TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY IS THURSDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2018

On this day in history:

1703 - The Methuen Treaty was signed between Portugal and England, giving preference to the import of Portuguese wines into England.

1803 - Convict William Buckley escapes, spawning the Australian phrase “Buckley’s chance”.

1831 - Charles Darwin set out on a voyage to the Pacific aboard the HMS Beagle. Darwin’s discoveries during the voyage helped him form the basis of his theories on evolution.

1904 - James Barrie’s play

Peter Pan premiered in London.

1927 - Leon Trotsky was expelled from the Communist Party.

1945 - The World Bank was created with an agreement signed by 28 nations.

1949 - Queen Juliana of the Netherlands granted sovereignty to Indonesia after more than 300 years of Dutch rule.

1978 - Spain adopted a new constitution and became a democracy after 40 years of dictatorship.

1979 - Soviet forces seized control of Afghanistan. Babrak Karmal succeeded President Hafizullah Amin, who was overthrown and executed.

1985 - Palestinian guerrillas opened fire inside the Rome and Vienna airports. Twenty people were killed, including five of the attackers, who were slain by police and security personnel.

1985 - Dian Fossey, an American naturalist, was found murdered at a research station in Rawanda.

1996 - Muslim fundamentalist Taliban forces retook the strategic air base of Bagram, solidifying their buffer zone around Kabul, the Afghanistan capital.

1997 - In Northern Ireland, Billy Wright was assassinated. He was imprisoned as a Protestant paramilitary leader.

2002 - North Korea ordered UN nuclear inspectors to leave the country and said that it would restart a laboratory capable of producing plutonium for nuclear weapons.