Today is Monday, June 18, the 170th day of 2012. There are 196 days left in the year.

1178 ― Proposed time of origin of lunar crater Giordano Bruno

1583 ― Richard Martin of London takes out first life insurance policy, on William Gibbons.

1815 ― Battle of Waterloo; Napoleon defeated by Wellington

1940 ― Winston Churchill urges perseverance so that future generations would remember that ``this was their finest hour"

1948 ― National Security Council authorizes covert operations for first time

1948 ― U.N. Commission on Human Rights adopts International Declaration of Human Rights

1953 ― Egypt proclaimed a republic, General Neguib becomes president

1959 ― First telecast transmitted from England to U.S.

1968 ― Supreme Court bans racial discrimination in sale and rental of housing

1989 ― Comet Churyunov-Gerasimenko at perihelion