DAILY SUN Friday, September 14, 2012
Memories
Philip Nwosu 08176449110
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Today in History
Hollywood princess dead On this day in September 1982, Princess Grace of Monaco died of the injuries she sustained in a car crash near Monte Carlo. The Hollywood actress Grace Kelly - who starred in the Alfred Hitchcock hits Dial M for Murder and Rear Window - suffered a brain haemorrhage. A statement issued by the royal palace said she died at 2130 GMT after her conditioned worsened throughout the morning and become irreversible by the afternoon. It also said the former film star’s husband, Monaco’s head of state Prince Rainier, and her three children were at her bedside when she died. The US-born princess’ youngest daughter Stephanie was in the car at the time of the accident, but suffered only light bruising. The news of her death was unexpected as previous reports from the palace had indicated that despite broken ribs, leg and collarbone she was in a stable condition. The Monaco royal family also released an account of yesterday’s accident and said the princess had lost control of the car when the brakes failed. After leaving the road her 10-year-old Rover tumbled 100 ft (30.5 m) down a ravine, turning over several times before coming to rest in a garden.
1982
Gani Fawehinmi with late Dele Giwa and Chief MKO Abiola at the Federal High Court in 1982 when Dele Giwa was charged with publishing classified documents under the Shehu Shagari regime. With them also is Ray Ekpu of Newswatch
Nigeria moves against Guinea’s coup plotters 2003
The Federal Government of Nigeria on this day in September 2003 reacted to the putsch in Guinea-Bissau describing it as “unwarranted and unconstitutional.” It also called for an immediate reversal to the status quo ante. A similar position was adopted by the Economic Community of West African States. This, observers say, may be prelude to sending soldiers to the country to restore democratic rule. President Kumba Yala of Guinea-Bissau
toppled in a military coup, which the planners described as peaceful. The country’s Chief of Staff, Gen. Verissimo Correia Seabre, has subsequently declared himself the interim president. “I am going to assume the presidency of the republic until there are elections,” Seabra declared to Portuguese State Television, (RIP) in an interview. Soldiers announced that they were setting up a transitional government to include “all national political orientations.”
All government ministers have been ordered to report to a public building in the capital of the former Portuguese colony. Radio stations have been broadcasting a message from the army, saying it had seized power because President Yala had failed to resolve the country’s problems. President Yala dissolved the government last November, promising new elections but they have been postponed four times since.
Napoleon enters Moscow One week after winning a bloody victory over the Russian army at the Battle of Borodino, Napoleon Bonaparte’s Grande Armée on this day in September 1812 entered the city of Moscow, only to find the population evacuated and the Russian army retreated again. Moscow was the goal of the invasion, but the deserted city held no czarist officials to sue for peace and no great stores of food or supplies to reward the French soldiers for their long march. Then, just after midnight, fires broke out across the city, apparently set by Russian patriots, leaving Napoleon’s massive army with no means to survive the coming Russian winter. In 1812, French Emperor Napoleon I was still at the height of his fortunes. The Peninsular War against Britain was a thorn in the side of his great European empire, but he was confident that his generals would soon triumph in Spain. All that remained to complete his “Continental System”–a unilateral European blockade designed to economically isolate Britain and force its subjugation–was the cooperation of Russia. After earlier conflict, Napoleon and Alexander I kept a tenuous peace, but the Russian czar was unwilling to submit to the Continental System, which was ruinous to the Russian economy. To intimidate Alexander, Napoleon massed his forces in Poland in the spring of 1812, but still the czar resisted.
1812