Today’s highlights

On Dec. 11, 1936, Britain’s King Edward VIII abdicated the throne so he could marry American divorcee Wallis Warfield Simpson; his brother, Prince Albert, became King George VI.

On this date

1946: The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund was established.

1978: Nearly $6 million in cash and jewelry were stolen from the Lufthansa cargo terminal at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport.

1980: President Jimmy Carter signed legislation creating a $1.6 billion environmental “Superfund” to pay for cleaning up hazardous chemical spills and toxic waste dumps.

1997: More than 150 countries agreed at a global warming conference in Kyoto, Japan, to control the Earth’s greenhouse gases.

1998: Majority Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee pushed through three articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton.

2008: Former Nasdaq chairman Bernie Madoff was arrested, accused of running a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme that wiped out the life savings of thousands of people and wrecked charities.

2020: The Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit backed by President Donald Trump to overturn Joe Biden’s election victory, ending an attempt to get legal issues that were rejected by state and federal judges before the nation’s highest court.

Today’s birthdays

Actor Rita Moreno is 93. Former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is 81. Singer Brenda Lee is 80. Singer Jermaine Jackson is 70. Rock musician Nikki Sixx is 66.