Today in history
1609 — English explorer Henry Hudson sails into the New York river that now bears his name.
1733 — Francois Couperin, the most famous of the distinguished family of French musicians and composers, dies.
1772 — Russia takes Baku and Derbent on Caspian Sea from Persia.
1801 — Alexander I of Russia announces annexation of Georgia.
1910 — The world’s first recorded female police officer, Alice Stebbins Wells, is appointed to the Los Angeles Police Department.
1944 — First United States troops reach German soil in World War II.
1959 — Soviet Union launches Luna 2, the first spacecraft to strike the Moon.
1970 — Palestinian guerillas blow up three hijacked airliners in Jordan.
1976 — Chinese leaders gather in Beijing for funeral of Mao Zedong.
2001 — Stunned rescue workers continue to search for bodies in the rubble of the World Trade Centre a day after a terrorist attack shut down the financial capital, badly damaged the Pentagon and left thousands dead.
2003 — The United Nations Security Council votes to lift sanctions against Libya that had been in place for 11 years as a response to the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.
2003 — Country singer Johnny Cash dies aged 71.
2005 — Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe quietly adopts constitutional changes that make it easier for the state to seize private property and prevent opponents from travelling abroad to criticise his 25-year rule.
2007 — Authorities confirm a new foot-and-mouth outbreak on the outskirts of London, just days after the government lifted livestock restrictions.
2011 — A leaking gasoline pipeline explodes in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, sending flames racing through a slum and killing at least 75 people.
2012 — A mob armed with guns and grenades launches a fiery attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, killing the US ambassador and three other Americans.
2014 — Olympian Oscar Pistorius is found guilty of culpable homicide, one day after his shock murder acquittal over the death of his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. Today’s Birthdays: Richard Jordan Gatling, inventor of the multi-barrelled machine gun, (1818-1903); Jesse Owens, US athlete (1913-1980); Barry White, US singer (1944-2003); Max Walker, Australian cricketer and TV personality (1948-2016); Paul Walker, US actor (1973-2013); Yao Ming, Chinese basketball player (1980-); Jennifer Hudson, American actress and singer (1981-).