Today in history
1573 — Irish rebellion is crushed effectively with surrender of James Fitzmaurice; pacification of Perth ends fighting in Scotland between Regent and supporters of Mary Queen of Scots.
1821 — Death of John Keats, English Romantic poet, in Rome.
1836 — Siege of the Alamo begins in US state of Texas against Mexican attackers.
1854 — Britain agrees to leave territory north of Orange River in South Africa, allowing for establishment of constitution for Orange Free State.
1861 — US president-elect Abraham Lincoln arrives secretly in Washington to take office, an assassination plot having been foiled in Baltimore.
1905 — The Rotary Club is founded by lawyer Paul Percy Harris in Chicago.
1911 — New Zealander Joseph Hammond carries the first aircraft passenger in Australia: Mrs Hammond.
1919 — Benito Mussolini breaks with the Socialist party and founds his own Fasci del Comattimento (Fascist) party in Italy.
1938 — First oil discovery in Kuwait.
1942 — In World War II, a Master Mutual Aid Agreement is signed between the US, Britain, Australia and New Zealand.
1945 — US Marines on Iwo Jima capture Mount Suribachi, and raise the American flag.
1983 — US President Ronald Reagan announced plans for a new space-based defence system later dubbed ‘‘Star Wars’’.
1997 — Ali Abu Kamal, a Palestinian, fires a gun into a crowd on the observation deck of New York City’s Empire State Building, killing one person and injuring six, then shoots himself dead.
1997 — Scientists in Scotland announce they have succeeded in cloning an adult mammal, producing a lamb named Dolly.
2000 — An Australian-led multinational force formally leaves East Timor and hands over to UN peacekeepers, five months after going in to end a wave of mass killings; Space shuttle Endeavour returns to earth, wrapping up a mission to map the earth’s surface; Carlos Santana wins eight Grammy awards, equalling Michael Jackson’s 1983 record for the most trophies in one night.
2016 — With thousands of Fijians left homeless by the devastating Cyclone Winston, aid agencies express fears about disease outbreaks. Today’s Birthdays: Samuel Pepys, English diarist (1633-1703); George Frederick Handel, German composer (1685-1759); Brad Whitford, guitarist for Aerosmith (1952-).