Today in History for Sept. 27:
On this date:
In 1540, through the encyclical Regimini militantis ecclesiae, Roman Catholic Pope Paul III officially approved the Society of Jesus, a body of priests organized by Ignatius of Loyola in 1534 for missionary work. Today, the Jesuits are one of the largest Catholic teaching orders.
In 1722, Samuel Adams, the American politician whose activities against the British earned him the title Father of the American Revolution, was born in Boston.
In 1727, the "Rhode Island Gazette" was first printed and published by James Franklin.
In 1777, British Gen. William Howe and his troops occupied Philadelphia during the American War of Independence.
In 1825, the first locomotive to haul a passenger train was operated by George Stephenson in England.
In 1854, the American steamship "Arctic" collided with the French steamer "Vesta" in thick fog in the Atlantic and sank near Cape Race, Nfld., with 300 people onboard. As a result of the disaster, safety features such as side lighting on ships were made compulsory.
In 1858, the Grand Trunk Railway was completed from London to Stratford in Ontario.
In 1905, a woman was arrested in New York City for smoking a cigarette in a car.
In 1918, Canadian and British troops stormed the Canal du Nord, the last section of the Germans' defensive "Hindenburg Line," leading to the end of the First World War. The Canadians captured more than 7,000 prisoners and 205 heavy guns. Outflanked, the Germans abandoned the line and continued their retreat to the east. An armistice was signed on Nov. 11.
In 1922, King Constantine of Greece abdicated.
In 1937, the Golden Gate Bridge opened in San Francisco.
In 1938, the "RMS Queen Elizabeth" was launched at Glasgow, Scotland.
In 1940, Japan joined the Axis powers in the Second World War.
In 1959, almost 5,000 people were killed as typhoon Vera battered the Japanese island of Honshu. The storm, believed to be the worst in Japanese history, left 1.5 million people homeless.
In 1964. the Warren Commission issued its report, concluding that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy.
In 1967, the transatlantic British liner "Queen Mary" docked -- for the last time -- at Long Beach, Calif., and became a floating hotel and museum.
In 1969, a military coup in Bolivia overthrew the civilian government of president Luis Adolfo Siles Salinas.
In 1978, the Israeli Knesset, or parliament, opened debate on the Camp David accords with Egypt. The Knesset later voted 84-19 to endorse the agreement, although Prime Minister Menachem Begin was accused of betraying Israel by members of his own Likud coalition. The agreement had been reached after 13 days of talks at Camp David, Md., between Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and led to a formal peace treaty signed in March, 1979 between the two countries.
In 1982, "L'Evangeline," the only French-language newspaper east of Quebec, published its last issue.
In 1988, three days after placing first in the men's 100-metre dash at the Seoul Summer Olympics, Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson left for home in disgrace, stripped of his gold medal by officials who said Johnson had used anabolic steroids.
In 1989, Jeff Petkovich and Peter DeBernardi became the first two-man team to survive a barrel drop over Niagara's Horseshoe Falls.
In 1990, the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of six million Tibetan Buddhists, arrived in Toronto on a four-day visit.
In 1990, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney made a last-ditch effort to move the controversial goods and services tax legislation through the Liberal-dominated Senate. Drawing on a never-before-used section of the constitution, Mulroney received permission from the Queen to increase the size of the Upper House to 112 members from 104. Mulroney filled the new seats with GST backers, saying the action was necessary to prevent the non-elected Senate from overriding the will of the elected House of Commons. The bill was passed and the GST kicked in on Jan. 1, 1991.
In 1991, U.S. President George Bush announced sweeping cutbacks in nuclear weapons including the elimination of all land-based nuclear weapons from Europe and the removal of short-range systems from ships and submarines. A week later, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev responded with a sweeping cut to nuclear weapons and a pledge to eliminate Soviet battlefield nuclear arms.
In 1994, the last U.S. military base in Canada -- a submarine detection base in Argentia, Nfld. -- was closed.
In 1998, Phil Hartman's voice was featured for the last time on "The Simpsons" as Troy McClure. Hartman was killed by his wife in a murder-suicide the previous May.
In 1999, the Indonesian military handed over control of East Timor to an international military force, marking the beginning of the end of 25 years of its oppressive rule.
In 2000, Canadians Sebastien Lareau and Daniel Nestor defeated Australia's Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge to win the men's doubles tennis gold medal at the Sydney Olympics.
In 2005, Michaelle Jean, 48, was installed as the 27th Governor General of Canada. She was the first black woman to serve as Canada鈥檚 head of state and one of the youngest to hold the office.
In 2009, the first episode of the 21st season of "The Simpsons" aired, making it the longest-running American prime-time scripted entertainment program, surpassing "Gunsmoke." The series was already the longest-running American sitcom and the longest-running American animated program.
In 2009, Philadelphia Eagles backup quarterback Michael Vick played in his first regular-season NFL game since he was sent to prison for his role in operating a dogfighting ring. Vick participated in 11 plays, accounting for 30 total yards. The former Atlanta Falcons star was released from federal custody on July 20th after serving 18 months of a 23-month sentence.
In 2009, German voters re-elected Chancellor Angela Merkel, earning her a centre-right majority and handing the left-wing Social Democrats their worst parliamentary defeat since the Second World War.
In 2010, New Brunswick voters elected David Alward's Conservatives to a solid majority government, ousting Premier Shawn Graham's Liberals after a single term marred by backtracking on key decisions that ran afoul of public opinion. The Tories were elected in 42 of the province's 55 ridings with the Liberals taking the rest.
In 2014, Mount Ontake in central Japan erupted suddenly, catching mountain climbers by surprise and killing 57 people near its summit.
In 2017, Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, the pipe-smoking hedonist who revved up the sexual revolution in the 1950s and built a multimedia empire of clubs, mansions, movies and television, symbolized by bow-tied women in bunny costumes, died at age 91.
In 2017, Saudi King Salman announced that starting in June, 2018, women would be permitted to drive in the ultra-conservative kingdom for the first time.
In 2018, MPs unanimously endorsed a motion to revoke the honorary Canadian citizenship of Myanmar's de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. The move came after a United Nations fact-finding mission found the Myanmar military was committing genocide against the Rohingya and other ethnic minorities, and that Suu Kyi had failed in her duty to protect her own citizens.
In 2018, U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford traded vastly different versions of their high school days during testimony at his confirmation hearing. The California professor said she was "100 per cent" certain she was sexually assaulted by Kavanaugh in the summer of 1982. Kavanaugh said he was the victim of a calculated political hit that had destroyed his family and his good name.
In 2019, thousands of Canadians hit the streets to demand "widespread, systemic change" to halt the impact of a warming planet. From St. John's to Tofino, 小蓝视频, and as far north as Inuvik in the Northwest Territories, marches were held in at least 85 Canadian cities and towns, as part of the international climate movement. Some school boards and universities cancelled classes during the protests or told students they would not be penalized for missing class. Several retailers and workplaces closed -- at least for the duration of the protests. Swedish activist Greta Thunberg joined marchers in Montreal after meeting with Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, where she told him the same message she gives to all politicians -- that he needs to listen to the science and act on it. The teenager said it was moving to see so many people united "for one common cause." Climate Strike Canada, one of the groups that spearheaded the marches declared "Drastic climate action is the only option for humanity."
In 2020, the Correctional Service of Canada suspended visits to federal prisons in Quebec due to rising COVID-19 cases in the province. The service reported no active cases among inmates in its 43 institutions across the country. Meanwhile, Canada's top public health official warned citizens 鈥� especially in hotspots 鈥� not to jeopardize freedoms earned in fighting COVID-19.
In 2020, the Canada Emergency Response Benefit, or CERB, ended after paying out nearly $80 billion to 8.8 million people. In its place the majority of recipients were placed on employment insurance.
In 2020, a report in The New York Times said U.S. President Donald Trump paid no federal income taxes in 10 of the past 15 years. The Times reported Trump paid just $750 in taxes to the federal government the year he was elected, and 750 again his first year in office. Trump dismissed the report, claiming he'd paid "many millions of dollars in taxes" while taking advantage of depreciation and tax credits.
In 2021, the centre-left Social Democrats won the biggest share of the vote in Germany's national election. They beat outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel's centre-right Union bloc in a closely fought race. Election officials said a count of all 299 constituencies showed the Social Democrats won 25.9 per cent of the vote, ahead of 24.1 for the Union bloc. The environmentalist Greens came third with 14.8 per cent, followed by the pro-business Free Democrats with 11.5.
In 2021, China's Foreign Ministry said Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were released on bail for health reasons, not in a prisoner swap. During a news conference, a ministry spokesperson tried to downplay the connection between their release and the return to China of Huawei Technologies executive Meng Wanzhou.
In 2021, Green Party Leader Annamie Paul resigned after coming in fourth in this year's election, saying there was a struggle underway for the soul of the party. Paul said she didn't have the heart to put up with the attacks that she said were coming. That included a review of her leadership.
In 2021, R. Kelly was convicted in a sex trafficking trial. His accusers testified how he subjected them to perverse and sadistic whims when they were underage girls. A New York City jury of seven men and five women found Kelly guilty on a racketeering charge. Kelly was also convicted of criminal counts accusing him of violating the Mann Act -- making it illegal to take anyone across state lines "for any immoral purpose.''
In 2021, Cadence Weapon won the 2021 Polaris Music Prize for his album "Parallel World.'' The Edmonton-raised rapper's project -- which fuses hip-hop, electronic and grime music -- was selected by an 11-member grand jury as the best Canadian album of the year, based on its artistic merit.
In 2022, one million Cubans were without electricity in the wake of hurricane Ian. The storm hit with top sustained winds of 205 kilometres an hour, devastating the country's world-famous tobacco belt. Forecasters were predicting Ian would strengthen into a catastrophic Category 4 storm as it approached the southwest coast of Florida, where 2.5 million people were ordered to evacuate.
In 2022, about two dozen people were sent to a hospital in Ontario's Niagara Region after an acid spill at an auto plant. Officials said all 23 were discharged, including three who were directly exposed to a vapour cloud of hydrochloric acid. The spill took place at the THK Rhythm Automotive plant in St. Catharines. Staff accidentally bumped a valve and released about five litres of the hazardous liquid chemical, which transformed into a vapour cloud.
In 2023, Anthony Rota resigned as the House of Commons speaker after inviting a man who fought in a unit that was under the command of the Nazis to attend Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's address to Parliament a week earlier.
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The Canadian Press
