In Hong Kong 1963: Taiwan police said murder suspect, Li Tsai-fa, had escaped to the colony. He was wanted in connection with the September 13 murder of Hong Kong banker Wu Chia-yan. 1965: Dr P J Lobo, Macau financier, philanthropist and former head of the Macau Economic Department, died at the Hong Kong Sanitorium, aged 73. 1968: Riot police were called when more than 2,000 children and workers wearing Mao badges protested outside the Bank of China in Central. 1971: Indian tennis ace Vijay Armitharaj, who had been playing the sport for only five years, arrived to compete in the Hong Kong Open Championship. 1975: It was revealed that gangsters in Wong Tai Sin had been charging residents $200 to $300 for illegally tapped electricity. Around the world 1869: The world's first official prepaid postcards were issued by the Austrian Post Office. 1887: Baluchistan was declared a British territory and was merged with India. 1908: Henry Ford's Model T went on sale. 1918: Arab forces, aided by the British under T E Lawrence (aka Lawrence of Arabia), captured Damascus from Turkish troops. 1936: General Francisco Franco was named head of the nationalist government in Spain. 1946: The International War Crimes Tribunal in Nuremburg, Germany, sentenced 12 Nazi leaders to death - the first war criminals to be convicted. 1949: The People's Republic of China was formed with Mao Zedong as its head. 1964: Japan's 'bullet train' from Tokyo to Osaka made its first run. 1965: An army officer named Suharto crushed a coup attempt in Indonesia. He became president two years later. 1975: Muhammad Ali pounded Joe Frazier in the 'Thrilla In Manila' to retain his world heavyweight title in 14 rounds. 1979: The Panama Canal Zone was formally handed over to Panama after 70 years of US control. 1987: Fiji coup leader Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka formally revoked his country's constitution, saying he had replaced Queen Elizabeth II as head of state. 1989: Pakistan rejoined the Commonwealth after a 17-year absence. 1995: A US federal jury found Egyptian cleric Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman and nine others guilty of plotting to blow up the World Trade Centre, bomb the United Nations, kill Egypt's president and destroy vital highway tunnels in New York. 1996: The UN Security Council ended trade sanctions against the Yugoslav republics of Serbia and Montenegro imposed in 1992 for their role in the war in Bosnia. 1998: The new pan-European police force, Europol, began operations. 1999: Indonesia convened its first democratically elected parliament since 1955. 2000: The US team dominated the medals table as one of the most successful Olympics ended in Sydney.
