Today is Thursday, Sept. 6, the 249th day of 2007. There are 116 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Sept. 6, 1901, President William McKinley was shot and mortally wounded by anarchist Leon Czolgosz at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, N.Y. McKinley died eight days later; he was succeeded by Vice President Theodore Roosevelt. (Czolgosz was executed less than two months later.)

On this date:

394 Theodosius becomes sole ruler of Italy after defeating Eugenius at the Battle of the River Frigidus.

1422 Sultan Murat II ends a vain siege of Constantinople.

1522 One of the five ships that set out in Ferdinand Magellan's trip around the world makes it back to Spain. Only 15 of the original 265 men that set out survived. Magellan was killed by natives in the Philippines.

1620 The Pilgrims left on the Mayflower from Plymouth, England to settle in the New World.

1688 Imperial troops defeat the Turks and take Belgrade, Serbia.

1757, 250 years ago, the Marquis de Lafayette, the French hero of the American Revolution, was born in Auvergne, France.

1793 French General Jean Houchard and his 40,000 men begin a three-day battle against an Anglo-Hanoveraian army at Hondschoote, southwest Belgium, in the wars of the French Revolution.

1837, the Oberlin Collegiate Institute of Ohio went co-educational.

1847 Henry David Thoreau leaves Walden Pond and moves back into town, to Concord, Massachusetts.

1860 Jane Addams was born. She was the founder of Hull House in Chicago and was the first woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

1861 Union General Ulysses S. Grant's forces capture Paducah, Kentucky from Confederate forces.

1870 The last British troops to serve in Austria are withdrawn.

1888 Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. was born. He owned the Chicago Merchandise Mart and made his fortune in real estate, liquor and movies.

1901 President William McKinley is shot while attending a reception at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, by 28-year-old anarchist Leon Czolgosz. McKinley dies eight days later, the third American president assassinated.

1907 The luxury liner Lusitania leaves London for New York on her maiden voyage.

1909, American explorer Robert Peary sent word that he had reached the North Pole five months earlier.

1915 First tank produced

1918 The German Army begins a general retreat across the Aisne, with British troops in pursuit.

1936 Aviator Beryl Markham flies the first east-to-west solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean.

1937 The Soviet Union accuses Italy of torpedoing two Russian ships in the Mediterranean.

1939, the Union of South Africa declared war on Germany.

1941, Jews over the age of 6 in German-occupied areas were ordered to wear yellow Stars of David.

1943 The United States asks the Chinese Nationals to join with the Communists to present a common front to the Japanese.

1948, former Princess Juliana of the Netherlands was inaugurated as queen, two days after the abdication of her mother, Queen Wilhelmina.

1952, Canadian television broadcasting began in Montreal.

1953 The last American and Korean prisoners are exchanged in Operation Big Switch, the last official act of the Korean War.

1959 Fibber McGee and Molly's final episode

1959 The first Barbie Doll was sold by Mattel Toy Corporation.

1965 Indian troops invade Lahore; Pakistan paratroopers raid Punjab.

1966, South African Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd was stabbed to death by a deranged page during a parliamentary session in Cape Town.

1967 Bob Hope's series ends

1970, Palestinian guerrillas seized control of three jetliners which were later blown up on the ground in Jordan after the passengers and crews were evacuated.

1972 Rick DeMont lost the gold medal he received in a 400-meter swimming event because a banned drug was found in his system during routine drug testing.

1976 A Soviet pilot lands his MIG-25 in Tokyo and asks for political asylum in the United States.

1987, doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore succeeded in separating 7-month-old Benjamin and Patrick Binder, twin brothers from Ulm, West Germany, who had been joined at the head, after 22 hours of surgery.

1988 Lee Roy Young becomes the first African-American Texas Ranger in the force's 165-year history.

1991 The name St. Petersburg was restored to Russia's second largest city. The city was founded in 1703 by Peter the Great. The name has been changed to Petrograd (1914) and to Leningrad (1924).

1997 More than 2 million people watched the funeral service of Princess Diana that was held at Westminister Abbey.

2000 The U.N. Millennium Summit began in New York. It was the largest gathering of world leaders in history with more than 150 present.

2001 The U.S. Justice Department announced that it was seeking a lesser antitrust penalty and would not attempt to break up Microsoft.

2001 Ebay Inc. was found not liable for copyright infringement because bootleg copies of a Charles Manson documentary had been sold on the site.

2002 In New York, the U.S. Congress convened at Federal Hall for a rare special session. The session was held in New York to express the nation's mourning for the loss on September 11, 2001 and unity in the war against terrorism.

2002 At the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the exhibition "George Catlin and His Indian Gallery" went on view. The exhibit contained over 400 objects.



Ten years ago:
Britain bade farewell to Princess Diana with a funeral service at Westminster Abbey.

Weeping masses gathered in Calcutta, India, to pay homage to Mother Teresa, who had died the day before at age 87.


Five years ago:
Meeting outside Washington, D.C. for only the second time since 1800, Congress convened in New York to pay homage to the victims and heroes of 9-11.


One year ago:
President George W. Bush acknowledged previously secret CIA prisons around the world and said 14 high-value terrorism suspects had been transferred from the system to Guantanamo Bay for trials.

Japan's Princess Kiko gave birth to a boy, providing the centuries-old Chrysanthemum Throne with its first male heir in more than 40 years.

Anibal Sanchez threw a no-hitter in his 13th career start as the Florida Marlins beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 2-0.


Today's Birthdays:
1757 Marie Joseph du Motier, Marquis de LaFayette, French soldier and statesman who aided George Washington during the American Revolution.
1766 John Dalton, English scientist who developed the atomic theory of matter.
1800 Catherine Esther Beecher, educator who promoted higher education for women.
1860 Jane Adams, known for her work as a social reformer, pacifist, and founder of Hull House in Chicago in 1889, first American woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize (1931).
1899 Billy Rose, songwriter famous for "It's Only a Paper Moon," and "Me and My Shadow".
1928 Robert Pirzig, author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

Comedian JoAnne Worley is 70.
Country singer David Allan Coe is 68.
Country singer Mel McDaniel is 65.
Rock singer-musician Roger Waters (Pink Floyd) is 64.
Actress Swoosie Kurtz is 63.
Comedian-actress Jane Curtin is 60.
Country singer-songwriter Buddy Miller is 55.
Country musician Joe Smyth (Sawyer Brown) is 50.
Actor-comedian Jeff Foxworthy is 49.
Actor-comedian Michael Winslow is 49.
Rock musician Perry Bamonte is 47.
Actor Steven Eckholdt is 46.
Pop musician Pal Waaktaar (a-ha) is 46.
Rock musician Kevin Miller is 45.
ABC News correspondent Elizabeth Vargas is 45.
Country singer Mark Chesnutt is 44.
Actress Rosie Perez is 43.
Singer CeCe Peniston is 38.
Rhythm-and-blues singer Darryl Anthony (Az Yet) is 38.
Rhythm-and-blues singer Macy Gray is 37.
Rock singer Dolores O'Riordan (The Cranberries) is 36.
Rock singer Nina Persson (The Cardigans) is 33.
Actor Justin Whalin is 33.
Actress Naomie Harris is 31.
Rapper Noreaga is 30.
Rapper Foxy Brown is 28.
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