From the archives of the Hindustan Times: October 21

India elected to U.N. Security Council (1949)

Flushing Meadows- India, Yugoslavia and Ecuador were today (October 20) elected to the Security Council by a plenary session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Voting in the first ballot for the three vacant seats was: India 56, Ecuador 57, Yugoslavia 37 and Czechoslovakia 20.

Later, Yugoslavia was elected to the third place by 39 votes to Czechoslovakia’s 19.

Second ballot was necessary as both Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia failed to secure the necessary two-thirds majority in the first. Voting in the first ballot was Yugoslavia 37, Czechoslovakia 20.

The Assembly elected Yugoslavia two days after M Vyshinsky, Soviet Foreign Minister, had declared that Russia would consider her election as “illegal and unjust.

“India with 56 votes and Ecuador with 57 votes were elected in the first ballot. When the meeting opened, M Vyshinsky was ruled out of order as he began attacking Yugoslavia for attacking “Slanderous” statements on the question of the election.

The Assembly’s meeting was held to elect three Security Council members to take office in place of Argentina, Canada and the Ukraine, who retire after two years in office.

Loud applause greeted the announcement of India’s election to replace Canada as representative of the Commonwealth.

The Soviet Union had proposed Czechoslovakia, while the U.S.A. and a number of other delegations supported Yugoslavia.

Vyshinsky’s Protest

M Vyshinsky took the floor on a point of order immediately after the meeting began to protest against ‘a Press release by the Yugoslav delegation, which, he said, “slanderously distorted the attitude of the Soviet Union.”

Gen. Carlos Romulo, President of the Assembly, hammered in vain to rule the Soviet delegate out of order. M Vyshinsky continued speaking and only when he had finished was the President able to declare that all his remarks had been out of order. The ruling was loudly applauded.

West Indies simply not good enough (2002)

Chennai- In the end, the West Indies were not good enough to force a change in the script of the Test series. Resuming at 186 for four on Sunday (October 20) they went tumbling for 229, handing India a target of 81 to get to win the game and the series, which they did, losing a couple of wickets.

That gave India the fifth straight series win at home, and Souray Ganguly with 14 Test wins, is only one away from Mohammed Azharuddin’s record.

The West Indies had batted with purpose on Saturday but on Sunday morning, again under lights in murky conditions, they did not stand a chance once Ramnaresh Sarwan’s fighting innings came to an end.

The problem for the visitors was that they had lost all the big batsmen. Wavell Hinds and Carl Hooper had looked to put up a fight on Saturday but with their departure, added to Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s early dismissal, Sarwan was left with only Ryan Hinds and sundry for company .

Gaddafi killed, hometown falls (2011)

Tripoli- Muammar Gaddafi, the former Libyan strongman who fled into hiding after rebels toppled his regime two months ago in the Arab Spring’s most tumultuous uprising, was killed Thursday (October 20) as fighters overran his hometown of Sirte, the interim government said.

Al Jazeera television showed what it said was Gaddafi’s corpse lying on the ground, with a bloodied face, lifeless open eyes and an apparent gunshot wound to the side of the head, as jubilant fighters fired automatic weapons in the air.

“We have been waiting for this moment for a long time. Muammar Qaddafi has been killed,” Mahmoud Jibril, the prime minister of the interim government, told a news conference in Tripoli. One of Gaddafi’s sons, Mutassim, was also killed in Sirte.

“We found him dead. We put his body and that of (former defence minister) Abu Bakr Yunis Jabar in an ambulance to take them to Misrata,” said Mohamed Leith, a National Transitional Council commander.

Another son and heirapparent, Saif al-Islam, was trying to flee the town but was surrounded, an NTC official said. Senior officials in the interim government, which ended his 42-year rule on August 23 but had laboured to subdue thousands of diehard loyalists, said Gaddafi’s death opened the way for a declaration of “liberation” after eight months of war”.

After Jibril confirmed Gaddafi’s death, the new national flag, resurrected by rebels who forced the 69-year-old self-styled king of kings of Africa from his capital Tripoli, filled streets as jubilant crowds whooped for joy and fired in the air.