Schumacher wins European Grand Prix
2001 - Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher won a battle of brothers and dealt another blow to McLaren rival David Coulthard with a commanding victory in European Grand Prix. Coulthard finished third behind the Williams of Colombian newcomer Juan Pablo Montoya, leaving the Scot 24 points behind the triple Formula One champion in the title chase after nine of 17 races. “I am certainly delighted,” Schumacher said after leading for all but one lap of a race short of real thrills but a local crowd-pleaser nonetheless, for some 150,000 fans basking in the sunshine. “Nothing can happen better than winning your home grand prix.” A race billed as the battle of the Schumacher brothers saw an early duel between the two local heroes evaporate as younger sibling Ralf blew his chances with an error.
June 24
1509 - Henry VIII is crowned king of England.
1793 - First republican constitution in France is adopted.
1894 - France’s President Sadi Carnot is assassinated by an Italian anarchist at Lyon.
1911 - John McDermott becomes the first American-born player to win the US Open golf tournament.
1913 - Joseph Cook named Prime Minister of Australia.
1932 - A bloodless coup ends absolute monarchy in Thailand.
1948 - Soviet Union begins Berlin blockade, halting road and rail traffic between Berlin and West Germany, leading to start of Berlin airlift.
1963 - United Kingdom grants Zanzibar internal self-government.
1975 - An Eastern Airlines Boeing 727 crashes at New York’s JFK International Airport, killing 113 people.
1978 - Yemen’s President Ahmad Hussain Gashemi is killed in Yemen by a bomb.
1980 - Former Indian president V.V. Giri dies at the age of 85.
1982 - France’s first space traveller and two veteran Soviet cosmonauts rocket into orbit in the first East-West manned mission since 1975.
1989 - Jiang Zemin is elected general secretary of the Communist Party of China.
1997 - Panamanian boxer Pedro Alcazar dies from a brain injury two days after losing his WBO junior bantamweight world title to Fernando Montiel.
2000 - Actor David Tomlinson dies at 83.
2004 - Capital punishment declared unconstitutional in New York state.
2005 - Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is elected President of Iran.
2007 - Storms and torrential rains lash Karachi, Pakistan, killing 228.
2010 - Julia Gillard beats Kevin Rudd to become the first woman and 27th prime minister of Australia.
2012 - Mohammad Mursi is elected President of Egypt.
2013 - An Italian court sentences former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi to seven years in jail and bans him from public office.
2014 - Uruguay striker Luis Suarez bites Italian centre-back Giorgio Chiellini during a World Cup football match.
