On this day in ...... 1994 (15 years ago today), in Morocco, the 7-1/2 years of trade negotiations known as the Uruguay Round ended with adoption of the Marrakesh Protocol to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994. Ministers from nearly all the participating 123 countries signed the Marrakesh Agreement, as it is known. This agreement led to the establishment the following year of the World Trade Organization (logo above), and to an ensuing Doha Round of trade negotiations, still under way.
... 1989 (20 years ago today), in Beijing, Hu Yaobang, the deposed General Secretary of the Chinese Community Party, died of a massive heart attackthe news, people began to gather in Tiananmen Square, where paid tribute to Hu, whom leaders had forced out of office 2 years earlier. This Washington Post story explains that Hu
In addition to honoring Hu, those who gathered that day also voiced discontent with the regime governing China. The event thus proved a catalyst for the Tiananmen Square democracy demonstrations that roiled the city in the next months.is remembered by many Chinese for overturning cases against millions persecuted during Mao Zedong's political movements and launching the economic and political reforms that ended the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution.
