TODAY IN HISTORY

1821 — Turkey and Russia sever relations after Turkey refuses to protect Christian subjects.

1847 — Liberia becomes the first African colony to declare independence.

1891 — France annexes South Sea island of Tahiti.

1908 — The Federal Bureau of Investigation – the FBI – is established in the United States.

1941 — President Franklin Roosevelt appoints General Douglas Macarthur commander of US Forces in the Far East. He also freezes all Japanese assets in the US, virtually halting Japaneseamerican trade.

1942 — Royal Air Force stages heavy raid on Hamburg, Germany.

1956 — Egypt’s President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalises Suez Canal, and Britain, France and US announce financial retaliation.

1965 — Maldive Islands in the Indian Ocean become independent, having been a British protectorate since 1887.

1974 — Konstantinos Karamanlis, new Greek premier, forms civilian Cabinet after seven years of military rule in Greece.

1991 — Communist leaders overwhelmingly approve Mikhail Gorbachev’s new party platform, abandoning decades of Marxist dogma.

1997 — KR Narayanan takes the oath of India’s presidency, the first member of the class once known as ‘‘untouchables’’ to do so.

1999 — In New York, the 30th anniversary of the legendary Woodstock musical festival ends violently with fires, looting and vandalism.

2010 — A Un-backed tribunal sentences the Khmer Rouge’s chief jailer to 35 years for overseeing the deaths of up to 16,000 people – the first verdict involving a senior member of the ‘‘killing fields’’ regime that devastated a generation of Cambodians.

2015 — English cyclist Chris Froome, of Team Sky, wins the Tour de France for the second time. Today’s Birthdays: George Bernard Shaw, Irish writer (1856-1950); Carl Jung, Swiss psychologist (1875-1961); Aldous Huxley, British author (1894-1963); Stanley Kubrick, US film director (1928-1999); John Howard, 25th Australian prime minister (1939-); Mick Jagger, British rock singer (1943-); Helen Mirren, English actress (1945-); Susan George, British actress (1950-); Wayne Grady, Australian professional golfer (1957-); Kevin Spacey, US actor (1959-); Sandra Bullock, US actress (1964-); Kate Beckinsale, British actress (1973-);