Today in history

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.

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.

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.

2000 - Britain strips Northern Ireland’s Protestant-catholic government of power in a bid to prevent its collapse over the Irish Republican Army’s refusal to disarm.

2002 - Jordan’s State Security Court sentences Us-born Raed Hijazi to death by hanging for plotting attacks on US and Israeli targets in Jordan during New Year’s 2000 celebrations.

2008 - Rebel soldiers shoot and critically wound East Timor’s President Jose Ramos-horta and open fire on Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao who escaped the attack unhurt, in a failed coup attempt in the recently independent nation.

2012 - Gunmen assassinate an army general in Damascus in the first killing of a high ranking military officer in the Syrian capital since the uprising against President Bashar Assad’s regime began in March.

2013 - Pope Benedict XVI does what no pope has done in more than half a millennium, announcing his resignation and sending the already troubled Roman Catholic church scrambling to replace the leader of its 1 billion followers.

2015 - The Republican-controlled US Congress approves a bill to construct the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada, setting up a confrontation with President Barack Obama who has threatened to veto the measure. Today’s Birthdays: Thomas Edison, US inventor (1847-1931); Sidney Sheldon, US author (1917-2007); Burt Reynolds, US actor (1936-); Tina Louise, US actress (1934-); Sheryl Crow, US musician (1962-); Jennifer Aniston, US actress (1969-).