This day in history

[October 24, 2008]  (AP)  Today is Friday, Oct. 24, the 298th day of 2008. There are 68 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On Oct. 24, 1945, the United Nations officially came into existence as its charter took effect.

On this date:

In 1537, Jane Seymour, the third wife of England's King Henry VIII, died 12 days after giving birth to Prince Edward, later King Edward VI.

In 1648, the Peace of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years' War and effectively destroyed the Holy Roman Empire.

In 1861, the first transcontinental telegraph message was sent as Chief Justice Stephen J. Field of California transmitted a telegram to President Lincoln.

In 1901, widow Anna Edson Taylor became the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel.

In 1931, the George Washington Bridge, connecting New York and New Jersey, was officially dedicated. (It opened to traffic the next day.)

In 1939, nylon stockings were sold publicly for the first time, in Wilmington, Del.

In 1940, the 40-hour work week went into effect under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.

In 1952, Republican presidential candidate Dwight D. Eisenhower declared in Detroit, "I shall go to Korea," as he promised to end the conflict. (He made the visit over a month later.)

In 1980, the merchant freighter SS Poet departed Philadelphia bound for Port Said, Egypt, with a crew of 34 and a cargo of grain; it disappeared en route and has not been heard from since.

In 2002, authorities arrested Army veteran John Allen Muhammad and teenager Lee Boyd Malvo near Myersville, Md., in connection with the Washington-area sniper attacks.

Ten years ago: Officials from the United States, China and North and South Korea seeking a permanent peace for the divided Korean peninsula announced in Geneva they had removed the last obstacles to full-blown talks.

Five years ago: Three Concordes swooped into London's Heathrow Airport, joining in a spectacular finale to the era of luxury supersonic jet travel. International donors pledged more than $33 billion for Iraq's reconstruction in the next four years - nearly two-thirds of it from the United States. Tiger Woods matched the 55-year-old standard set by Byron Nelson by making the cut in his 113th consecutive PGA Tour event. Se Ri Pak became the first woman to make the two-round cut in a men's golf tournament since Babe Zaharias in 1945.

One year ago: Rapidly rising Internet star Facebook Inc. sold a 1.6 percent stake to Microsoft Corp. for $240 million, spurning a competing offer from online search leader Google Inc. Boston set a record for runs and victory margin in a World Series opener as the Red Sox flattened the Colorado Rockies 13-1.

Today's birthdays: Football Hall-of-Famer Y.A. Tittle is 82. Rock musician Bill Wyman is 72. Actor-producer David Nelson is 72. Actor F. Murray Abraham is 69. Actor Kevin Kline is 61. Former NAACP President Kweisi Mfume is 60. Country musician Billy Thomas (Terry McBride and the Ride) is 55. Actor B.D. Wong is 48. Rock musician Ben Gillies (Silverchair) is 29. Singer-actress Monica Arnold is 28. Rhythm-and-blues singer Adrienne Bailon (3lw) is 25. Actress Shenae Grimes (TV: "90210") is 19.

Thought for today: "Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind." -- Bertrand Russell, English philosopher (1872-1970)

[Associated Press]

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