2003 The football world was in mourning following the death of Cameroon midfielder Marc-Vivien Foe who collapsed during the Confederations Cup semi-final against Colombia in Lyon. He was the first footballer to die during an official tournament and the first to die in a full international since Nigeria’s Samuel Okwaraji collapsed on the pitch in a World Cup qualifier against Angola in 1989.
French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin paid tribute to the 28-year-old midfielder. Foe, who played in the tough English Premiership for Manchester City last season, was stretchered from the field after he collapsed while alone in the centre of the pitch. Cameroon’s 1-0 win in the semi-final was their fourth match since June 19. But Foe had played only 153 minutes of a possible 270. Lyon has been in the midst of a heat wave, with temperatures soaring into the 30s and peaking at 37celsius during recent afternoons.
Other important events
1714 Spain and Holland sign Peace of Utrecht.
1843 Hong Kong is proclaimed a British Crown Colony.
1858 Treaty of Tientsin ends war between Britain and China.
1945 Charter establishing United Nations is signed in San Francisco, California.
1948 The Berlin airlift begins after the Soviets blockade West Berlin. The lift feeds two million Berliners for 11 months.
1959 Queen Elizabeth II and US President Dwight Eisenhower open St Lawrence Seaway.
1960 Madagascar proclaims its independence as the Malagasy Republic.
1960 British Somaliland becomes independent.
1972 Australian bowler Bob Massie takes 16 wickets (8-84 and 8-53) on Test cricket debut vs England.
1977 Elvis Presley performs his last concert, in Indianapolis, US.
1979 Brazil suspends diplomatic relations with Nicaragua.
1981 Morocco and Algeria agree on referendum.
1988 A new Airbus 320 crashes and explodes during an air show on France’s border with Switzerland, killing four of its passengers.
1991 Martial law is lifted in Kuwait.
1992 UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali gives Serbs 48 hours to halt their offensive against Bosnian capital of Sarajevo.
1993 Despite peace talks in Brussels, seven people are killed in shelling attacks in Sarajevo after clashes between Croats and Muslims.
1995 Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak survives an assassination bid in Ethiopia.
1996 Former Greek prime minister Andreas Papandreou dies at the age of 77.
1998 In a ceremony heavy in symbolism, US President Bill Clinton opens a state visit to China in Tiananmen Square.
1999 Nobel Peace Prize winner Jose Ramos Horta returns to East Timor following 24 years in self-exile.
2000 The International Cricket Council approves to make Bangladesh the tenth Test playing nation.
2005 Gunmen on motorcycles in Sao Paulo, Brazil, kill six people after opening fire at patrons of an outdoor bar.
2006 East Timor’s Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri resigns as a result of the two-month crisis in the country.
2008 South Korea lifts its ban on US beef imports.
2013 Chinese astronauts celebrate after the safe landing of Shenzhou 10 spacecraft in Siziwang Banner in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
2015 Richard Matt, one of two escaped killers from an upstate maximum-security prison is shot dead in US.
