1976: Chairman Mao Zedong dies

Chairman Mao is the founder of the People's Republic of China in 1949 and one of the founders of the Chinese Communist party in 1921. He is recognized as one of the most prominent Communist theoreticians. He is also known as a great poet.

The son of a peasant, Mao Zedong was born in the village of Shao Shan, Hunan Province in China. At the age of 27, Mao attended the First Congress of the Chinese Communist Party convened in Shanghai in July 1921. Two years later he was elected to the Central Committee of the Party at the Third Congress.

From 1931 to 1934, Mao helped establish the Chinese Soviet Republic in SE China, and was elected the chairman.

Starting in October 1934, "The Long March" began — a retreat from the SE to NW China. In 1937, Japan launched a full-scaled war of aggression against China, which gave the Chinese Communist Party cause to unite with the nationalist forces of the Kuomintang. After defeating the Japanese, in an ensuing civil war, the Communists defeated the Kuomintang, and established the People's Republic of China in October 1949.

Mao served as Chairman of the People's Republic of China until after the failure of the Great Leap Forward in 1959. Still chariman of the Communist Party, in May 1966, Mao initiated the Great Cultural Revolution with a directive denouncing "people like Khrushchev nestling beside us." In August 1966, Mao wrote a big poster entitled "Bombard the Headquarters."

Served as Party chairman until his death in 1976.

1987: Liverpool fans to stand trial in Belgium

Twenty-five English football fans involved in the Heysel stadium disaster have been extradited to Belgium.

Thirty-nine people died in the tragedy before the 1985 European Cup Final between Juventus and Liverpool.

The English club supporters may be charged with manslaughter for their charge towards Juventus fans which led to a wall collapsing onto the panicked Italians as they tried to escape.

Their trial is expected to start in the new year - if convicted they face a maximum sentence of 15 years.

Britain's biggest mass-extradition began at 1025 BST when two large vans transported the prisoners from Wormwood Scrubs in London to an RAF base in Oxfordshire.

They were flown to Belgium in a military aircraft and driven immediately to the law courts in central Brussels, where they were questioned and formally remanded by magistrates.

One man remains in the UK awaiting trial for a separate offence.

The extradition warrants were signed on 9 September 1986, but a year of argument from lawyers representing the accused men has held up the proceedings.

They fear it will be impossible for the English fans to receive a fair trial in a country where they have been vilified by the press.

Today a Belgian newspaper said the men had let down their club, their city and their country in an article with the headline: "Welcome in Belgium red Animals".