Today in History: Swaziland became independent

The following are some of the major events to have occurred on September 6:

1901 – U.S. president William McKinley was shot by the anarchist Leon Czolgosz while attending the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. He died eight days later.

1914 – In World War One, the first Battle of the Marne began along a 300-mile (480-km) front when the French launched a counter-offensive against a German advance.

1948 – Princess Juliana became Queen of the Netherlands when her mother, Queen Wilhelmina, abdicated.

1951 – Prince Talal was proclaimed King of Jordan after the assassination of his father, King Abdullah, in July.

1966 – Henrik Verwoerd, South Africa’s prime minister since 1958, was stabbed to death in parliament by Dimitri Tsafendas, a parliamentary messenger.

1968 – Swaziland became independent.

1970 – Palestinian guerrillas hijacked four planes heading for New York from Europe. One Pan Am jumbo jet was blown up the next day in Cairo and two Boeing 707s that landed in Jordan were blown up on Sept. 12. The fourth plane landed in London, hijacker Leila Khaled was arrested.

1994 – Irish Prime Minister Albert Reynolds held his government’s first talks with Gerry Adams, head of the Irish Republican Army’s political wing, Sinn Fein.

1997 – Britain’s Princess Diana was buried in the grounds of her family home; the world-wide TV audience for the funeral ceremonies was estimated at over 2 billion.

2007 – The Italian opera star Luciano Pavarotti, whose titanic voice and charisma brought opera to the masses, died of cancer aged 71.

2009 – Hundreds of passengers rescued from “Super Ferry 9” as it sinks in the southern Philippines.

(Reuters)