TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY IS THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2017

On this day in history:

1812 - Napoleon Bonaparte’s French forces began their retreat out of Russia after a month of chasing the retreating Russian army.

1845 - Leichhardt discovers the Roper River in northern Australia, but loses three of his best horses whilst attempting to cross.

1872 - The largest single piece of reef gold ever discovered in the world is found at Hill End, in New South Wales.

1933 - Basketball was introduced to the 1936 Olympic Games by the Berlin Organization Committee.

1943 - The Moscow Conference of Foreign Ministers began in Russia during the Second World War. Delegates from the USSR, Great Britain, the US, and China met to discuss war aims and cooperation between the nations.

1950 - The United Nations forces entered the North Korean capital of Pyongyang.

1960 - The United States imposed an embargo on exports to Cuba covering all commodities except medical supplies and certain food products.

1993 - Benazir Bhutto was returned to the premiership of Pakistan.

1998 - Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson got his boxing licence back after he had lost it for biting Evander Holyfield’s ear during a fight. 2001 - SIEV X, an Indonesian fishing boat en route to Christmas Island, carrying over 400 asylum seekers, sinks in international waters with the loss of 353 people.

2003 - In London, magician David Blaine emerged from a clear plastic box that had been suspended by a crane over the banks of the Thames River. He survived only on water for 44 days. Blaine had entered the box on September 5.

2003 - Mother Teresa is beatified by Pope John Paul II. 2005 - Saddam Hussein goes on trial in Baghdad for crimes against humanity.

2005 - Hurricane Wilma becomes the most intense Atlantic hurricane on record with a minimum pressure of 882 mb. 2012 - A bomb explosion kills eight people and injures 110 people in Beirut, Lebanon. 2013 - At least 105 people are injured in a train crash at the Once railway station in Buenos Aires.