TODAY IN HISTORY:

In 1859,

Edwin L. Drake drilled the first successful oil well in the United States, at Titusville, Pa.

In 1973,

the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that native women marrying non-Indians would lose Indian status. Once removed from the government roll of registered Indians, the women would not be able to occupy land on Indian reserves, share in band funds or be eligible for special federal benefits such as housing and welfare. A bill reversing this loss of status was given royal assent in June 1985.

Haile Selassie, the last emperor of Ethiopia’s 3,000-year-old monarchy, died in Addis Ababa at 83. He was overthrown in a military coup the previous year.

Earl Mountbatten of Burma, former chief of Britain’s defence staff and an architect of India and Pakistan’s independence in 1947, was assassinated when his boat was blown up on Donegal Bay. He was 79. He was also an uncle of Prince Philip. Thomas McMahon, a member of the Irish Republican Army fighting to end British rule in Northern Ireland, was sentenced to life for the crime.

the Ottawa Journal and Winnipeg Tribune were shut down with a loss of 745 jobs, as Canada’s two largest newspaper groups, Southam Inc. and Thomson Newspapers Ltd., took measures to cut financial losses. The

In 1975,

In 1979,

In 1980,

simultaneous closings prompted the federal government to launch a royal commission on newspaper ownership, which was completed the following year.

the southern Soviet republic of Moldavia declared independence from the Soviet Union.

the Supreme Court of Canada quashed Ernst Zundel’s conviction for spreading false news about the deaths of six million Jews in the Holocaust. In a 4-3 decision, the court declared the law unconstitutional because it violated the guarantee of freedom of expression contained in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

a spectacular fire broke out in Moscow’s Ostankino Tower, the world’s secondtallest free-standing structure, paralyzing Moscow television and radio stations. President Vladimir Putin said the Ostankino blaze was a symbol of Russia’s disintegrating infrastructure.

In Abdiqassim Salad Hassan was sworn in as the first president of Somalia since 1991, but the ceremony was held in neighbouring Djibouti because of continued instability in his own country.

Eastern Canadian premiers and New England governors adopted a historic resolution aimed at reducing greenhouse gases in the region to 1990 levels within 10 years. The selfmonitoring

In 1991,

In 1992,

In 2000,

2000,

In 2001,