Today is the 244th day of 2010. There 121 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight

1983: A Korean Air Lines Boeing 747 is shot down by a Soviet jet fighter after the airliner enters Soviet air space, killing 269 people.

Other Notable Events

1905: The provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta enter into the confederation of Canada.

1961: UN breaks off relations with the Katanga government in Congo, as heavy fighting in Elizabethville and Jadotville result from a UN attempt to arrest members of the government.

1962: Singapore votes to join Federation of Malaysia.

1969: A Libyan Arab Republic is proclaimed as the army stages a coup, deposing the monarchy and bringing Moammar Gadhafi into power.

1971: Gulf state of Qatar declares independence from Britain.

1979: US space probe Pioneer 11 becomes the first man-made object to reach Saturn, passing through the ring plane within 21,000 kilometres (13,000 miles) of Saturn's atmosphere.

1990: Two Germanys sign a treaty that provides the blueprint for merging the countries.

1992: France joins the US and British allies in enforcing the no-fly zone in southern Iraq.

1993: Bosnia's government rejects a plan to end 17 months of ethnic warfare and peace talks collapse.

1994: San Francisco Superior Court jury awards a former secretary at Baker & McKenzie, the world's largest law firm, a record US$7.1 million in punitive damages in a sexual-harassment case against the firm.

1996: Helmer Herrera Buitrago, a reputed leader of Colombia's Cali drug cartel, surrenders to authorities. He is the last of seven men believed to have been leaders of the cartel.

1998: Vietnam's best-known dissident, Doan Viet Hoat, is freed as part of an amnesty for 5,219 inmates to mark Vietnam's National Day. He is immediately sent into exile in Thailand.

2003: A three-member Israeli government commission issues a landmark report that found widespread official discrimination against the country's Arab citizens.

2005: A Hong Kong jury convicts an American housewife of murdering her wealthy investment banker husband by drugging him with a milkshake laced with sedatives and beating him to death in the couple's luxury apartment.

2006: An Iranian passenger plane in the northeastern city of Mashhad skids off the runway and rakes its wing along the ground, sparking a fire that kills 29 of the 148 people.

2007: More than two dozen Colombian prisoners arrested three years ago in an alleged plot against President Hugo Chavez are freed in a goodwill gesture Chavez hopes will help facilitate a prisoner exchange in Colombia.

2009: Libya stages a lavish spectacle, parading white-robed horsemen and gold-turbaned dancers as jets streaked overhead to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the coup that brought Moammar Gadhafi to power in the oil-rich nation.

Today's Birthdays

Engelbert Humperdinck, German composer (1854-1921); Edgar Rice Burroughs, US novelist (1875-1950); A(bhay) C(haranaravinda) Bhaktivedanta, Indian founder of Hare Krishna movement (1896-1977); Rocky Marciano, US boxer (1923-1969); Seiji Ozawa, Japanese-American conductor (1935-); Lily Tomlin, US actress/comedian (1939-); Gloria Estefan, Cuban-American singer (1957-).

CAP

Multiple Grammy Award winning Cuban-American singer/songwriter Gloria Estefan is 53 today. (Photo: AP)

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