Saturday is the 128th day of 2021. There are 237 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

2008: During the 2008 race for the White House, Senator Barack Obama got a front-runner’s welcome back at the US Capitol, where he was surrounded on the House floor by well-wishers calling him “Mr President” and reaching out to pat him on the back or shake his hand.

OTHER EVENTS

1794: Antoine Lavoisier, the father of modern chemistry, is executed on the guillotine during France’s Reign of Terror.

1811: British under Duke of Wellington defeat French at Fuentes d’Ontro in Portugal.

1886: The first Coca-Cola, an invention of Dr John S Pemberton, is sold at Jacob’s Pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia.

1895: Japan surrenders Liao Tung Peninsula and Port Arthur to China in return for huge indemnity.

1902: Mount Pelee on the French West Indian island of Martinique erupts, wiping out the city of St Pierre and killing all but two of its 30,000 residents.

1916: Forces from Australia and New Zealand arrive in France during World War I.

1921: Sweden abolishes capital punishment.

1945: World War II ends in Europe.

1978: David R Berkowitz pleads guilty in a Brooklyn courtroom to the “Son of Sam” killings that had terrified New Yorkers.

1990: Estonia declares itself a republic and drops the words “Soviet Socialist” from its name.

1999: North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) bombs hit the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade by mistake, killing three Chinese reporters. In China, protesters retaliate attacking US missions.

2006: South Africa’s former Deputy President Jacob Zuma is acquitted of rape in the country’s most politically charged trial since the end of apartheid.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Henri Dunant, Swiss founder of International Red Cross (1828-1910); Harry S Truman, US president (1884-1972); David Attenborough, British television producer and naturalist (1926- ); Thomas Pynchon, US writer (1937- ); Melissa Gilbert, US actress (1964- ); Enrique Iglesias, Latin pop singer (1975- )

— AP