Today is the 112th day of 2019. There are 253 days left in the year:

TODAY’S HIGHGLIGHT

2000: Six-year-old Elian Gonzalez is reunited with his father from Cuba after a frantic and forceful end to a five-month stand-off between the US Government and the Cuban boy’s Miami relatives.

OTHER EVENTS

1500: Portuguese navigator Pedro Alvares Cabral is the first European to land in Brazil, putting ashore in what today is Porto Seguro.

1509: Henry VIII becomes king of England following the death of his father, Henry VII.

1529: Treaty of Saragossa defines interests of Spain and Portugal in the Pacific; Spain gives up claim to the East Indies.

1864: Congress authorises the use of the phrase “In God We Trust” on US coins.

1889: American homesteaders swarm into the Oklahoma territory; staking claim to free land.

1898: The first shot of the Spanish-American War rings out as the USS Nashville captures a Spanish merchant ship off Key West, Florida.

1915: In first reported use of gas in a conflict, German army releases a cloud of chlorine that causes havoc among French troops at Ypres, Belgium.

1931: Egypt and Iraq sign treaty of friendship — the first pact between Egypt and another Arab state.

1956: China appoints Dalai Lama chairman of committee to prepare Tibet for regional autonomy within Chinese People’s Republic.

1970: Millions of Americans concerned about the environment observe the first “Earth Day”.

1975: First Vietnamese refugees arrive on US West Coast while South Vietnam is falling to communists.

1990: Pro-Iranian kidnappers in Lebanon free American hostage Robert Polhill after nearly 39 months of captivity.

1992: Gasoline leaked from a nearby refinery explodes in the sewerage system of Guadalajara, Mexico, ripping open streets and killing 194 people.

1993: A military court in Cairo sentences to death seven of 49 Islamic militants for attacks against tourists.

1995: Hutu refugees flee the refugee camp at Kibeho, Zaire, after thousands are gunned down by soldiers or trampled to death in stampedes.

1996: Italy takes a turn to the left as a coalition of parties dominated by former Communists wins legislative majorities.

1998: Despite a last-minute plea from the president of Honduras, the US state of Arizona executes a Honduran citizen for murder.

1999: NATO destroys Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic’s home in Belgrade with bombs, claiming it is part of his military machine.

2007: Gunmen execute 23 members of the ancient Yazidi religious sect in northern Iraq after stopping their bus and separating them from followers of other faiths.

2008: The office of Colombia’s chief prosecutor orders the arrest of President Alvaro Uribe’s cousin over alleged links to paramilitary gangs.

2009: Taliban militants extend their grip in north-western Pakistan, pushing out from a valley where the government has agreed to impose Islamic law and patrolling villages as close as 60 miles (96 kilometres) from the capital.

2010: US President Barack Obama rebukes Wall Street for risky practices, even as he seeks its leaders’ help for “updated, common sense” banking regulations to head off any new financial crisis.

2011: Syrian security forces fire bullets and tear gas at tens of thousands of protesters across the country, killing at least 75 people in the bloodiest day of the month-long uprising against President Bashar Assad.

2012: The US and Afghanistan reach a deal on a long-delayed strategic partnership agreement that ensures Americans will provide military and financial support to the Afghan people for at least a decade beyond 2014, the deadline for most foreign forces to withdraw.

2014: Most Sherpa mountain climbers decide to leave Mount Everest, confirming a walkout certain to disrupt the climbing season that was already marked by grief over the 16 lives lost in Everest’s deadliest disaster.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Henry Fielding, English author (1707-1754); Immanuel Kant, German philosopher (1724-1804); Vladimir Lenin, Russian communist leader (1870-1924); Sir Yehudi Menuhin, US-born violinist (1916-1999); Sir Sidney Nolan, Australian artist (1917-1993); Aaron Spelling, US television producer (1923-2006); Alan Bond, Australian entrepreneur and America’s Cup sponsor (1938-2015); Jack Nicholson, US actor (1937- ); John Waters, US film director (1946- )

— AP