Today in History

1547 - Ivan IV, ‘‘the Terrible’’, is crowned Russia’s first tsar.

1778 - France recognises United States’ independence.

1816 - Portugal’s South American colony, Brazil, becomes a kingdom.

1917 - Germany proposes in a telegram that Mexico becomes Germany’s ally with a view to recovering Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. The telegram is intercepted, hastening the US entry into World War I.

1919 - Prohibition begins as the 18th Amendment to the US Constitution is ratified. It was repealed in 1933.

1941 - New Zealand approves a women’s auxiliary air force to enable the RNZAF to release more men for service overseas.

1945 – Hitler takes to his underground bunker in Berlin, where he remains until committing suicide on April 30. 1979 – Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, left, shah of Iran since 1941, flees, paving the way for Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to take power.

1991 - US and allies start pounding targets in Iraq and Kuwait after Iraq fails to meet a deadline on withdrawal from Kuwait.

1992 - El Salvador government officials and rebel leaders sign a pact in Mexico City ending 12 years of civil war that left at least 75,000 people dead.

2007 - Pakistani forces targeting alQaeda kill up to 10 people near Afghan border. Locals say the dead

are woodcutters, not terrorists.

Birthdays

William Hall-Jones, NZ prime minister (1851-1936); Dian Fossey, US zoologist (1932-85); Susan Sontag, US writer (1933-2004); John Carpenter, US film director (1948-); Dalvanius Prime, NZ songwriter (1948-2003); Damien O’Connor, NZ politician (1958-); Sade (Helen Adu), UK singer-songwriter (1959-); James May, UK motoring writer/ presenter (1963-); Kate Moss, UK model (1974-).