Today in History

241BC – Romans sink the Carthaginian fleet at the Battle of the Aegates Islands, bringing the First Punic War to an end.

1869 – New Zealand Cross medal is created because members of local armed forces were not eligible for the Victoria Cross. Only 23 were awarded, all to men in the New Zealand wars, making it one of the rarest military honours in the world. 1876 – The first successful voice transmission by telephone as

Alexander Graham Bell, left, tells his assistant in Boston: ‘‘Mr Watson, come here. I want you.’’

1920 – The Home Rule Act is passed by the British Parliament, dividing Ireland into two parts; it is rejected by the southern counties.

1945 – More than 100,000 people in Tokyo are killed in a night of firebombings by US planes.

1946 – Italian women vote for the first time.

1959 – The Dalai Lama leads a rebellion against Chinese rule. The revolt fails and he flees to India.

1969 – James Earl Ray pleads guilty in Memphis, Tennessee, to the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr, but later repudiates his plea.

1985 – Konstantin Chernenko, who was the Soviet Union’s leader for just 13 months, dies at age 73.

1995 – The Auckland Warriors play their first match in rugby league’s expanded Winfield Cup, losing to the Brisbane Broncos at Mt Smart.

2000 – The Nasdaq composite stock market index peaks at 5132.52, signalling the beginning of the end of the dotcom boom.

Birthdays

Friedrich Schlegel, German poet (1772-1829); Kate Sheppard, suffrage activist (1848-1934); Sir Thomas Mackenzie, NZ prime minister (1853-1930); Sepp Blatter, disgraced Fifa president (1936-); Chuck Norris, US actor (1940-); Osama bin Laden, Saudi Arabian terrorist (1957-2011); Sharon Stone, US actor (1958-); Prince Edward of the UK (1964-).