BITS OF HISTORY (DECEMBER 17)

1903:  Wilbur and Orville Wright made the first successful controlled flight in a powered aircraft, the Wright "Flyer", on the beach at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

1997: Thabo Mbeki succeeded Nelson Mandela as head of South Africa's ruling African National Congress.

1998: The United States, backed by Britain, began four days of air strikes aimed at Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programmes.