Today in history
1781 — Los Angeles is founded by Spanish settlers and named El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora La Reina de Los Angeles – The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels.
1872 — Anglo-french dual control of Egypt is re-established.
1909 — The world’s first Boy Scout Rally is held at Crystal Palace near London.
1942 — Japanese troops evacuate Milne Bay, New Guinea – the first defeat of a Japanese amphibious landing in World War II.
1959 — Emergency is declared in Laos, with alleged aggression by North Vietnam.
1970 — In Chile, Salvador Allende becomes the first Marxist freely elected president in the Western hemisphere.
1972 — United States swimmer Mark Spitz wins his seventh Olympic gold medal, a record for a single Olympiad.
1990 — Prime ministers of South and North Korea meet for first time.
1996 — New Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shakes the hand of Yasser Arafat at a meeting on the Israel-gaza border to help clear the air of animosity.
1997 — At least seven people are killed and nearly 200 are injured when three bombs explode in a pedestrian mall in Jerusalem.
1999 — Pro-indonesia militiamen rampage in East Timor, prompting the evacuation of United Nations staff just hours after the world body announced that residents overwhelmingly voted for independence.
2000 — Truck owners blockade petrol depots and refineries across France in protest against high fuel prices.
2001 — Mahendra Chaudhry, Fiji’s first ethnic Indian prime minister, is elected to Parliament along with George Speight, who overthrew Chaudhry’s government 16 months earlier.
2006 — Australia’s real life crocodile hunter Steve Irwin dies after the barb of a stingray pierces his chest while diving off Australia’s northeast coast.
2010 — New Zealand’s South Island city of Christchurch is rocked by a 7.1 magnitude earthquake that kills 185 people from more than 20 countries.
2012 — Hardliners from Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood are given top jobs after the military takes power following the toppling of Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
2016 — G20 leaders gather in China where nations come under pressure to lower global greenhouse gas emissions. Today’s Birthdays Leo Castelli, famous modern art dealer (1907-1999); Dawn Fraser, Australian Olympic swimming champion (1937-); Beyonce Knowles, US singer (Destiny’s Child) (1981-).