TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Tuesday, December 31, the 365th and final day of 2013. Highlights in history on this date: 1494 - Forces of France’s King Charles VIII enter Rome. 1775 - The British repel an attack by Continental Army generals Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold at Quebec. Montgomery is killed. 1853 - Sir George Grey departs New Zealand after his first term as governor. 1879 - US inventor Thomas A. Edison gives first demonstration of his electric incan\ descent light in New Jersey. 1961 - Lebanon’s army prevents coup attempt in Beirut by Syrian Popular Party; the US Marshall Plan expires after distributing more than $ 12 billion in foreign aid. 1966 - United States says it will halt bombing of North Vietnam when Hanoi gives assurance that it will discuss peace terms seriously. 1974 - Private US citizens are allowed to buy and own gold for the first time in more than 40 years. 1991 - North Korea and South Korea agree not to use nuclear weapons. 1994 - A New Year’s Eve assault by Russian forces on Grozny, Chechnya, produces one of the bloodiest days of the war. 1997 - Hong Kong authorities finish up the slaughter of 1.3 million chickens and other fowl to prevent an outbreak of a deadly strain of bird flu in humans. 1999 - Russian President Boris Yeltsin resigns. 1999 - Cave rescue teams descend on the Bulmer caves near Nelson to rescue an injured caver trapped more than 5km underground, in the biggest such mission seen in New Zealand. 2004 - Locked doors at a nightclub in Buenos Aires, Brazil, block or slow the exit of many concertgoers fighting to escape a fire that kills 186 people. 2006 - Nine bombs explode across Bangkok as the Thai capital celebrates New Year’s Eve, killing two people and capping a year of unrest. Today’s Birthdays: Jacques Cartier, French explorer ( 1491- 1557); Henri Matisse, French artist- sculptor ( 1869- 1954); Nathan Milstein, Russian- born violinist ( 1903- 1992); Gottfried August Burger, German poet ( 1748- 1794); Anthony Hopkins, English actor ( 1937-); Sarah Miles, British actress ( 1941-); Donna Summer, US singer ( 1948– 2012); Ben Kingsley, British actor ( 1943-); Richie McCaw, NZ rugby player ( 1980-).