Today in History

49BC – Roman emperor Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon river in war against Pompeii.

1846 – British forces occupy Ruapekapeka Pa, Northland, in the final battle of New Zealand’s Northern War.

1908 – US President Theodore Roosevelt declares Grand Canyon a protected national monument.

1923 – France and Belgium occupy the Ruhr valley after Germany fails to keep up World War I reparations.

1927 – Charlie Chaplin’s US$16 million estate is frozen by court receivers after his second wife, Lita Grey Chaplin, sues for divorce. The case ends with a $1m settlement.

1935 – Amelia Earhart, left, leaves Honolulu on first successful flight from Hawaii to the US mainland.

1942 – Japan declares war on the Netherlands. It invaded former colony the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia, two months later.

1962 – Avalanche buries village in the Peruvian Andes, and 3000 people are reported killed.

1964 – US surgeon-general Luther Terry issues first government report saying smoking may be hazardous to health.

2002 – The first 20 Taliban and al Qaeda detainees from Afghanistan arrive at US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

2008 – Death of Sir Edmund Hillary, the first to climb Mt Everest.

2011 – WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange vows to step up release of secret documents while he fights extradition to Sweden, as his lawyers argue sending him to Stockholm could land him in Guantanamo Bay or even on US death row.

Birthdays

Theodosius I, Roman emperor (347-95); William James, US philosopher (1842-1910); Rod Taylor, Australian actor (1930-2015); Arthur Scargill, UK trade unionist (1938-); Clarence Clemons, US saxophonist (1942-2011); Diana Gabaldon, US author (1952-); Mary J Blige, US singer (1971-); Rahul Dravid, Indian cricketer (1973-).