Today in history

1942: In the first mass gassing at Auschwitz during World War II more than 1 000 Jews are killed in the chambers. 1985: Amy Eilberg becomes the first sitting female rabbi in the conservative Jewish movement. 2002: Jimmy Carter becomes the first sitting or former US president to visit Cuba since Fidel Castro seized power in the Caribbean island in 1959. 2007: Riots and gun battles break out in Karachi, Pakistan, after opposition protests against the president, General Pervez Musharraf’s decision to suspend the chief justice. 2008: A 7.9-magnitude earthquake hits Sichuan in central China, killing more than 28 000 people. 2010: Britain ushers in its first coalition government since world War II as a pair of rivals-turned-partners pledge to set aside their deep policy differences and tackle the country’s budget deficit.