Today is the 79th day of 2013. There are 286 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

1997: The Swiss National Bank confirms that it helped other neutral European countries to buy millions of dollars worth of Nazi gold during World War II.

OTHER EVENTS

1616: Sir Walter Raleigh is released from Tower of London to seek gold in Guyana.

1784: Holland cedes Negapatama and Madras, India, to Britain.

1816: US Supreme Court affirms its right to review state court decisions.

1849: Second Sikh War between Sikhs and Britain begins in India; Ludwig I, King of Bavaria, abdicates.

1850: Another Anglo-Kaffir war breaks out in South Africa.

1852: Harriet Beecher Stowe’s influential novel about slavery, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, is published in the United States.

1896: Marines land in Nicaragua to protect US citizens in the wake of a revolution.

1987: Italian air force General Livio Giorgieri is shot dead by two youths on motorcycle. The attack is attributed to the Red Brigades terrorist group; US Food and Drug Administration approve the sale of AZT, a drug shown to prolong the lives of some AIDS patients.

1988: Honduran warplanes bomb Nicaraguan troops who chased Contras rebels into Honduras.

1989: PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat blames Israeli government for escalating violence in West Bank and Gaza Strip.

1990: Namibia becomes an independent nation, marking the end of 75 years of South African rule.

1991: US forces shoot down an Iraqi warplane saying it was violating a ceasefire agreement; Khaleda Zia is elected prime minister in the first peaceful, democratic transfer of power in Bangladesh.

1992: Iraq backs down under threat of possible air raids and admits far larger ballistic and chemical arsenals than disclosed earlier.

1998: The Trans-Kalahari Highway, sub-Saharan Africa’s first road connecting the Atlantic and Indian Ocean, is opened.

2000: President Abdou Diouf concedes defeat in Senegalese elections, marking a rare victory for democratic change in Africa and bringing a fiery opposition leader to power.

2003: Former US Air Force Sergeant Brian Regan accepts a sentence of life in prison for attempting to sell US defence secrets to China and Iraq.

2004: Thousands of people march in cities across the globe to mark the first anniversary of the war in Iraq, demanding an end to the US occupation — which some blamed for spawning more terrorism — and the withdrawal of international troops.

2006: About 1,000 pro-democracy activists march in the Nepalese capital of Katmandu, demanding King Gyanendra free political detainees and give up powers he seized in 2005.

2007: Fire engulfs a nursing home in Kamyshevatskaya, a small town in south Russia, killing 62 frail and elderly residents after the night watchman ignores two alarms and rescue workers take nearly an hour to arrive.

2008: Australia commits $17 million to train Aboriginal nurses and doctors, as part of efforts to close a 17-year gap in the life expectancies of indigenous and other Australians.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Ovid, Latin poet (43 BC-17 AD); Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian dramatist (1828-1906); Lauritz Melchior, Danish-American operatic tenor (1890- 1973); Fred Rogers, US children’s TV personality (1928-2003); Carl Reiner, US producer (1922-); Spike Lee, US filmmaker (1957-); Holly Hunter, US actress (1958-).

— AP