Today in History

1377 – Pope Gregory XI moves the papacy back to Rome from Avignon.

1853 – New Zealand gets a system of representative government with the creation of six provincial councils and a general assembly. 1893 – Queen Lili’uokalani, right, of Hawaii is deposed by a US coup. Hawaii becomes a republic.

1904 – Anton Chekhov’s play The Cherry Orchard debuts at the Moscow Art Theatre.

1912 – Captain Robert Scott’s expedition arrives at the South Pole, one month after Roald Amundsen.

1945 – Red Army enters Warsaw in World War II.

1946 – United Nations Security Council holds its first meeting.

1987 – US President Ronald Reagan signs secret order permitting covert sale of arms to Iran. 1992 – Israel begins enforcing a sweeping curfew on Palestinians from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip.

1994 – Magnitude 6.7 earthquake in the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, kills at least 57 people and injures more than 8500.

1995 – Magnitude 7.2 earthquake destroys Kobe, Japan, killing 5372.

1999 – The body of missing Ashburton teenager Kirsty Bentley is found hidden in a MidCanterbury farm paddock. The case remains unsolved.

2017 – US President Barack Obama commutes WikiLeaks whistleblower Chelsea Manning’s prison sentence from 35 to seven years.

Birthdays

Benjamin Franklin, US statesman/ scientist (1706-90); Anne Bronte, UK author (1820-49); Al Capone, US gangster (1899-1947); Muhammad Ali, US boxer (1942-2016); Jeanette Fitzsimons, NZ politician (1945-); Billy T James, NZ comedian (1948-91); Jim Carrey, Canadian actor (1962-); Michelle Obama, US first lady (1964-); Zooey Deschanel, US singer/actor (1980-).