Following are some of the major events to have occurred on April 8:
1904 – Britain and France signed the “Entente Cordiale”, an agreement settling all disputes between the two.
1913 – China’s first parliament opened in Peking.
1946 – The League of Nations opened its final session in Geneva before being replaced by the United Nations.
1973 – The Spanish painter and sculptor Pablo Picasso, pioneer of Cubism, died.
2002 – Maria Felix, Mexico’s foremost movie star, renowned as a femme fatale throughout Latin America, died. She was 88.
2002 – Israeli troops open fire on Bethlehem’s Church of Nativity after five-day stand-off with Palestinian militants inside the building.
2003 – A U.S. tank fired a shell at the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad packed with foreign journalists, killing Taras Protsyuk, a cameraman from Reuters, and Jose Couso from Spain’s Tele 5.
2004 – Condoleezza Rice, then U.S. National Security Adviser, testified before the 9/11 commission that four presidents had failed to fully mobilise against terrorism.
2005 – Britain’s Prince Charles marries long-term partner Camilla Parker Bowles.
2005 – Britain’s last major carmaker, MG Rover, collapsed after failing to secure a government loan or a life-saving alliance with a Chinese partner. The 100-year-old carmaker once produced the iconic Mini and the Land Rover.
2009 – World’s first cloned camel born.
