Today in History: Ethiopian Haile Gebreselassie sets new world record in men’s 5000m race

The following are some of the major events to have occurred on June 13:

1373 - Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of Perpetual Alliance (world's oldest still in existence) signed in London between King Edward III of England and King Ferdinand I of Portugal. 

1878 - Congress of Berlin begins, determines the territories of the states in the Balkan peninsula following the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78.

1900 – The Boxer rebellion began in China. The secret society was dedicated to ending the domination and exploitation of the country by foreigners.

1971 – Geraldine Brodrick gave birth to nine babies in Australia.

1986 – Benny Goodman died. He was one of the first U.S. bandleaders to break the colour bar by hiring black musicians.

1998 – Ethiopian Haile Gebreselassie sets new world record in men’s 5000m race.

2000 - South Korean President Kim Dae-jung meets leader of North Korea Kim Jong-il, for the beginning of the first ever inter-Korea summit, in the northern capital of Pyongyang.

2002 – Hamid Karzai won Afghanistan’s presidential election in a landslide vote among delegates at a grand assembly, the Loya Jirga.

2004 – Former U.S. President George H.W. Bush performs tandem parachute jump.

2005 – U.S. pop star Michael Jackson was cleared of all charges in a child sex abuse trial that threatened to destroy his career.

2006 – Former Irish Prime Minister Charles Haughey died at the age of 80. He dominated Irish politics from the 1970s until the early 1990s.

2011 – Martin Cooper, inventor of world’s first mobile phone, accepts special achievement award at Webby Awards.

2012 – Dozens killed in series of bomb attacks in northern Iraq.

2014 – Texas house deliberately set on fire days after ground beneath collapsed into lake.

(Reuters)