Today is the 24th day of 2022. There are 341 days left in the year.

TODAY'S HIGHLIGHT

1940: Japan's military dumps swarms of infected fleas on China, triggering outbreaks of the bubonic plague; two Chinese doctors testify at a trial in Tokyo and nearly 200 Chinese plaintiffs demand compensation and an apology from the Japanese Government for their relatives' deaths.

OTHER EVENTS

661: Islam's Caliph Ali, one of Shiite Islam's key saints, is killed by a murderer with a poisoned saber.

1556: An earthquake in Shensi (Shaanxi) province, China, kills 830,000 people.

1848: James Marshall finds gold nuggets in the US territory of California, touching off the Gold Rush of 1849.

1899: The rubber heel for boots or shoes is patented by American Humphrey O'Sullivan.

1908: Lieutenant General Robert Baden-Powell publishes Scouting for Boys as a manual for self-instruction in outdoor skills and self-improvement, organising in England the first Boy Scout troop; the book becomes the inspiration for the Scout Movement.

1935: Canned beer goes on sale for the first time in the United States as the first canned beer, Krueger's Cream Ale, is sold by American company Krueger Brewing Co.

1946: UN General Assembly votes to create the UN Atomic Energy Commission.

1965: Prime minister of the United Kingdom Winston Churchill dies.

1972: US Supreme Court strikes down laws that deny welfare benefits to people who have resided in a state for less than a year.

1984: Steve Jobs introduces Apple's revolutionary computer Macintosh.

1989: American serial killer Ted Bundy — who confessed to murdering 30 women, though many believe the number to be much higher — is executed at age 42.

1992: A judge sentences an army colonel and lieutenant to 30 years in prison for the 1989 massacre of six Jesuit priests in El Salvador.

1993: American lawyer and civil rights activist Thurgood Marshall, the first African American to serve on the US Supreme Court (1967–91), dies at age 84.

1995: In a move of uncertain efficacy, US President Bill Clinton freezes the assets of suspected terrorist groups in American banks. The prosecution gives its opening statement at the O J Simpson murder trial.

1998: The Government of the Mexican state of Chiapas frees 300 prisoners as a way of opening talks with the indigenous rebels.

1999: Olympic leaders recommend the expulsion of six members of the International Olympic Committee in an unprecedented response to the biggest corruption scandal in the history of the Games.

2002: John Walker Lindh, a US citizen captured while fighting alongside Afghanistan's deposed Taliban militia, appears in US District Court to face charges of conspiring to kill Americans and supporting terrorist groups.

2005: With calls of "never again" the UN General Assembly commemorates the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camps with a special session.

2007: Israeli President Moshe Katsav, facing charges of rape and abuse of power, asks Parliament to temporarily remove him from office in an effort to blunt a growing demand for his resignation.

2008: French bank Societe Generale uncovers an alleged 4.9-billion-euro (US$7.14-billion) fraud by a futures trader, Jerome Kerviel, who fooled regulators and overstepped his authority.

2009: Hundreds of migrants and refugees break out of an overcrowded immigration facility on a Sicilian island to protest their treatment; nearly 2,000 people were crammed into a facility built for 850.

2011: Adele releases 21, the second studio album by her; it wins the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 2012, the Brit Award for British Album of the Year, and the 2011 Billboard Album of the Year award also.

2018: Former US Olympic team doctor Larry Nassar, found guilty of molesting over 150 girls, is sentenced up to 175 years in prison.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS

Hadrian (Publius Aelius Hadrianus Augustus), Roman Emperor (76 AD-138 AD); Frederick II, king of Prussia (1712-1786); Gustav III, King of Sweden (1746-1792); E T A Hoffmann, German author (1776-1822); Neil Diamond, US singer (1941- ); Aaron Neville, US singer with The Neville Brothers (1941- ); Michael Ontkean, Canadian actor (1946- ); Tatyana Ali, US actress-singer (1979- )

– AP