Today is the 112th day of 2021. There are 253 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHGLIGHT

1978: The One Love Peace Concert is held at the National Stadium in Kingston, Jamaica. The aim was to bring together Kingston’s politically divided communities, which were aligned to the ruling People’s National Party (PNP) and rival Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).

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: At noon, by federal decree American homesteaders swarm into the OklahomaTerritory (Indian 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.

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.

1994: Former US President Richard M Nixon, who was the first American president to resign from office, dies.

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: North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) destroys Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic’s home in Belgrade with bombs, claiming it is part of his military machine.

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.

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.

2016: More than 170 countries sign the Paris Agreement on climate change, a landmark treaty that sought to control and reduce greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. It takes effect in November 2016.

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