<strong>1535</strong> Jacques Cartier sails from St. Malo on his second voyage to Canada, to explore the St. Lawrence River and discover the future site of Montreal. Last Updated: May 15, 2010 <strong>Nellie Melba </strong>Australian opera singer (1861-1931) <strong>Mustafa Kemal Ataturk </strong>the founder of modern Turkey (1881-1938) <strong>King Faisal I </strong>first king of independent Iraq (1883-1933) <strong> Ho Chi Minh </strong>Vietnamese Communist leader and president of North Vietnam (1890-1969) <strong> Pol Pot </strong>Cambodian communist leader (1925 or 1928-1998) <strong>Pete Townshend </strong>British rock singer-composer of The Who (1945--) <strong>Grace Jones </strong>Jamaican-born singer-actress (1952--) <strong>1554</strong> France's King Henry II invades the Netherlands. <strong>1585</strong> English shipping in Spanish ports is confiscated, serving as declaration of war on England. <strong>1588</strong> The Spanish Armada sets sail for England; it is soundly defeated by the English fleet the following August. <strong>1649</strong> England is declared a republic after King Charles I is executed by parliamentarians. <strong>1792</strong> Russia invades Poland at the behest of Polish conservatives, resulting in the second partition of Poland. <strong>1881</strong> The American Red Cross is founded by Clara Barton. <strong>1897</strong> Armistice ends Thirty Days' War, with Greece conceding defeat to newly modernized Turkish army. <strong>1898</strong> Postcards are first authorized by the U.S. Post Office. <strong>1900</strong> The Tonga Islands in the South Pacific becomes a British protectorate; the world's longest railroad tunnel, the 19-kilometer (12-mile) long Simplon Tunnel opens. The Tunnel links Switzerland to Italy through the Alps. <strong>1916</strong> Britain introduces Daylight Savings Time, originally called "summer time." <strong>1930</strong> White women are enfranchised in South Africa. <strong>1935</strong> T.E. Lawrence, also known as "Lawrence of Arabia," dies in England from injuries sustained in a motorcycle crash. <strong>1943</strong> In an address to the U.S. Congress, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill pledges his country's full support in the war against Japan. <strong>1962</strong> Actress Marilyn Monroe performs a rendition of "Happy Birthday" for U.S. President John F. Kennedy during a fund-raiser at New York's Madison Square Garden. <strong>1964</strong> The U.S. State Department discloses that 40 hidden microphones had been found in the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. <strong>1967</strong> The Soviet Union ratifies a treaty with the United States and Britain banning nuclear weapons from outer space. <strong>1973</strong> The Soviet Union and West Germany sign 10-year agreement calling for economic, industrial and technical cooperation. <strong>1981</strong> Five British soldiers are killed in an ambush by the outlawed Irish Republican Army in Newry, Northern Ireland. <strong>1990</strong> US Secretary of State James A. Baker III says all major obstacles to U.S.-Soviet nuclear arms agreement have been cleared. <strong>1991</strong> Thousands of protesters wielding pipes battle riot police for more than 12 hours in Kwangju, South Korea, in fiercest fighting in three weeks of anti-government protests. <strong>1992</strong> Pro-democracy protests break out across Thailand despite a bloody government crackdown on demonstrators in the capital. Hundreds disappear at the hands of soldiers in a month of rioting. <strong>1993</strong> Colombian jetliner crashes near Medellin, killing 132. <strong>1994</strong> Kamuzu Banda of Malawi, with 30 years at the helm as Africa's longest ruling dictator, concedes defeat to Bakili Muluzi in the country's first multi-party election. <strong>1997</strong> More than 350 people are killed when a cyclone sweeps coastal Bangladesh. <strong>1998</strong> Indonesian students storm the Parliament in Jakarta, demanding President Suharto's resignation. <strong>1999</strong> Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic accepts "principles" of a Kosovo peace plan as NATO jets bomb Belgrade suburbs. <strong>2000</strong> Masked men storm Fiji's parliament and seize the island's prime minister, his Cabinet ministers and lawmakers of the ruling coalition. The coup leader claims the coalition discriminated against ethnic Fijians. <strong>2001</strong> The World Health Organization adopts diluted proposal on wider international access to cheap HIV/AIDS drugs. The WHO urges tackling the epidemic instead. <strong>2005</strong> Egyptian authorities arrest 75 members of the Muslim Brotherhood and extend the detention of four leaders jailed earlier in a government crackdown sparked by a wave of pro-reform protests by the banned movement believed to be Egypt's largest Islamist group. <strong>2006</strong> The U.N. panel that monitors compliance with the world's anti-torture treaty says the United States should close its prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and avoid using secret detention facilities in the war on terror. <strong>2007</strong> British Prime Minister Tony Blair, on his last visit to Iraq before stepping down in June, urges Iraq's leaders to speed up reconciliation efforts — after three blasts rock the compound in Baghdad's Green Zone where he met with Iraq's leaders. <strong>2008</strong> The Dalai Lama meets with Germany's development minister, provoking criticism within Angela Merkel's government after the chancellor angered China by inviting the Dalai Lama to the chancellory. <strong>2009</strong> President Barack Obama's promise to close the Guantanamo Bay prison suffers a blow when his allies in the Senate said they would refuse to finance the move until the administration delivers a satisfactory plan for what to do with the detainees there. <strong>2010</strong> Top U.S. scientists urge the government to take drastic action to raise the cost of using coal and oil to slow global warming.