Today in History for May 12:
In 1534, Wurttemberg, in Germany, became Lutheran.
In 1588, the Catholic League under Duke Henri de Guise occupied Protestant controlled Paris.
In 1797, Napoleon Bonaparte captured Venice, which had been independent for 14 centuries.
In 1820, Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, was born. Known as the Lady of the Lamp, she began visiting British hospitals and studying methods of training in 1844. In 1854, during the Crimean War, she assembled a unit of 38 nurses and despite opposition, established and operated hospitals.
In 1870, Parliament passed the Manitoba Act, creating the new province.
In 1873, Canadian artist J.E.H. MacDonald was born. The founding member of the Group of Seven died in 1932.
In 1876, a British polar expedition turned back on Ellesmere Island, about 650 kilometres short of the North Pole, but the farthest northern point reached to that time.
In 1918, American Julius Rosenberg was born. In 1953, he and his wife, Ethel, became the first U.S. citizens to be executed for espionage.
In 1921, author Farley Mowat was born in Belleville, Ont. The son of a librarian, he grew up in Windsor, Ont., and Saskatoon. His novels, including "Lost in the Barrens" which won the Governor General's Award and other non-fiction works, have been translated into more than 20 languages. He died May 6, 2014.
In 1932, the body of Charles Lindbergh Jr., the kidnapped son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh, was found in a wooded area near Hopewell, N.J. Bruno Hauptmann was convicted of kidnapping and murder in 1935 and was sent to the electric chair.
In 1937, King George VI was crowned. His coronation was heard throughout the British Empire on the first worldwide radio broadcast.
In 1942, 1,500 Jews were gassed at Auschwitz concentration camp in Nazi German occupied Poland.
In 1943, Axis forces in North Africa surrendered during the Second World War.
In 1949, the Soviet Union announced an end to the Berlin Blockade.
In 1958, the United States and Canada formally established the North American Air Defence Command -- NORAD.
In 1965, West Germany and Israel established diplomatic relations.
In 1966, the flag of Manitoba was proclaimed.
In 1970, Montreal was awarded the 1976 Olympic Games.
In 1971, medicare became a truly national program when New Brunswick became the last province to sign on by proclaiming its Health Services Act.
In 1973, a murderer became the last person guillotined in a French prison.
In 1982, in Fatima, Portugal, security guards overpowered a Spanish priest armed with a bayonet who tried to reach Pope John Paul.
In 1986, Tory Industry Minister Sinclair Stevens resigned from the federal cabinet while an inquiry examined a $2.6 million loan to a holding company owned by Stevens. The inquiry found Stevens had numerous conflicts of interest.
In 1992, four suspects were arrested in the televised beating of white trucker Reginald Denny, which had occurred at the start of the Los Angeles riots.
In 1992, the Montreal-based charter airline Nationair declared bankruptcy.
In 2003, attackers shot their way into three fortified and heavily guarded housing compounds in the Saudi capital of Riyadh then set off multiple, simultaneous suicide car bombs, killing at least 34 people, including the nine attackers. The dead included eight Americans, as well as Britons, Filipinos and other foreigners. Another 194 people, including five Canadians, were wounded.
In 2003, a massive explosion at a Russian government office killed 59 people in northern Chechnya.
In 2008, more than 80,000 people were killed and dozens of towns and cities crushed by a 7.9-magnitude earthquake in Sichuan province in southwestern China. Hundreds of children died under collapsed school buildings.
In 2009, Gordon Campbell and his B.C. Liberals won a solid majority and a historic straight third term in office. Voters gave the Liberals 49 seats to the NDP's 36 in the new legislature.
In 2010, a Libyan plane carrying 104 people crashed on approach to Tripoli's airport, leaving a field scattered with smouldering debris. A nine-year-old Dutch child (Ruben van Assouw) was the only survivor.
In 2010, Ben Johnson's former track coach Charlie Francis died at Toronto's Sunnybrook Hospital after a five-year battle with cancer. He was co-architect of one of the biggest scandals in Olympic Games history when Johnson was stripped of his 100-metre gold medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics for using the steroid stanozolol. Athletics Canada banned Francis from coaching for life after he told a 1989 inquiry into the scandal that he had introduced Johnson to steroids.
In 2011, a German court convicted 91-year-old retired U.S. autoworker John Demjanjuk of 28,060 counts of acting as an accessory to murder at the Sobibor Nazi death camp in occupied Poland. He was sentenced to five years in prison, but remained free pending his appeal. He died March 17, 2012.
In 2012, two small planes collided in mid-air near St. Brieux, northeast of Saskatoon, killing all five people involved.
In 2017, a ransomware cyberattack, known as "WannaCry," wreaked havoc around the globe paralyzing tens of thousands of companies, government agencies and other organizations in 150 countries.
In 2019, Kawhi Leonard's 15-foot jump shot at the buzzer lifted the Toronto Raptors to a thrilling 92-90 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers — and into the Eastern Conference Finals for just the second time in franchise history. Leonard had 15 of his 41 points in the fourth quarter, and corralled the ball with four seconds left before the launching the winning basket. The Raptors would next face the Milwaukee Bucks, who dispatched Boston in five games, in the Eastern Conference final.
In 2020, the Canadian National Exhibition was cancelled for only the second time in its 142-year history due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The CNE attracts more than 1.4-million visitors to Toronto each year.
In 2020, Singer Bryan Adams was accused of racism after a COVID-19 rant on Twitter and Instagram. Adams blamed the global pandemic on "bat-eating, wet market animal-selling, virus-making greedy bastards.'' Early studies suggested the virus originated in bats, which are sold as food at some markets in Asia. Critics said Adams contributed to anti-Chinese rhetoric. Adams apologized for causing offence, saying he was only speaking out in favour of animal rights, and encouraged people to embrace veganism. Adams says he's been vegan since the age of 28.
In 2020, the death toll from COVID-19 passed the 5,000-mark as the country's overall caseload rose to 70,343. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the pandemic had exposed serious flaws in the long-term care system.
In 2020, Health Canada said it had authorized the first COVID-19 serological test to detect antibodies specific to the novel coronavirus. It comes from DiaSorin, an Italian multinational biotechnology company.
In 2021, Nova Scotia and Manitoba joined several other provinces in stopping the use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine as a first dose. Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Quebec all made that call the day before. Nova Scotia cited the risk of a rare blood-clotting condition as a reason behind the decision.
In 2021, Canada hit a major vaccination milestone with 40 per cent of Canadians -- 15.2 million people -- vaccinated against COVID-19 with at least their first dose.
In 2021, the largest fuel pipeline in the U.S. was back up and running days after it was forced to shut down by a gang of hackers. Colonial Pipeline said all lines, including lateral lines that had been running manually, would soon return to normal operations. The disruption sparked panic-buying, which caused long lines at gas stations in the southeastern U.S.
In 2022, anti-abortion demonstrators by the thousands hit Parliament Hill. The annual rally was held as debate renewed after a leaked U.S. Supreme Court draft decision that would overturn the landmark 1973 case in the U.S. on abortion rights.
In 2023, it was announced that the search of a Winnipeg-area landfill for the remains of two First Nations women could take up to three years and cost $184 million. A report commissioned by an Indigenous-led committee says a search of the Prairie Green Landfill is feasible, but there are considerable risks -- namely, exposure to toxic chemicals and asbestos and no guarantee the remains of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran will be found. The report ultimately found that forgoing a search could be more harmful to the families of the two women.
In 2023, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau became the first sitting prime minister to visit Labrador's Inuit region. He visited Nain for a meeting of the Inuit-Crown Partnership Committee.
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The Canadian Press
