Irish voters go to the polls for the Twenty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland to enable ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon of the European Union. //www.rte.ie/news/2008/0612/eulisbon.html (RTÉ)
A mass grave in Ulan Bator, Mongolia, dating back to the Stalinist purges in the 1930s, is discovered containing at least 575 victims. Ninety percent of the dead were found with the remains of yellow and red garments and religious items usually worn by Buddhist monks. The number could top 1,000, investigators said.
Friday, June 12, 1998
Centennial Celebration of Independence of the Philippines from Spain
In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a panel of federal judges blocks a law against indecency on the internet. The panel says that the 1996 Communications Decency Act would infringe upon the free speech rights of adults.
British colonial officers Rand and Ayerst in Pune, Maharashtra, India are assassinated on their way back from a Government house party celebrating the diamond jubilee coronation anniversary of Queen Victoria, by the Chapekar brothers and Ranade, who are later caught and hanged. Considered the first martyrs to the cause of India's freedom from Britain. The film 22 June 1897 is based on the incident.
The world's first Fingerprint Bureau opens in Calcutta (now Kolkata), India, after the Council of the Governor General approves a committee report that fingerprints should be used for classification of criminal records.
American Civil War ndash Battle of Cold Harbor: General Ulysses S. Grant pulls his troops from their positions at Cold Harbor, Virginia and moves south.
John Winter Robinson, the Secretary of State of Kansas, is convicted and removed from office as the result of a bond scandal, becoming the first state executive official to be impeached and removed from office in American history.
13 ndash First Anglo-Dutch War ndash Battle of the Gabbard: The English navy defeats the Dutch fleet, which loses 17 ships.
Sunday, June 12, 1616
Pocahontas (now Rebecca) arrives in England, with her husband, John Rolfe, their infant son, Thomas Rolfe, her half-sister Matachanna (alias Cleopatra) and brother-in-law Tomocomo, the shaman also known as Uttamatomakkin. Ten Powhatan Indians are brought by Sir Thomas Dale, the colonial governor, at the request of the Virginia Company, as a fund-raising stunt. Dale, having been recalled under criticism, writes "A True Relation of the State of Virginia, Left by Sir Thomas Dale, Knight, in May last, 1616" in a successful effort to redeem his leadership. Neither Pocahontas or Dale see Virginia again.
Sunday, June 2, 1560 (Julianian calendar)
Battle of Okehazama: Oda Nobunaga defeats Imagawa Yoshimoto.
Sunday, June 3, 1442 (Julianian calendar)
Vlad II Dracul is temporarily replaced as ruler of Wallachia by his son Mircea.
Battle of Sibiu: John Hunyadi defeats an Ottoman army of 80,000 strong, led by Mezid the Bey of Vidin, near Sibiu.