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Today is the 251st day of 2021. There are 114 days left in the year.TODAY'S HIGHLIGHT1992: Nelson Mandela calls for the removal of the homeland ruler whose troops killed 24 protesters, sparking a major confrontation between black and white leaders in South Africa. OTHER EVENTS1565: A Spanish expedition establishes the first permanent European settlement in North America at present-day St Augustine, Florida.1664: The Dutch surrender New Amsterdam to the British, who rename it New York.1831: Russia takes Warsaw after two-day battle and Polish revolt collapses.1900: Galveston, Texas, is struck by a hurricane that kills about 6,000 people.1934: Fire aboard luxury liner Morro Castle off New Jersey coast in the United States takes 134 lives.1939: US President Franklin D Roosevelt declares a "limited national emergency" due to the outbreak of war in Europe.1941: The Germans begin an 872-day siege of Leningrad, now St Petersburg, Russia.1943: Allied Commander Dwight D Eisenhower announces Italy's unconditional surrender in World War II. The Germans take over Rome and northern Italy.1944: The first of more than 1,000 German V-2 ballistic missiles land in Britain.1951: A peace treaty with Japan is signed by 48 other nations in San Francisco.1952: American writer Ernest Hemingway's novel sand the Sea is published.1974: US President Gerald Ford grants an unconditional pardon to former President Richard Nixon.1979: Three armed Lebanese surrender to Iranian authorities in Tehran after hijacking an Italian airliner the day before. The hijackers released 175 passengers in Rome and the remaining 35 in Tehran.1983: Ten people are killed in anti-government protests in Santiago as Chileans continue to demand the resignation of President Augusto Pinochet and a return to civilian rule.1988: About one million demonstrators demanding democracy paralyse Yangon, Myanmar.1991: Macedonians vote to become the third of six Yugoslav republics to choose independence.1994: British, French, and American troops pull out of Berlin, leaving the city without foreign soldiers for the first time since World War II.1998: Serb forces launch a new offensive against separatists in western Kosovo a day after US envoys failed to persuade Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to halt the attacks.2000: The head of the US Bureau of Indian Affairs apologises for the federal agency's "legacy of racism and inhumanity" that included massacres, forced relocations of tribes, and attempts to wipe out native Indian cultures.2005: Ukraine President Viktor Yushchenko fires his seven-month-old Government amid allegations of corruption, dismissing his dynamic prime minister - the heroine of the Orange Revolution that swept him to power - and accepting the resignation of one of the movement's top financial backers.2010: Fidel Castro tells a visiting American journalist that Cuba's communist economic model does not work, a rare comment on domestic affairs from a man who has conspicuously steered clear of local issues since stepping down four years ago.2011: The US Government accuses a powerful Venezuelan general, an intelligence official and two political allies of President Hugo Chavez of providing arms, security, and training to Colombia's main rebel group.2013: Syrian rebels led by al-Qaeda-linked fighters seize control of a predominantly Christian village north-east of Damascus, sweeping into the mountainside sanctuary in heavy fighting overnight and forcing hundreds of residents to flee.2014: Iraq's Parliament officially names Haider al-Abadi the country's new prime minister and approves most of his proposed Cabinet. TODAY'S BIRTHDAYSRichard I, the Lionhearted, king of England (1157-1199); August Schlegal, German author (1767-1845); Antonin Dvorak, Bohemian composer (1841-1904); Jessie Wilcox Smith, US painter/illustrator (1863-1935); Patsy Cline, US country singer (1932-1963); Sid Caesar, US comedian (1922-2014); Neko Case, alt-country singer (1970- ); Richell Bonner (stage name Richie Spice), Jamaican reggae artiste (1971- ) - AP/Jamaica Observer