Today in History

September 12

1801 - Alexander I of Russia announces annexation of Georgia.

1942 - A German U-boat sinks the British troop ship Laconia, killing more than 1,400 men during World War II.

1959 - Soviet Union launches Luna 2, the first spacecraft to reach the moon.

1966 - NASA launches its Gemini 11 manned spacecraft with astronauts Pete Conrad and Dick Gordon on board.

1974 - Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia is deposed by a military junta.

1980 - Turkish military seizes power and keeps it until 1983.

1997 - Scotland votes in favour of setting up its own parliament for the first time in 300 years.

2001 - Newly elected Fiji Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase leads cabinet takes oath.

2012 - 280 people die at a

factory blaze in Karachi.