Today in History

1399 – Richard II becomes the first English monarch to abdicate.

1567 – Second War of Religion begins in France between Huguenots and King Charles IX.

1789 – Congress votes to create the United States Army, made up of 1000 enlisted men and officers.

1829 – The first units of the Metropolitan Police appear on the streets of London.

1911 – Italy declares war on Turkey, eventually conquering Libya.

1939 – Germany and the Soviet Union agree to divide control of occupied Poland roughly along the Bug River.

1941 – Over two days, Germans forces kill 33,771 Jewish men, women and children in the Babi Yar massacre at a ravine near Kiev.

1950 – General Douglas MacArthur hands over Seoul to President Syngman Rhee of South Korea.

1979 – Pope John Paul II arrives in Ireland for the first papal visit there.

1988 – The shuttle Discovery is launched in the first space mission since the explosion of the shuttle Challenger in January 1986.

2008 – Dow Jones Industrial Average has its biggest single-day loss, after the bankruptcies of Lehman Brothers and Washington Mutual.

2015 – Fifa bans its former vicepresident Jack Warner from all football activity for life due to a long list of ‘‘misconduct’’.

2018 – Rapper Kanye West, left, announces he is changing his name to Ye.

Birthdays

Miguel de Cervantes, Spanish author (1547-1616); Caravaggio, Italian artist (1571-1610); Horatio Nelson, UK admiral (1758-1805); Anita Ekberg, Swedish actor (1931-2015); Jerry Lee Lewis, US musician (1935-); Silvio Berlusconi, Italian politician (1936-); Lech Walesa, Polish politician (1943-); Sebastian Coe, UK athlete and politician (1956-); Julia Gillard, Australian politician (1961-); Shane Smeltz, NZ footballer (1981-); Kevin Durant, US basketballer (1988-).