Today is the 246th day of 2010. There are 119 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight

1989: Thousands of blacks march and bathe at "whites only" beaches in nationwide defiance campaign in South Africa.

Other Events

1791: French constitution is passed by National Assembly, making France a constitutional monarchy.

1916: The first German Zeppelin bomber is shot down over England.

1945: Singapore is returned to British control after being occupied by the Japanese since 1942.

1962: Katanga government accepts UN Secretary-general U Thant's plan for Congolese reunification.

1967: Nguyen Van Thieu is elected president of South Vietnam under a new constitution.

1971: Oil state of Qatar gains independence from Britain.

1978: Pope John Paul II becomes the 264th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church.

1994: China and Russia proclaim an end to any lingering hostilities, pledging they would no longer target nuclear missiles or use force against each other.

2000: Russian President Vladimir Putin debuts on the world stage at the UN Millennium Summit in an effort to restore Russia's clout and develop new partners.

2003: North Korea's parliament, the Supreme People's Assembly, votes unanimously to re-elect the country's leader, Kim Jong Il, to a new five-year-term as chairman of the National Defence Commission.

2006: Europe's first spacecraft to the moon smashes into a volcanic plain as planned, signalling the end of a successful mission to test a new propulsion system and navigation technology for flights to other planets.

2007: Myanmar wraps up a 14-year-old national convention to draw up guidelines for a new constitution, completing what the military government calls a successful first step back to democracy but what critics dismiss as a sham.

2009: Gabon's government declares Ali Bongo, son of the late dictator Omar Bongo, the winner of presidential elections, triggering the worst violence in years in the oil-rich West African nation.