This day in history

[November 12, 2008]  (AP)  Today is Wednesday, Nov. 12, the 317th day of 2008. There are 49 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On Nov. 12, 1942, the World War II naval Battle of Guadalcanal began. (The Allies ended up winning a major victory over the Japanese.)

On this date:

In 1815, American suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton was born in Johnstown, N.Y.

In 1908, Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun was born in Nashville, Ill.

In 1927, Josef Stalin became the undisputed ruler of the Soviet Union as Leon Trotsky was expelled from the Communist Party.

In 1948, former Japanese premier Hideki Tojo and several other World War II Japanese leaders were sentenced to death by a war crimes tribunal.

In 1977, the city of New Orleans elected its first black mayor, Ernest "Dutch" Morial, the winner of a runoff.

In 1982, Yuri V. Andropov was elected to succeed the late Leonid I. Brezhnev as general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party's Central Committee.

In 1990, Japanese Emperor Akihito formally assumed the Chrysanthemum Throne.

In 1996, a Saudi Boeing 747 jetliner collided shortly after takeoff from New Delhi, India, with a Kazak Ilyushin-76 cargo plane, killing 349 people.

In 2001, American Airlines Flight 587, en route from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport to the Dominican Republic, crashed after takeoff, killing 265 people.

In 2004, a jury in Redwood City, Calif., convicted Scott Peterson of murdering his pregnant wife, Laci, and dumping her body in San Francisco Bay. (Peterson, who maintains his innocence, was later sentenced to death.)

Ten years ago: Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley filed a $433 million lawsuit against the firearms industry, declaring that it had created a public nuisance by flooding the streets with weapons deliberately marketed to criminals. (A judge dismissed the lawsuit in 2000; an appeals court ruled in 2002 that the city of Chicago could proceed; but the Illinois Supreme Court dismissed the lawsuit in 2004.)

Five years ago: President Bush and his top foreign advisers reviewed new strategies to speed the transfer of political power in Iraq. A suicide truck bomber attacked the headquarters of Italy's paramilitary police in Nasiriyah, Iraq, killing more than 30 people. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat swore in a new Palestinian Cabinet. Actress Penny Singleton died in Sherman Oaks, Calif., at age 95. Actor Jonathan Brandis died in Los Angeles at age 27.

One year ago: Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was placed under house arrest for the second time in four days ahead of a planned march to protest emergency rule. The Dow Jones industrial average closed below 13,000 for first time since August 2007. Ryan Braun won the NL Rookie of the Year award in one of the closest votes, while Dustin Pedroia ran away with the AL honor.

Today's birthdays: Rhythm-and-blues singer Ruby Nash Curtis (Ruby and the Romantics) is 69. Actor-playwright Wallace Shawn is 65. Singer Brian Hyland is 65. Rhythm-and-blues singer Jimmy Hayes (Persuasions) is 65. Rock musician Booker T. Jones (Booker T. & the MGs) is 64. Singer-songwriter Neil Young is 63. Rock musician Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser (Blue Oyster Cult) is 61. Country singer Barbara Fairchild is 58. Actress Megan Mullally is 50. Olympic gold medal gymnast Nadia Comaneci is 47. Rock musician David Ellefson is 44. Actor Sam Lloyd is 41. Baseball player Sammy Sosa is 40. Figure skater Tonya Harding is 38. Actress Radha Mitchell is 35. Actress Lourdes Benedicto is 34. Actress Tamala Jones is 34. Actress Angela Watson is 34. Singer Tevin Campbell is 32. Actress Ashley Williams is 30. Actor Ryan Gosling is 28. Contemporary Christian musician Chris Huffman is 28. Actress Anne Hathaway is 26. Pop singer Omarion is 24. Actress Macey Cruthird ("Hope and Faith") is 16.

Thought for today: "Money is always there, but the pockets change; it is not in the same pockets after a change, and that is all there is to say about money." -- Gertrude Stein, American author (1874-1946)

[Associated Press]

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