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Wednesday, October 17, 2007

This day in history          Send a link to a friend

[October 17, 2007]  (AP) Today is Wednesday, Oct. 17, the 290th day of 2007. There are 75 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On Oct. 17, 1777, British forces under Gen. John Burgoyne surrendered to American troops in Saratoga, N.Y., in a turning point of the Revolutionary War.

On this date:

In 1807, Britain declared it would continue to reclaim British-born sailors from American ships and ports regardless of whether they held U.S. citizenship.

In 1907, Guglielmo Marconi began offering limited commercial wireless telegraph service between Nova Scotia and Ireland.

In 1919, the Radio Corporation of America was chartered.

In 1931, mobster Al Capone was convicted of income tax evasion. (Sentenced to 11 years in prison, Capone was released in 1939.)

In 1933, Albert Einstein arrived in the United States as a refugee from Nazi Germany.

In 1941, the U.S. destroyer Kearny was torpedoed by a German submarine off the coast of Iceland; 11 people died.

In 1957, the movie "Jailhouse Rock," starring Elvis Presley, had its world premiere in Memphis, Tenn.

In 1973, Arab oil-producing nations announced they would begin cutting back oil exports to Western nations and Japan; the result was a total embargo that lasted until March 1974.

In 1989, an earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale struck northern California, killing 63 people and causing $6 billion in damage.

In 1992, Japanese exchange student Yoshi Hattori was shot and killed by Rodney Peairs in Louisiana after Hattori and his American host mistakenly knocked on Peairs' door while looking for a Halloween party. (Peairs was acquitted of manslaughter, but in a civil trial was ordered to pay more than $650,000 to Hattori's family.)

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Ten years ago: The remains of revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara were laid to rest in his adopted Cuba, 30 years after his execution in Bolivia.

Five years ago: Ira Einhorn, the '70s hippie guru who had fled to Europe after being charged with murder, was convicted in Philadelphia of killing his girlfriend, Holly Maddux, and stuffing her corpse in his closet a quarter of a century earlier. (Einhorn was later sentenced to life without parole.)

One year ago: President Bush signed legislation authorizing tough interrogation of terror suspects and smoothing the way for trials before military commissions. America's official population passed the 300 million mark, fueled by a growing number of immigrants and their children. CBS News correspondent Christopher Glenn died in Norwalk, Conn., at age 68.

Today's birthdays: Actress Marsha Hunt is 90. Actress Beverly Garland is 81. Actress Julie Adams is 81. Daredevil Evel Knievel is 69. Country singer Earl Thomas Conley is 66. Singer Jim Seals (Seals & Crofts) is 65. Singer Gary Puckett is 65. Actor Michael McKean is 60. Actress Margot Kidder is 59. Actor George Wendt is 59. Actor Sam Bottoms is 52. Astronaut Mae Jemison is 51. Country singer Alan Jackson is 49. Movie director Rob Marshall is 47. Animator Mike Judge is 45. Actor-comedian Norm Macdonald is 44. Singer Rene' Dif is 40. Reggae singer Ziggy Marley is 39. Singer Chris Kirkpatrick ('N Sync) is 36. Rapper Eminem is 35. Singer Wyclef Jean is 35. Actress Sharon Leal is 35. Rock musician Sergio Andrade is 30.

Thought for today: "Those who nobly set out to be their brother's keeper sometimes end up by becoming his jailer. Every emancipation has in it the seeds of a new slavery, and every truth easily becomes a lie." -- I.F. Stone, American journalist (1907-1989).

[Associated Press]

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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