Today is the 166th day of 2015. There are 199 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

1992: Japan’s Parliament approves the use of troops overseas for the first time since World War II, enabling Japan to join international peacekeeping operations.

OTHER EVENTS

1167: The city of Copenhagen’s official birthday. A document from this day mentions the city for the first time.

1215: King John of England grants some civil liberties when he signs the Magna Carta under pressure from nobles.

1520: Pope Leo excommunicates Martin Luther by the Bull Exsurge.

1567: The troops of Mary, Queen of Scots, refuse to fight rebels at Carberry Hill, and she surrenders on the condition that her husband is allowed to escape.

1672: Dutch flood parts of Holland to save Amsterdam from the French.

1752: Benjamin Franklin demonstrates that lightning is an electrical discharge when he launches a kite during a storm at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1862: Turkish forces bombard Belgrade after Serb uprising there.

1904: More than 1,000 people die in fire aboard steamboat General Slocum off New York City.

1919: British pilots John William Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown complete the first non-stop flight across the Atlantic, flying from Newfoundland, to Ireland.

1940: Germans outflank Maginot Line in France during World War II.

1944: US forces begin invasion of Japanese-held Saipan Island in the Marianas in Pacific. It becomes a base for bombing raids against Japan.

1970: Martial law is declared in Turkey when serious rioting breaks out.

1991: Kuwait’s martial law court sentences six newspaper workers to death for working on an Iraqi publication during the occupation of Kuwait.

1997: In Cartagena, Colombian rebels release 70 soldiers captive for nearly a year. In return, the government evacuates its military from a swath of land.

1998: Nigeria’s new military leadership releases nine of the country’s most prominent political prisoners, including General Olusegun Obasanjo, who becomes president less than a year later.

1999: After a final spree of burning, shooting and alleged rapes, Yugoslav forces withdraw from Kosovo’s border region with Albania.

2000: Roman Catholic Bishop Augustin Misago, accused of helping orchestrate the 1994 slaughter of more than a half-million Rwandans, is cleared of genocide charges and set free.

2004: Iraq’s neighbours endorse the US-backed Administration and the transfer of power, giving a boost to Iraq’s quest for international legitimacy.

2005: Spanish police arrest 16 Islamic terror suspects in raids in several cities, including 11 suspected members of a group thought to have ties to Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi’s al-Qaeda in Iraq.

2006: Clean-up crews in northern China scramble to absorb 60 tons of toxic coal tar accidentally dumped into the Dasha river before it reaches a reservoir serving 10 million people.

2009: In a massive outpouring reminiscent of the Iranian Revolution three decades ago, hundreds of thousands of Iranian protesters stream through the capital and denounce President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s claim to victory in a disputed election.

2010: The UN finds evidence of bloody intent behind the chaos in Kyrgyzstan that killed hundreds, left the nation’s second-biggest city a smouldering ruin and sent more than 100,000 ethnic Uzbeks fleeing.

2011: The Pakistani army denies that one of its majors is among a group of Pakistanis who Western officials say were arrested for feeding the CIA information before the American raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

2013: Wild celebrations break out on Tehran streets that were battlefields four years ago as reformist-backed Hassan Rouhani caps a stunning surge to claim Iran’s presidency, throwing open the political order after relentless crackdowns by hardliners.

2014: Israel’s prime minister accuses Hamas of kidnapping three Israeli teenagers who later are found dead.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Issa, Japanese poet (1763- 1 8 2 8); Thomas Mitchell, British explorer of Australia, (1792-1855); Edvard Grieg, Norwegian composer (1843-1907); Jim Belushi, US actor (1954- ); Julie Hagerty, US actress (1955- ); Helen Hunt, US actress (1963- ); Courteney Cox, US actress (1964- ); Ice Cube, US rapper/actor (1969- ); Johnny Hallyday, French rock singer/actor (1943- ); Neil Patrick Harris, US actor (1973- ).

— AP