Today in History

Today is Sunday, Dec. 27, the 361st day of 2015. There are four days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Dec. 27, 1945, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund were formally established.

On this date:

In 1831, naturalist Charles Darwin set out on a round-the-world voyage aboard the HMS Beagle.

In 1904, James Barrie's play "Peter Pan: The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up" opened at the Duke of York's Theater in London.

In 1927, the musical play "Show Boat," with music by Jerome Kern and libretto by Oscar Hammerstein II, opened at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York.

In 1932, New York City's Radio City Music Hall first opened.

In 1947, the original version of the puppet character Howdy Doody made its TV debut on NBC's "Puppet Playhouse."

In 1949, Queen Juliana of the Netherlands signed an act recognizing Indonesia's sovereignty after more than three centuries of Dutch rule.

In 1964, the Cleveland Browns defeated the Baltimore Colts 27-0 to win the NFL Championship Game played at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

In 1968, Apollo 8 and its three astronauts made a safe, nighttime splashdown in the Pacific.

In 1979, Soviet forces seized control of Afghanistan. President Hafizullah Amin, who was overthrown and executed, was replaced by Babrak Karmal.

In 1985, Palestinian guerrillas opened fire inside the Rome and Vienna airports; 19 victims were killed, plus four attackers who were slain by police and security personnel. American naturalist Dian Fossey, 53, who had studied gorillas in the wild in Rwanda, was found hacked to death.

In 1995, Israeli jeeps sped out of the West Bank town of Ramallah, capping a seven-week pullout giving Yasser Arafat control over 90 percent of the West Bank's one million Palestinian residents and one-third of its land.

In 2007, opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated during a suicide bomb attack in Pakistan following a campaign rally.

Ten years ago: Grass fires burned in drought-stricken Texas and Oklahoma (over the course of three days, nearly 200 homes were lost and the fires blamed for at least four deaths). Indonesia's Aceh (ah-cheh) rebels formally abolished their 30-year armed struggle for independence under a peace deal born out of the 2004 tsunami.

Five years ago: A Russian court found imprisoned oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky guilty of stealing nearly $30 billion in oil from his company, Yukos. (His supporters charged that Khodorkovsky's prosecution was politically motivated; he was pardoned by Russian President Vladimir Putin in Dec. 2013.) Economist and former government official Alfred E. Kahn, known as "the father of airline deregulation," died in Ithaca, New York, at age 93.

One year ago: North Korea blamed its recent Internet outage on the United States and hurled racially charged insults at President Barack Obama over the hacking row involving the movie "The Interview." Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turkish gunman who shot and wounded John Paul II in 1981, laid white flowers on the saint's tomb in St. Peter's Basilica.

Today's Birthdays: Rockabilly musician Scotty Moore is 84. Actor John Amos is 76. Actress Charmian Carr (Film: "The Sound of Music") is 73. ABC News correspondent Cokie Roberts is 72. Rock musician Mick Jones (Foreigner) is 71. Singer Tracy Nelson is 71. Actor Gerard Depardieu is 67. Jazz singer-musician T.S. Monk is 66. Singer-songwriter Karla Bonoff is 64. Actress Tovah Feldshuh is 63. Rock musician David Knopfler (Dire Straits) is 63. Journalist-turned-politician Arthur Kent is 62. Actress Maryam D'Abo is 55. Country musician Jeff Bryant is 53. Actor Ian Gomez is 51. Actress Theresa Randle is 51. Actress Eva LaRue is 49. Former professional wrestler and actor Bill Goldberg is 49. Actress Tracey Cherelle Jones is 46. Bluegrass singer-musician Darrin Vincent (Dailey & Vincent) is 46. Rock musician Guthrie Govan is 44. Musician Matt Slocum is 43. Actor Wilson Cruz is 42. Singer Olu is 42. Actor Masi Oka is 41. Actor Aaron Stanford is 39. Actress Emilie de Ravin is 34. Christian rock musician James Mead (Kutless) is 33. Rock singer Hayley Williams (Paramore) is 27. Country singer Shay Mooney (Dan & Shay) is 24.

Thought for Today: "Man has an incurable habit of not fulfilling the prophecies of his fellow men." -- Alistair Cooke, Anglo-American journalist and broadcaster (1908-2004).

Copyright 2015, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.