TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

2010: Fidel Castro tells a visiting American journalist that Cuba’s communist economic model does not work, a rare comment on domestic affairs from a man who has conspicuously steered clear of local issues since stepping down four years ago.

OTHER EVENTS

1900: Galveston, Texas, is struck by a hurricane that kills about 6,000 people.

1941: The Germans begin an 872-day siege of Leningrad, now St Petersburg, Russia.

1943: Allied Commander Dwight D Eisenhower announces Italy’s unconditional surrender in World War II. The Germans take over Rome and northern Italy.

1951: A peace treaty with Japan is signed by 48 other nations in San Francisco.

1952: American writer Ernest Hemingway’s novel The Old Man and the Sea is published.

1954: South-east Asia Defense Treaty and Pacific Charter is signed in Manila by Britain, France, United States, Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Thailand, and the Philippines.

1972: Israeli air force, in retaliation for slaying of Israeli athletes at Munich Olympics, attacks 10 Palestinian guerrilla bases and naval installations in Syria and Lebanon.

1974: US President Gerald Ford grants an unconditional pardon to former President Richard Nixon.

1979: Three armed Lebanese surrender to Iranian authorities in Tehran after hijacking an Italian airliner the day before. The hijackers released 175 passengers in Rome and the remaining 35 in Teheran.

1986: The president of Chile, Augusto Pinochet, escapes an attempt on his life by rebels.

1992: Nelson Mandela calls for the removal of the homeland ruler whose troops killed 24 protesters, sparking a major confrontation between black and white leaders in South Africa.

2008: A landslide at an illegal mining operation in northern China kills at least 260 people.

2009: A woman journalist convicted of public indecency in Sudan for wearing trousers outdoors is freed, despite her own desire to serve a month in prison as protest against the country’s draconian morality laws.

2011: The US Government accuses a powerful Venezuelan general, an intelligence official and two political allies of President Hugo Chavez of providing arms, security and training to Colombia’s main rebel group.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAY

Richard I, the Lion-Hearted, king of England (1157-1199); August Schlegal, German author (1767-1845); Jessie Wilcox Smith, US painter (1863-1935); Patsy Cline, US country singer (1932-1963); Sid Caesar, US comedian (1922-2014); Henry Thomas, US actor (1971- ); Neko Case, alt-country singer (1970- )