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Highlight in History
On June 30, 1912, Canada’s deadliest tornado on record occurred as a late-afternoon cyclone struck Regina, the provincial capital of Saskatchewan, killing 28 people and destroying or damaging 500 buildings.
On this date
In 1859, French acrobat Charles Blondin walked back and forth on a tightrope above the gorge of Niagara Falls as thousands of spectators watched.
In 1908, the Tunguska Event took place in Russia as an asteroid exploded above Siberia, leaving 800 square miles of scorched or blown-down trees.
In 1934, Adolf Hitler carried out his “blood purge” of political and military rivals in Germany in what came to be known as “The Night of the Long Knives.”
In 1958, the U.S. Senate passed the Alaska statehood bill by a vote of 64-20.
In 1963, Pope Paul VI was crowned the 262nd head of the Roman Catholic Church.
In 1972, for the first time, a leap-second was added to Coordinated Universal Time to account for the slowing rotation of the Earth.
Ten years ago
Leonard Gregg, a part-time firefighter, was charged with starting one of the two wildfires that merged into a monstrous blaze in eastern Arizona. (Gregg later pleaded guilty and was sentenced in 2004 to 10 years in federal prison; he was released in June 2011.) Brazil defeated Germany, 2-0, for the team’s record fifth World Cup title.
Five years ago
Two men rammed a jeep loaded with gasoline canisters into the main terminal at Glasgow Airport in Scotland, failing to set off an explosion, but seriously burning one of the suspects; the attack came a day after two cars rigged as bombs were found in London.
One year ago
The U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon issued an indictment naming four suspects in the assassination of Lebanon’s former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri , including a high-ranking Hezbollah militant linked to the 1983 truck bombings at the U.S. and French embassies in Kuwait. (Hezbollah is refusing to extradite the suspects.)
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Pope Paul VI swings an incense burner next to his crown just before his coronation in St. Peter's Square in the Vatican, June 30, 1963. The Associated Press
Discussion
Today in History for Saturday, June 30, 2012
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