Today in History

1533 – Spanish conquistadors take Cuzco, capital of the Inca empire.

1647 – King Charles I of England is recaptured and imprisoned by rebels.

1775 – American troops under

Benedict Arnold, right, invade Quebec Province in Canada.

1851 – Moby-dick, by Herman Melville, is published.

1882 – Gunslinger Franklin ‘‘Buckskin’’ Leslie shoots Billy ‘‘The Kid’’ Claiborne dead in the streets of Tombstone, Arizona.

1935 – US President Franklin D Roosevelt proclaims Philippine Islands a commonwealth and pledges independence by 1946.

1947 – United Nations recognises Korea’s claim to independence.

1960 – Two passenger trains collide in Czechoslovakia, killing 110 people and injuring 105.

1969 – Apollo 12 blasts off for the moon. 1973 – The Social Security Amendment Act is passed, providing for the introduction of the domestic purposes benefit for New Zealand’s solo mothers.

1998 – Iraq sends a letter to the UN Security Council stating that weapons inspections can continue. An hour before the launch of an airstrike, US President Bill Clinton calls it off.

2007 – Charged with crimes against humanity, former Khmer Rouge Foreign Minister Ieng Sary and his wife are formally put in detention by Cambodia’s Unbacked genocide tribunal.

2008 – A lunar probe from India lands successfully on the moon.

Birthdays

Claude Monet, French painter (1840-1926); Jawaharlal Nehru, Indian statesman (1889-1964); Astrid Lindgren, Swedish author of Pippi Longstocking books (1907-2002); Joseph Mccarthy, US senator (1908-1957); Jordan’s King Hussein (1935-99); Prince Charles (1948-); Sir Jerry Mateparae, NZ former governor-general (1954-); Patrick Warburton, US actor (1964-).