Today is the 214th day of 2017. There are 151 days left in the year.

TODAYS HIGHLIGHT

2012: Kofi Annan announces his resignation as peace envoy to Syria and issues a blistering critique of world powers, bringing to a dramatic end a frustrating six-month effort to achieve even a temporary ceasefire as the country plunges into civil war.

OTHER EVENTS

1776: Members of the Continental Congress begin adding their signatures to the United States Declaration of Independence.

1830: France’s King Charles X abdicates after July Revolution against his conservative policies.

1928: Italy signs 20-year treaty of friendship with Ethiopia.

1934: Germany’s President Paul von Hindenburg dies at age 87, and Adolf Hitler assumes the title of “Der Fuehrer”.

1935: Britain passes the Government of India Act, separating Burma and Aden from India and granting self-government with a central legislature in New Delhi.

1939: Scientist Albert Einstein says in letter to United States President Franklin D Roosevelt that America should start an atomic research programme.

1943: A United States Navy patrol torpedo boat, PT-109, commanded by Lieutenant John F Kennedy, sinks after being hit by a Japanese destroyer off the Solomon Islands. Kennedy is credited with saving members of the crew.

1951: In an effort to slow down the influx of illegal immigrants to the United States, a Mexican-US migrant labour treaty is signed, bringing 300,000 Mexicans to work on US harvests.

1963: The United States tells United Nations it will halt all sales of military equipment to South Africa because of its apartheid policy.

1995: King Fahd replaces his oil and finance ministers in Saudi Arabia’s most significant leadership shake-up since he came to power in 1982.

1999: In India, 226 people die when two trains crash head-on in the pre-dawn darkness near Gaisal, about 500 kilometres (310 miles) north of Calcutta.

2000: In Kashmir, Islamic guerrillas open fire on a crowd of unarmed Hindu pilgrims and Muslim porters during supper; the 24-hour wave of violence that follows leaves 101 dead.

2001: Muslim extremists seize 36 Filipinos on the southern Philippine island of Basilan; at least four are beheaded.

2002: Kazakh authorities sentence Galymzhan Zhakiyanov, founding member of the reform movement Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DCK), to seven years in prison for corruption and abuse of power.

2003: The United States State Department suspends two programmes that allowed foreign air travellers on certain routes to enter the country without a visa.

2005: Snipers and soldiers in green berets keep watch as King Fahd, one of the world’s wealthiest monarchs, is laid to rest in Riyadh, Saudia Arabia.

2006: Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko says that he is nominating his former Orange Revolution foe, Viktor Yanukovych, to become prime minister.

2007: An overnight train derails in central Congo after its brakes failed, killing about 100 people.

2008:Two French humanitarian aid workers kidnapped on July 18 in Afghanistan are released.

2009: Nigerian government forces hunt for surviving members of a radical Islamist sect after heavy fighting leaves at least 700 people dead and buildings and cars scorched.

2010: President Barack Obama hails this month’s planned withdrawal of all US combat troops from Iraq — “as promised and on schedule” — as a major success despite deep doubts about the Iraqis’ ability to police and govern their country.

2011: Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak, 83 and ailing, goes on trial on charges of corruption and ordering the killing of protesters during the 18-day uprising that toppled him, and many Egyptians are celebrating the chance at retribution against a long-time authoritarian ruler.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Edward A Freeman, English historian (1823-1892); Romulo Gallegos, Venezuelan president and novelist (1884-1969); Myrna Loy, US actress (1905-1993); James Baldwin, US author (1924-1987); Peter O’Toole, British actor (1932-2013); Isabel Allende, Chilean author (1942- ); Joanna Cassidy, US actress (1945- )

— AP