TODAY IN HISTORY

323BC Alexander the Great dies of a fever, aged 33. 1944 Germany launches its first V-1 missile against London.

1956 Britain hands its Suez Canal base to Egypt after operating it for 74 years.

1969 Withdrawal of American combat troops from South Vietnam begins.

1997 Timothy McVeigh is sentenced to death for bombing a building in Oklahoma City in 1995.

2005 A US Congress mandated report in the UN describes the world body’s management as “ossified”.

2008 Three robbers steal two Picasso prints from a Sao Paulo art museum.

2013 A proposal to build a rival to the Panama Canal across Nicaragua is backed by lawmakers.