Today in History: Chinese Communist leaders proclaim the People's Republic of China

The following are some of the major events which occurred on September 21:

1792 - French Revolution: The National Convention passes a proclamation announcing the formal abolition of the French monarchy.

1922 - US President Warren G. Harding signs a joint resolution of approval to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

1939 – In Romania, Prime Minister Armand Calinescu was murdered by the fascist Iron Guard.

1949 - Chinese Communist leaders proclaim the People's Republic of China.

1964 – Malta became independent after 164 years of British rule.

1976 – Former Chilean cabinet minister Orlando Letelier was killed in Washington by a bomb placed in his car.

1988 – U.S. athlete Florence Griffith Joyner died at the age of 38 from heart complications.

1999 – An earthquake of magnitude 7.6 struck Taiwan, killing at least 2,321 people and injuring 8,712.

2001 – The Dow Jones industrial index of 30 blue chip companies lost 140 points, bringing its loss for the week to 14.2 percent, second only to a 15.5 percent drop in 1933.

2003 – U.S.-controlled Iraq unveiled sweeping reforms that allowed foreign investors into all sectors except oil and ended 30 years of state economic control.

2003 – NASA’s Galileo space probe made a controlled, fiery crash into Jupiter, ending a 14-year mission that yielded dramatic discoveries about Solar System’s largest planet and its moons.

2004 – Major cigarette makers went on trial in a $280 billion case brought by the U.S. government, which accused the tobacco industry of deliberately deceiving the public about the risks of smoking since the 1950s.

2006 – The British billionaire Richard Branson pledged to spend all the profits from his airline and rail businesses — an estimated $3 billion over the next 10 years — on combating global warming.

2013 – Al Shabaab gunmen attack Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya.

(Reuters)