Today in History June 17
HIGHLIGHTS IN HISTORY ON THIS DATE
656 - Caliph Uthman, third caliph to rule after the death of the Prophet Mohammed, is assassinated at his home in Medina by besieging Muslim rebels from Mesopotamia.
1397 - Erik of Pomerania is crowned king of Norway, Denmark and Sweden in Kalmar, Sweden, marking the beginning of the Kalmar Union that unites the three countries until 1523.
1579 - Sir Francis Drake proclaims England's sovereignty over New Albion (California).
1775 - In the American War of Independence, British forces defeat the Americans at the Battle of Bunker Hill near Boston. The British lose 800 out of their force of 2,000.
1826 - Frederick Fisher disappears from his farm at Campbelltown, NSW and his ghost is later reported by another farmer, giving birth to a local legend.
1843 - Maoris revolt against British in New Zealand.
1867 - Joseph Lister performs the first surgical operation under antiseptic conditions on his sister Isabella, at Glasgow's Royal Infirmary.
1885 - Statue of Liberty arrives in New York City aboard the French ship Isere.
1925 - Twenty-nine countries sign the Geneva Protocol which prohibits the use of poisonous gases in war.
1928 - Amelia Earhart embarks on the first transatlantic flight by a woman, from Newfoundland to Wales.
1939 - The last person to be publicly guillotined in France, murderer Eugen Weidmann, is executed before a large crowd at Versailles.
1944 - Iceland becomes an independent republic following a referendum on disengaging from Denmark's rule.
1947 - Burmese constituent assembly resolves for independent Republic of burma map.
1950 - The first kidney transplant is performed by Dr Richard Lawler of the Little Company of Mary Hospital, in Chicago, Illinois.
1974 - A bomb planted by Irish republican guerillas explodes at Westminster Hall in the British Houses of Parliament, injuring 11.
1991 - South Africa's parliament abolishes the last major apartheid law.
1994 - American footballer-actor OJ Simpson, accused of killing his ex-wife and a male friend, is arrested after a dramatic motorway chase and a 90-minute standoff burma map in the driveway of his estate.
1999 - Nelson Mandela bids farewell to the country he led into democracy and hands over power of South Africa to its second freely elected president, Thabo Mbeki.
2000 - Gunmen storm a village in India's Bihar state while its residents sleep, executing 34 women, children and old men after the latest caste-related battle there.
2002 - A team of physicists at the Australian National University announces it has disembodied a laser beam in one location and rebuilt it in a different spot, conjuring up visions of science-fiction-style teleportation.
2006 - Russian special operations police kill top Chechen rebel leader Abdul-Khalim Sadulayev after receiving a tip about a terror attack in Chechnya planned to coincide with the upcoming Group of Eight summit in St Petersburg.
2010 - The UN says an estimated 400,000 people - nearly one-12th the population - have fled their homes to escape Kyrgyzstan's ethnic violence.
2011 - The United Nations endorses the rights of gay, lesbian and transgender people for the first time ever, passing a resolution hailed as historic by the US and decried by some African and Muslim countries.
2013 - Russian President Vladimir Putin tells US President Barack Obama their positions on Syria do not "coincide" during the G-8 summit.
2014 - US special forces seize a "key leader" in the deadly Benghazi, Libya, attack and take him to the US for trial for the assault that killed the US ambassador and three other Americans.
2015 - White supremacist Dylann Roof opens fire in a church in Charleston, South Carolina, killing nine.
2016 - Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull rules out changes to penalty rates in the next term of parliament if re-elected.
2017 - President of Vanuatu, Womtelo Reverend Baldwin Lonsdale dies suddenly aged 67.
Today's Birthdays
Charles XII, soldier-king of Sweden (1682-1718); John Wesley, English founder of Methodism (1703-1791); Jon Sigurdsson, Icelandic statesman (1811-1879); Charles Gounod, French composer (1818-1893); Henry Lawson, Australian poet (1867-1922); Igor Stravinsky, Russian composer (1882-1971); MC Escher, Dutch artist (1898-1972); John Hersey, US author (1914-1993); Beryl Reid, British actress (1920-1996); Brian Statham, English cricketer (1930-2000); Ken Loach, British film director (1936-); Ken Livingstone, English politician (1945-); Barry Manilow, US singer-pianist (1946-); Jon Gries, US actor (1957-); Greg Kinnear, US actor (1963-); Jason Patric, US actor (1966-); James Corden, British actor and comedian (1978-); Venus Williams, US tennis player (1980-); Shane Watson, Australian cricketer (1981-); Marcos Baghdatis, Cypriot tennis player (1985-); Andrew Ogilvy, Australian basketball player (1988-); Stephanie Rice, Australian swimmer (1988-).
Thought For Today:
You may prove anything by figures - Thomas Carlyle, Scottish writer (1795-1881).
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