Reuters historical calendar - January 7

London, Jan 6 (Reuters) Following are some of the major events to have occurred on January. 7 in history: 1904 - The shipping distress call ''CQD'' (for ''Seek you, danger'') was introduced. It was replaced by ''SOS'' 2 years later.

1927 - A transatlantic telephone service between London and New York was introduced.

1932 - The French politician Andre Maginot died. As war minister, he had begun the French line of fortification against Germany later dubbed the Maginot Line.

1979 - Vietnamese forces aided by Cambodian insurgents captured the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh and overthrew the Khmer Rouge regime of Pol Pot.

1989 - Emperor Hirohito of Japan died after a 63-year reign.

1990 - Italy's Leaning Tower of Pisa, officially listed as a public danger, was closed to tourists for the first time in its 800-year history for restoration work.

1991 - Haiti's army stormed the presidential palace, halting a coup attempt by Roger Lafontant, former head of the feared Tonton Macoutes security forces.

1999 - The US Senate opened the impeachment trial of Bill Clinton, the first of a sitting president in more than 130 years.

2002 - The internationally renowned French designer Yves Saint Laurent announced he was retiring at the age of 65, closing a major chapter in fashion history.

2003 - Anti-terrorist police said they had found a small quantity of ricin, a deadly toxin, in raids in north London that led to the arrest of seven north Africans.

2004 - Indonesia's Supreme Court upheld a death sentence on Amrozi -- the first Muslim militant convicted over the Bali nightclub bombings, which killed 202 people.

2006 - The Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer, whose life was portrayed in his book and the film ''Seven Years in Tibet'', died aged 93.

REUTERS SP RK1225