There are 80 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History:
- On Oct. 12, 1492 (Old Style calendar; Oct. 21 New Style), Christopher Columbus arrived with his expedition in the present-day Bahamas.
On this date:
- In 1870, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee died in Lexington, Va., at age 63.
- In 1908, the Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago Cubs 8-3 in Game 3 of the World Series, played in Chicago.
- In 1915, English nurse Edith Cavell was executed by the Germans in occupied Belgium during World War I.
- In 1918, the Cloquet Fire erupted in Minnesota, claiming some 450 lives.
- In 1933, bank robber John Dillinger escaped from a jail in Allen County, Ohio, with the help of his gang, who killed the sheriff, Jess Sarber.
- In 1960, Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev disrupted a U.N. General Assembly session by pounding his desk with a shoe when a speaker criticized his country.
- In 1968, the Summer Games of the 19th Olympiad officially opened in Mexico City.
- In 1968, Equatorial Guinea became independent of Spain.
- In 2000, 17 sailors were killed in a suicide bomb attack on the destroyer USS Cole in Yemen.
- In 2002, a bomb blamed on Islamic militants destroyed a nightclub on the Indonesian island of Bali, killing 202 people, many of them foreign tourists.
Ten years ago:
- Matthew Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming student, died five days after being beaten and lashed to a fence; two men were charged with his murder. (Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney are serving life sentences.)
- Three Americans, Robert F. Furchgott, Louis J. Ignarro and Dr. Ferid Murad, won the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for blood vessel research.
Five years ago:
- A suicide attack outside a Baghdad hotel full of Americans killed six bystanders.
- Doctors in Dallas succeeded in separating 2-year-old conjoined twins from Egypt.
- Germany won the Women's Soccer World Cup 2-1 over Sweden in the eighth minute of overtime.
- Hall of Fame jockey Bill Shoemaker died in San Marino, Calif., at age 72.
- Philanthropist Joan B. Kroc died in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., at age 75.
- British wartime hero Patrick Dalzel-Job, whose exploits made him a model for James Bond, died in Plockton, Scotland, at age 90.
One year ago:
- Former Vice President Al Gore and the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change won the Nobel Peace Prize for sounding the alarm over global warming.
- A fiery, 34-vehicle pileup at a freeway tunnel in Santa Clarita, Calif., left three people dead.
- A jury in Panama City, Fla., acquitted seven former juvenile boot camp guards and a nurse in a black teenager's death.
Today's Birthdays:
- Actress Antonia Rey is 81.
- Comedian-activist Dick Gregory is 76.
- Former Sen. Jake Garn, R-Utah, is 76.
- Singer Sam Moore (formerly of Sam and Dave) is 73.
- Sportscaster Tony Kubek is 72.
- TV reporter Chris Wallace is 61.
- Actress-singer Susan Anton is 58.
- Rock singer-musician Pat DiNizio is 53.
- Actor Carlos Bernard is 46.
- Jazz musician Chris Botti is 46.
- Rhythm-and-blues singer Claude McKnight (Take 6) is 46.
- Rock singer Bob Schneider is 43.
- Actor Hugh Jackman is 40.
- Actor Adam Rich is 40.
- Rhythm-and-blues singer Garfield Bright (Shai) is 39.
- Country musician Martie Maguire (The Dixie Chicks) is 39.
- Actor Kirk Cameron is 38.
- Actor Marcus T. Paulk ("Moesha") is 22.
- Actor Josh Hutcherson is 16.
Thought for Today:
"Some people always sigh in thanking God."
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, English poet (1806-1861).
"Let's all be careful out there!"