This is the 298th day of 2022. There are 67 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

2012: The scale of the child sex abuse scandal engulfing the BBC expands as authorities announce that 300 potential victims have come forward with accusations against one of the British broadcaster’s most popular children’s entertainers, and that others might have acted with him.

OTHER EVENTS

1415: The English army, led by Henry V, scores a decisive victory over the French at the Battle of Agincourt during the Hundred Years’ War, paving the way for further English conquests and successes.

1586: Mary, Queen of Scots, the focus of Catholic plots on the throne of England, is sentenced to death.

1616: Dutch mariner Dirk Hartog discovers Australia.

1760: Britain’s King George III succeeds his late grandfather, George II.

1764: Future second American President John Adams, age 28, weds 19-year-old Abigail Smith in Weymouth, Massachusetts. (The marriage lasts 54 years.)

1794: Russia withdraws from the war against France.

1812: The US frigate USS United States captures the British vessel Macedonian during the War of 1812.

1815: A Serb rebellion against Turkish rule begins, resulting in considerable autonomy for the Serbs.

1909: The murder of Japan’s Prince Ito by Korean fanatics leads to Japanese dictatorship in Korea.

1918: The Canadian steamship Princess Sophia founders off the coast of Alaska and nearly 400 people perish.

1922: Fascists march on Rome and the Italian king nominates Benito Mussolini as prime minister.

1955: The first domestic microwave ovens go on sale.

1956: Egypt, Jordan and Syria form a unified military command.

1964: British rock band the Rolling Stones makes its first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. Dutchman Anton Geesink becomes the first non-Japanese Olympic judo gold medal winner.

1971: The United Nations votes to expel the Chinese Nationalist-ruled Taiwan and admit the Communist People’s Republic of China.

1983: US Marines and Rangers, assisted by soldiers from six Caribbean nations, invade Grenada at the order of US President Ronald Reagan, who says the action is needed to protect US citizens there.

1989: The Soviet State Bank announces that the ruble will be devalued by nearly 90 per cent for visiting foreigners.

1995: Israeli troops start pulling out from Jenin on the West Bank, the first city to be handed over under the Israel-Palestine Liberation Organization autonomy agreement.

1996: The fundamentalist Islamic Taliban militia claim to capture another Afghanistan province, their first advance since seizing the capital, Kabul, a month earlier.

1998: Two days after a peace accord with the Israelis, street battles rage in the West Bank between members of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s political faction and Palestinian security forces.

2001: The US House of Representatives approves legislation that will give law enforcement and intelligence agencies broader powers to investigate suspected terrorists.

2006: The Australian Government pledges funding for two projects as part of its new strategy to combat global warming, including the construction of the world’s largest solar power plant.

2007: Four Chadian rebel groups sign a final peace agreement with their Government. The parties agree to an immediate ceasefire, amnesty for civil and military personnel, and the release of all detainees from both sides of the four-year conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region.

2008: Egypt’s first female marriage registrar, Amal Suleiman starts work despite complaints by some conservative clerics that the move is against Islam.

2010: Jamaican reggae singer, the “Cool Ruler” Gregory Isaacs dies at age 59. Afghan President Hamid Karzai acknowledges that he receives millions of dollars in cash from Iran, adding that Washington gives him “bags of money” too because his office lacks funds.

2017: Chinese Premier Xi Jinping unveils his new ruling council in the Great Hall of the People; none of the five are young enough to succeed him.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Thomas B Macauley, British historian (1800-1859); Georges Bizet, French composer (1838-1875); Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter and sculptor (1881-1973); Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd, American polar explorer (1888-1957); Primo Carnera, Italian boxer (1906-1967 ); Peter Naur, Danish astronomer and computer scientist (1928-2016); Bob Knight, American collegiate basketball coach (902 career NCAA coaching victories among the most in men’s basketball history) (1940- ); Katy Perry (Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson), American pop star (1984- ); Ciara Princess Harris, American singer (1985- )

— AP/Jamaica Observer