Today in History for June 25:
In 1580, the “German Book of Concord” was published, containing all the official confessions of the Lutheran Church. English translations of the entire work were not available before 1851.
In 1630, the table fork was introduced to North America.
In 1744, the first Methodist conference convened in London. This new society within Anglicanism imposed strict disciplines upon its members, formally separating from the Established Church in 1795.
In 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte delivered a farewell address before beginning his exile on the South Atlantic island of St. Helena.
In 1858, B.C.'s first newspaper, “The Victoria Gazette and Anglo-American,” was published.
In 1876, General George Custer's U.S. army regiment was massacred in the battle of the “Little Big Horn” in Montana; 263 soldiers, including Custer, died in the engagement with several thousand Lakota and Cheyenne warriors. The U.S. military concluded Custer made several mistakes that led to the massacre.
In 1903, English novelist George Orwell, who wrote “Animal Farm” and “1984,” was born Eric Arthur Blair in Motihari, India.
In 1940, Prince Edward Island adopted prohibition.
In 1941, Finland declared war on the Soviet Union.
In 1945, Robert Charlebois, one of Quebec's most influential pop singers, was born in Montreal.
In 1950, the Korean War began when 240 North Korean tanks crossed the 38th parallel without warning to invade South Korea. The conflict -- which ended July 27, 1953 -- saw the forces of the United Nations team with those of South Korea against Chinese Communists. The bitter struggle swept almost the entire length of the peninsula. Of the more than 25,000 Canadians in the UN force, 312 died.
In 1951, the first commercial colour television broadcast was made by CBS.
In 1963, the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union initiated a nuclear test-ban treaty.
In 1968, two notable firsts accompanied a sweeping victory for Pierre Trudeau's Liberals in a federal election. Lincoln Alexander became Canada's first Black MP when he won a Hamilton seat for the Conservatives. Len Marchand's victory in Kamloops, B.C., made him the first aboriginal to sit in the House of Commons.
In 1970, royal assent was given to the revised “Canada Elections Act,” which lowered the federal voting age from 21 to 18.
In 1973, former White House adviser John Dean told a Senate committee that U.S. President Richard Nixon knew in advance about the plot to cover up political involvement in the 1972 break-in at the Democratic National Headquarters.
In 1991, the western Yugoslav republics of Croatia and Slovenia declared their independence.
In 1993, David Letterman signed off his “Late Night” talk show on NBC for the last time. He jumped to CBS, and his new talk show premiered Aug. 30 with his final show airing on May 20, 2015, with Stephen Colbert taking over as host in September.
In 1993, Kim Campbell was sworn in as Canada's first woman prime minister. She held office for only 132 days due to the Conservatives' overwhelming loss in the federal election later that year.
In 1997, renowned sea explorer Jacques Cousteau died at age 87.
In 1997, in the worst-ever space collision, an unmanned cargo ship crashed into Russia's “Mir” space station during a docking using manual controls.
In 1999, former British Columbia NDP cabinet minister Dave Stupich pleaded guilty to fraud and running an illegal lottery scheme in the province's “Bingogate” scandal.
In 2002, Israeli troops took over Hebron in a major offensive.
In 2004, Canadian cross-country skier Beckie Scott was awarded the Olympic gold medal, over two years after the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City. The expulsion of two Russian cross-country skiers for doping violations upgraded the bronze Scott won in the women's five-km pursuit.
In 2007, Canadian-born pro wrestler Chris Benoit was found dead along with his wife and seven-year-old son in their Atlanta-area home. Investigators later confirmed Benoit killed them before hanging himself in the weight room. The case sparked intense debate about steroid use.
In 2008, a U.S. appeals court upheld Conrad Black's conviction on fraud charges relating to Hollinger International.
In 2009, Farrah Fawcett, whose stunning looks and blinding smile made her a pop icon of the 1970s, died after a three-year battle with anal cancer. She was 62.
In 2009, pop music icon Michael Jackson died of cardiac arrest at his home in Los Angeles as he was preparing for a comeback tour to vanquish years of scandal over alleged sexual abuse of boys and financial calamity. He was 50.
In 2010, Germany's top criminal court issued a landmark ruling legalizing assisted suicide in cases where it is carried out based on a patient's prior request.
In 2011, Master Cpl. Francis Roy, a member of Canada's special forces regiment, was found mortally wounded by fellow soldiers at a forward operating base in Kandahar city. Enemy action was ruled out.
In 2012, Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe, Jean Beliveau, Cassie Campbell-Pascall and Gord Renwick were the first inductees to the Order of Hockey in Canada.
In 2018, a longstanding ban was lifted allowing Saudi women to drive freely through busy city streets for the first time after years of risking arrest if they dared to get behind the wheel.
In 2019, Bombardier sold its C-R-J Series regional jet program to Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for 550-million-dollars in cash. Mitsubishi was to assume liabilities of about 200-million. The Japanese company acquired the maintenance, support, refurbishment, marketing and sales activities for the C-R-J Series aircraft, but the C-R-J production facility in Mirabel, Quebec remained with Bombardier.
In 2019, in a surprise move, the Chinese Embassy asked Canada to suspend all meat exports. The embassy said Chinese customs inspectors detected residue from a restricted feed additive in a batch of Canadian pork products and added that official veterinary health certificates attached to the batch of pork were phoney. The suspension of meat exports was the latest move amid a diplomatic dispute over the December arrest of a Huawei executive in Vancouver on a U-S extradition warrant.
In 2002, the World Health Organization declared an end to the second-deadliest Ebola outbreak in history. The virus killed 2,280 people in eastern Congo during a nearly two-year crisis, which was the first time an Ebola outbreak erupted in a conflict zone. Even with the emergence of two vaccines, the response was repeatedly challenged because of armed groups.
In 2020, the president and CEO of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights resigned following recent allegations of systemic racism, discrimination and sexual harassment at the Winnipeg facility. The museum's board of trustees says John Young agreed it was in the best interest of the museum that he step down, effective immediately.
In 2021, ex-Minnesota police officer Derek Chauvin was sentenced to 22 and a half years for killing George Floyd, whose death sparked a reckoning on race in America. Chauvin had been convicted of second-degree murder. The judge did not impose a sentence for convictions of third-degree murder and manslaughter. The punishment fell short of the 30 years that prosecutors had requested.
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The Canadian Press