Today is the 180th day of 2012. There are 186 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight

1892: Sir Clifford Campbell, the first Jamaican national to be appointed Governor-General of Jamaica, is born at Petersfield, Westmoreland, to the late James Campbell and Blanche, nee Ruddock.

Other Events

1919: Germany and the Allies sign the Treaty of Versailles, formally ending World War I and providing for the creation of the League of Nations

1948: Yugoslavia is expelled from Communist group Cominform for hostility to Soviet Union.

1950: North Korean soldiers capture Seoul, as South Koreans retreat south of Han River.

1976: The Seychelles, an Indian Ocean island group, become independent after 102 years under British rule.

1989: In Slobodan Milosevic's shining moment, one million Serbs gather in Kosovo, Yugoslavia, to mark the 600th anniversary of their defeat by the Turks and cheer their nationalist leader.

1991: Yugoslav army declares a cease-fire after nearly two days of fighting to keep Slovenia from seceding.

1996: Turkey's president Suleyman Demirel approves the country's first Islamic-led government in 73 years.

1997: Cuban and Argentine forensic experts uncover the remains of legendary guerrilla leader Ernesto "Che" Guevara and five of his companions near the Bolivian town of Vallegrande.

1998: Slavko Dokmanovic, Serb former mayor of Vukovar, Croatia, hangs himself in his cell while the International War Crimes Tribunal considers a verdict on his role in a massacre of 200 people.

2000: Seven months after floating adrift in the Florida straits, six-year-old Elian Gonzalez returns to his native Cuba, bringing to a close a fierce custody battle.

2001: Yugoslavia hands over former President Slobodan Milosevic to the UN war crimes tribunal.

2004: The US hands over sovereignty to the Iraqis two days ahead of schedule and seven months before elections are set to take place.

2006: UN member states lift a $950 million (euro756 million) spending cap on the UN budget, averting a financial crisis but dealing a blow to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's reform agenda.

2007: Israeli President Moshe Katsav agrees to resign in a plea bargain that drops rape allegations and the threat of jail time in return for pleading guilty to lesser charges.

2008: Zimbabweans deface ballots and boycott the discredited re-election of President Robert Mugabe after an onslaught of state-sponsored violence pushes his main opposition from the race.

2009: Soldiers oust the democratically elected president of Honduras and Congress names a successor, but Manuel Zelaya, the leftist ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, denounces what he calls an illegal coup and vows to stay in power.

2011: German and Chinese leaders pledge a big increase in trade between their countries, the biggest economies of Europe and Asia, while China's premier underlines his support for the eurozone amid its debt crisis.

— AP and the Jamaica Observer