Highlights in history on this date:

1872: Adelaide becomes the first city in Australia to be connected to Europe by telegraph with the completion of the Overland Telegraph Line to Darwin.

1879: Thomas Edison invents the electric lamp.

1938: Japanese troops take Canton in China.

1944: US troops capture Aachen, the first big German city to fall to the Allies in World War II.

1945: Women vote for first time in France.

1947: UN General Assembly asks Greece and Balkan powers to settle differences peacefully.

1950: Chinese forces begin occupation of Tibet.

1957: Start of Australia's first automatic telephone weather service, in Melbourne.

1959: The Guggenheim Museum opens to the public in New York.

1963: Cuba's Premier Fidel Castro asks for immediate end of United States' economic blockade of Cuba.

1964: Movie musical My Fair Lady, starring Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison, has world premiere in New York.

1966: A slag heap collapses on the village of Aberfan in Wales, killing 144 people, mostly schoolchildren.

1971: North Vietnam's Premier Phan Van Dong says his government is ready to accept ceasefire as first step towards settlement of Vietnam War.

1973: Four Gulf states cut off oil supplies to United States to protest US arms shipments to Israel in Middle East conflict.

1989: At least 120 people are killed when a Honduran jet breaks apart in flight and crashes outside Tegucigalpa.

1991: American hostage Jesse Turner is released in Beirut, Lebanon.

1993: NATO ministers endorse a plan to form limited partnerships with Russia and other former East bloc foes but stops short of offering full membership.

1994: The United States and North Korea sign a pact to end the war of nerves over Pyongyang's nuclear program.

1995: Presidents and premiers from around the world gather in New York City for the 50th anniversary of the United Nations.

1996: A UN envoy arrives in Kabul, Afghanistan, to try to avert an all-out war for the shattered city.

1997: Aid begins pouring into Brazzaville, the war-torn capital of the Republic of Congo.

2000: About 23,000 Afghans flee to Pakistan as fighting rages in the northeastern provinces between the ruling Taliban militia and opposition forces.

2001: In a joint statement, Russia and United States pledge to co-operate to prevent nuclear, biological or chemical weapons being used in terrorism.

2002: About 14 Israelis are killed when a vehicle packed with explosives slams into a bus in the country's north.

2003: At least 22 people are killed during a series of massive wildfires in southern California.

2004: Japan starts the clean-up a day after a deadly typhoon slams into the country, killing 55 and leaving 24 missing.

2005: The body of a defence lawyer in Saddam Hussein's mass murder trial is found dumped in the street with two bullet wounds in the head.

2006: Donations of clothing set off stampedes in impoverished Bangladesh leaving at least eight people dead.

2008: The first flight of an Airbus A380 by Qantas touches down in Los Angeles.

2009: US Vice President Joe Biden seeks reconciliation with America's staunch allies in eastern Europe, starting with Poland, which eagerly signs on to a revamped US missile shield.

2011: NATO says it plans to end its seven-month bombing campaign in Libya at the end of the month, leaving the battle-scarred country's new authorities on their own to ensure security 2012: The funeral for Lebanon's slain intelligence chief descends into chaos as soldiers fire tear gas at protesters who tried to storm the government palace.

2013: France joins a growing list of angry allies who are demanding answers from the United States over aggressive surveillance tactics by the National Security Agency.

2014: Former Australian prime minister Gough Whitlam dies aged 98.

2015: Remains of a two-year-old girl dumped in a suitcase on an SA roadside are identified as Khandalyce Pearce, five years after the body of her mother Karlie Pearce-Stevenson was found in Belango State Forest, NSW. Daniel James Holdom, 41, is later charged with their murders.

2016: An Australian ban on the Adler gun - which can shoot eight bullets in as many seconds - is upheld after the states fail to agree on how to reclassify it.

2017: Three racing greyhounds in Darwin die from a rare flesh-eating disease, temporarily shutting down the local greyhound racing industry.

2018: American actor Selma Blair reveals she is suffering from multiple sclerosis in an emotional Instagram post.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS:

Judith Sheindlin, American lawyer and judge, better known as Judge Judy (1942); Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli prime minister (1949); Carrie Fisher, US actor-writer (1956-2016); Kim Kardashian, American socialite and reality TV star (1980); Bernard Tomic, Australian tennis player (1992).

THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

"You will never 'find' time for anything. If you want time you must make it." - Charles Buxton, English author (1823-1871).