On This Day: The Basque guerrilla group ETA announced a “total and indefinite” truce in 1998

Following are some of the major events to have occurred on Sept. 16:

1940 – U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Selective Service Bill, making all American men between 21 and 35 liable to be called for military service.

1945 – The last remnants of the Japanese army in Hong Kong surrendered to the British.

1977 – Operatic soprano Maria Callas died in Paris at the age of 53.

1996 – McGeorge Bundy, a top aide to presidents John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson and an architect of U.S. policy in Vietnam, died.

1998 – In Spain, the Basque guerrilla group ETA announced a “total and indefinite” truce to take effect on September 18.

1999 – Algerians voted almost unanimously to endorse President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s drive to end years of violence.

2000 – Australian swimmer Ian Thorpe and teammates set new world record at Olympics.

2004 – Africans opened a new home near Johannesburg for the Pan-African Parliament, Africa’s first representative body.

2005 – Agbar Tower inaugurated by King Juan Carlos in Barcelona.

2007 – A budget airliner packed with foreign tourists crashed on the Thai resort island of Phuket, killing 89 people as it was trying to land in heavy rain.

2013 – Fatal shooting at Navy Yard in Washington, D.C. kills 12 people.

(Reuters)