HISTORY AT A GLANCE

TODAY is Thursday, June 29, the 180th day of 2017. There are 185 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:

1915 – The North Saskatchewan River flood of

1915 is the worst flood in Edmonton history.

1916 – The Irish Nationalist and British diplomat Roger Casement is sentenced to death for his part in the Easter Rising.

1922 – France grants 1 km² at Vimy Ridge “freely, and for all time, to the Government of Canada, the free use of the land exempt from all taxes”.

1927 – The Bird of Paradise, a U.S. Army Air Corps Fokker tri-motor, completes the first transpacific flight, from the mainland United States to Hawaii.

1928 – The Outerbridge Crossing and Goethals Bridge in Staten Island, New York are both opened.

1956 – The Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 is signed, officially creating the United States Interstate Highway System.

1974 – Isabel Perón is sworn in as the first female President of Argentina. Her husband, President Juan Perón, had delegated responsibility due to weak health and died two days later.

1974 – Mikhail Baryshnikov defects from the Soviet Union to Canada while on tour with the Kirov Ballet.

1975 – Steve Wozniak tested his first prototype of Apple I computer.

1976 – The Seychelles become independent from the United Kingdom.

1976 – The Conference of Communist and Workers Parties of Europe convenes in East Berlin

1995 – Space Shuttle program: STS-71 Mission (Atlantis) docks with the Russian space station Mir for the first time.

1995 – The Sampoong Department Store collapses in the Seocho District of Seoul, South Korea, killing 501 and injuring 937.

2002 – Naval clashes between South Korea and North Korea lead to the death of six South Korean sailors and sinking of a North Korean vessel.

2006 – Hamdan v. Rumsfeld: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that President George W. Bush’s plan to try Guantanamo Bay detainees in military tribunals violates US and international law.

2007 – Apple Inc. releases its first mobile phone, the iPhone.

2012 – A derecho strikes the eastern United States, leaving at least 22 people dead and millions without power.

2014 – The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant self-declared its caliphate in Syria and northern Iraq.