Today in History

1527 - Mogul Emperor Barbar defeats Hindu Confederacy at Kanwanha, India.

1534 - England severs all relations with the Pope.

1802 – The Army Corps of Engineers is established to found and operate the United States Military Academy at West Point.

1812 - Austria, in alliance with France, agrees to provide an army for Napoleon Bonaparte.

1844 - Greece adopts constitution with two chambers.

1850 - Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter is published.

1898 - Aubrey Beardsley, British artist and illustrator, dies of consumption, aged 25. 1906 - Japan nationalises its railways.

1935 - Adolf Hitler orders Germany to rearm herself in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. Conscription is reintroduced to form the Wehrmacht.

1978 - Former Italian prime minister Aldo Moro is kidnapped by Red Brigades guerrillas, and is later killed; About 220,000 tonnes of oil are spilled after the Amoco Cadiz runs aground off the Britanny coast.

1988 - In Panama, General Manuel Antonio Noriega survives what he claims was a United States-inspired coup attempt.

1994 - Russia agrees to phase out production of weapons-grade plutonium.

1995 - Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams meets US President Bill Clinton for the first time.

2002 - Nathan Astle goes berserk batting for New Zealand in their first cricket test against England in Christchurch. Astle makes 222 off just 163 balls as New Zealand fall 98 runs short of their improbable 550-run target.

2003 - Anti-war demonstrations across the US, including an estimated 10,000 protesters in Chicago.

2011 - Australia, Britain and Germany advise their citizens in Japan to consider leaving Tokyo and earthquake-affected areas, joining a growing number of governments and businesses telling their people it may be safer elsewhere.

2012 – Former Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar becomes the first batter in history to score 100 centuries in international cricket.

2016 - US presidential candidate Donald Trump once again defies all odds by winning big in the latest Republican primaries, while Hillary Clinton secures her place as the Democratic frontrunner. The two went on to contest the election.

2020 - The Dow Jones industrial average falls by 2997.10, the single largest point drop in history, an even greater crash than 1929’s Black Monday. It followed the US Federal Reserve’s announcement that it would cut its target interest rate to 0-0.25%.

2022 – A 7.4-magnitude earthquake occurs off the coast of Fukushima, Japan, killing four people and injuring 225.

Birthdays

Georg Simon Ohm, German physicist (17871854); Jerry Lewis, US comedian (1926-2017); Jerry Jeff Walker, US singer- songwriter (1942-); Erik Estrada, US actor (1949-); Flavor Flav, US rap singer (1959-); Jens Stoltenberg, former Norwegian prime minister (1959); Kevin Smith, NZ actor (1963-2002); Heath Streak, Zimbabwean cricketer (1974-2023); Hosea Gear, NZ rugby player (1984-).