TODAY in HISTORY
Today is Thursday, February 11, the 42nd day of 2016. There are 322 days left in the year.
1254 The British Parliament first convenes. 1531 King Henry VIII is recognised as Supreme Head of the Church in England. 1744 Naval battle of Toulon begins between Britain and combined Franco-Spanish fleet. 1798 French forces take Rome. 1812 Massachusetts governor Elbridge Gerry signs a redistricting law that favours his party, giving rise to the term “gerrymandering”. 1888 King Lobengda of Matabele, Rhodesia, accepts British protection. 1889 Constitution is granted in Japan, with two- chamber Diet, but emperor retains extensive powers. 1922 Nine- power treaty is signed in Washington for securing China’s independence and maintaining “open door” policy. 1929 Italy signs the Lateran Treaty establishing an independent Vatican City. 1944 US carrier planes strike heavy blows against Japanese positions in Marshall Islands in Pacific during World War II. 1945 US President Franklin Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin sign the Yalta Agreement during World War II. 1956 Referendum in Malta favours integration with Britain. 1967 Military rule is imposed in Beijing during civil strife in China. 1968 Communist troops execute 300 civilians in South Vietnam and bury them in a mass grave during fighting for city of Hue. 1975 Margaret Thatcher becomes the first female head of the British Conservative Party. 1979 Followers of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini seize power in Iran, nine days after the religious leader returns to his home country following 15 years of exile. 1986 Jewish dissident Anatoly Scharansky walks to freedom in Berlin after almost nine years in Soviet captivity on espionage charges. 1989 Barbara Harris becomes the first consecrated female Episcopal bishop in the United States. 1990 African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela is released after 27 years in South African prisons. 1994 A Nato- enforced ceasefire takes hold in Sarajevo. 1999 The US justice department closes the books on a $ 1.6 billion reparations programme for ethnic Japanese interned in American camps during World War II.