OCTOBER 24TH

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).

"Let's all be careful out there!"