Today in history

outnumbered Royal Air Force mounted a defence that downed 1,733 German raiders by the end of October. The loss was too much for Germany, and the daylight raids were abandoned.

In 1944, the Union Nationale, under Maurice Duplessis, returned to power following the Quebec provincial election.

In 1945, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan during the Second World War.

In 1945, U.S. President Harry S. Truman signed the United Nations Charter.

In 1963, the “Great Train Robbery” was staged in Britain. A total of C$7.5 million was stolen from a mail train in Buckinghamshire when a group of masked bandits stopped the Glasgow-tolondon mail train before dawn 58 kilometres northwest of London. Ten men were convicted, but only a fraction of the loot was ever recovered. Ronald Biggs became infamous for escaping prison in 1965 and fleeing to South America. He voluntarily returned to Britain in May 2001 in ill health and was immediately returned to prison. On Aug. 6, 2009, he was released from his prison sentence on compassionate grounds as he lay close to death in a hospital bed. He died on Dec. 18, 2013.

In 1969, in a move that surprised world finance and governments, France devalued the franc by 11.1 per cent. The move hurt the British pound on currency markets, and the Board of Trade in London announced five days later that Britain's trade deficit had widened. The Bank of England was forced to intervene to support the pound when it came under the pressure of heavy selling.

In 1988, this date was the luckiest day of the 20th century according to the Chinese because the date is a palindrome: 8.8.88.

In 1988, Sarah, wife of Prince Andrew, gave birth to their first child, daughter Beatrice. They divorced in 1996.

In 1989, the lawyer for Chantal Daigle, who went to the Supreme Court of Canada to argue her right to have an abortion against her boyfriend's wishes, told the court his client had had the procedure despite a court injunction against it. Daniel Bedard apologized to the court but warned there could be legal chaos if courts allowed men to stop women from having abortions.

In 1990, Iraq officially annexed Kuwait, six days after invading its neighbour and setting off the crisis which led to the Gulf War in January 1991.

In 1994, Jordan and Israel opened their first border crossing after 46 years of hostilities.

In 1996, former Tory prime minister Kim Campbell was appointed Canada's consul-general in Los Angeles.

In 1996, the Canadian government gave approval to Canada's first diamond mine, a billion dollar mega-project by BHP Diamonds Inc. and Dia Met Minerals Ltd., about 300 kilometres north of Yellowknife.

In 1997, a new provincial political party, the Saskatchewan Party, was born in Regina, after four Liberals and another four Conservative legislature members joined forces in an attempt to become a new right-wing force in Saskatchewan.

In 2000, the Chilean Supreme Court stripped General Augusto Pinochet of his parliamentary immunity, opening the way for a full-scale investigation and possible trial for alleged human rights abuses. (He died on Dec. 10, 2006, before he could be tried for any human rights violations.)

In 2001, Bayer AG recalled its cholesterol-lowering drug Baycol, following reports of fatal side effects, at a loss of potentially more than Us$1-billion in sales.

In 2002, health officials said a Saskatchewan man died of the human form of mad-cow disease, or Creutzfeldtjakob disease (human spongiform encephalopathy), the first confirmed case in North America.

In 2003, Canadian William Sampson, who had been sentenced to death by beheading in Saudi Arabia after a November 2000 car bombing in Riyadh that killed a Briton and injured four other people, was released from prison after 31 months in solitary confinement. Sampson later said he was tortured.

In 2004, a “Bit O'gold” won the $500,000 Breeders' Stakes turf race, the final jewel of the Canadian Triple Crown.

In 2004, Fay Wray, the Alberta-born actress who won everlasting fame as the damsel held atop the Empire State Building by the giant ape in the 1933 film classic “King Kong,” died at age 96.

In 2007, Space shuttle “Endeavour” lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral with Canadian astronaut Dave Williams on board. The 53year-old Montrealer set Canadian records for completing three spacewalks and for the longest time spent floating outside the shuttle during the mission.

In 2009, nine people were killed, including five Italian tourists, when a sightseeing helicopter collided with a small plane over the Hudson River near Manhattan.

In 2010, the Montreal Gazette began its web-only version of its Sunday edition after 22 years of the printed version.

In 2010, in a historic first for Cold War adversaries, U.S., Canadian and Russian military officers directed fighter jets and ground controllers to test how well they could track an international terrorist hijacking over the Pacfiic Ocean.

In 2010, more than 1,400 people were killed as a mudslide triggered by heavy rain crashed through Zhouqu in Gansu province of China.

In 2011, Ottawa declared all remaining Libyan diplomats persona non grata and ordered them out of the country “immediately” and also cut off their access to the embassy's bank accounts.

In 2014, the World Health Organization declared the Ebola outbreak in West Africa to be an international public health emergency that required an extraordinary response to stop its spread. It was the largest and longest outbreak ever recorded of Ebola, which had killed at least 11,000 people.

In 2014, U.S. fighter jets launched the first airstrikes on ISIL artillery in Iraq, carrying out President Barack Obama's promise of military force to counter the advancing Islamic extremists.