Reuters historical calendar - May 31

London, May 30 (Reuters) Following are some of the major events to have occurred on May 31 since 1900: 1902 - The Treaty of Vereeniging was signed in Pretoria, ending the Boer War between settlers of British and Dutch origin in what later became South Africa.

1911 - The ocean liner Titanic was launched in Belfast. It sank on its maiden voyage in April 1912.

1938 - In the United States, the film ''The Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel'' became the first to be shown on television.

It was broadcast by NBC.

1962 - Adolf Eichmann, who helped to organise Nazi Germany's murder of millions of Jews, was hanged in Jerusalem.

1970 - An earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale struck the Peruvian towns of Yungay, Huaraz and Chimbote, destroying all three. 70,000 people were killed and 600,000 left homeless.

1989 - Jacopo da Pontorno's 1525 ''Portrait of Duke Cosimo I de' Medici'' became the first Old Master painting to sell at auction for over 10 million dollars, fetching 32 million dollars at Christie's.

1999 - Yugoslavia confirmed its acceptance of the principles laid down by the big power Group of Eight countries for ending the Kosovo conflict.

2003 - Eric Robert Rudolph, the man suspected of bombing abortion clinics and a gay nightclub as well as one at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, was captured in Murphy, North Carolina.

2005 - The Washington Post revealed that ''Deep Throat'', the legendary source who leaked Watergate scandal secrets to its reporters, was former FBI deputy director Mark Felt.

Reuters SI GC1150