Today in History

1793 – A young Napoleon Bonaparte takes Toulon, southern France, from Britain and Spain in his first major military victory.

1842 – The United States recognises independence of Hawaii.

1843 – A Christmas Carol by

Charles Dickens, right is published in England.

1879 – All New Zealand men are given the right to vote, regardless of whether they own or rent land.

1907 – A coal mine explosion in Jacobs Creek, Pennsylvania, kills 239 workers.

1941 – New Zealand’s worst naval loss of life, as Royal Navy cruiser HMS Neptune strikes mines off Libya. Of the 764 who died, 150 were New Zealanders.

1966 – United Nations General Assembly endorses a draft treaty banning the use of weapons of mass destruction in space.

1972 – Apollo 17 spacecraft splashes down in Pacific Ocean, ending US Apollo programme of landing men on Moon.

1984 – Britain and China sign a joint declaration spelling out the terms for Hong Kong’s return to Chinese sovereignty on July 1, 1997.

1998 – The US House of Representatives approves two articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton, charging him with lying under oath and obstructing justice.

2006 – A Libyan court convicts five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor and condemns them to death for infecting 400 children with HIV. Nearly seven months later, they are allowed to return to Bulgaria.

Birthdays

Leonid Brezhnev, Soviet leader (1906-1982); Jean Genet, French writer (1910-1986); Edith Piaf, French singer (1915-63); Richard Hammond, UK TV presenter (1969-); Ricky Ponting, Australian cricket captain (1974-); Jake Gyllenhaal, US actor (1980-); Alexis Sanchez, Chilean footballer (1988-).