Today is May 27, the 147th day of 2011. There are 218 days left in the year.

1679 ― Habeas Corpus Act (no false arrest and imprisonment) passes in U.K.

1703 ― St. Petersburg (Leningrad) founded by Peter the Great

1796 ― James S. McLean patents his piano

1844 ― Samuel F.B. Morse completes first telegraph line

1921 ― After 84 years of British control, Afghanistan achieves sovereignty

1941 ― FDR proclaims an ``unlimited national emergency" due to Germany's sinking of Robin Moor

1942 ― Hitler orders 10,000 Czechoslovakians murdered

1951 ― Chinese Communists force Dalai Lama to surrender his army to Beijing

1977 ― Two Boeing 747s by Pan Am and KLM collide in Canary Islands, killing 582

1980 ― South Korean police ends people's uprising; 2,000 killed