Today is the 122nd day of 2023. There are 243 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

2011: Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the September 11, 2001 terror attacks that killed thousands of Americans, is slain in his luxury hideout in Pakistan in a firefight with US forces, ending a 10-year-plus frustrating manhunt.

OTHER EVENTS

1519: Artist Leonardo da Vinci dies at Cloux, France.

1536: England’s Queen Anne Boleyn is sent to Tower of London where she is eventually beheaded.

1809: Madrid residents rise against the invading French, starting the six-year War of Independence.

1895: The British South Africa Company territory south of Zambesi is organised as Rhodesia.

1933: Adolf Hitler abolishes trade unions in Germany.

1945: The Soviet Union announces the fall of Berlin and the Allies announce the surrender of Nazi troops in Italy and parts of Austria.

1952: Jet plane passenger service is launched in the United States.

1965: The first satellite television programme links nine countries and over 300 million viewers.

1974: Former US Vice-President Spiro T Agnew is disbarred by the Maryland Court of Appeals, effectively preventing him from practising law anywhere in the United States.

1982: Argentine cruiser General Belgrano is sunk by a British submarine, killing 368 Argentine sailors in the worst single death toll of the 10-week war over possession of the Falkland Islands.

1990: The African National Congress and the South African Government open three days of negotiations in Cape Town about gradually ending white rule in South Africa.

1994: Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress claim victory in the first democratic election in South Africa.

1996: Liu Gang, Chinese dissident who spent six years in prison for his leading role in the 1989 pro-democracy movement, receives political asylum in the USA.

1997: Tony Blair becomes Britain’s youngest prime minister in 185 years, defeating John Major’s long-reigning Conservatives by a landslide.

1999: Mireya Moscoso becomes the first woman to win Panama’s presidential elections.

2002: Israeli troops and tanks depart the West Bank city of Ramallah, freeing Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat from confinement to his compound lasting over one month.

2008: Opposition Leader Morgan Tsvangirai wins 47.9 per cent of the vote in Zimbabwe’s presidential elections but still faces a run-off against President Robert Mugabe.

2010: European governments and the International Monetary Fund commit to 110 billion euros in emergency loans to pull Greece back from the brink of default.

2012: The UN Security Council orders all countries to freeze the assets of three North Korean State-owned companies to punish Pyongyang for its failed rocket launch the previous month.

2013: Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says the US is rethinking its opposition to arming Syrian rebels locked in a civil war with the Syrian regime for more than two years, becoming the first top official to publicly acknowledge the reassessment.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia (1729-1796); Theodor Herzl, Hungarian journalist, founder of Zionism (1860-1904); Baron Manfred von Richthofen, World War I German fighter ace (1892-1918); Alan Marshall, Australian author (1902-1984); King Faisal II, last king of Iraq (1935-1958); Ernie Smith, Jamaican reggae singer and songwriter (1945- ); Bianca Jagger, Nicaraguan actress, socialite (1945- ); Lily Allen, British pop singer (1985- )

– AP/ Jamaica Observer