Today is the 324th day of 2010. There are 41 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight

1873: Rival cities of Buda and Pest are united to form the capital of Hungary.

Other Events

1818: Simon Bolivar formally declares Venezuela independent of Spain.

1917: The Ukrainian Republic is proclaimed.

1945: International War Crimes Tribunal begins as 24 accused Nazi World War II criminals go on trial in Nuremberg, Germany.

1959: Britain, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark and Sweden meet to form European Free Trade Association.

1977: Egypt’s President Anwar Sadat becomes the first Arab leader to speak before the Israeli Parliament, telling them Egypt seeks peace.

1980: A special tribunal begins the two-month trial of “the Gang of Four”, led by Jiang Qing, Chairman Mao Tse-tung’s wife, for masterminding the 1966-1976 Cultural Revolution in China.

1994: Angola’s government and rebels sign a peace accord.

1995: Polish President Lech Walesa loses to Aleksander Kwasniewski in the presidential runoff; the Hubble Space telescope photographs the birth of the star, Eagle Nebula.

1997: Twenty-nine industrialised nations of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development agree to outlaw bribing of foreign officials.

1999: Anti-US protests rock Greece as US President Bill Clinton is due to arrive for a visit. He says the US was wrong to back the military junta that took control in 1967.

2002: Turkey’s broadcasting authority authorises state radio and television to air limited programmes in the once-banned Kurdish language, a step toward meeting EU membership requirements.

2004: President Chandrika Kumaratunga declares that Sri Lanka will lift a 28-year moratorium on the death penalty after a High Court judge was gunned down at his home.

2005: Widespread violence mars the second round of Egypt’s parliamentary vote as clashes break out nationwide between Muslim Brotherhood supporters, ruling party supportertes unanimously to impose new sanctions aimed at reducing the arms flowing into Somalia and the lawlessness and piracy that have flourished there.

Today’s Birthdays

Selma Lagerlof, Swedish novelist and Nobel laureate (1858-1940); Edwin Hubble, US astronomer (1889-1953); Alistair Cooke, English journalist and television personality (1908-2004); Bo Derek, US actress (1956-); Sean Young, US actress (1959-); Ming-Na, US actress (1967-).