Today is the 171st day of 2013. There are 194 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight

1994 – US athlete O J Simpson pleads innocent to murdering his ex-wife and her friend.

Other Events

1605: Russia’s Czar Theodore II is assassinated in a palace revolution.

1756: Scores of British prisoners (146, by British accounts) are shut in a cell known as the “Black Hole of Calcutta” by the nawab of Bengal, and only 21 escape suffocation during the night.

1789: French assemblymen representing the common people vow not to leave the tennis court where they are meeting until a constitution is drawn up, signalling start of the French Revolution.

1837: Queen Victoria succeeds to the British throne upon the death of her uncle, King William IV

1867: US President Andrew Jackson proclaims treaty for purchase of Alaska from Russia.

1961: Kuwait, newly independent, is admitted to Arab League, but admission to United Nations is blocked by Soviet Union.

1973: Juan Peron returns to Argentina after an 18-year exile.

1991: German lawmakers narrowly vote to return Germany’s seat of power to Berlin.

1991: PV Narasimha Rao becomes India’s ninth prime minister since it became independent in 1947. He begins reforms that start to open India’s closed and socialist economy.

1992: Czech leader Vaclav Klaus and Slovak leader Vladimir Meciar agree to split Czechoslovakia in two.

1993: The European Community authorizes its mediator to negotiate the division of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

1996:- Russian President Boris Yeltsin fires three of the most powerful members of his administration amid charges they want to cancel presidential elections and use force to retain their positions and power.

1999: While in Germany for a summit Russian President Boris Yeltsin presents US President Bill Clinton with the recently declassified Russian reports relating to the assassination of President John F Kennedy.

2008: A suicide bomber attacks a military convoy as it drives through a town in southern Afghanistan, killing five civilians and one soldier from the US-led coalition.

2011: Tunisia’s former ruler and his wife are convicted in absentia on embezzlement and other charges after $27 million (euro18.97 million) in jewels and public funds were found in one of his palaces.

2012: Greece moves to end its protracted impasse, swearing in a new prime minister to lead a largely pro-bailout coalition tasked with saving the country’s place in the eurozone and easing a European financial crisis with global repercussions.

Today’s Birthdays

Jacques Offenbach, German-born composer (1819-1880); Errol Flynn, Australian actor (1909-1959); Chet Atkins, country guitarist (1924-2001); Olympia Dukakis, actress (1931-); Lionel Richie, R&B singer (1949-); John Goodman, US actor (1952-); Nicole Kidman, actress (1967-); Josh Lucas, US actor (1971-); Brian Wilson, US singer/songwriter (1942-).

— AP