This day in history

[November 11, 2008]  (AP)  Today is Tuesday, Nov. 11, the 316th day of 2008. There are 50 days left in the year. This is Veterans Day in the U.S., Remembrance Day in Canada.

Today's highlight in history:

On Nov. 11, 1918, fighting in World War I came to an end with the signing of an armistice between the Allies and Germany.

On this date:

In 1620, 41 Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower, anchored off Massachusetts, signed a compact calling for a "body politick."

In 1831, former slave Nat Turner, who'd led a violent insurrection, was executed in Jerusalem, Va.

In 1889, Washington became the 42nd state.

In 1918, the Second Polish Republic declared its independence.

In 1921, the remains of an unidentified American service member were interred in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery in a ceremony presided over by President Harding.

In 1966, Gemini 12 blasted off from Cape Kennedy, Fla., with astronauts James A. Lovell and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin Jr. aboard.

In 1968, the Republic of Maldvies was declared.

In 1983, President Reagan became the first U.S. chief executive to address the Diet, Japan's national legislature.

In 1988, police in Sacramento, Calif., found the first of seven bodies buried on the grounds of a boardinghouse. Landlady Dorothea Puente was later charged in the deaths of nine people; she was convicted of three murders and sentenced to life in prison.

In 2004, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat died at a military hospital in Paris at age 75.

Ten years ago: President Clinton ordered warships, planes and troops to the Persian Gulf as he laid out his case for a possible attack on Iraq. Iraq, meanwhile, showed no sign of backing down from its refusal to deal with U.N. weapons inspectors. Israel's Cabinet narrowly ratified a land-for-peace agreement with the Palestinians.

Five years ago: President Bush's top foreign advisers summoned L. Paul Bremer, Iraq's U.S. administrator, for hurried White House talks focused on their growing frustrations with the Iraqi Governing Council and a logjam in transferring political power to Iraqis. In Galveston, Texas, millionaire Robert Durst was found not guilty of murdering Morris Black, an elderly neighbor whom Durst said he'd killed accidentally. Toronto's Roy Halladay won the American League Cy Young Award.

One year ago: President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said Pakistan would stick to its January schedule for parliamentary elections, but set no time limit on emergency rule. Marking his fifth Veterans Day since the invasion of Iraq, President Bush honored U.S. troops past and present at a tearful ceremony in Texas.

Today's birthdays: Dancer-choreographer Nicholas Royce is 83. Comedian Jonathan Winters is 83. Jazz singer-musician Mose Allison is 81. Author Carlos Fuentes is 80. Country singer Narvel Felts is 70. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., is 68. Rock singer-musician Vince Martell (Vanilla Fudge) is 63. Golfer Fuzzy Zoeller is 57. Pop singer-musician Paul Cowsill (The Cowsills) is 56. Rock singer-musician Andy Partridge (XTC) is 55. Singer Marshall Crenshaw is 55. Rock singer Dave Alvin is 53. Rock musician Ian Craig Marsh (Human League; Heaven 17) is 52. Actor Stanley Tucci is 48. Actress Demi Moore is 46. Actress Calista Flockhart is 44. Actor Philip McKeon is 44. Rock musician Scott Mercado is 44. TV personality Carson Kressley is 39. Actor David DeLuise is 37. Actor Adam Beach is 36. Actor Leonardo DiCaprio is 34. Rock musician Jonathan Pretus (Cowboy Mouth) is 27.

Thought for today: "If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn't part of ourselves doesn't disturb us." -- Herman Hesse, German novelist (1877-1962)

[Associated Press]

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