Today in history
1707 - Holy Roman Empire agrees to Convention of Milan whereby French troops are to leave northern Italy.
1868 - The impeachment trial of US President Andrew Johnson begins in the US Senate.
1884 - Using Greenwich, England, as the commencement point from which all time will be measured, an international time standard is adopted throughout the United States.
1913 - New Australian federal capital officially named Canberra.
1956 - New Zealand wins its first cricket test, against the West Indies, 26 years after becoming a testplaying nation.
1992 - An 6.2 magnitude earthquake rocks Turkey, claiming at least 570 lives.
1993 - Hundreds of refugees pour into Srebrenica in Bosnia, and desperate crowds prevent a French UN commander General Philippe Morillon from leaving the warbattered Muslim enclave.
1996 - A gunman in Dunblane, Scotland, shoots to death 16 children and a teacher.
2000 - Alcoa Inc settles a government lawsuit by agreeing to spend US$8.8 million to clean up the Mississippi River and reduce pollution.
2001 - Peter Ellis – imprisoned for child sex abuse after a sensational and divisive trial centring on the Christchurch Civic Creche – is denied a pardon after authorities reject concerns about the contamination of evidence in his case.
2008 - New Zealand’s Parliament outlaws a popular party pill ingredient, BZP, in response to mounting concern about so-called ‘‘legal highs’’.
2011 - The estimated death toll from Japan’s natural disasters climbs past 10,000 as authorities race to combat the threat of multiple nuclear reactor meltdowns and hundreds of thousands of people struggle to find food and water. The prime minister said it was the nation’s worst crisis since World War II.
2012 - Former News International executive Rebekah Brooks and her racehorse trainer husband Charlie are arrested in dawn raids that also netted four other suspects in the spreading phone hacking scandal.
2012 - The death of former All Black captain and respected New Zealand rugby administrator Jock Hobbs, aged 52.
Today’s Birthdays:
Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II (1741-1790); Hugo Wolf, Austrian composer (1860-1903); George Seferis, Greek poet and diplomat, Nobel literature laureate (1900-1971); Kofi Awoonor, Ghanaian poet (19352013); Neil Sedaka, US singer (1939- ); William Macy, US actor (1950- ); Dana Delany, US actress (1956- ); Adam Clayton, bassist with rock group U2 (1960- ).