Today in history
1191 — In the Third Crusade, Richard the Lionheart takes the city of Acre.
1543 — Henry VIII of England marries his sixth and final wife, Catherine Parr, widow of Lord Latimer, at Hampton Court Palace.
1776 — The ship Resolution, commanded by Captain James Cook, leaves England to search for a northern sea passage through the Arctic from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean.
1910 — Charles Stewart Rolls, aviator and co-founder of Rollsroyce, becomes Britain’s first aviation fatality when he crashes his Wright biplane near Bournemouth.
1920 — The Panama Canal is formally opened six years after the first ship sailed through it.
1957 — Prince Karim, 20-year-old student at Harvard University, becomes Aga Khan and leader of 20 million Ismaili Muslims following the death of his grandfather.
1977 — US President Jimmy Carter defends Supreme Court decisions limiting government payments for poor women’s abortions, saying, ‘‘There are many things in life that are not fair’’.
1991 — The five permanent members of UN Security Council tell Iraq’s ambassador his country must swiftly disclose extent of its nuclear program or face serious consequences.
1993 — An earthquake in northern Japan unleashes landslides and tidal waves, killing 196 people.
1996 — Britain’s Prince Charles and Princess Diana agree the terms of their divorce, ending a 15-year marriage.
2001 — Haitian immigrant Abner Louima, tortured in a New York City police station, agrees to a $US8.7 million settlement.
2006 — Lebanese Hezbollah guerillas capture two Israeli soldiers and killed eight more in cross-border attacks, sparking off a month-long war with Israel.
2007 — Former Radio 2UE presenter Stan Zemanek dies from a brain tumour, aged 60.
2010 — The International Criminal Court charges Sudan’s president Omar-al-bashir with three genocide counts.
2015 — Serbia’s Novak Djokovic wins the Wimbledon men’s singles title, beating Roger Federer of Switzerland 7-6 6-7 6-4 6-3.
2016 — Two regional Italian passenger trains collide in the country’s south, killing 23 people, including both drivers, and injuring another 54. Today’s Birthdays: Gaius Julius Caesar, Roman dictator (100 BC-44 BC); Elijah Wedgewood, British pottery maker (1730-1795); Henry David Thoreau, US author-naturalist (1817-1862); George Eastman, US inventor (1854-1932); Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani activist, Nobel Prize laureate (1991-).