Facts

1765: The Turks behead in Constantinople the new martyr Panagiotis from Caesarea, because he refused to become a Muslim.

1812: French forces under Napoleon Bonaparte invade Russia.

1821: The first Police in Greece is established by decision of the pre-eminents of Hydra.

1859: The Battle of Solferino takes place. The French defeat the Austrians in the northern Italian town of Solferino. An eyewitness to the ferocity of war conflicts, the Swiss businessman Jean-Henri Dinan, who decides to found the International Red Cross for the care of the victims.

[1945: British bombers destroy the “River Kwai Bridge” on the Burma-Thailand border. It was built with the forced labor of British and allied prisoners of war, on behalf of the Japanese occupiers. The episode will be dramatized by director David Lean in the film of the same name, starring Sir Alec Guinness and William Holden.

2008: The European Court of Human Rights condemns Turkey for the August 1996 murders of Tasos Isaac and Solomos Solomos in the dead zone near occupied Famagusta. The Court awards 80,000 euros as compensation to Isaac’s widow and 35,000 to Solomon’s father. Also, Turkey will have to pay 15,000 euros each to his brother Isaac and his brother Solomon, while it will pay 12,000 euros in court costs.

Births

1911: Ernesto Sabato, Argentinian writer. (Thurs. 30/4/2011)

1932: David McTaggart, Canadian activist, founder of the international environmental organization Greenpeace. (D. 23/3/2001)

1987: Lionel Messi, Argentinian soccer player.

Deaths

1519: Lucretia Borgia, illegitimate daughter of Pope Alexander VI, rumored to have poisoned her four husbands. She was a patron of the arts during the Renaissance. (Born 18/4/1480)

1935: Carlos Gardel, Argentine singer, identified with tango. (Born 11/12/1890)

1949: Themistocles Sofoulis, Greek archaeologist and politician, who rose to the office of prime minister (1924, 1945-1946, 1947-1949). (Born 1860)