Today in history

325 – The Council of Nicaea, the first ecumenical debate held by the early Christian church, concludes with the establishment of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. 1580 – Spain invades Portugal and keeps it for more than 80 years. 1916 – Private Frank Hughes, 28, is killed by a firing squad in northern France after being found guilty of desertion. He was the first New Zealand soldier executed during World War I. 1920 – Captain Euan Dickson completes the first air crossing of Cook Strait, flying a 110-hp La Rhone Avros from Christchurch to Upper Hutt. 1940 – Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are incorporated into the Soviet Union. 1942 – The Duke of Kent, youngest brother of King George VI, dies in a plane crash during a World War II mission to Iceland. 1944 – Paris is liberated from the Germans in WWII. 1948 – New Zealand’s deadliest recorded tornado strikes Frankton in Hamilton, killing three, injuring 80 and causing an estimated $1 million damage. 1950 – United States President Harry Truman orders the army to seize control of the nation’s railroads to avert a strike. 1962 – Eva Narcissus Boyd, 17, scores her first and only No 1 hit with The Loco-motion. 1991 – Michael Schumacher makes his Formula One debut. 1997 – Egon Krenz, the East German communist leader who threw open the Berlin Wall eight years earlier, is convicted of manslaughter for the shooting deaths of citizens who tried to flee to the West during the Cold War. 2004 – South African police arrest Mark Thatcher, the son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, on suspicion of involvement in a coup plot in Equatorial Guinea. Thatcher later pleads guilty and avoids jail in a deal with prosecutors. 2009 – The last of the Kennedys, who fascinated the US with their ambition, style, idealism, tragedies – and sometimes sheer recklessness – Edward Moore Kennedy dies at 77. ‘‘Ted’’ was a senator for 47 years. Today’s Birthdays: Ivan IV (The Terrible), first tsar of Russia (1530-1584); Erich Honecker, East German leader (1912-1994); Sean Connery, Scottish actor (1930-); Elvis Costello, English singer-songwriter (1954-); Tim Burton, US film director (1958-); Billy Ray Cyrus, US singer (1961-); Michael Cohen, US lawyer for Donald Trump (1966-); Claudia Schiffer, German model (1970-); Aaron Jeffery, New Zealand-born actor (1970-); Blake Lively, US actress (1987-).