November 26th Major News Events

1944 U.S.A. -- War Fund Drive

A war fund drive was held in order to fund the release of American war prisoners held in enemy camps. Funds raised by the National War Fund organization would be used to support various foreign relief agencies as well as and the USO. An announcement dated today made mention of the drive to be held on December 11.

1950 Korea -- Counter Attack

1950 : The Chinese army counter attack into Korea driving 16 miles behind the U.N. lines .

1953 U.S.A. -- Referendum

The date of a scheduled peanuts and cotton crop equality referendum was announced. This particular vote was expected to take place on December 11th, in various U.S. communities. Eligible voters included both peanut (at least one acre) and cotton farmers.

1953 UK -- Commercial Television

The drive for commercial TV stations to provide competition to the current Government funded BBC monopoly moved one stage further when the House of Lords approved plans as outlined in the Conservative Governments White Paper on the future of television. After a number of bills and setting up of the Independent Television Authority the first commercial TV station service ( London ITV ) begins on 22 September 1955

1960 Vatican -- Archbishop Proirier

Archbishop Proirier from Haiti was deported recently. Sympathy was offered by the Roman Catholic Church in Vatican City. Poirier had pleaded innocent to all charges

1968 UK -- Race Relations Act

1968 : A new wide ranging race relations act comes into force, making it illegal to refuse housing, employment or public services to people because of their ethnic background.

1973 Libya -- Hijack

A Dutch jumbo Boeing 747 jet that had been hijacked landed safely in Libya. The 247 passengers along with 17 crew members all survived. The place was terrorized as it flew over Iraq on the night before.

1983 China -- UN Documents

A Chinese courier jumped aboard a Pan American jet. Aboard the jet, the courier had engaged in an argument which lead to the unplanned landing of this huge 747 aircraft. The name of the courier was Gogiang Yang. The 747 he jumped carried important documents to be used during a UN delegation meeting in New York.

1983 UK -- Brinks Mat Robbery

Six gunmen break into the Brinks Mat warehouse at the Heathrow Airport making off with three tons of gold bars valued at $37.5 million.

1992 UK -- Queen Pays Tax

1992 : Major reforms in how royalty is funded in the United Kingdom are announced including

1. The Queen of England will now pay income tax

2. The number of Royals who receive taxpayers money has been reduced to the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and the Queen Mother.

Much of this is because of the public concern about the rising cost of the monarchy and some of the stories in tabloid press about minor royals living off the British tax payer.

1995 U.S.A. -- Dayton Treaty on Bosnia

The Dayton Treaty on Bosnia was finalized, during a time when Demands of provisions pertaining to Sarajevo was made by Bosnian Serbs. The proposals introduced by the Bosnian Serbs were rejected at this time.

2002 U.S.A. -- Turkey Pardon

President George W. Bush issues a presidential pardon to a lucky turkey that otherwise might have ended up on someone's Thanksgiving Day dinner table and continued a tradition started in 1947 President Harry S. Truman when donated live bird to a local farm, where the turkey was guaranteed a long life unmolested by stuffing or gravy.

2003 Japan -- Export Tariffs

The Japanese threatened to retaliate against U.S. steel export tariffs that were determined unfair by the World Trade Organization. One of the moves Japan planned on making is charging the U.S. millions of dollars in extra fees. Upon the implementation of this action, it would affect the steel, plastics, and clothing industries. Furthermore, the danger of breaching the relationship between Japan and the U.S. would be increased-two countries that are/were considered the biggest trading partners.

2003 UK -- Concord Last Flight

2003 : Concord makes it's last flight over Bristol, England on the way to it's final resting place at LHR - FILTON where it had made it's first flight on 20th April 1979

2006 UK -- A poll on the breaking up of the United Kingdom

A poll has suggested that the majority of voters in England and Scotland would back a break-up of the United Kingdom. Support for Scottish independence has reached 52% among Scots and 59% in England. The English voted to leave the Union by 48%. The poll was conducted by telephone on the 22 and 23 November, and interviewed 1,003 Scots and 869 English people.

2008 Europe -- EU stimulus Announced

A bigger stimulus package than many had been predicting, totalling 200 billion Euros (£168.4bn) or 1.5% of the total output of the EU economy, has been promoted. The EU commission now has to persuade its 27 members to start pumping the money into their own economies, and there is no guarantee that this will take place. Of the 200 billion Euro figure, the EU will only be putting in 30 billion while 170 billion must come from individual nations' own budgets. Many, like the UK and Germany, will argue they have already done their bit with initiatives announced in the past few weeks.

2008 India -- The Mumbai attacks start

2008 : The 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks (often referred to as 26/11) were more than ten coordinated shooting and bombing attacks that took place across Mumbai in India. These were carried out by Islamic terrorists from Pakistan. The attacks, which drew widespread condemnation from around the world, began on the 26th 2008, and lasted until the 29th . At least 173 people were killed and about 308 wounded.

2012 Pakistan -- Sixteen Die From Syrup

Sixteen people in Lahore, Pakistan are dead from drinking "toxic" cough syrup according to police.

2013 Japan -- Secrecy Bill Passed

2013 : The lower house of Japan's parliament approved a bill that would impose harsher penalties on government workers who leak information and the journalists who try to obtain government information. The Japanese government stated that the bill would help improve national security while those who oppose the bill stated that it would be an infringement on the freedom of press.

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