Today in History for April 12:
In 1065, pilgrims under Bishop Gunther of Bamberg (in Germany) reached Jerusalem.
In 1204, the Fourth Crusade occupied and plundered Constantinople.
In 1606, England adopted the original version of the Union Jack as its flag, which combined the flags of England and Scotland.
In 1654, Ireland and Scotland were united with England.
In 1861, the U.S. Civil War began when Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina.
In 1872, Winnipeg was hit by a record 33 cm of snow.
In 1877, the catcher's mask was first used in a baseball game, by James Tyng of Harvard in a game against the Lynn Live Oaks.
In 1917, women in Ontario won the right to vote.
In 1936, an explosion trapped three men in the Moose River mine in Nova Scotia. Two survivors were brought to the surface 10 days later.
In 1938, New Yorkers were advised that anyone applying for a marriage licence would have to take a syphilis test.
In 1945, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt died in Warm Springs, Ga., of a cerebral hemorrhage at age 63. Vice-President Harry Truman became the 33rd U.S. president.
In 1945, more than 1,000 German and Dutch Jews were liberated by Canadian forces from a camp near Westerbork, Holland. The camp was used as a gathering place for Jews, including Anne Frank, who were sent to death camps farther east.
In 1955, a University of Michigan report declared the Salk polio vaccine to be safe and effective.
In 1960, Maurice ``Rocket'' Richard scored the last goal of his 18-year NHL career. It helped Montreal defeat Toronto 5-2 in Game Three of the Stanley Cup final. The Canadiens swept the series in four games to win their record fifth consecutive Stanley Cup.
In 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space. He orbited Earth once before ``Vostok I'' re-entered the atmosphere 89 minutes later. Gagarin died seven years later at the age of 38 when his plane crashed during a training mission.
In 1967, the Commons recommended the adoption of ``O Canada'' as the national anthem. The required law was finally passed in 1980.
In 1980, Terry Fox dipped his artificial leg into the Atlantic Ocean at Cape Spear, Nfld., to start his cross-country ``Marathon of Hope'' in aid of cancer research. Fox's run ended on Sept. 1 in Thunder Bay, when cancer was discovered in his lungs. He died the following June, a month shy of his 23rd birthday.
In 1981, Joe Louis, who held the world heavyweight boxing championship for a record 12 years, died at age 66.
In 1981, the space shuttle ``Columbia'' lifted off on the inaugural test flight of the world's first reusable spaceship. ``Columbia'' disintegrated while re-entering the Earth's atmosphere on Feb. 1, 2003, on its 28th flight. All seven astronauts on board were killed.
In 1982, Canada temporarily banned all imports from Argentina because of that country's occupation of the Falkland Islands.
In 1988, the federal government put Air Canada up for sale. Legislation was introduced to sell 45 per cent of the carrier's shares, with the remainder to go on sale in the future.
In 1988, the first patent on an animal was granted to Harvard University for a genetically-engineered lab mouse.
In 1989, former boxing champion Sugar Ray Robinson died in Culver City, Calif., at age 67.
In 1990, at its first meeting, East Germany's first democratically elected parliament acknowledged responsibility for the Holocaust. It asked the forgiveness of Jews and others who had suffered.
In 1992, Euro Disneyland, a $4-billion theme park, opened outside Paris.
In 1999, a federal judge found U.S. President Bill Clinton in contempt of court for intentional false testimony about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. Clinton was ordered to pay legal expenses to Paula Jones, who was suing him for sexual harassment.
In 2005, a monument was unveiled in St. John's, N.L., on the spot where Terry Fox began his ``Marathon of Hope'' on this day 25 years earlier.
In 2008, Jerry Zucker, the American billionaire who bought the Hudson's Bay Company, died at age 58. His wife Anita took over as H小蓝视频 governor, making her the first woman to hold that position in the company's 338-year history.
In 2009, Angel Cabrera defeated Kenny Perry and Chad Campbell on the second playoff hole to capture the Masters at Augusta National. He became the first Argentine to win the green jacket and also the lowest-ranked player (69) to win the major since the world ranking began in 1986.
In 2010, ``Polytechnique,'' Denis Villeneuve's haunting black-and-white rendering of the 1989 Montreal massacre, swept the big prizes at the Genie Awards including best film, director, actress (Karine Vanasse) and original screenplay. It won nine of the 11 categories in which it was nominated.
In 2011, Japan nuclear regulators raised the severity level to 7, the highest on an international scale, on the crisis at its tsunami-crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi plant. It ranked it on par with the 1986 Chornobyl disaster.
In 2013, the U.S. government approved the construction of a second bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ont., which is expected to relieve congestion and speed up trade at the busiest border crossing between the two countries. (The Gordie Howe International Bridge is scheduled to be completed in 2024.)
In 2015, Jordan Spieth, 21, romped to his first major with a record-tying performance at the Masters, shooting an 18-under 270 to become the first wire-to-wire winner of the green jacket since 1976. (He also set Masters scoring records for both 36 holes (14-under) and 54 holes (16-under))
In 2017, Malala Yousafzai, Nobel Peace Prize winner and girls' education activist, became an honorary Canadian citizen at a ceremony in Ottawa. She was just the sixth person to receive the honour, and at 19, the youngest.
In 2018, an Alberta law went into effect that allowed turban-wearing Sikhs to ride motorcycles without helmets, making it the third province to make the exemption after 小蓝视频 and Manitoba.
In 2019, the Terry Fox Research Institute launched a new national network to bring together leading cancer hospitals and research universities from across Canada. It was touted as the ``Team Canada of cancer research.'' The announcement in St. John's, N.L., was made exactly 39-years after Fox dipped his artificial leg in St. John's harbour to begin his Marathon of Hope. The institute said the Marathon of Hope Cancer Centres network would help accelerate so-called precision medicine for cancer patients.
In 2019, McGill University announced that effective immediately, its sports teams would no longer be called the Redmen. Principal Suzanne Fortier said the Redmen name is not one the university would have chosen today, and it is not one that McGill would carry forward. The name, which dated back to the 1920s, had been harshly criticized by Indigenous students and staff.
In 2020, the U.S. death toll from COVID-19 surpassed Italy's as the highest in the world.
In 2020, in his first public statement since being moved out of intensive care at St. Thomas' Hospital in London, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he owes his life to staff at the National Health Service who treated him for COVID-19.
In 2020, the Quebec coroner's office said it would investigate the deaths of 31 seniors at a private long-term care facility west of Montreal. The province's Health Department and police had already launched probes into the dozens of deaths at the Residence Herron in Dorval since March 13.
In 2021, Princes William and Harry issued separate statements paying tribute to their grandfather, Prince Philip. William said his grandfather was an ''extraordinary man and part of an extraordinary generation.'' Prince Harry described Philip as a man who was ''authentically himself'' and ''cheeky right till the end.''
In 2021, Ottawa reached a deal with Air Canada to give the airline access to as much as $5.9 billion in loans and equity financing. Under the agreement, which took months to negotiate, Air Canada had to refund passengers whose flights were cancelled due to COVID-19, cap executive compensation at $1 million and restore service to regional airports.
In 2022, abrasive and often lewd standup comedian Gilbert Gottfried died at the age of 67. He was known for his raw, scorched voice and crude jokes. Gottfried died from recurrent ventricular tachycardia due to a disorder that affects the heart. His publicist and longtime friend says he was a fiercely independent and intentionally bizarre comedian's comedian, as likely to clear a room with anti-comedy as he was to kill with his jokes. Gottfried also did frequent voice work for children's television and movies, most famously playing the parrot Iago in Disney's 鈥淎laddin.''
In 2024, French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said France wants to help Quebec protect the French language. The 35-year-old made the comments while on a three-day visit to Canada, addressing members of Quebec's legislature. In response to views of state secularism as antireligious or a form of discrimination, Attal said state secularism is the requirement for liberty, equality and brotherhood. His support for secularism drew a large applause from the legislature.
In 2024, Walmart Canada said it's is planning to bring robots to its distribution centres in Mississauga and Cornwall, Ont., over the following five years. The retailer's Calgary distribution centre already uses robots to move pallets of merchandise, unpack pallets and put products on conveyor belts and label, scan and put shipping tags on products. Walmart Canada said human staff are still required for oversight, safety and more complex tasks requiring problem solving and critical thinking.
In 2024, the Greater Toronto Airports Authority announced a multibillion-dollar plan to update and modernize Toronto Pearson Airport. Forty-five-million passengers used the airport last year -- a number that's projected to rise to 65 million by the early 2030s. Plans include high-speed taxi lanes, a modernized airfield electric lighting and control system, and investments in power generation to help the airport achieve net-zero targets.
In 2024, esteemed Canadian journalist Robert MacNeil died of natural causes at a New York hospital at the age of 93. MacNeil graduated from Carleton University in 1955 before moving to London where he began his journalism career with Reuters. He switched to TV news in 1960, covered the assassination of president John F. Kennedy in Dallas and in 1971, became a senior correspondent for PBS. That's when he teamed up with Jim Lehrer to create the even-handed, no-frills newscast 鈥淭he MacNeil-Lehrer NewsHour,鈥� which won several Emmy and Peabody awards.
In 2024, dozens of angry Israeli settlers stormed into a Palestinian village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, shooting and setting houses and cars on fire. Palestinian health officials said the settler rampage killed a Palestinian man and wounded 25 others, with the violence marking another escalation in the West Bank that accompanied the war in the Gaza Strip.
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The Canadian Press
