Today in history
1693 - The first women’s magazine, The Ladies’ Mercury, is published by John Dunton in London.
1844 - Founder of the Mormon Church, Joseph Smith, and his brother are killed by a mob who break into an Illinois jail where they have been imprisoned on politicallyrelated charges.
1880 - Ned Kelly and his gang of bushrangers occupy Glenrowan Hotel in Victoria, Australia.
1929 - The world’s first colour TV demonstration takes place in New York City. New Zealand wouldn’t get colour TV until 44 years later.
1932 - A constitution is proclaimed in Siam (now Thailand).
1940 - Soviet Union invades Romania during World War II after King Carol refuses to cede Besarabia and Bukovina.
1954 - The world’s first nuclear power station opens at Obninsk, near Moscow.
1961 - Death of William Wyler, US film director responsible for Ben Hur.
1967 - The world’s first ATM machine is installed in Enfield, London.
1976 - Palestinian extremists hijack an Air France plane in Greece with 246 passengers and 12 crew.
1983 - The Melbourne Cricket Club votes to admit women as members.
1987 - Sir Billy Snedden, former Liberal leader and Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives, dies in Sydney, aged 60.
1996 - US President Bill Clinton and other world leaders at their annual G7 summit in Lyon, France, pledge to combat international terrorism in the aftermath of a truck bomb that killed 19 Americans in Saudi Arabia.
1998 - In Beijing, US President Bill Clinton and Chinese President Jiang Zemin hold a news conference during which they clash over dissidents, the Tiananmen Square massacre and the Dalai Lama.
2000 - The United Nations releases a report that says Aids has killed 19 million people worldwide.
2013 - South Korean President Park Guen-hye arrives in China for four days of talks with President Xi Jinping aimed at reducing tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
2015 - Federal politicians say the US Supreme Court ruling that samesex couples have the right to marry could influence Australian debate. Today’s Birthdays: Alexis Bouvard, French astronomer (1767-1843); Charles Stewart Parnell, Irish nationalist leader (1846-1891); General Sir John Monash, Australia’s outstanding military commander in World War I (1865-1931); Helen Keller, US blind and deaf scholar (1880-1968); Bob Keeshan, US actor Captain Kangaroo (1927-2004); Ross Perot, US businessman and presidential candidate (1930-) Khloe Kardashian (1984 -).