This day in history

[June 07, 2010]  (AP)  Today is Monday, June 7, the 158th day of 2010. There are 207 days left in the year.

Today's highlights in history:

On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia proposed to the Continental Congress a resolution calling for American independence from Britain.

On this date:

In 1753, Britain's King George II gave his assent to an Act of Parliament establishing the British Museum.

In 1769, frontiersman Daniel Boone first began to explore present-day Kentucky.

In 1929, the sovereign state of Vatican City came into existence as copies of the Lateran Treaty were exchanged in Rome.

In 1937, actress Jean Harlow died in Los Angeles at age 26.

In 1939, King George VI and his wife, Queen Elizabeth, arrived at Niagara Falls, N.Y., from Canada on the first visit to the United States by a reigning British monarch.

In 1948, the Communists completed their takeover of Czechoslovakia with the resignation of President Edvard Benes (BEH'-nesh).

In 1967, the Haight Ashbury Free Medical Clinic opened in San Francisco.

In 1970, English author E.M. Forster died in Coventry at 91.

In 1981, Israeli military planes destroyed a nuclear power plant in Iraq, a facility the Israelis charged could have been used to make nuclear weapons.

In 1998, in a crime that shocked the nation, James Byrd Jr., a 49-year-old black man, was chained to a pickup truck and dragged to his death in Jasper, Texas. (Two white men were later sentenced to death for the crime; a third received life.)

Ten years ago: U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson ordered the breakup of Microsoft Corp., declaring the software giant should be split into two because it had "proved untrustworthy in the past"; Microsoft vowed to appeal. (An appeals court later threw out the breakup order; the Justice Department, under the Bush administration, said it would no longer seek a breakup of Microsoft.)

Five years ago: President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, meeting at the White House, embraced a tentative plan to forgive the debt of poor African nations. General Motors chairman Rick Wagoner announced plans to close plants and eliminate 25,000 manufacturing jobs in the United States by 2008.

One year ago: Extreme-right parties gained in European parliamentary elections, including the first seats won by the all-white British National Party. Roger Federer completed a career Grand Slam, winning his first French Open title by sweeping surprise finalist Robin Soderling 6-1, 7-6 (1), 6-4. The British musical "Billy Elliot" won 10 Tony Awards, including best musical and a unique best actor prize for the three young performers who shared the title character: David Alvarez, Trent Kowalik and Kiril Kulish. Pop vocalist, musician, songwriter Kenny Rankin died in Los Angeles at 69.

Today's birthdays: Movie director James Ivory is 82. Actress Virginia McKenna is 79. Singer Tom Jones is 70. Poet Nikki Giovanni is 67. Actor Ken Osmond ("Leave It to Beaver") is 67. Former talk show host Jenny Jones is 64. Actress Anne Twomey is 59. Actor Liam Neeson is 58. Actress Colleen Camp is 57. Singer-songwriter Johnny Clegg is 57. Author Louise Erdrich (UR'-drihk) is 56. Actor William Forsythe is 55. Record producer L.A. Reid is 54. Latin pop singer Juan Luis Guerra is 53. Singer-songwriter Prince is 52. Rock singer-musician Gordon Gano (The Violent Femmes) is 47. Rapper Ecstasy (Whodini) is 46. Rock musician Eric Kretz (Stone Temple Pilots) is 44. Rock musician Dave Navarro is 43. Actress Helen Baxendale is 40. Actor Karl Urban is 38. Rock musician Eric Johnson (The Shins) is 34. Actor-comedian Bill Hader is 32. Actress Anna Torv (TV: "Fringe") is 31. Actress Larisa Oleynik (oh-LAY'-nihk) is 29. Tennis player Anna Kournikova is 29. Actor Michael Cera is 22. Actress Shelley Buckner is 21.

Thought for today: "The history of the world shows that when a mean thing was done, man did it; when a good thing was done, man did it." -- Robert G. Ingersoll, American lawyer and statesman (1833-1899)

[Associated Press]

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