Today is the 121st day of 2013. There are 244 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

1989: Government of Kampuchea changes country’s name to Cambodia.

OTHER EVENTS

1522: England declares war on France and Scotland.

1648: Scots begin second Civil War.

1707: Union between England and Scotland goes into effect under name Great Britain.

1819: Freedom of the press is introduced in France.

1884: Construction of the first skyscraper in the US, the ten-storey Home Insurance Building in Chicago, begins.

1925: Cyprus is declared a British crown colony.

1942: Japanese forces take Mandalay, Burma, in World War II, while British retreat along Chindwin Valley to India.

1948: The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, known as North Korea, is proclaimed.

1967: Anastasio Somoza Debayle becomes president of Nicaragua.

1979: Greenland gains home rule from Denmark.

1986: Millions of blacks stay away from jobs and schools in what is described as largest anti-apartheid protest in South Africa’s history.

1995: The Croatian Army mounts a full-scale assault on the Serb-held enclave of Slavonia in Croatia, sending thousands of civilians fleeing.

1996: Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat visits Washington, where he criticises Israel for keeping its borders closed to Palestinian workers and picks up a $20 million World Bank loan.

1997: Sinn Fein leaders Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness win two of Northern Ireland’s 18 seats in British Parliament.

1998: The former prime minister of Rwanda, Jean Kambanda, becomes the first person ever to plead guilty before an international tribunal, admitting in Arusha, Tanzania, to his role in the 1994 genocide of more than 500,000 Rwandans.

2002: Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II opens her Golden Jubilee, a national celebration of her 50 years on the throne.

2003: UN international staff return to Baghdad for the first time since the US invasion.

2005: Pyongyang test fires a short-range missile that plunges into the Sea of Japan. The White House, pushing hard for international action against North Korea, says it is not surprised by the launch.

2006: Illegal immigrants and their allies gather for marches, prayers and demonstrations on a planned national day of economic protest, boycotting work, school and shopping to show their importance to the U.S.

2007: President Hugo Chavez’s government takes over Venezuela’s last privately run oil fields, intensifying a power struggle with international companies over the world’s largest known petroleum deposit.

2010: Pope Benedict XVI cracks down on the scandal-plagued Legionaries of Christ, announcing that a papal envoy would take over and reform the conservative order that has been discredited by revelations that its founder sexually abused seminarians and fathered at least one child.

2012: In a swift and secretive trip to the war zone, President Barack Obama signs an agreement vowing long-term ties with Afghanistan after America’s combat forces come home.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Joseph Addison, English poet-politician (1672-1719); Arthur Wellesley, English soldier-statesman (1769-1852); Jose Alencar, Brazilian novelist/playwright (1829-1877); Kate Smith (1909-1986); US singer; Glenn Ford, U.S. actor (1916-2006); Joseph Heller, US writer (1923-1999); Judy Collins, US singer (1939-), Rita Coolidge, US singer (1945-); Ray Parker Jr , US singer (1954-); Wes Anderson, US director (1969-).

— AP