This Day in History: France bids farewell to the franc after 641 years

The following are some of the major events to have occurred on February 17:

1904 – Madama Butterfly premiere in Milan.

1919 – Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Canadian Liberal prime minister from 1896-1911, died. He was the first French Canadian to be prime minister of Canada.

1933 – U.S. Senate passes act ending prohibition.

1982 – Zimbabwean Prime Minister Robert Mugabe sacked Joshua Nkomo from the government for allegedly plotting against the ruling ZANU-PF Party.

1997 – Pakistani President Farooq Leghari, who had sacked Benazir Bhutto’s government, swore in Nawaz Sharif as new prime minister.

2002 – France bid an unemotional farewell to its 641-year-old currency as the franc lived its last day as legal tender after a swift changeover to the euro.

2004 – Former Mexican President Jose Lopez Portillo, famous for swearing to defend the peso “like a dog” shortly before devaluing, died. He was 83.

2006 – Mudslides triggered by heavy rains entombed nearly 1,000 people in the Philippine province of Southern Leyte.

2007 – Maurice Papon, the only French Nazi official to be convicted for his role in the deportation of Jews during World War Two, died aged 96.

2009 – U.S. President Barack Obama signed a $787 billion economic stimulus bill – described as part of a broad plan to solve U.S. economic ills – into law.

2016 – Explosion in Ankara targets military personnel.

(Reuters)