TODAY in HISTORY

Today is Wednesday, February 7, the 38th day of 2018. There are 327 days left in the year.

1301 Edward of Caernarvon ( later king Edward II of England) becomes the first English Prince of Wales.

1497 The Bonfire of the Vanities occurs, during which supporters of Girolamo Savonarola burn cosmetics, art, and books in Florence, Italy.

1819 Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles leaves Singapore after just taking it over, leaving it in the hands of William Farquhar.

1854 A law is approved to found the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. Lectures started October 16, 1855.

1898 Dreyfus affair: Emile Zola is brought to trial for libel for publishing J’accuse.

1907 The Mud March is the first large procession organised by the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies ( NUWSS).

1940 The second full- length animated Walt Disney film, Pinocchio, premieres.

1962 The United States bans all Cuban imports and exports.

1974 Grenada gains independence from the United Kingdom.

1979 Pluto moves inside Neptune’s orbit for the first time since either was discovered.

1984 Space Shuttle programme: STS- 41- B Mission: Astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart make the first untethered space walk using the Manned Maneuvering Unit.

1986 Twenty- eight years of one- family rule end in Haiti, when President Jean- Claude Duvalier flees the Caribbean nation.

1991 Haiti’s first democratically elected President, Jean- Bertrand Aristide, is sworn in.

1992 The Maastricht Treaty is signed, leading to the creation of the European Union.

1995 Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing, is arrested in Islamabad, Pakistan.

1997 NeXT merges with Apple Computer, starting the path to Mac OS X.

1999 Crown Prince Abdullah becomes the King of Jordan on the death of his father, King Hussein.

2012 President Mohamed Nasheed of the Republic of Maldives resigns, after 23 days of anti- governmental protests calling for the release of Chief Judge unlawfully arrested by the military.

2013 The US state of Mississippi officially certifies the Thirteenth Amendment, becoming the last state to approve the abolition of slavery. The Thirteenth Amendment was formally ratified by Mississippi in 1995.

2016 North Korea launches Kwangmyongsong- 4 into outer space violating multiple UN treaties and prompting condemnation