Today in history - Sept. 29

The Associated Press

Today is Friday, Sept. 29, the 272nd day of 2006. There are 93 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Sept. 29, 1978, Pope John Paul I was found dead in his Vatican apartment just over a month after becoming head of the Roman Catholic Church.

On this date:

In 1789, the U.S. War Department established a regular army with a strength of several hundred men.

In 1829, London's reorganized police force, which became known as Scotland Yard, went on duty.

In 1918, Allied forces scored a decisive breakthrough of the Hindenburg Line during World War I.

In 1938, British, French, German and Italian leaders signed the Munich Agreement, which was aimed at appeasing Adolf Hitler by allowing Nazi annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland.

In 1955, a one-act version of the Arthur Miller play "A View From the Bridge" opened in New York. (Miller later turned it into a two-act play.)

In 1963, the second session of Second Vatican Council opened in Rome.

In 1979, Pope John Paul II became the first pope to visit Ireland as he arrived for a three-day tour.

In 1982, seven people in the Chicago area died after unwittingly taking Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules laced with cyanide.

In 1986, the Soviet Union released Nicholas Daniloff, an American journalist confined in Moscow on spying charges.

In 1988, the space shuttle Discovery blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., marking America's return to manned space flight following the Challenger disaster.

Ten years ago: The organization that supervised Bosnia's first postwar elections officially certified the results — with victories by nationalist parties and the country's Muslim president, Alija Izetbegovic.

Five years ago: President Bush condemned Afghanistan's Taliban rulers for harboring Osama bin Laden and his followers as the United States pressed its military and diplomatic campaign against terror. Former South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu died in Boston at age 78.

One year ago: John G. Roberts Jr. was sworn in as the nation's 17th chief justice after winning Senate confirmation. New York Times reporter Judith Miller was released from 85 days of federal detention after agreeing to testify in a criminal probe into the leak of a covert CIA officer's identity. Three suicide car bombs exploded nearly simultaneously in Balad, a mostly Shiite town north of Baghdad, killing some 60 people.

Today's Birthdays: Movie director Michelangelo Antonioni is 94. Actress Lizabeth Scott is 84. Actor Steve Forrest is 82. Actress Anita Ekberg is 75. Actor Eddie Barth is 75. Writer-director Robert Benton is 74. Singer Jerry Lee Lewis is 71. Actor Ian McShane is 64. Jazz musician Jean-Luc Ponty is 64. Lech Walesa, the former president of Poland, is 63. Television-film composer Mike Post is 62. Actress Patricia Hodge is 60. TV personality Bryant Gumbel is 58. Rock singer-musician Mark Farner is 58. Rock musician Mike Pinera is 58. Country singer Alvin Crow is 56. Actor Drake Hogestyn is 53. Singer Suzzy Roche (The Roches) is 50. Rock singer John Payne (Asia) is 48. Actor Roger Bart is 44. Singer-musician Les Claypool is 43. Actress Jill Whelan is 40. Rhythm-and-blues singer Devante Swing (Jodeci) is 37. Actress Emily Lloyd is 36. Actress Natasha Gregson Wagner is 36. Actress Rachel Cronin is 35. Country musician Danick Dupelle (Emerson Drive) is 33. Country singer Katie McNeill (3 of Hearts) is 24.

Thought for Today: "Any man should be happy who is allowed the patience of his wife, the tolerance of his children and the affection of waiters." — Michael Arlen, English novelist (1895-1956).

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Today in history - Sept. 28

The Associated Press

Today is Thursday, Sept. 28, the 271st day of 2006. There are 94 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Sept. 28, 1066, William the Conqueror invaded England to claim the English throne.

On this date:

In 1542, Portuguese navigator Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo arrived at present-day San Diego.

In 1781, American forces in the Revolutionary War, backed by a French fleet, began their siege of Yorktown Heights, Va.

In 1787, Congress voted to send the just-completed Constitution of the United States to state legislatures for their approval.

In 1850, flogging was abolished as a form of punishment in the U.S. Navy.

In 1924, two U.S. Army planes landed in Seattle, Wash., having completed the first round-the-world flight in 175 days.

In 1939, during World War II, Germany and the Soviet Union agreed on a plan to partition Poland.

In 1974, first lady Betty Ford underwent a mastectomy at Bethesda Naval Medical Center in Maryland, following discovery of a cancerous lump in her breast.

In 1976, Muhammad Ali kept his world heavyweight boxing championship with a close 15-round decision over Ken Norton at New York's Yankee Stadium.

In 1989, deposed Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos died in exile in Hawaii at age 72.

In 1991, jazz great Miles Davis died in Santa Monica, Calif., at age 65.

Ten years ago: With the United States abstaining, the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution indirectly calling on Israel to close an archaeological tunnel in Jerusalem that had touched off fighting between Israelis and Palestinians. Landmark legislation to crack down on illegal immigrants in the United States won House passage as part of a giant federal spending bill.

Five years ago: President Bush told reporters the United States was in "hot pursuit" of terrorists behind the Sept. 11 attacks. The U.N. Security Council approved a sweeping resolution sponsored by the United States requiring all 189 U.N.-member nations to deny money, support and sanctuary to terrorists.

One year ago: House Majority Leader Tom DeLay was indicted by a Texas grand jury on a charge of conspiring to violate political fundraising laws. A woman disguised as a man slipped into a line of Iraqi army recruits and detonated explosives strapped to her body, killing at least six recruits in the first known suicide attack by a woman in Iraq's insurgency. The U.S. Treasury unveiled the new $10 bill, featuring splashes of red, yellow and orange.

Today's Birthdays: Actor William Windom is 83. Actor Arnold Stang is 81. Blues singer Koko Taylor is 78. Actress Brigitte Bardot is 72. Singer Ben E. King is 68. Actor Joel Higgins is 63. Singer Helen Shapiro is 60. Actor Jeffrey Jones is 60. Movie writer-director-actor John Sayles is 56. Actress Sylvia Kristel is 54. Rock musician George Lynch is 52. Actress-comedian Janeane Garofalo is 42. Country singer Matt King is 40. Actress Mira Sorvino is 39. TV personality Moon Zappa is 39. Rhythm-and-blues singer Sean Levert (Levert) is 38. Actress-model Carre Otis is 38. Actress Naomi Watts is 38. Country singer Mandy Barnett is 31. Actress Hilary Duff is 19. Actress Skye McCole Bartusiak is 14.

Thought for Today: "The conventional notions of happiness cannot possibly be taken seriously by anyone whose intellectual or moral development has progressed beyond that of a three-week-old puppy." — John W. Gardner, U.S. government official (1912-2002).

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