Today in history
1500 - The Brazilian coast is discovered by Spanish navigator Vicente Yanes Pinzon.
1823 - Edward Jenner, who is credited with introducing vaccination against smallpox, dies.
1841 - The British flag is raised on Hong Kong island, six days after China agrees to cede it to Britain.
1905 - The world’s largest diamond, the Cullinan, is discovered near Pretoria, weighing 3106 carats.
1924 - In the Soviet Union, the second All-union Congress of Soviets agrees to preserve the body of Vladimir Lenin and to change the name of Petrograd to Leningrad.
1926 - Scottish inventor John Logie Baird displays his first television images, demonstrated on his television apparatus in Soho, London.
1931 - In India, Mahatma Gandhi is released from prison to hold talks with the government during his civil disobedience campaign.
1939 - In the Spanish Civil War, Franco and his forces capture Barcelona.
1942 - The first American expeditionary force in Europe during World War II goes ashore in Northern Ireland.
1950 - India is formally proclaimed a republic within the Commonwealth.
1965 - The military seizes power in South Vietnam, ousting the civilian government of Tran Van Huong; Hindi becomes the official language of India, leading to riots in the south of the country.
1979 - Nelson Rockefeller, United States vice-president under Gerald Ford from 1974-76, dies.
1998 - US President Bill Clinton denies having an affair with a White House intern, telling reporters, ‘‘I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky’’.
2001 - An earthquake measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale strikes the western Indian state of Gujurat, killing some 18,000 people.
2003 - US tennis star Martina Navratilova becomes the oldest player to win a Grand Slam title when at 46 she takes the Australian Open mixed doubles with partner Leander Paes.
2005 - British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s government proposes sweeping new powers to control terrorism suspects, including electronic tagging, curfews and house arrests without trial.
2011 - President Hamid Karzai criticises the international community for meddling in Afghanistan’s elections.
Today’s Birthdays:
Douglas Macarthur, US general (1880-1964); Nicolae Ceausescu, Romanian head of state (1918-1989); Paul Newman, actor (1925-2008); Eddie Van Halen, guitarist (1955-); Ellen Degeneres, US actress (1958-); Wayne Gretzky, Canadian ice hockey player (1961-); Jose Mourinho, Portugese football manager, (1963-).