Those born on this date are under the sign of Scorpio. They include pioneering Dutch microscope maker Anton Van Leeuwenhoek in 1632; journalist Sarah Josepha Hale, author of "Mary Had a Little Lamb," in 1788; attorney Belva Lockwood, the first woman candidate for U.S. president, nominated by the National Equal Rights Party, in 1830; film producer-director Merian Cooper ("King Kong") in 1893; former Rolling Stone Bill Wyman, in 1936 (age 69); NAACP president Kweisi Mfume in 1948 (age 57); actors David Nelson in 1936 (age 69), F. Murray Abraham in 1940 (age 65) and Kevin Kline in 1947 (age 58); and singer Monica (Arnold) in 1980 (age 25).
In 1861, the first telegram was transmitted across the United States from California Chief Justice Stephen Field to President Abraham Lincoln in Washington.
In 1945, following Soviet ratification, U.S. Secretary of State James Byrnes announced the U.N. charter was in effect. Establishment of the United Nations came less than two months after the end of World War II.
In 2001, Pakistan officials said they needed no help in securing the nation's nuclear weapons despite fears they might fall into the hands of Islamic extremists.
Also in 2001, an estranged sister-in-law of Osama bin Laden told a U.S. television show that she believed some members of the Saudi royal family supported the suspected terrorist.
In 2002, police arrested two suspects in the three-week series of sniper attacks in the Washington area that killed 10 and wounded three others. John Allen Muhammad, 41, and John Lee Malvo, 17, were found sleeping in a car at a rest stop outside Frederick, Md.
In 2003, A Senate committee report being prepared on flawed intelligence on Iraq's weapons was said to be focused on the CIA rather than the Bush administration.
A thought for the day: Hindu nationalist leader Mohandas Gandhi said, "I believe that a man is the strongest soldier for daring to die unarmed."
Those born on this date are under the sign of Scorpio. They include British historian Thomas Macaulay in 1800; Austrian composer Johann Strauss in 1825; French composer Georges Bizet in 1838; artist Pablo Picasso in 1881; explorer Richard Byrd in 1888; country comedian Minnie Pearl in 1912; actors Tony Franciosa in 1928 (age 77) and Marion Ross in 1936 (age 69); basketball coach Bobby Knight in 1940 (age 65); author Anne Tyler and pop singer Helen Reddy, both in 1941 (age 64); and violinist Midori in 1971 (age 34).
In 1825, the Erie Canal, America's first man-made waterway, was opened, linking the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean via the Hudson River.
In 1854, known to history as the Charge of the Light Brigade, 670 British cavalrymen fighting in the Crimean War attacked a heavily fortified Russian position and were wiped out.
In 1929, during the Teapot Dome scandal, Albert B. Fall, who served as Interior secretary in President Warren G. Harding's Cabinet, was found guilty of accepting a bribe while in office, first individual convicted of a crime committed while a presidential Cabinet member.
In 1983, U.S. troops, supported by six Caribbean nations, invaded the tiny, leftist-ruled island of Grenada. Nineteen Americans died in the fighting.
In 1986, the International Red Cross ousted South African delegates from a Geneva meeting because of Pretoria's policy of apartheid. It was the first such ejection in the organization's 123 years.
In 1993, Canadian voters rejected the Progressive Conservative party of Prime Minister Kim Campbell and gave the Liberal Party, led by Jean Chretien of Quebec, a firm majority in Parliament.
In 1994, Susan Smith reported to police in Union, S.C., that her two young boys had been taken in a carjacking. Nine days later, she confessed she had rolled her car into a lake, drowning the children.
In 1995, seven high school students were killed when their school bus was hit by a commuter train in the Chicago suburb of Fox River Grove, Ill.
In 2001, the Senate, by a 90-1 vote, approved a final package of anti-terror reforms designed to help law enforcement monitor, observe and detain suspected terrorists.
In 2002, Democratic Sen. Paul Wellstone of Minnesota and seven others were killed in the crash of a small plane near the Eveleth-Virginia Municipal Airport, about 180 miles northeast of Minneapolis.
Also in 2002, Maryland authorities said they would seek the death penalty for accused Washington area snipers John Muhammad, 41, and John Lee Malvo, 17.
In 2004, at least 78 Muslim detainees suffocated or were crushed to death in southern Thailand after the police rounded up 1,300 people and packed them into trucks following a riot.
Also in 2004, a top civilian at the Pentagon called for a federal investigation into how contracts in Iraq and the Balkans were awarded to the Halliburton company, formerly run by Vice President Dick Cheney.
Those born on this date are under the sign of Scorpio. They include Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky in 1879; gospel singer Mahalia Jackson in 1911; bandleader Charlie Barnett in 1913; French President Francois Mitterrand in 1916; Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last shah of Iran, in 1919; actor Bob Hoskins in 1942 (age 63); author Pat Conroy in 1945 (age 60); TV personality Pat Sajak in 1946 (age 59); Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, wife of former President Bill Clinton, in 1947 (age 58); and actors Jaclyn Smith in 1948 (age 57) and Cary Elwes and Dylan McDermott, both in 1962 (age 43); and singer Natalie Merchant in 1963 (age 42).
In 1920, the Lord Mayor of Cork, Ireland, Terence McSwiney, died after a 2 1/2--month hunger strike in a British prison cell, demanding independence for Ireland.
In 1944, after four days of furious fighting, the World War II battle of Leyte Gulf, largest air-naval clash in history, ended with a decisive U.S. victory over the Japanese.
In 1965, The Beatles were presented the prestigious Member of the Order of the British Empire medals by Queen Elizabeth. John Lennon stirred up controversy by commenting to a reporter, "We're more popular than Jesus Christ right now."
In 1984, Dr. Leonard L. Bailey performed the first baboon-to-human heart transplant, replacing a 14-day-old infant girl's defective heart with a healthy, walnut-sized heart of a young baboon at Loma Linda University Medical Center in California.
In 1998, just one day before threatened NATO air strikes were to begin, Serbian soldiers and police began what was said to be a significant pullback from positions in the Yugoslav province of Kosovo, where they were massacring ethnic Albanians.
In 2001, six weeks after the worst terrorist attack ever on U.S. soil, President Bush signed into law a tough new measure giving law enforcement agencies expanded authority in their battle against terrorism.
In 2002, Moscow's 4-day hostage crisis came to a bloody end when Russian soldiers stormed a theater where Chechen rebels had held 700 people for ransom. Ninety hostages and 50 rebels were killed.
In 2004, a U.N. investigation into Iraq's oil-for-food program reportedly turned up names of several prominent politicians in France, Russia and elsewhere said to have received illegal Iraqi oil from Saddam Hussein.
A thought for the day: English writer William Hazlitt said, "Men of genius do not excel in any profession because their labor in it, but they labor in it because they excel."
Those born on this date are under the sign of Scorpio. They include Dutch scholar Desiderius Erasmus in 1466; English explorer Capt. James Cook in 1728; Italian violin virtuoso Niccolo Paganini in 1782; Isaac Singer, developer of the first practical home sewing machine, in 1811; Theodore Roosevelt, 26th president of the United States, in 1858; etiquette arbiter Emily Post in 1872; longtime "Tonight Show" producer/director Fred De Cordova in 1910; Welsh poet Dylan Thomas in 1914; actresses Nanette Fabray in 1920 (age 85) and Ruby Dee in 1924 (age 81); pop artist Roy Lichtenstein in 1923; former Secretary of State Warren Christopher in 1925 (age 80); pop pianist Floyd Cramer in 1933; comedian John Cleese in 1939 (age 66); filmmaker Ivan Reitman in 1946 (age 59); actors Carrie Snodgress in 1945 (age 60), Roberto Benigni ("Life Is Beautiful") in 1952 (age 53), and Robert Picardo ("Star Trek: Voyager") in 1953 (age 52); singer Simon LeBon in 1958 (age 47); and Marla Maples, the second ex-Mrs. Donald Trump, in 1963 (age 42).
In 1659, William Robinson and Marmaduke Stevenson, two Quakers who came from England in 1656 to escape religious persecution, were executed in the Massachusetts Bay Colony for their outlawed religious beliefs.
In 1787, a New York newspaper published the first of 77 essays explaining the new Constitution and urging its ratification, written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay and later combined as "The Federalist Papers."
In 1954, Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio were divorced, reportedly after a blowup over her famous "skirt scene" in "The Seven Year Itch," in which a blast of air lifts her skirt.
In 1981, the National Labor Relations Board withdrew recognition of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization for an illegal strike by its members.
In 1993, President Clinton and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton presented Congress with the administration's new plan for healthcare reform in a ceremony at the Capitol.
Also in 1993, Southern California was hit by dozens of brush fires -- the worst in six years. Hundreds of homes were destroyed and thousands of people were forced to flee the flames.
In 1998, Hurricane Mitch, one of the strongest Atlantic storms ever recorded, began its four-day siege of Central America, causing at least 10,000 deaths.
In 2002 sports, the underdog Anaheim Angels defeated the San Francisco Giants, 4-1, in the seventh game to capture the World Series championship in their first shot at the big prize.
In 2003, as many as 40 civilians and U.S. soldiers were killed in a flurry of terrorist bombings in Baghdad. Among the targets was the 3-story headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
In 2004, Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat was reported to be dying. A Palestinian minister said doctors were frantically trying to save the 75-year-old Mideast leader's life.
A thought for the day: President Theodore Roosevelt said, "The first requisite of a good citizen in this Republic of ours if that he shall be able and willing to pull his weight."
Those born on this date are under the sign of Scorpio. They include riflemaker Eliphalet Remington in 1793; actress Elsa Lanchester in 1902; English novelist Evelyn Waugh in 1903; Dr. Jonas Salk, a developer of the polio vaccine, in 1914; former baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn in 1926 (age 79); country musician Charlie Daniels in 1936 (age 69); actors Jane Alexander in 1939 (age 66) and Dennis Franz in 1944 (age 61); singer/actress Thelma Hopkins in 1948 (age 57); Olympic decathlon champion-turned-sportscaster Bruce Jenner in 1949 (age 56); Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates in 1955 (age 50); actresses Annie Potts in 1952 (age 53), Lauren Holly in 1963 (age 42), and Jami Gertz in 1965 (age 40); and actress Julia Roberts in 1967 (age 38).
In A.D. 312, in a battle that marked the beginning of the Christian era in Europe, Constantine's army, wearing the cross, defeated the forces of Maxentius at Mulvian Bridge in Rome.
In 1886, the Statue of Liberty, a gift of friendship from the people of France to the United States, was dedicated in New York Harbor by President Cleveland.
In 1919, Congress passed the Volstead Act, over President Wilson's veto, enforcing the constitutional amendment prohibiting the use of alcoholic beverages.
In 1992, scientists using sonar to map Scotland's Loch Ness made contact with a mysterious object, but declined to speculate what that implies about whether legendary monster "Nessie" exists.
In 2001, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed a third New Jersey postal worker had an anthrax inhalation infection, bringing the total number to eight, including three people who have died from the most serious form of the disease.
Also in 2001, on this date, U.S.-led forces resumed air strikes against targets in Afghanistan, bombing the Taliban's southern stronghold of Kandahar.
In 2002, U.S. diplomat John Foley was slain in Amman, Jordan. An unknown group called the Honest People of Jordan claimed responsibility, calling it a response to U.S. support of Israel and actions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Also in 2002, authorities said two men charged with capital murder in a three-week sniper rampage in the Washington area are also suspects in the shooting death of a Tacoma, Wash., woman.
In 2004, insurgents executed 11 Iraqi soldiers in what they said was revenge for women and children killed in U.S. strikes on the guerrilla stronghold of Fallujah.
Those born on this date are under the sign of Scorpio. They include Scottish biographer James Boswell in 1740; singer/composer Daniel Decatur Emmett, who wrote the words and music for "Dixie," in 1815; comedian/singer Fanny Brice in 1891; Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels in 1897; political cartoonist Bill Mauldin in 1921; singer Melba Moore in 1945 (age 60); actor Richard Dreyfuss in 1947 (age 58); and actresses Kate Jackson in 1948 (age 57), Finola Hughes in 1960 (age 45), Joely Fisher in 1965 (age 40) and Winona Ryder in 1971 (age 34).
In 1969, the first connection on what would become the Internet was made when bits of data flowed between computers at UCLA and the Stanford Research Institute. This was the beginning of ARPANET, the forerunner to the Internet developed by the Department of Defense.
In 1974, former President Nixon was listed in critical condition after surgery to combat a potentially lethal blood clot. He eventually recovered.
In 1991, in a first meeting between Soviet and Israeli heads of state, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and Israeli Prime Minister Yizhak Shamir conferred at the Soviet Embassy.
In 1992, Alger Hiss said Russia had cleared him of the charge of being a Communist spy that sent him to prison for four years and helped launch Richard Nixon's political career.
In 1994, a Colorado man was arrested after he sprayed the White House with bullets from an assault rifle. President Clinton was inside at the time, but no one was injured.
In 1998, Sen. John Glenn, D-Ohio, who in 1962 became the first U.S. astronaut to orbit the Earth, returned to space aboard the shuttle Discovery. At 77, he was the oldest person to travel in space.
In 2001, the Justice Department issued a warning against new terrorist attacks, the second such warning in less than a month. Attorney General John Ashcroft said the intelligence leading up to the warning was credible but not specific.
In 2002, President George W. Bush, elected in a chaotic tableau of ballot mishaps and court challenges, signed legislation to help reduce ballot-counting errors and ensure greater citizen participation in the election process.
In 2003, digging through more than 164 feet of rock, rescuers liberated 11 of 13 Russian miners trapped underground for six days after a methane gas explosion.
Also on 2004, in a poll of new voters taken a few days before the presidential election, 40 percent said they believed the United States was headed in the right direction.
A thought for the day: Scottish biographer James Boswell wrote, "I think no innocent species of wit or pleasantry should be suppressed, and that a good pun may be admitted among the smaller excellencies of lively conversation."
Those born on this date are under the sign of Scorpio. They include John Adams, second president of the United States, in 1735; French Impressionist painter Alfred Sisley in 1839; French poet Paul Valery in 1871; poet Ezra Pound in 1885; strongman Charles Atlas in 1894; actress Ruth Gordon in 1896; film director Louis Malle in 1932; rock singer Grace Slick in 1939 (age 66); actor/director Henry Winkler in 1945 (age 60); news correspondent Andrea Mitchell in 1946 (age 59); and actor Harry Hamlin in 1951 (age 54).
In 1938, Orson Welles triggered a national panic with a realistic radio dramatization of a Martian invasion, based on H.G. Wells' "War of the Worlds."
In 1941, more than a month before the United States entered World War II, an American destroyer, the Reuben James, was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine.
In 1983, the Rev. Jesse Jackson announced plans to become the first African-American to mount a full-scale campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.
In 1991, the Middle East peace conference convened in Madrid, Spain. The participants included Israel, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestinians from the Israeli-occupied territories.
In 1992, Muslim Slav, Croatian soldiers and civilians were driven from the strategic Bosnian town of Jajce in fierce street battles with Serbian forces.
In 1996, Michael Kahoe, who ran the FBI's violent crime division, pleaded guilty to obstructing justice, admitting he destroyed a report which detailed FBI misconduct in the 1992 Idaho standoff that killed outlaw Randy Weaver's wife and teenage son.
In 2001, terrorist strikes, coupled with the parade of bleak corporate news and a slew of layoff announcements since Sept. 11, slashed October's consumer confidence to its lowest level in more than seven years.
Also in 2001, Tropical Storm Allison, which caused $5 billion in damage, was the costliest storm in the nation's history at the time, according to an internal report released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Twenty-three people died in the storm.
In 2002, Russia broke four days of official silence on the composition of gas used by Russian special forces in the raid on a Moscow theatre that killed more than 100 hostages and said an opiate had been used in the operation.
In 2004, Yasser Arafat's closest aides said the 75-year-old, long-time Palestinian leader had lost control of his mental faculties and could not communicate clearly. Arafat was flown to Paris for treatment of what was believed to be an acute blood disorder.
An insurgent response to Saturday's referendum is likely to come in several weeks, U.S. Army commanders in Iraq said Monday. "They took about a month or so ...
This is cache, read story here