On this date in history:

In 1795, the meter was adopted as a basic measure of length by France.

In 1862, Union forces under the command of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant defeated the Confederates at Shiloh, Tenn.

In 1953, Swedish statesman Dag Hammarskjold was elected secretary-general of the United Nations. (He served until his death in a 1961 plane crash.)

In 1990, suspected arson fires aboard the ferry Scandinavian Star killed at least 75 people in Scandinavia's worst post-war maritime disaster.

In 2006, three suicide bombers set off explosives in a Baghdad mosque, killing at least 90 people and injuring an estimated 175.

In 2009, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il was re-elected to a third five-year term despite failing health since his reported stroke in August 2008. (He died in 2011.)

In 2010, air travel resumed, most roads reopened and crews worked to restore power in Rio de Janeiro after a rainstorm and mudslide left more than 133 people dead.

In 2011, a 23-year-old former student returned to his public elementary school in Rio de Janeiro and opened fire with two revolvers, killing 12 children and wounding 12 others before shooting himself in the head as police closed in.

In 2012, broadcast journalist Mike Wallace, the CBS 60 Minutes icon, died in New Canaan, Conn. He was 93.

In 2013, al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri used an Internet video to urge rebels in Syria to fight to establish an Islamic state governed by Sharia law.

In 2014, Connecticut won its fourth men's NCAA basketball title, defeating Kentucky 60-54. (A night later, the UConn women's basketball team won its ninth national championship, topping Notre Dame, 79-58. The school also won dual national basketball crowns in 2004 .)

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