This is the 256th day of 2023. There are 109 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

1968: The Czechoslovak National Assembly approves the re-establishment of direct press censorship.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS

1971: A revolt at New York’s Attica Correctional Facility ends after a bloody state police assault on the prison in which 29 inmates and 10 hostages are killed.

1973: The Chilean military junta names the army chief, General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte, as the country’s president and swear in a Cabinet consisting of 10 military officers, three national police officers, and two civilians.

1987: Residents of the Pacific islands of New Caledonia overwhelmingly approve a referendum to remain a territory of France, but the true sentiments of the overall population are not reflected in the vote because a large number of native Kanaks refused to participate; resentment against “outsiders” (white French settlers and immigrants from such places as Indonesia and Vietnam) had led to violence in recent years and to demands by Kanaks for total independence for New Caledonia.

1990: Law enforcement series Law & Order debuts on NBC television network and becomes one of the longest-running prime-time TV dramas in the United States.

1991: Joe Carter becomes the first baseball player with three consecutive 100 runs batted in seasons with three different teams (Indians, Padres, Blue Jays).

1993: During a ceremony in Washington, DC, Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) sign an agreement that is designed to end decades of violent confrontation between Israel and its Arab neighbours. A public unveiling of the Oslo Accords, an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement initiated by Norway, is signed by Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Shimon Peres and PLO official Mahmoud Abbas.

1994: Ready To Die, the debut studio album by The Notorious B.I.G., is released.

1996: Rap star-actor Tupac Shakur is killed in a drive-by shooting, at the age of 25.

2000: Chase Manhattan Corp announces plans to purchase J.P. Morgan & Company Incorporated for more than US$35 billion; the resulting company, J.P. Morgan Chase & Company, will be the third-largest financial concern in the US.

2003: British rock singer Mike Smith (of Dave Clark Five) fractures his spine when he falls while trying to enter his home after locking himself out; he becomes permanently paralysed from the waist down.

2004: In Ontario province the first divorce of a same-sex couple is granted.

2006: The Spanish Association of Fashion Designers ignites controversy in the fashion world when it decrees that models with a body-mass index (BMI) below 18 will not be permitted to participate in Madrid’s fashion week; a BMI between 18.5 and 25 is considered healthy. At Dawson College in Montreal, Kimveer Gill kills one student and wounds 19 others before committing suicide.

2005: Six-party talks over North Korea’s nuclear programme resume in Beijing.

2007: UNICEF releases figures showing that worldwide mortality for children under the age of five has dropped to 9.7 million — the first time, since records began in 1960, the figure has dropped below 10 million.

2008: At the 33rd Toronto International Film Festival Slumdog Millionaire wins the People’s Choice Award.

2009: An overloaded ferry sinks in darkness in the Congo River near Ankoro, Democratic Republic of the Congo; at least 15 passengers drown and some 90 others go missing.

2013: A mosque bombing attack in Baghdad, Iraq, kills 30 people.

2014: American boxer Floyd Mayweather, Jr retains his WBA and WBC welterweight titles when he defeats Marcos Maidana of Argentina in 12 rounds by unanimous decision in Las Vegas; it is Mayweather’s 47th consecutive victory. The inaugural Formula E automobile race, in which all competitors drive fully electric race cars, takes place in Beijing. After T. B. Joshua’s The Synagogue Church of All Nations collapses in Nigeria, 40 people are killed.

2015: Lydia Ko of New Zealand wins the Evian Championship Women’s Golf tournament by six, defeating Lexi Thompson to become youngest major winner at 18 years and 142 days.

2017: Martin Shkreli’s bail is revoked after he is deemed a risk to the community for posting a US$5,000 bounty for a strand of Hillary Clinton’s hair. UN Secretary General António Guterres says the Rohingya refugee crisis is now “catastrophic” as 370,000 are confirmed to have fled Myanmar.

2018: According to a report by Global Extremist Monitor that is presented by Tony Blair, Islamic extremism by 121 groups caused 84,000 deaths in 2017.

2019: US actress Felicity Huffman is sentenced to 14 days in prison for her role in the college admissions scandal.

2020: US Open Men’s Tennis: Austrian Dominic Thiem becomes the first in 70 years to recover from 2 sets down to win US crown.

2021: Rapper Nicki Minaj tweets misinformation about vaccines making men impotent, forcing prominent officials — including leading infectious disease expert in the USA Antony Fauci and the health minister of Trinidad — to publicly debunk it.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Daniel Defoe, English writer, trader, journalist, pamphleteer and spy (1660-1731); Laura Secord, Canadian heroine of the War of 1812 (1775-1868); Milton Snavely Hershey, American businessman, philanthropist and chocolatier founder of Hershey Chocolate Company (1857-1945); Fabio Cannavaro, Italian football player (1973- ); Tyler Perry, American playwright, actor, screenwriter, producer, and director (1969- ); Shane Warne, Australian cricketer (1969-2022)