Today in History

1642 - Canadian city of Montreal is founded.

1643 – Anne of Austria, Queen Mother, is vested with supreme powers in France.

1781 - Peruvian revolutionary Tupac Amaru II is executed by the Spanish in the main plaza in Cusco.

1803 - Britain declares war on France after Napoleon Bonaparte continues his interference in Italy and Switzerland. 1830 - Edwin Budding of England signs agreement for manufacture of his invention, the lawn mower.

1860 - Abraham Lincoln, left, is nominated for US president.

1897 - Public reading of Bram Stoker’s new novel, Dracula, staged in London.

1944 - Monte Cassino Monastery in Italy is taken from Germans after bitter fighting in World War II.

1951 - United Nations moves headquarters to New York City.

1954 - European Convention of Human Rights goes into effect. 1967 – United Nations agrees to Egyptian demand to withdraw UN forces from Gaza Strip.

1970 - Communist forces thrust to within 40km of Cambodia’s capital of Phnom Penh.

1991 - Helen Sharman becomes the first Briton to rocket into space aboard a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft.

1993 - Violent riots break out in Copenhagen, Denmark, after a majority of Danes in a referendum approve the Maastricht treaty calling for a closer European Union.

1994 - Military observers returning to the Rwandan countryside report ethnic killings of at least 200,000.

1996 - Romano Prodi is sworn in as prime minister to head Italy’s 55th government since World War II.

2013 - Jewellery worth US$1.3 million due to be loaned to stars at the Cannes Film festival is stolen.

Birthdays

Nicholas II, last tsar of Russia (1868-1918); Tina Fey, American writer/actress (1970-); Jessica Watson, Australian solo sailor (1993-).