arrives in Washington, D.C. for a 4-day royal visit to the U.S. June 30 The Belgian Congo receives its independence from Belgium, as the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville). A civil war follows shortly. Public demonstrations by democratic and left forces against Italian government support of the post-fascist Italian Social Movement, are heavily suppressed by police. July July 1 Ghana becomes a republic, and Kwame Nkrumah becomes its first President. Cold War: A Soviet Air Force MiG-19 fighter plane flying north of Murmansk, Russia, over the Barents Sea, shoots down a six-man RB-47 Stratojet reconnaissance plane of the U.S. Air Force. Four of the U.S. Air Force officers are killed, and the two survivors are held prisoner in the Soviet Union. The Trust Territory of Somaliland (the former Italian Somaliland) gains its independence from Italy. Concurrently, it unites as scheduled with the five-day-old State of Somaliland (the former British Somaliland) to form the Somali Republic. July 4 – Following the admission of the State of Hawaii as the 50th state in August 1959, the new (and current) 50-star Flag of the United States is first officially flown over Philadelphia. July 10 – The Soviet Union national football team defeats the Yugoslavian national football team 2–1 in Paris, to win the first UEFA European Championship. July 11 – Congo Crisis: Moise Tshombe declares the Congolese province of Katanga independent. He requests and receives help from Belgium. July 12 – Chin Peng is exiled from Malaysia to Thailand, and the Malayan state of emergency is lifted. July 14 – The United Nations Security Council decides to send troops to Katanga, to oversee the withdrawal of Belgian troops. July 20 – Ceylon elects Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike as its Prime Minister, the world's first elected female head of government (she takes office the following day). July 25 – The Woolworth Company's lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, the location of a sit-in that has sparked demonstrations by Negroes across the Southern United States, serves a meal to its first black customer. July 25–28 – In Chicago, the 1960 Republican National Convention nominates Vice President Richard Nixon as its candidate for President of the United States, and Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., as its candidate to become the new vice-president. August August 1 – Dahomey (modern-day Benin) becomes independent from France. August 3 – Niger becomes independent from France. August 5 – Upper Volta (modern-day Burkina