depictions of the play and film The Miracle Worker. Her birthday on June 27 is commemorated as Helen Keller Day in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and was authorized at the federal level by presidential proclamation by President Jimmy Carter in 1980, the 100th anniversary of her birth.

A prolific author, Keller was well-travelled and outspoken in her convictions. A member of the Socialist Party of America and the Industrial Workers of the World, she campaigned for women’s suffrage, labor rights, socialism, and other radical left causes. She was inducted into the Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame in 1971.

June 27,1880 – birthday-Helen Keller

June 26,International Day in Support of Victims of Torture

The United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture – 26 June is held annually on 26 June to speak out against the crime of torture and to honour and support victims and survivors throughout the world.

This is a day on which we pay our respects to those who have endured the unimaginable. This is an occasion for the world to speak up against the unspeakable. It is long overdue that a day be dedicated to remembering and supporting the many victims and survivors of torture around the world.

—Former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan

On this International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, we express our solidarity with, and support for, the hundreds of thousands of victims of torture and their family members throughout the world who endure such suffering. We also note the obligation of States not only to prevent torture but to provide all torture victims with effective and prompt redress, compensation and appropriate social, psychological, medical and other forms of rehabilitation. Both the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council have now strongly urged States to establish and support rehabilitation centres or facilities.

The day was selected by the United Nations General Assembly for two reasons. First, on 26 June 1945, the United Nations Charter was signed – the first international instrument obliging UN members to respect and promote human rights. Second, 26 June 1987 was when the United Nations Convention Against Torture came into effect.

The decision to annually observe the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture was taken by the UN General Assembly at the proposal of Denmark, which is home to the world-renowned International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT).

The first 26 June events were launched in 1998.Since then, nearly 100 organisation in dozens of countries all over the world mark the day each year with events, celebrations and campaigns.

On 16 July 2009, the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture was chosen as a public holiday in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

June 26,International Day in Support of Victims of Torture

June 26.International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking

International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking (International)

Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking

The International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking is a United Nations International Day against drug abuse and the illegal drug trade. It has been held annually since 1988 on 26 June, a date chosen to commemorate Lin Zexu’s dismantling of the opium trade in Humen, Guangdong, just before the First Opium War in China.[citation needed] The observance was instituted by General Assembly Resolution 42/112 of 7 December 1987.

The UN’s 2007 World Drug Report puts the value of the illegal drug trade at US$322 billion a year.

June 26.International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking

June 26,1960-Independence Day of Madagascar

Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Madagascar from France in 1960

Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar (Malagasy: Repoblikan’i Madagasikara [republiˈkʲan madaɡasˈkʲarə̥]; French: République de Madagascar) and previously known as the Malagasy Republic, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Southeast Africa. The nation comprises the island of Madagascar (the fourth-largest island in the world), as well as numerous smaller peripheral islands. Following the prehistoric breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana, Madagascar split from India around 88 million years ago, allowing native plants and animals to evolve in relative isolation. Consequently, Madagascar is a biodiversity hotspot; over 90 percent of its wildlife is found nowhere else on Earth. The island’s diverse ecosystems and unique wildlife are threatened by the encroachment of the rapidly growing human population as well as the recently spotted Cane Toad relative which, according to researchers, “could wreak havoc on the unique biodiversity in Madagascar.”

Initial human settlement of Madagascar occurred between 350 BC and AD 550 by Austronesian peoples arriving on outrigger canoes from Borneo. These were joined around AD 1000 by Bantu migrants crossing the Mozambique Channel. Other groups continued to settle on Madagascar over time, each one making lasting contributions to Malagasy cultural life. The Malagasy ethnic group is often divided into eighteen or more sub-groups of which the largest are the Merina of the central highlands.

Until the late 18th century, the island of Madagascar was ruled by a fragmented assortment of shifting socio-political alliances. Beginning in the early 19th century, most of the island was united and ruled as the Kingdom of Madagascar by a series of Merina nobles. The monarchy collapsed in 1897 when the island was absorbed into the French colonial empire, from which the island gained independence in 1960. The autonomous state of Madagascar has since undergone four major constitutional periods, termed Republics. Since 1992 the nation has officially been governed as a constitutional democracy from its capital at Antananarivo. However, in a popular uprising in 2009 the last elected president Marc Ravalomanana was made to resign and presidential power was transferred in March 2009 to Andry Rajoelina in a move widely viewed by the international community as a coup d’état.

In 2012, the population of Madagascar was estimated at just over 22 million, 90 percent of whom live on less than two dollars per day. Malagasy and French are both official languages of the state. The majority of the population adheres to traditional beliefs, Christianity, or an amalgamation of both. Ecotourism and agriculture, paired with greater investments in education, health and private enterprise, are key elements of Madagascar’s development strategy. Under Ravalomanana these investments produced substantial economic growth but the benefits were not evenly spread throughout the population, producing tensions over the increasing cost of living and declining living standards among the poor and some segments of the middle class.

June 26,1960-Independence Day of Madagascar

June 25,the independence of Mozambique

Mozambique (/moʊzæmbiːk/ or /mɔːzæmbiːk/), officially the Republic of Mozambique (Portuguese: Moçambique or República de Moçambique, pronounced: [ʁɛˈpublikɐ di musɐ̃ˈbiki]), is a country in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest. It is separated from Madagascar by the Mozambique Channel to the east. The capital and largest city is Maputo (previously called Lourenço Marques before independence).

Between the 1st and 5th centuries AD, Bantu-speaking peoples migrated from farther north and west. Swahili, and later also Arab, commercial ports existed along the coasts until the arrival of Europeans. The area was explored by Vasco da Gama in 1498 and colonized by Portugal from 1505. After over four centuries of Portuguese rule, Mozambique gained independence in 1975, becoming the People’s Republic of Mozambique shortly thereafter. After only two years of independence, the country descended into an intense and protracted civil war lasting from 1977 to 1992. In 1994, Mozambique held its first multiparty elections and has remained a relatively stable presidential republic since.

Mozambique is endowed with rich and extensive natural resources. The country’s economy is based largely on agriculture, but industry, mainly food and beverages, chemical manufacturing, aluminium and petroleum production, is growing. The country’s tourism sector is also growing. South Africa is Mozambique’s main trading partner and source of foreign direct investment. Portugal, Brazil, Spain and Belgium are also among the country’s most important economic partners. Since 2001, Mozambique’s annual average GDP growth has been among the world’s highest. However, the country ranks among the lowest in GDP per capita, human development, measures of inequality, and average life expectancy.

The only official language of Mozambique is Portuguese, which is spoken mostly as a second language by about half of the population. Common native languages include Swahili, Makhuwa, and Sena. The country’s population of around 24 million is composed overwhelmingly of Bantu people. The largest religion in Mozambique is Christianity, with significant minorities following Islam and African traditional religions. Mozambique is a member of the African Union, Commonwealth of Nations, the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, the Latin Union, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and Southern African Development Community and an observer at La Francophonie.

June 25,the independence of Mozambique

June 25,The Diary of Anne Frank is published.

Diary of Anne Frank

The Diary of a Young Girl (also known as The Diary of Anne Frank) is a book of the writings from the Dutch language diary kept by Anne Frank while she was in hiding for two years with her family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. The family was apprehended in 1944, and Anne Frank died of typhus in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. The diary was retrieved by Miep Gies, who gave it to Anne’s father, Otto Frank, the family’s only known survivor. The diary has since been published in more than 60 different languages.

First published under the title Het Achterhuis. Dagboekbrieven 14 Juni 1942 – 1 Augustus 1944 (The Annex: Diary Notes 14 June 1942 – 1 August 1944) by Contact Publishing in Amsterdam in 1947, the diary received widespread critical and popular attention on the appearance of its English language translation Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Doubleday & Company (United States) and Valentine Mitchell (United Kingdom) in 1952. Its popularity inspired the 1955 play The Diary of Anne Frank by the screenwriters Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, which they adapted for the screen for the 1959 movie version. The book is included in several lists of the top books of the 20th century.

June 25,The Diary of Anne Frank is published.

June 23,1757-Battle of Palassi

The Battle of Plassey was a decisive victory of the British East India Company over the Nawab of Bengal and his French allies on 23 June 1757. The battle established the Company rule in Bengal which expanded over much of India for the next hundred years. The battle took place at Plassey (anglicized version of Palashi) on the banks of the Bhagirathi River, about 150 km north of Calcutta and south of Murshidabad, then capital of Bengal (now in Nadia district in West Bengal). The belligerents were Nawab Siraj-ud-daulah, the last independent Nawab of Bengal, and the British East India Company. When Alivardhi Khan died in 1756, Siraj-ud-daulah became the nawab of Bengal. He ordered the English to stop the extension of their fortification. Robert Clive bribed Mir Jafar, the commander in chief of the nawab’s army, and attacked Calcutta. He defeated the Nawab at Plassey in 1757 and captured Calcutta.

The battle was preceded by the attack on British-controlled Calcutta by Nawab Siraj-ud-daulah and the Black Hole incident. The British sent reinforcements under Colonel Robert Clive and Admiral Charles Watson from Madras to Bengal and recaptured Calcutta. Clive then seized the initiative to capture the French fort of Chandernagar. Tensions and suspicions between Siraj-ud-daulah and the British culminated in the Battle of Plassey. The battle was waged during the Seven Years’ War (1756–63), and, in a mirror of their European rivalry, the French East India Company (La Compagnie des Indes Orientales)[2] sent a small contingent to fight against the British. Siraj-ud-Daulah had a numerically superior force and made his stand at Plassey. The British, worried about being outnumbered, formed a conspiracy with Siraj-ud-Daulah’s demoted army chief Mir Jafar, along with others such as Yar Lutuf Khan, Jagat Seths (Mahtab Chand and Swarup Chand), Omichund and Rai Durlabh. Mir Jafar, Rai Durlabh and Yar Lutuf Khan thus assembled their troops near the battlefield but made no move to actually join the battle. Siraj-ud-Daulah’s army was defeated by roughly 3,000 soldiers of Col. Robert Clive, owing to the flight of Siraj-ud-daulah from the battlefield and the inactivity of the conspirators.

This is judged to be one of the pivotal battles in the control of South Asia by the colonial powers. The British now wielded enormous influence over the Nawab and consequently acquired large amounts of concession for previous losses and revenue from trade. The British further used this revenue to increase their military might and push the other European colonial powers such as the Dutch and the French out of South Asia, thus expanding the British Empire in Asia.

June 23,1757-Battle of Palassi

June 23,Public Service Day (International)

The UN General Assembly, in its resolution57/277, designated 23 June as Public Service Day.

The UN Public Service Day intends to celebrate the value and virtue of public service to the community; highlight the contribution of public service in the development process; recognize the work of public servants, and encourage young people to pursue careers in the public sector.

Since the first Awards Ceremony in 2003, the United Nations has received an increasing number of submissions from all around the world.

This year’s United Nations Public Service Day Awards Ceremony and Forum will take place in Seoul, Republic of Korea from 23 to 26 June, 2014.

June 23,Public Service Day (International)

june 22,1956 – birthday-Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Pakistani statesman

Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Hussain Qureshi (Urdu: شاه محمود قریشی‎; born June 22, 1956) is an Pakistani politician, agriculturist and a parliamentarian who is currently serving as the Vice Chairman and deputy parliamentary leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. Prior to that, he was the Foreign Minister of Pakistan and high-ranking member of the central executive committee of the Pakistan Peoples Party until being deposed by the central committee and the foreign ministry, on an issue involving the Raymond Davis affair, 9 February 2011. Qureshi was elected a member of national assembly from NA-150 (Multan-III) and was the runner up from NA-228 (Mirpur Khas-III) and NA-148 (Multan-I) on 11 May 2013 on the ticket of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. Qureshi is also the current Sajjada Nashin and custodian of the Mausoleum of Shah Rukn-e-Alam and of the Shrine (Darbar) of Hazrat Baha-ud-din Zakariya.

After earning a degree in law from the Cambridge University, his political career started in 1985 when he became member of Punjab assembly, between 1988 and 1993 he remained a member of Pakistan Muslim League and served as the provincial minister overseeing the portfolios of planning and development and finance. Joining Benazir Bhutto led PPP in 1993 and served as the state minister for parliamentary affairs till 1996. Between 1999 and 2007 Qureshi presided of the Punjab chapter of PPP. In 2008, He was appointed foreign minister by the PPP led collective leadership alliance containing the MQM, ANP and JUI-F formed after the 2008 general elections.However in February 2011, Qureshi fell out with the central committee that led to his ouster by Prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani, and by November 2011, Qureshi joined Imran Khan’s populist Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.[6] An agriculturalist by trade, Qureshi is also the president of the Farmers Association of Pakistan.

june 22,1956 – birthday-Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Pakistani statesman

June 22,2009 – Eastman Kodak Company announces that it will discontinue sales of the Koda chrome Color Film

2009 – Eastman Kodak Company announces that it will discontinue sales of the Koda chrome Color Film, concluding its 74-year run as a photography icon.

Eastman Kodak Company, commonly known as Kodak, is an American technology company focused on imaging solutions and services for businesses. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, United States and incorporated in New Jersey. It was founded by George Eastman in 1888.

Kodak provides packaging, functional printing, graphic communications and professional services for businesses around the world. Its main business segments are Digital Printing & Enterprise and Graphics, Entertainment & Commercial Films.

Kodak is best known for photographic film products. During most of the 20th century Kodak held a dominant position in photographic film, and in 1976, had a 90% market share of photographic film sales in the United States. The company’s ubiquity was such that its tagline “Kodak moment” entered the common lexicon to describe a personal event that demanded to be recorded for posterity.

Kodak began to struggle financially in the late 1990s as a result of the decline in sales of photographic film and its slowness in transitioning to digital photography, despite having invented the core technology used in current digital cameras. 2007 was the most recent year in which the company made a profit.As part of a turnaround strategy, Kodak focused on digital photography and digital printing and attempted to generate revenues through aggressive patent litigation.

In January 2012, Kodak filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. In February 2012, Kodak announced that it would cease making digital cameras, pocket video cameras and digital picture frames and focus on the corporate digital imaging market. In August 2012, Kodak announced the intention to sell its photographic film (excluding motion picture film), commercial scanners and kiosk operations as a measure to emerge from bankruptcy .In January 2013, the Court approved financing for the company to emerge from bankruptcy by mid-2013. Kodak sold many of its patents for approximately $525,000,000 to a group of companies (including Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Samsung, Adobe Systems and HTC) under the name Intellectual Ventures and RPX Corporation.

On September 3, 2013, Kodak emerged from bankruptcy having shed its large legacy liabilities and exited several businesses. Personalized Imaging and Document Imaging are now part of Kodak Alaris, a separate company owned by the U.K.-based Kodak Pension Plan.

On March 12, 2014, Kodak announced that the Board of Directors had elected Jeffrey J. Clarke as Chief Executive Officer and a member of its Board of Directors.

June 22,2009 – Eastman Kodak Company announces that it will discontinue sales of the Koda chrome Color Film

June 21,World Hydrography Day

World Hydrography Day, 21 June, was adopted by the International Hydrographic Organization as an annual celebration to publicise the work of hydrographers and the importance of hydrography, particularly in the promotion of safe navigation in international waters and ports, and the protection of marine reserves.

Origins

The International Hydrographic Bureau was established in 1921 for the purpose of providing a mechanism for consultation between governments on such matters as technical standards, safe navigation and the protection of the marine environment. In 1970 the name was changed to the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO). The IHO is actively engaged in developing standards and interoperability, particularly in relation to the challenges brought about by digital technologies.

In 2005 the IHO adopted the concept of a World Hydrography Day, which was “welcomed” by the United Nations General Assembly in resolution A/RES/60/30 Oceans and the law of the sea.

The date chosen for World Hydrography Day is the anniversary of the founding of the International Hydrographic Organization.

Purpose

World Hydrography Day was adopted, in the words of the UN,with the aim of:

… giving suitable publicity to its [IHO's] work at all levels and of increasing the coverage of hydrographic information on a global basis …

Translation of this aim through World Hydrography Day is achieved by the nomination of a theme for each year’s celebration. Once a theme is agreed, the member states, international and national hydrographic organisations and services develop activity programs and events that highlight that theme.

June 21,World Hydrography Day

June 21,World Humanist Day

World Humanist Day is a Humanist holiday celebrated annually around the world on the June solstice, which usually falls on June 21st. According to the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU), the day is a way of spreading awareness of Humanism as a philosophical life stance and means to effect change in the world It is also seen as a time for Humanists to gather socially and promote the positive values of Humanism.

History

The holiday developed during the 1980s as several chapters of the American Humanist Association (AHA) began to celebrate it. At the time, the date on which it was celebrated varied from chapter to chapter, with selections such as the founding date of the IHEU, or other significant dates. From the late 1980s to the early 1990s, the AHA and IHEU passed resolutions declaring World Humanist Day to be on the summer solstice.

Format and Activities

The manner in which World Humanist Day is celebrated varies considerably among local Humanist groups, reflecting the individuality and non-dogmatism of Humanism as a whole. Whilst the event might be a simple gathering, such as a dinner or picnic, with ample time for both socialising and reflection, the method of celebration is down to the individual Humanists. Some groups actually develop intricate social rituals, music, and proceedings which highlight the metaphoric symbolism of the solstice and the light (knowledge) which brings us out of darkness (ignorance).

Today

World Humanist Day has not yet become a fully celebrated holiday in all Humanist organizations, although many of them are beginning to recognize it and plan events and activities around the holiday. International Humanist and Ethical Union lists several different ways that national and local Humanist groups celebrate World Humanist Day. For example, the Dutch Humanist Association broadcast short films about World Humanist Day on Dutch TV in 2012. In 2013, the first National Humanist Day will be organized in The Netherlands. The Humanist Association of Ireland held poetry readings in the park to celebrate the day. The Humanists of Florida Association has recommended groups hold Introduction to Humanism classes on World Humanist Day.

June 21,World Humanist Day

June 21, World Music Day

The Fête de la Musique, also known as World Music Day, is an annual music festival taking place on June 21, the first day of summer in cities around the world.

The concept of an all-day musical celebration on the days of the solstice, was originated by American musician Joel Cohen, who spent two seasons as a producer of musical radio programs for the French National Radio (France Musique).[citation needed] The idea later was adapted as a national celebration each June 21 in France. The idea was embraced and made official by the French Minister of Culture, Jack Lang.

History

In October 1981, Maurice Fleuret became Director of Music and Dance at Minister of Culture Jack Lang’s request, and applied his reflections to the musical practice and its evolution: « the music everywhere and the concert nowhere« . When he discovered, in a 1982 study on the cultural habits of the French, that five million people, one child out of two, played a musical instrument, he began to dream of a way to bring people out on the streets. It first took place in 1982 in Paris as the Fête de la Musique.

Ever since, the festival has become an international phenomenon, celebrated on the same day in more than 460 cities in 110 countries, including Germany, Italy, Egypt, Syria, Morocco, South Africa, Australia, Vietnam, Congo, Cameroon, Mauritius, Fiji, Colombia, Chile, Nepal, United States and Japan.

Its purpose is promote music in two ways:

Amateur and professional musicians are encouraged to perform in the streets. The slogan Faites de la musique (Make music), a homophone of Fête de la Musique, is used to promote this goal.

Many free concerts are organized, making all genres of music accessible to the public. Two of the caveats to being sanctioned by the official Fête de la Musique organization in Paris are that all concerts must be free to the public, and all performers donate their time for free. This is true of most participating cities, now, as well.

Despite there being a large tolerance about the performance of music by the general public of amateurs in public areas after usual hours, the noise restrictions still apply, and can cause some establishments to be forbidden to open and broadcast music out of their doors without prior authorization. So the prefectures of police in France can still forbid them to install any audio hardware in the street.

June 21, World Music Day

June 21,International Surfing Day

International Surfing Day, held annually on or near the date of the summer solstice—usually June 21(20 June on leap years)—is an unofficial, environmentally conscious sports-centered holiday that celebrates the sport of surfing and the surfing lifestyle and the sustainability of ocean resources.Contests and prizes are also part of the celebration, with surfing-related industries donating prizes such as surfboards and wetsuits.Another purpose of the celebration is to promote the popularity of surfing and to attract new participants.

International Surfing Day was established in 2004[8] by Surfing Magazine and The Surfrider Foundation,. International Surfing Day closely follows the spirit and intent of the World Surf Day established by the Usenet newsgroup alt.surfing in 1993. International Surfing Day is a worldwidecelebration of the sport of surfing. The day is observed with surf contests, barbecues, film screenings and other surf-related activities. Surfers also use the day to give back to the environment by organizing beach clean-ups, dune and other habitat restoration and other activities such as lobbying to maintain the recreation areas in California where surfing occurs, or planting Naupaka (a flowering coastal plant) in Hawaii.

Direct action was used by form of protest on this day in England to express opposition to sewage in the waters of the Gold Coast; a precarious problem for many surfers who become infected by the bacteria from open wounds from sports-related injuries.

 

June 21,International Surfing Day

June 21, 1854 – The first Victoria Cross is awarded

June 21, 1854 – The first Victoria Cross is awarded during the bombardment of Bomarsund in the Åland Islands.

The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest military decoration awarded for valour “in the face of the enemy” to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories.It is first in the order of wear in the United Kingdom honours system, and takes precedence over all other orders, decorations, and medals, except the George Cross, with which it shares equal precedence. It may be awarded to a person of any military rank in any service and to civilians under military command. The VC is usually presented to the recipient or to their next of kin by the British monarch at an investiture held at Buckingham Palace.

The VC was introduced on 29 January 1856 by Queen Victoria to honour acts of valour during the Crimean War. Since then, the medal has been awarded 1,357 times to 1,354 individual recipients. Only 14 medals, ten to members of the British Army, and four to the Australian Army, have been awarded since the Second World War. The traditional explanation of the source of the gunmetal from which the medals are struck is that it derives from Russian cannon captured at the Siege of Sevastopol. Recent research has thrown doubt on this story, suggesting a variety of origins for the material actually making up the medals themselves. Research has established that the gunmetal for many of the medals came from Chinese cannons that may have been captured from the Russians in 1855.

Due to its rarity, the VC is highly prized and the medal has fetched over £400,000 at auction. A number of public and private collections are devoted to the Victoria Cross. The private collection of Lord Ashcroft, amassed since 1986, contains over one-tenth of all VCs awarded. Following a 2008 donation to the Imperial War Museum, the Ashcroft collection went on public display alongside the museum’s Victoria and George Cross collection in November 2010.

Beginning with the Centennial of Confederation in 1967, Canada followed in 1975 by Australia[9] and New Zealand developed their own national honours systems, separate and independent of the British or Imperial honours system. As each country’s system evolved, operational gallantry awards were developed with the premier award of each system, the VC for Australia, the Canadian VC and the VC for New Zealand being created and named in honour of the Victoria Cross. These are unique awards of each honours system, recommended, assessed, gazetted and presented by each country.

June 21, 1854 – The first Victoria Cross is awarded

June 20,1005 – Birthday-Ali az-Zahir, caliph

ʻAlī az-Zāhir (20 June 1005 – 13 June 1036) (Arabic: الظاهر بالله‎) was the Seventh Caliph of the Fātimids (1021–1036). Az-Zāhir assumed the Caliphate after the disappearance of his father Tāriqu l-Ḥakīm bi Amr al-Lāh. According to the Hijri Calendar, his birth date is 3rd of Ramzaan 395 A.H.

Governance under the Seventh Caliph

At first, the government was conducted by Ḥakīm’s sister Sitt al-Mulk, but after her death in 1023, a group of her favourites took power.

Under this regime, the Fātimid state slipped into crisis – in Egypt, famine and plague lead to anarchy in the years 1023-1025, and in Palestine and Syria, there was a revolt amongst the Bedouin (1024–1029). The coalition of rebels was fragmented by Fātimid diplomacy, after which General Anushtegin ad-Dizbiri was able to defeat it militarily.

Meanwhile, in 1028 one of the governing circle, ʻAlī ibn Ahmad Jarjarai, was able to eliminate his colleagues and take over the office of vizir, which he managed to retain until 1045. He enjoyed good relations with the Byzantine Empire, even though the suzerainty over Aleppo was constantly disputed, occasionally coming to arms. To improve relations with Byzantium and the Christian subjects of the realm, the rebuilding of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, destroyed in 1009, was authorised under his caliphate in a treaty with the Byzantine Emperor Romanus III. Actual building work, funded by the Byzantines, was not undertaken until 1042.

Death and succession

The period of his Imaamate was sixteen years. After ʻAlī died of the plague 13 June 1036, his son became the eighth caliph under the throne name of al-Mustansir.

June 20,1005 – Birthday-Ali az-Zahir, caliph

June 20,1877 – Alexander Graham Bell installs the world's first commercial telephone

1877 – Alexander Graham Bell installs the world’s first commercial telephone service in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

Credit for the invention of the electric telephone is frequently disputed. As with other influential inventions such as radio, television, the light bulb, and the computer, several inventors pioneered experimental work on voice transmission over a wire and improved on each other’s ideas. New controversies over the issue still arise from time to time. Charles Bourseul, Antonio Meucci, Johann Philipp Reis, Alexander Graham Bell, and Elisha Gray, amongst others, have all been credited with the invention of the telephone.

In 1854 the French engineer Charles Bourseul wrote the first design of a telephone in a public memorandum, but Alexander Graham Bell was the first to be awarded a patent for the electric telephone by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in March 1876. The Bell patents were forensically victorious and commercially decisive. That first patent by Bell was the master patent of the telephone, from which other patents for electric telephone devices and features flowed.

In 1876, shortly after the telephone was invented, Hungarian engineer Tivadar Puskás invented the telephone switch, which allowed for the formation of telephone exchanges, and eventually networks.

June 20,1877 – Alexander Graham Bell installs the world's first commercial telephone

June 20,1840 – Samuel Morse receives the patent for the telegraph.

Telegraphy (from Greek: tele τῆλε “at a distance”, and graphein γράφειν “to write”) is the long distance transmission of textual/symbolic (as opposed to verbal or audio) messages without the physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus semaphore is a method of telegraphy whereas pigeon post is not.

Telegraphy requires that the method used for encoding the message be known to both sender and receiver. Such methods are designed according to the limits of the signalling medium used. The use of smoke signals, beacons, reflected light signals, and flag semaphore signals are early examples. In the 19th century, the harnessing of electricity brought about the means to transmit signals via electrical telegraph. The advent of radio in the early 1900s brought about radiotelegraphy and other forms of wireless telegraphy. In the Internet age, telegraphic means developed greatly in sophistication and ease of use, with natural language interfaces that hide the underlying code, allowing such technologies as electronic mail and instant messaging.

The word “telegraph” was first coined by the French inventor of the Semaphore line, Claude Chappe, who also coined the word “semaphore”.

A ‘telegraph’ is a device for transmitting and receiving messages over long distances, i.e., for telegraphy. The word “telegraph” alone now generally refers to an electrical telegraph. Wireless telegraphy is also known as “CW”, for continuous wave (a carrier modulated by on-off keying), as opposed to the earlier radio technique of using a spark gap.

Contrary to the extensive definition used by Chappe, Morse argued that the term telegraph can strictly be applied only to systems that transmit and record messages at a distance. This is to be distinguished from semaphore which merely transmits messages. Smoke signals, for instance, are to be considered semaphore, not telegraph. According to Morse, telegraph dates only from 1832 when Pavel Schilling invented one of the earliest electrical telegraphs.

A telegraph message sent by an electrical telegraph operator or telegrapher using Morse code (or a printing telegraph operator using plain text) was known as a telegram. A cablegram was a message sent by a submarine telegraph cable, often shortened to a cable or a wire. Later, a Telex was a message sent by a Telex network, a switched network of teleprinters similar to a telephone network.

A wire picture or wire photo was a newspaper picture that was sent from a remote location by a facsimile telegraph. A diplomatic telegram, also known as a diplomatic cable, is the term given to a confidential communication between a diplomatic mission and the foreign ministry of its parent country. These continue to be called telegrams or cables regardless of the method used for transmission.

June 20,1840 – Samuel Morse receives the patent for the telegraph.

June 20,1214 – The University of Oxford receives its Royal charter

The University of Oxford (informally Oxford University or simply Oxford) is a collegiate research university located in Oxford, England. While having no known date of foundation, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world, and the world’s second-oldest surviving university. It grew rapidly from 1167 when Henry II banned English students from attending the University of Paris.After disputes between students and Oxford townsfolk in 1209, some academics fled northeast to Cambridge, where they established what became the University of Cambridge.The two “ancient universities” are frequently jointly referred to as “Oxbridge”.

The University is made up from a variety of institutions, including 38 constituent colleges and a full range of academic departments which are organised into four Divisions.All the colleges are self-governing institutions as part of the University, each controlling its own membership and with its own internal structure and activities.Being a city university, it does not have a main campus; instead, all the buildings and facilities are scattered throughout the metropolitan centre.

Most undergraduate teaching at Oxford is organised around weekly tutorials at the self-governing colleges and halls, supported by classes, lectures and laboratory work provided by university faculties and departments. Oxford is also the home of several notable scholarships, including the Clarendon Scholarship which was launched in 2001[10] and the Rhodes Scholarship which has brought graduate students to read at the university for more than a century.Oxford also holds the largest university press in the world, and the largest academic library system in the country.

Oxford has educated many notable alumni, including 27 Nobel laureates (58 total affiliations), 26 British Prime Ministers (most recently David Cameron) and many foreign heads of state.

June 20,1214 – The University of Oxford receives its Royal charter