Highlights in history on this date:

1616: Cardinal Richelieu becomes France's minister of state for foreign affairs and war.

1695: Bounty hunters kill rebel chieftain Zumbi, leader of the largest community of runaway slaves in the Americas, known as the Black Republic of Palmares.

1780: Britain declares war on Holland.

1818: Simon Bolivar formally declares Venezuela independent of Spain.

1873: Rival cities Buda and Pest are united to form the capital of Hungary.

1901: Second Hay-Pauncefoot Treaty provides for construction of Panama Canal by United States.

1910: Revolution breaks out in Mexico, led by Francisco I.

1924: Kurdish Revolt in Turkey is crushed.

1925: Death of Queen Alexandra, widow of King Edward VII.

1929: Spanish artist Salvador Dali has his first one-man show.

1941: German General Erwin Rommel with his Afrika Korps checks an advance of British armour at the battle of Sidi Rezegh in WWII.

1945: Accused Nazi World War II criminals go on trial in Nuremberg, Germany.

1947: Britain's Princess Elizabeth marries Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten at London's Westminster Abbey.

1969: The US Nixon administration announces a halt to residential use of the pesticide DDT as part of a total phase-out.

1974: First crash of a Boeing 747 jumbo jet: a Lufthansa airliner crashes after takeoff at Nairobi airport in Kenya, killing 59.

1975: After nearly four decades of absolute rule, Spain's General Francisco Franco dies.

1980: In China, Jiang Qing, widow of Mao Zedong, goes on trial on charges of treason.

1990: Saddam Hussein orders another 250,000 Iraqi troops into Kuwait.

1992: Fire sweeps through Queen Elizabeth's residence at Windsor Castle, causing extensive damage to its ancient fabric.

1993: A Macedonian jetliner carrying 116 people crashes into a mountain, with only one survivor.

1995: BBC Television broadcasts an interview with Princess Diana, who admits being unfaithful to Prince Charles.

1996: Flames roar through a high-rise in Hong Kong, killing 39 people and injuring at least 81.

2000: Lawyers for Al Gore and George W. Bush battle before the Florida Supreme Court over whether the presidential election recount should be allowed to continue.

2003: Car bombs explode outside the British consulate and the offices of London-based bank HSBC in Istanbul, Turkey, killing 27 people and wounding nearly 450.

2008: The UN Security Council votes unanimously to impose new sanctions aimed at reducing the arms flowing into Somalia.

2009: Raging floods engulf northern England's picturesque Lake District following the heaviest rainfall ever recorded in Britain, killing a police officer and trapping dozens in their swamped homes.

2012: The Church of England's governing body blocks a move to permit women to serve as bishops.

2015: Jihadists kill 27 people in the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako, Mali, after holding 170 people hostage.

2016: Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull snags the very last bilateral meeting with US President Barack Obama at APEC in Lima, Peru.

2017: Steam comes out of the Australian housing market, with data showing Sydney auction rates have fallen around 20 per cent in one year.

2018: Tim Cahill makes an emotional farewell to international football as the Socceroos beat Lebanon 3-0 in Sydney.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS:

Francis Greenway, Australian convict-architect (1777-1837); Edwin Hubble, US astronomer (1889-1953); Maude 'Lores' Bonney, Australian aviator (1897-1994); Robert F Kennedy, assassinated US senator and presidential candidate (1925-1968); Joe Biden, American vice president (1942); Bo Derek, US actor (1956); Drew Ginn, Australian rower (1974); Dan Ilic, Australian presenter and comedian (1981); Rhys Wakefield, Australian actor (1988).

THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

"No man remains quite what he was when he recognises himself." - Thomas Mann, German author (1875-1955).