Unix Timestamp: 1088208000
Saturday, June 26. 2004, 12:00:00 AM UTC

A report published in the journal "Nature" says a 365 million-year-old fossil of a four-legged fish found in Latvia sheds new light on the process of evolution. The creature, named "Ventastega curonica", had a fish-like body but the head of an animal more suited to land than water. //news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7473470.stm (BBC News) //www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?view=DETAILSgrid=xml=/earth/2008/06/25/scifossil125.xml ("The Daily Telegraph") //www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/33623/title/Fossil_helps_document_shift_from_sea_to_land (Science News)

A bus and a truck collide in China's Henan Province, leaving five dead and eight injured. //news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-06/26/content_8445560.htm (Xinhua)

"Lawrence v. Texas": The U.S. Supreme Court declares sodomy laws unconstitutional.

The U.S. Supreme Court issues opinions in "Lawrence v. Texas", ruling 6–3 that a ban on gay sex is an unconstitutional violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. The decision reverses the court's ruling 17 years ago which upheld the anti-sodomy laws. //www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35196-2003Jun26.html

Accountancy scandals – There are reports of alleged fraud at WorldCom, one of the world's largest telcos and internet service providers.

A preliminary draft of genomes, as part of the Human Genome Project, is finished.

Bertie Ahern is appointed as the 10th Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland and Mary Harney is appointed as the 16th, and first female, Tánaiste, after their parties, Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats respectively, win the 1997 General Election.

Journalist Veronica Guerin is shot and killed in her car just outside Dublin.

Microsoft announces it will no longer sell or support the MS-DOSoperating system, which had been its mainstay since 1980.

June 28 ndash Typhoon Koryn causes massive damage to the Philippines, China and Macau.

In Bad Kleinen, Germany, GSG 9 troopers arrest Birgit Hogefeld and kill Wolfgang Grams two Red Army Faction terrorists.

U.S. President Bill Clinton orders a cruise missile attack on Iraqi intelligence headquarters in the Al-Mansur District of Baghdad, in response to an Iraqi plot to assassinate former U.S. President George Bush during his visit to Kuwait in mid-April.

Air France Flight 296 crashes into the tops of trees beyond the runway on a demonstration flight at Habsheim, France three passengers are killed.

Aerolinee Itavia Flight 870 crashes into the sea near Palermo after an explosion occurs in the air 81 people die. A bomb or a missile is suspected to be the cause of the accident but no culprits are ever found.

A bombing by Breton nationalists causes destruction in Versailles.

The U.S. scientific satellite Seasat is launched.

"University of California Regents v. Bakke": The Supreme Court of the United States bars a systems in college admissions but affirms the constitutionality of programs which give advantages to minorities.

G-6 renamed “Group of 7” (G-7).

Palestinian extremists hijack an Air France plane in Greece with 246 passengers and 12 crew. They take it to Entebbe, Uganda.

The CN Tower is built in Toronto the tallest free-standing land structure opens to the public.

Two FBI agents and 1 AIM member die in a shootout, at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

The Universal Product Code is scanned for the first time, to sell a package of Wrigley's chewing gum at the Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio.

At Plesetsk Cosmodrome,!confirmed here 9 persons are killed in the explosion of a Cosmos 3-M rocket.

Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney co-found Atari.

Bonin Islands are returned to Japan after 23 years of occupation by the United States Navy.

Moise Tshombe returns to the Democratic Republic of the Congo from exile in Spain.

John F. Kennedy gives his 'Ich bin ein Berliner' speech in West Berlin.

A 2-day steel strike begins in Italy, in support of increased wages and a 5-day working week.

The Pan-Malayan Labour Party is founded in Malaya, as a union of statewise labour parties.

The South AfricanParliament passes the Suppression of Communism Act, No. 44 of 1950.

William Shockley files the original patent for the grown junction transistor, the first bipolar junction transistor.

David Lean's "Oliver Twist", based on Charles Dickens's famous novel, premieres in the UK. It is banned for 3 years in the U.S. because of alleged anti-Semitism in depicting master criminal Fagin, played by Alec Guinness.

1948 Fukui earthquake strikes Fukui, Japan. 3,769 dead, 22,203 injured.

The Cominform Resolution marks the beginning of the Informbiro period in Yugoslavia and the Soviet/Yugoslav split.

The United Nations Charter is signed.

WWII: American troops enter Cherbourg.

Focke-Wulf Fw 61, the first fully controllable helicopter, makes its maiden flight.

The "American Totalisator Company" unveils its first electronic pari-mutuel betting machine at the Arlington Park race track near Chicago.

Louis Honoré Charles Antoine Grimaldi becomes Reigning Prince Louis II of Monaco.

Tiflis bank robbery: Bolsheviks attack a cash-filled bank coach in the centre of Tiflis, Georgia, killing forty people.

Edward VII institutes The Order.

The eruption of Mount Cotopaxi in Ecuador causes severe mudflows that wipe out surrounding cities and valleys, killing 1,000.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue, the forerunner of the Internal Revenue Service, is established in the United States.

Princess Alice, the second daughter of Queen Victoria, marries Prince Ludwig of Hesse and by Rhine.

President Abraham Lincoln signs into law the Pacific Railway Acts, authorizing construction of the First Transcontinental Railroad.

American Civil War ndash Battle of Mechanicsville: Confederate General Robert E. Lee defeats the troops of General George McClellan in the first of the Seven Days' Battles.

The Russian State Library is founded.

At a ceremony in London, Queen Victoria awards the first sixty-six Victoria Crosses to British troops, for actions during the Crimean War.ref name=Pocket On This Day/

William IV succeeds his brother George IV as King of the United Kingdom.

Battle of Fleurus: French forces defeat the Austrians and their allies, leading to permanent loss of the Austrian Netherlands and destruction of the Dutch Republic. French use of an observation balloon marks the first participation of an aircraft in battle.

July ndash King Louis XVI of France calls for a spring session of the Estates General.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, in Vienna, completes his antepenultimate symphony, now called the Symphony No. 39 in E-flat.

War of Jenkins\\' Ear ndash Siege of Fort Mose: A Spanish column of 300 regular troops, free black militia and Indian auxiliaries storms Britain's strategically crucial position of Fort Mose, Florida.

Massachusetts troops march to Swansea to join the Plymouth troops.

June 29 ndash Wanoags assault Rehoboth and Taunton the natives elude colonial troops and leave Mount Hope for Pocasset, Massachusetts. The Mohegan tribe travels to Boston in order to side with the English colonists against the Wanoags.

Louis XIV of France conquers Tournai.

Christ\'s Hospital and King Edward's School, Witley, England, are created by Royal Charter.

Battle of Casalecchio: Gian Galeazzo Visconti, the Duke of Milan, crushes the forces of Bologna and Florence, but he dies from a fever later this year and is succeeded by his son Gian Maria Visconti.

King Denis of Portugal marries Elizabeth of Aragon in Trancoso.

Battle of Köse Dag: The Mongols defeat the Seljuk Turks of Rum.

The city of Brno is founded in what is now Czech Republic.

Egbert becomes bishop of York. He founds a library and makes the city a renowned centre of learning.

Venus occults Jupiter.

In Japan, En no Ozuno, an ascetic who will later be regarded as the founder of a folk religion Shugendō, is accused of confusing the mind of the people with his magic and banished to Izu Ōshima.

Pope Benedict II succeeds Pope Leo II as the 81st pope.

The Huns first appear in Europe and reach the Caspian Sea.

Petra, capital of the Nabataeans, is damaged by an earthquake.

Emperor Jovian negotiates a disastrous peace with Persia, surrendering four of the five Roman provinces gained by Caesar Galerius in 298, and the cities Nisibis and Singara (Mesopotamia).

Battle of Samarra: Julian is mortally wounded in a skirmish and dies from a wound received during the fightings near Samarra (Iraq). Jovian, general of the Guard, succeeds him and is proclaimed Emperor by the troops.

Emperor Elagabalus adopts his cousin Alexander Severus as his heir and receives the title of Caesar.

Liu Bei, Chinese warlord and descendant of the royal family of the Han Dynasty, proclaims himself emperor in Sichuan and establish the Kingdom of Shu Han. Three kingdoms arise ndash the Wei in the north, the Wu in the south and the Shu Han in the west.

July ndash Elagabalus is forced to divorce Aquilia Severa and marries his third wife Annia Faustina. After five months he returns to Severa and claims that the original divorce is invalid. The marriage is symbolic, because Elagabalus appears to be homosexual or bisexual. According to the historian Cassius Dio, he has a stable relationship with his chariot driver, the slave Hierocles.