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 Today's highlight in history:
On Oct. 12, 1492 (Old Style calendar; Oct. 21 New Style), Christopher Columbus arrived with his expedition in the present-day Bahamas.
On this date:
In 1870, Gen. Robert E. Lee died in Lexington, Va., at age 63.
In 1915, English nurse Edith Cavell was executed by the Germans in occupied Belgium during World War I.
In 1933, bank robber John Dillinger escaped from a jail in Allen County, Ohio, with the help of his gang, who killed the sheriff, Jess Sarber.
In 1935, opera star Luciano Pavarotti was born in Modena, Italy.
In 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt delivered one of his "fireside chats" in which he recommended the drafting of 18- and 19-year-old men.
In 1960, Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev disrupted a U.N. General Assembly session by pounding his desk with a shoe when a speaker criticized his country.
In 1968, the Summer Games of the 19th Olympiad officially opened in Mexico City.
In 1976, it was announced in China that Hua Guofeng had been named to succeed the late Mao Zedong as chairman of the Communist Party.
In 1987, former Kansas Governor Alfred ("Alf") M. Landon died at his Topeka home at age 100.
In 2000, 17 sailors were killed in a suicide bomb attack on the U.S. destroyer Cole in Yemen.
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 Ten years ago: Singer John Denver was killed in the crash of his privately built aircraft in Monterey Bay, Calif.; he was 53. President Clinton opened his first trip to South America as he arrived in Venezuela.
Five years ago: A bomb blamed on Islamic militants destroyed a nightclub on the Indonesian island of Bali, killing 202 people, many of them foreign tourists.
One year ago: The United States introduced a draft resolution in the U.N. Security Council to punish North Korea for its nuclear test. Suspected Shiite militiamen broke into an Iraqi television station and gunned down 11 executives, producers and other staffers. Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk won the Nobel prize in literature. Madonna and Guy Ritchie took custody of David Banda, a 1-year-old boy from Malawi, and received preliminary approval from a judge to adopt him. Italian filmmaker Gillo Pontecorvo ("The Battle of Algiers") died in Rome at age 86.
Today's birthdays: Actress Antonia Rey is 80. Blues singer Nappy Brown is 78. Comedian-activist Dick Gregory is 75. Former Sen. Jake Garn, R-Utah, is 75. Singer Sam Moore (formerly of Sam and Dave) is 72. Sportscaster Tony Kubek is 71. TV reporter Chris Wallace is 60. Actress-singer Susan Anton is 57. Rock singer-musician Pat DiNizio is 52. Actor Carlos Bernard is 45. Rhythm-and-blues singer Claude McKnight (Take 6) is 45. Rock singer Bob Schneider is 42. Actor Hugh Jackman is 39. Actor Adam Rich is 39. Rhythm-and-blues singer Garfield Bright (Shai) is 38. Country musician Martie Maguire (The Dixie Chicks) is 38. Actor Kirk Cameron is 37. Actor Marcus T. Paulk ("Moesha") is 21.
Thought for today: "The wise man is astonished by anything."
-- Andre Gide, French author and critic (1869-1951).
[Associated
Press]
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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