Today in History
1769 – Captain James Cook and astronomer Charles Green observe the transit of Mercury at Mercury Bay, on Coromandel Peninsula. 1799 – Napoleon Bonaparte, newly returned from his disastrous expedition to Egypt, seizes power in France, making himself one of three consuls.
1918 – German Emperor Wilhelm II, right, abdicates and Germany is declared a republic. Two days later, Germany signs an armistice ending World War I.
1920 – New Zealand introduces the Immigration Restriction Amendment Act to allow officials to prevent Indians and other non-white British subjects entering New Zealand.
1938 – The Nazis launch Kristallnacht, a campaign of terror against Jewish people, homes, and businesses. About 100 Jews are killed and an estimated 30,000 arrested. 1952 – Police and British troops arrest more than 400 Kikuyu tribesmen and women in an effort to apprehend Mau Mau cult members in Kenya.
1963 – Twin disasters strike Japan as 450 miners are killed in a coal-dust explosion and 160 people die in a train crash.
1966 – John Lennon is formally introduced to Yoko Ono at an avante-garde art exposition in London.
1985 – Richard Hadlee takes a career-best 9-52 for New Zealand against Australia at the Gabba.
1987 – A bomb explodes during rush hour in a crowded neighbourhood of Colombo, Sri Lanka, with at least 32 people killed and 105 wounded.
1989 – East German officials open the Berlin Wall, allowing travel from East to West Berlin. The following day, celebrating Germans begin to tear the wall down.
2004 – Stieg Larsson, author of the bestselling Millennium novels, dies of a heart attack, aged 50.
2007 – Detained Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, held under house arrest for 12 of the past 18 years, meets with members of her opposition party – their first direct contact in more than three years. 2015 – The World Anti-Doping Agency recommends Russia be banned from athletics competitions for running a ‘‘statesupported’’ doping programme.
2017 – Irishman Joseph O’Brien becomes the youngest trainer of a Melbourne Cup winner, at 24, with Rekindling. 2018 – US President Donald Trump fires Attorney-General Jeff Sessions.