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 Today's highlight in history:
On Oct. 31, 1517, Martin Luther posted the 95 Theses on the door of the Wittenberg Palace church, marking the start of the Protestant Reformation in Germany.
On this date:
In 1864, Nevada became the 36th state.
In 1926, magician Harry Houdini died in Detroit of gangrene and peritonitis resulting from a ruptured appendix.
In 1941, the Navy destroyer USS Reuben James was torpedoed by a German U-boat off Iceland with the loss of some 100 lives, even though the United States had not yet entered World War II.
In 1956, Navy Rear Admiral George J. Dufek became the first air traveler to set foot at the South Pole.
In 1967, Nguyen Van Thieu took the oath of office as the first president of South Vietnam's second republic.
In 1968, President Johnson ordered a halt to all U.S. bombing of North Vietnam, saying he hoped for fruitful peace negotiations.
In 1984, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two Sikh security guards.
In 1994, a Chicago-bound American Eagle ATR-72 crashed in northern Indiana, killing all 68 people aboard.
In 1996, a Brazilian Fokker-100 jetliner crashed in Sao Paulo, killing all 96 people on board and three on the ground.
In 1999, EgyptAir Flight 990, bound from New York to Cairo, crashed off the Massachusetts coast, killing all 217 people aboard.
Ten years ago: British au pair Louise Woodward received a mandatory life sentence, a day after a jury in Cambridge, Mass., convicted her of second-degree murder in the death of 8-month-old Matthew Eappen. (The verdict was later reduced to manslaughter, and Woodward was set free.) Chinese President Jiang Zemin rang the bell at the New York Stock Exchange to open the day's trading.
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 Five years ago: Authorities charged the two Washington sniper suspects with murder in a Louisiana attack that came just two days after a similar slaying in Alabama. The Securities and Exchange Commission ordered an investigation into allegations that Chairman Harvey Pitt had concealed information on the corporate ties of William Webster, his choice to head a new accounting oversight board. (Pitt and Webster both ended up resigning.) An earthquake toppled a school in San Giuliano Di Puglia, Italy, killing 27 children and a teacher.
One year ago: A fire at a residential hotel in Reno, Nev., killed 12 people. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ordered the lifting of joint U.S.-Iraqi military checkpoints around the Shiite militant stronghold of Sadr City and other parts of Baghdad. P.W. Botha, South Africa's apartheid-era president, died on the southern Cape coast at age 90.
Today's birthdays: Former Attorney General Griffin Bell is 89. Author Dick Francis is 87. Former Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk is 85. Actress Lee Grant is 80. Movie critic Andrew Sarris is 79. Former astronaut Michael Collins is 77. Former CBS anchorman Dan Rather is 76. Folk singer Tom Paxton is 70. Actor Ron Rifkin is 68. Actor David Ogden Stiers is 65. Actress Sally Kirkland is 63. Actor Stephen Rea is 61. Actress Deidre Hall is 59. Talk show host Jane Pauley is 57. Actor Brian Stokes Mitchell is 49. Movie director Peter Jackson is 46. Rock musician Larry Mullen is 46. Actor Dermot Mulroney is 44. Rock musician Mikkey Dee (Motorhead) is 44. Rock singer-musician Johnny Marr is 44. Actor Rob Schneider is 43. Country singer Darryl Worley is 43. Actor-comedian Mike O'Malley is 42. Rap musician Adrock is 41. Songwriter Adam Schlesinger is 40. Rap performer Vanilla Ice (aka Rob Van Winkle) is 39. Rock singer Linn Berggren (Ace of Base) is 37. TV host Troy Hartman is 33. Actress Piper Perabo is 31. Actor Eddie Kaye Thomas is 27.
Thought for today: "Success is a public affair. Failure is a private funeral."
-- Rosalind Russell, American actress (1911-1976).
[The Associated Press]
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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