Today in history
1421 — The sea breaks through the dikes at Dort, in the Netherlands, drowning more than 100,000 people.
1521 — Papal nuncio Cardinal Alexander cross-examines Martin Luther over his beliefs and views on the Catholic Church at the Diet of Worms, where he is excommunicated.
1524 — Giovanni da Verrazano discovers present-day New York Harbour.
1941 — The entire Yugoslav army and government surrender to the Germans in Belgrade.
1946 — Last French troops leave Syria, which becomes independent.
1961 — Attempt to invade Cuba by 1500 Cia-trained Cuban exiles fails at the Bay of Pigs.
1964 — American Jerrie Mock becomes the first woman to complete a solo flight around the world.
1969 — Sirhan B Sirhan is found guilty of the first degree murder of former United States attorneygeneral Robert F Kennedy, who was shot while campaigning in California in June 1968.
1975 — Khmer Rouge guerrillas seize Phnom Penh and begin a reign of terror in which more than a million people die.
1986 — British journalist John Mccarthy is kidnapped in Beirut; he was not released until August 1991.
1993 — A federal jury in Los Angeles convicts two former police officers of violating the civil rights of beaten black motorist Rodney King; two other officers are acquitted.
1998 — A Thai military team collects evidence from the body of Pol Pot, former chief of Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge guerrillas, to confirm that one of the century’s worst tyrants is truly dead.
2002 — Xanana Gusmao is declared the landslide winner of East Timor’s first presidential election.
2005 — Nine Australians are arrested in Bali for their part in a scheme to smuggle about 8 kilograms of heroin into Australia. Two of the Bali Nine, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, will be executed 10 years later
2008 — A suicide bomber strikes the funeral of two anti-al-qaeda Sunni tribesmen in a town north of Baghdad, killing at least 50 people and wounding dozens.
2013 — Thousands of people line London’s streets as the carriage carrying the coffin of Margaret Thatcher makes its way to St Paul’s Cathedral. Today’s Birthdays Nikita Khrushchev, Soviet statesman (1894-1971); Olivia Hussey, British actress (1951-); Jennifer Garner, US actor (1972-); Muttiah Muralitharan, Sri Lankan cricketer (1972-); Victoria Beckham, British singer and designer (1974-); Jowilfried Tsonga, French tennis player (1985-).