Today in history
1518 - During the reign of Great Britain’s King Henry VIII, the Royal College of Physicians is established to protect citizens from medical charlatans and quacks.
1642 - Harvard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, holds its first commencement ceremony.
1817 - Spain signs a treaty with Britain to end slave trade.
1846 - The planet Neptune is discovered by German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle.
1887 - The mountains of Tongariro in the central North Island are gifted to the Crown by Nga¯ti Tu¯wharetoa, forming the nucleus of what is today the Tongariro National Park.
1952 - US Republican vicepresidential candidate Richard Nixon delivers his infamous ‘‘Checkers’’ speech on TV to refute allegations of improper campaign financing.
1972 - President Ferdinand Marcos declares martial law in the Philippines. It lasts for more than eight years.
1973 - Juan Peron is elected for his third and final presidential term in Argentina.
1978 - Egypt’s President Anwar Sadat returns home to hero’s welcome after Camp David summit that resulted in agreement on framework for peace with Israel.
1990 - Saddam Hussein says he will destroy Israel and launch an allout war before allowing the UN embargo to ‘‘strangle’’ Iraq.
1993 - The South African parliament approves a historic law giving blacks their first official say in the running of the country, authorising the creation of a transitional executive council before the first universal elections.
1994 - The UN Security Council eases sanctions on Yugoslavia for 100 days after Serbia promises to support a peace plan for Bosnia.
2005 - Simon Wiesenthal, who spent decades tirelessly tracking down Nazis hiding throughout the world, is laid to rest in Israel.
2009 - President Barack Obama challenges world leaders to shoulder more of the globe’s critical burdens, promising a newly co-operative partner in America but sternly warning they can no longer castigate the US as a go-it-alone bully while still demanding it cure all ills.
2010 - The US delegation walks out of the UN speech of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad after he says some in the world have speculated that Americans were behind the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, staged in an attempt to assure Israel’s survival. Today’s Birthdays: Augustus Caesar, first Roman emperor (63 BC-14 AD); Haile Selassie I, emperor of Ethiopia (1892-1975); Ray Charles, US singer-composer (1932-2004); Bruce Springsteen, US rock singer (1949-).