Today is the 63rd day of 2012. There are 303 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight

1991 – In a case that sparked a national outcry, motorist Rodney King is severely beaten by Los Angeles police officers in a scene captured on amateur video.

Other Events

1861: Emancipation of Russian serfs is proclaimed.

1875: The Georges Bizet opera Carmen premieres in Paris.

1878: Bulgaria is liberated from five centuries of Ottoman Turkish rule.

1918: Russian Bolsheviks sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, surrendering a quarter of the country to Germany while receiving crucial support in return.

1931: The United States officially adopts the Star-Spangled Banner as the country’s national anthem.

1941: Bulgaria signs the Tripartite Pact and allows German troops to cross its territory. Although Bulgaria becomes an ally of Nazi Germany, Bulgarians oppose deportation of Jews and save them from Nazi death camps.

1974: Turkish Airlines DC-10 crashes shortly after takeoff from Orly Airport in Paris, killing nearly 350 people.

1997: A passenger train derails in Pakistan’s Punjab province, killing at least 125 people and injuring more than 450.

1998: A nationwide strike shuts down most of Zimbabwe’s economy and the government threatens to punish those who encouraged the protest.

1999: An estimated 74 million US viewers watch former White House intern Monica Lewinsky confess the details of her affair with US President Bill Clinton.

2000: Former dictator General Augusto Pinochet returns to Chile a free man, 16 months after he was detained in Britain on torture charges.

2002: In a break with the country’s long-standing tradition of isolationism and neutrality in world affairs, Swiss citizens vote in favoUr of becoming the 190th member of the United Nations.

2004: Angered by the way President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was forced to flee his country, the 15-nation Caribbean Community says it will not provide troops for the UN peacekeeping force to Haiti. Aristide claimed that he was abducted at gunpoint by US Marines and sent into exile in South Africa.

2006: Anti-US protests erupt in several Pakastani cities, with crowds burning American flags and chanting “Death to Bush” hours before the US president arrives.

2008: An 11-year-old girl revered as a living goddess in Nepal retires early less than a year after she sparked controversy by breaking tradition and travelling overseas. Sajani Shakya was considered among the top three of Nepal’s several “kumaris,” or living goddesses.

2009: The Vatican seeks to show that it is not opposed to science and evolutionary theory, hosting a conference on Charles Darwin and trying to debunk idea it embraces creationism or intelligent design.

Today’s Birthdays

Thomas Otway, English dramatist (1652-1685); Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish-American inventor of telephone (1847-1922); Jean Harlow, US actress (1911-1937); Jennifer Warnes, US singer (1947–); Miranda Richardson, British actress (1958- ); Tone-Loc, US rapper/actor (1966- ); Jessica Biel, US actress (1982–).