Following are some major events to have taken place on June 16:
1904 – The entire action of the novel “Ulysses” by James Joyce takes place on this day. It is celebrated internationally as “Bloomsday” after the main character, Leopold Bloom.
1940 – Marshal Philippe Petain was asked to form a new government in Vichy France – the German-controlled but unoccupied area of France after the Nazi invasion.
1999 – In South Africa, Thabo Mbeki was sworn in as president in succession to Nelson Mandela.
2000 – Japan’s Dowager Empress Nagako, the widow of Emperor Hirohito, died.
2001 – A left-wing alliance ousted Berlin’s conservative mayor, paving the way for ex-communists to enter city government for the first time since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
2001 – Italy’s Leaning Tower of Pisa was officially handed back to the city after 11 years of work to prevent it toppling over.
2004 – Former Thai prime minister Field Marshal Thanom Kittikachorn died aged 93.
2006 – Nepal’s government agreed to dissolve parliament and set up an interim administration including Maoist rebels.
2006 – Taiwan opened the 13-km (8-mile) Hsuehshan Tunnel, the longest road tunnel in Asia, to link the northern part of the island to the south.
2007 – Rock singer Rod Stewart marries model Penny Lancaster.
2008 – U.S. Midwest is hit by the worst flooding in 15 years.
