By The Associated Press

Today is Wednesday, Dec. 18, the 353rd day of 2024. There are 13 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Dec. 18, 2019, the U.S. House impeached President Donald Trump on two charges, sending his case to the Senate for trial; the articles of impeachment accused him of abusing the power of the presidency to investigate rival Joe Biden ahead of the 2020 election and then obstructing Congress’ investigation. (It was the first of two Trump impeachment trials that would end in acquittal by the Senate.)

On this date:

In 1865, the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery, was declared in effect by Secretary of State William H. Seward.

In 1892, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s ballet “The Nutcracker” publicly premiered in St. Petersburg, Russia; although now considered a classic, it received a generally negative reception from critics.

In 1917, Congress passed the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibiting “the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors” and sent it to the states for ratification.

In 1940, Adolf Hitler signed a secret directive ordering preparations for a Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. (The invasion, known as Operation Barbarossa, was launched in June, 1941.)

In 1944, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the government’s wartime detention of people of Japanese descent from the West Coast while at the same time ruling that “concededly loyal” Americans of Japanese ancestry could not continue to be detained.

In 1957, the Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania, the first nuclear facility to generate electricity in the United States, went on line. (It was taken out of service in 1982.)

In 1958, the world’s first communications satellite, SCORE (Signal Communication by Orbiting Relay Equipment), nicknamed “Chatterbox,” was launched by the United States aboard an Atlas rocket.

In 1969, Britain’s House of Lords joined the House of Commons in making permanent a 1965 ban on the death penalty for murder.

In 1992, Kim Young-sam was elected South Korea’s first civilian president in three decades.

In 2003, two federal appeals courts ruled the U.S. military could not indefinitely hold prisoners without access to lawyers or American courts.

In 2011, the last convoy of heavily armored U.S. troops left Iraq, crossing into Kuwait in darkness in the final moments of a nine-year war. In 2012, Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel became the first freshman to be voted The Associated Press Player of the Year in college football.

In 2020, the U.S. added a second COVID-19 vaccine to its arsenal, as the Food and Drug Administration authorized an emergency rollout of the shot developed by Moderna Inc. and the National Institutes of Health.

In 2022, Argentina beat France 4-2 in a penalty shootout to claim a third World Cup, the first for star Lionel Messi.

Today’s Birthdays: Chef Jacques Pépin is 89. Rock musician Keith Richards is 81. Filmmaker Alan Rudolph is 81. Filmmaker Steven Spielberg is 78. Filmmaker Gillian Armstrong is 74. R&B singer Angie Stone is 63. Actor Brad Pitt is 61. Singer Alejandro Sanz is 56. Tennis Hall of Famer Arantxa Sanchez Vicario is 53. Pop singer Sia is 49. Country singer Randy Houser is 49. Actor Katie Holmes is 46. Singer Christina Aguilera is 44. MLB outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. is 27. NFL quarterback Jayden Daniels is 24. Singer Billie Eilish is 23.