Today's Highlight in History:
On December 24th, 1951, Gian Carlo Menotti's "Amahl and the Night Visitors," the first opera written specifically for television, was first broadcast by NBC TV.

On this date:
In 1524, Portuguese葡萄牙人 navigator Vasco da Gama -- who had discovered a sea route around Africa to India -- died in Cochin, India.

In 1814, the War of 1812 officially ended as the United States and Britain signed the Treaty of Ghent in Belgium.

In 1851, fire devastated²毁坏，摧毁 the Library of Congress in Washington DC, destroying about 35,000 volumes.

In 1865, several veterans of the Confederate Army formed a private social club in Pulaski, Tennessee, called the Ku Klux Klan.

In 1871, Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Aida" had its world premiere初次公演 in Cairo, Egypt, to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal.

In 1906, Canadian physicist³ Reginald A. Fessenden became the first person to broadcast a music program over radio, from Brant Rock, Massachusetts.

In 1920, Enrico Caruso gave his last public performance, singing in Jacques Halevy's "La Juive" at the Metropolitan⁴ Opera in New York.

In 1943, President Roosevelt appointed General Dwight D. Eisenhower supreme⁵ commander of Allied⁶ forces盟军，联军 as part of Operation "Overlord."

In 1968, the "Apollo Eight" astronauts, orbiting the moon, read passages from the Old Testament⁷ Book of Genesis during a Christmas Eve television broadcast.

In 1980, Americans remembered the US hostages in Iran by burning candles or shining lights for 417 seconds -- one second for each day of captivity⁸.

Ten years ago: Ousted⁹ Panamanian ruler Manuel Noriega, who had succeeded in eluding逃避，躲避 US forces, took refuge避难，躲避 at the Vatican's diplomatic mission in Panama City.

Five years ago: Armed Islamic fundamentalists hijacked¹¹ an Air France Airbus A-300 carrying 227 passengers at the Algiers airport; three passengers were killed during the siege围攻，包围 before the hijackers were killed by French commandos突击队 in Marseille two days later. British playwright¹² John Osborne ("Look Back in Anger") died at age 65.

One year ago: Ignoring NATO warnings, Serb tanks and troops struck an ethnic¹³ Albanian stronghold in Kosovo. Most of California's citrus柑橘属 crop was considered ruined after three straight nights of freezing cold.