On this day in 1939, Canada declared war on Nazi Germany, joining the Allies.
On this day in 1960, at the Summer Olympics in Rome, Abebe Bikila became the first sub-Saharan African to win a gold medal, winning the marathon in bare feet.
On this day in 1979, National Taiwan University Hospital successfully separated a pair of Siamese brothers joined at the hip. This was the first such surgery in the world.
And on this day in 2005, New York-based Taiwanese director Ang Lee's gay cowboy film Brokeback Mountain won the coveted Golden Lion award at the 62nd Venice Film Festival.