This day in history

[October 23, 2009]  (AP)  Today is Friday, Oct. 23, the 296th day of 2009. There are 69 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On Oct. 23, 1983, 241 U.S. service members, most of them Marines, were killed in a suicide truck-bombing at Beirut International Airport in Lebanon; a near-simultaneous attack on French forces killed 58 paratroopers.

On this date:

In 1707, the first Parliament of Great Britain, created by the Acts of Union between England and Scotland, held its first meeting.

In 1864, forces led by Union Gen. Samuel R. Curtis repelled Confederate Gen. Sterling Price's army in the Battle of Westport in Missouri.

In 1915, tens of thousands of women marched in New York City, demanding the right to vote.

In 1942, during World War II, Britain launched a major offensive against Axis forces at El Alamein in Egypt.

In 1946, the United Nations General Assembly convened in New York for the first time, at an auditorium in Flushing Meadow.

In 1956, a student-sparked revolt against Hungary's Communist rule began; as the revolution spread, Soviet forces started entering the country, and the uprising was put down within weeks.

In 1973, President Richard Nixon agreed to turn over White House tape recordings subpoenaed by the Watergate special prosecutor to Judge John J. Sirica.

In 1987, the U.S. Senate rejected, 58-42, the Supreme Court nomination of Robert H. Bork.

In 1989, 23 people were killed in an explosion at Phillips Petroleum Co.'s chemical complex in Pasadena, Texas. In a case that inflamed racial tensions in Boston, Charles Stuart claimed he and his pregnant wife, Carol, had been shot in their car by a black robber. (Carol Stuart and her prematurely delivered baby died; Charles Stuart later died, an apparent suicide, after he was implicated.)

In 1995, a jury in Houston convicted Yolanda Saldivar of murdering Tejano singing star Selena. (Saldivar is serving a life prison sentence.)

Ten years ago: Sixteen members of the Ku Klux Klan held a silent rally in New York City as thousands of counter-demonstrators jeered them. The New York Yankees won the first game of the World Series, beating the Atlanta Braves, 4-1. (The Yankees went on to sweep the series.)

Five years ago: Gunmen ambushed a group of U.S.-trained Iraqi soldiers on a road east of Baghdad; around 50 of the soldiers, who were unarmed, were killed execution-style. A 6.8-magnitude earthquake in northern Japan killed 40 people. The Boston Red Sox took Game 1 of the World Series, defeating the St. Louis Cardinals 11-9. Singer Ashlee Simpson was caught lip-synching during an appearance on NBC's "Saturday Night Live." Opera singer Robert Merrill died in New Rochelle, N.Y., at age 87.

One year ago: Badgered by lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan denied the nation's economic crisis was his fault but conceded the meltdown had revealed a flaw in a lifetime of economic thinking and left him in a "state of shocked disbelief." The Tampa Bay Rays evened the World Series at one game apiece by beating the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-2.

Today's birthdays: Baseball Hall of Famer Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., is 78. Movie director Philip Kaufman is 73. Soccer great Pele is 69. Rhythm-and-blues singer Barbara Ann Hawkins (The Dixie Cups) is 66. Actor Michael Rupert is 58. Movie director Ang Lee is 55. Jazz singer Dianne Reeves is 53. Country singer Dwight Yoakam is 53. Community activist Martin Luther King III is 52. Movie director Sam Raimi is 50. Parodist "Weird Al" Yankovic is 50. Rock musician Robert Trujillo (Metallica) is 45. Christian/jazz singer David Thomas (Take 6) is 43. Rock musician Brian Nevin (Big Head Todd and the Monsters) is 43. Country singer-musician Junior Bryant is 41. CNN medical reporter Dr. Sanjay Gupta is 40. Country singer Jimmy Wayne is 37. Rock musician Eric Bass (Shinedown) is 35. Actor Ryan Reynolds is 33. Actress Masiela Lusha is 24. Actress Briana Evigan is 23. Actress Jessica Stroup is 23.

Thought for today: "The tendency to claim God as an ally for our partisan values and ends is the source of all religious fanaticism." -- Reinhold Niebuhr, American clergyman and author (1892-1971)

[Associated Press]

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