THURSDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2007

Today is Thursday, December 27, the 361st day of 2007. There are 4 days left in the year.

537 _ St. Sofia Church in Constantinople initiated

1703 _ England and Portugal sign the Methuen-Asiento-trade agreement

1831 _ Darwin begins his voyage to South America on board the HMS Beagle

1927 _ Stalin's faction wins All-Union Congress in the USSR, Trotsky expelled

1939 _ 8.0 Earthquake in Erzincam, Turkey, about 50,000 die

1941 _ Japan bombs Manila even though it was declared an ``open city"

1945 _ The International Monetary Fund established; the World Bank founded

1960 _ France performs a nuclear test

1972 _ New North Korean constitution comes into effect

1978 _ King Juan Carlos ratifies Spain's first democratic constitution

1979 _ Soviet troops invade Afghanistan, President Hafizullah Amin overthrown