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Highlight in History
On Nov. 24, 1987, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed on terms to scrap shorter- and medium-range missiles. (The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty was signed by President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev the following month.)
On this date
In 1784, Zachary Taylor, the 12th president of the United States, was born in Orange County, Va.
In 1859, British naturalist Charles Darwin published “On the Origin of Species,” which explained his theory of evolution by means of natural selection.
In 1862, Confederate President Jefferson Davis appointed Gen. Joseph E. Johnston to command the Department of the West during the Civil War.
In 1922, Irish nationalist and author Robert Erskine Childers was executed in Dublin by Free State forces.
In 1939, British Overseas Airways Corp. (BOAC) was formally established.
In 1941, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Edwards v. California, unanimously struck down a California law prohibiting people from bringing impoverished non-residents into the state.
In 1950, the musical “Guys and Dolls,” based on the writings of Damon Runyon and featuring songs by Frank Loesser, opened on Broadway.
In 1963, Jack Ruby shot and mortally wounded Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy, in a scene captured on live television.
In 1969, Apollo 12 splashed down safely in the Pacific.
In 1971, a hijacker calling himself “Dan Cooper” (but who became popularly known as “D.B. Cooper”) parachuted from a Northwest Orient Airlines 727 over the Pacific Northwest after receiving $200,000 dollars in ransom — his fate remains unknown.
In 1982, Barack Hussein Obama Sr., a Kenyan government economist and father of the president, was killed in an automobile accident in Nairobi; he was 46.
In 1992, a China Southern Airlines Boeing 737 crashed in southern China, killing all 141 people on board.
Ten years ago
In a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the Iraqi government complained that the small print behind upcoming weapons inspections would give Washington a pretext to attack. Lucio Gutierrez, a populist former army colonel who’d led a coup in 2000, was elected Ecuador’s sixth president in six years. Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel’s conservative party dominated parliamentary elections in Austria.
Five years ago
A fast-moving wildfire pushed by Santa Ana winds raced through the canyons and mountains of Malibu, Calif., for the second time in little more than a month, destroying some 50 homes. In Australia’s election, conservative Prime Minister John Howard suffered defeat at the hands of Labor Party head Kevin Rudd.
One year ago
After a meeting in Strasbourg, France, German Chancellor Angela Merkel deflected calls for the European Central Bank to play a bigger role in solving Europe’s debt crisis but won the backing of French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Italy’s new premier, Mario Monti, to unite the troubled 17-nation eurozone more closely. In the first NFL game featuring brothers as opposing head coaches, the Baltimore Ravens, led by John Harbaugh, beat the San Francisco 49ers, 16-6, under rookie coach Jim Harbaugh.
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Related Photos
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Lee Harvey Oswald, assassin of President John F. Kennedy, reacts as Dallas night club owner Jack Ruby, foreground, shoots at him from point blank range in a corridor of Dallas police headquarters, Nov. 24, 1963. At left is Detective Jim Leavelle. The Associated Press
Discussion
Today in History for Saturday, Nov. 24, 2012
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‘Trek’ does $70.6M but falls short of studio hopes
“Star Trek: Into Darkness” has warped its way to a $70.6 million domestic launch from Friday to Sunday, though it’s not setting any light-speed records with a debut that’s lower than the studio’s expectations.
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Syrian troops push into strategic rebel-held town
Syrian troops pushed into a rebel-held town near the Lebanese border on Sunday, fighting house-to-house and bombing from the air as President Bashar Assad tried to strengthen his grip on a strategic strip of land running from the capital to the Mediterranean coast.
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Taylor Swift wins 8 trophies at Billboard Awards
Another day, another domination for Taylor Swift: She was the red hot winner at the Billboard Music Awards.
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Tornadoes level homes in Okla., 21 injured
One of several tornadoes that touched down Sunday in Oklahoma turned homes in a trailer park near Oklahoma City into splinters and rubble and sent frightened residents along a 100-mile corridor scurrying for shelter.
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Ticket for record Powerball jackpot sold in Florida town
Some lucky person walked into a Publix supermarket in suburban Florida over the past few days and bought a ticket now worth an estimated $590.5 million — the highest Powerball jackpot in history.
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Today in History for Monday, May 20, 2013
Today is Monday, May 20, the 140th day of 2013. There are 225 days left in the year.
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Official: Broken rail eyed in Conn. train crash
The commuter train derailment and collision that left dozens injured outside New York City was not the result of foul play, officials said Saturday, but a fractured section of rail is being studied to determine if it is connected to the accident.
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FBI searches apartment in ricin letter case
Authorities in hazardous materials suits searched a downtown Spokane apartment Saturday, investigating the recent discovery of a pair of letters containing the deadly poison ricin.
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Up to 60 injured after car drives into Va. parade
An elderly driver plowed into dozens of hikers marching in a Saturday parade in a small Virginia mountain town and investigators were looking into whether he suffered a medical emergency before the accident.
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Authorities: Hofstra student was killed by police
A Hofstra University student being held in a headlock at gunpoint by an intruder was accidently shot and killed by a police officer who had responded to the home invasion at an off-campus home, police said Saturday.
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