Reuters historical calendar - June 12

London, June 11 (Reuters) Following are some of the major events to have occurred on June 12 since 1900: 1917 - King Constantine of Greece stepped down in favour of his son, Prince Alexander.

1935 - Bolivia and Paraguay signed a truce ending the Chaco War, a three-year dispute over the Chaco area.

1944 - Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong announced that he would support Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek in the war against Japan.

1957 - US band leader and saxophonist Jimmy Dorsey died.

1964 - Nelson Mandela was convicted of anti-government sabotage and sentenced to life imprisonment in South Africa.

1976 - President Juan Maria Bordaberry of Uruguay was overthrown by the armed forces and replaced by Alberto Demichelli.

1987 - The Central African Republic's former emperor, Jean-Bedel Bokassa, was sentenced to death for crimes committed during his 13-year rule.

1990 - The parliament of the Russian Federation formally declared its sovereignty.

1991 - Boris Yeltsin defeated Communist rivals in the first direct election to the presidency of the Russian republic.

1999 - Russian troops entered Kosovo and occupied part of the airport in Pristina; NATO troops entered Kosovo later in the morning.

2000 - Russia unveiled its scheme for governing Chechnya, naming the rebel region's chief Muslim cleric as its first pro-Moscow ethnic Chechen leader in four years.

2001 - Macedonia ended a two-year recognition of Taiwan and switched diplomatic allegiance back to China.

2002 - Serb leaders formally ended a boycott of Kosovo's fledgling government and took an oath of office alongside their ethnic Albanian colleagues.

2003 - Gregory Peck, one of the last great stars from Hollywood's golden era and a man who embodied on-screen heroism and dignity, died. He was 87. Best known for his appearances in the films ''To Kill a Mockingbird'', ''Moby Dick'' and ''Cape Fear''.

**2005 - Kuwait appointed its first woman cabinet member, naming veteran women's rights activist Massouma al-Mubarak as planning minister.

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