December 29th

Today's Highlight in History:
On December 29th, 1851, the first American Young Men's Christian Association was organized, in Boston.

On this date:
In 1170, Archbishop Thomas Becket was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral in England.

In 1808, the 17th president of the United States, Andrew Johnson, was born in Raleigh, North Carolina.

In 1813, the British burned Buffalo, New York, during the War of 1812.

In 1845, Texas was admitted as the 28th state.

In 1890, the Wounded Knee massacre took place in South Dakota as some 300 Sioux Indians were killed by US troops sent to disarm them.

In 1934, Japan renounced the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 and the London Naval Treaty of 1930.

In 1940, during World War Two, Germany began dropping incendiary bombs on London.

In 1957, singers Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme were married in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In 1975, a bomb exploded in the main terminal of New York's LaGuardia Airport, killing eleven people.

In 1996, war-weary guerrilla and government leaders in Guatemala signed an accord ending 36 years of civil conflict.

Ten years ago: Playwright Vaclav Havel was elected president of Czechoslovakia by the country's Federal Assembly, becoming the first non-Communist to attain the post in more than four decades.

Five years ago: US officials confirmed the release of US Army helicopter pilot Bobby Hall from North Korean custody (due to the time difference, it was December 30th in Korea when Hall crossed the demilitarized zone to freedom).

One year ago: Two top Khmer Rouge leaders apologized for the deaths of as many as two million people during their regime in the 1970s, and asked Cambodians to forget the past.

"Sin cannot be undone, only forgiven."

-- Igor Stravinsky, Russian-born composer (1882-1971).