Highlights in history on this date:

1394 - Charles VI orders Jews expelled from France.

1534 - England's parliament confirms King Henry VIII in all judicial and political powers formerly exercised by the Pope in England.

1839 - A flare-up of opium war occurs when a British frigate sinks Chinese fleet.

1900 - The first automobile show in the United States opens at Madison Square Garden in New York under the Automobile Club of America.

1903 - Panama proclaims its independence from Colombia.

1928 - Turkey switches from Arabic to Roman alphabet.

1935 - Greek plebiscite recalls exiled King George II to throne.

1936 - U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt is re-elected in a landslide over Republican Alfred M. Landon.

1918 - Poland declares its independence from Russia.

1946 - Power in Japan is transferred from the emperor to elected assembly.

1956 - Britain and France agree to accept a Middle East cease-fire in the Suez War if U.N. forces can keep the peace.

1957 - The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 2, the second manmade satellite, into orbit. A dog on board named Laika is sacrificed in the experiment.

1968 - Storms, landslides and floods take more than 100 lives and cause heavy damage in northern Italy.

1970 - Marxist Salvador Allende becomes president of Chile.

1973 - U.N. Emergency Force reports success in easing tension between Egyptian and Israeli troops at positions west of Suez Canal.

1978 - The Soviet Union and Vietnam sign a 25-year treaty of friendship and cooperation.

1982 - Suriname's largest labor union, Moederbond, ends a five-day general strike after the nation's military commander promises free elections, a new constitution and the restoration of civil liberties.

1986 - "Ash-Shiraa," a pro-Syrian Lebanese magazine, breaks the story of U.S. arms sales to Iran, a revelation that escalates into the Iran-Contra affair.

1990 - Mozambique's parliament approves new constitution ending 15 years of one-party rule.

1991 - Israeli and Jordanian-Palestinian delegates agree to pursue talks on interim self-government in Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

1992 - Bill Clinton defeats incumbent George H. W. Bush in U.S. presidential elections.

1993 - Bosnian government troops storm through a Croat district north of Sarajevo, prompting 15,000 terrified civilians to flee into the countryside.

1994 - A Bosnian refugee, determined to call attention to the slaughter in his homeland, hijacks an airliner only to surrender when he believes the world had heard his plea.

1995 - A teen convicted of killing a British tourist at a highway rest stop is sentenced to life in prison in Monticello, Florida.

1996 - Relief officials scramble to find a way to bring aid to a million Rwandan Hutu refugees engulfed in a rebellion in eastern Zaire.

1997 - Iraqi President Saddam Hussein threatens to shoot down U.S. planes that are monitoring the disarmament of his country. The threat never materializes.

1998 - For the first time in a 30-year conflict, the Spanish government says it will hold talks with groups linked to the militant Basque ETA separatists.

1999 - The government of Yugoslavia's smaller republic, Montenegro, designates the German mark as its official currency, replacing the Yugoslav dinar.

2000 - Singapore airlines apologizes for its first fatal crash after investigators discover the pilot of a Los Angeles-bound jumbo jet missed clear warning signs and crashed while trying to take off on a runway full of construction equipment.

2001 - U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld visits Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan and India to shore up support for ongoing U.S. military operations in Afghanistan against the al-Qaida terrorist network.

2002 - The party of moderate President Ibrahim Rugova wins municipal elections in Kosovo, but loses some ground to parties headed by former ethnic Albanian rebels.

2003 - A 35-member commission unveils a draft constitution, which would be presented to a traditional Afghan 500-member national assembly, the loya jirga, for debate and ratification in mid-December.

2004 - Ending one of the U.S. Army's longest desertion cases, Charles Robert Jenkins is sentenced to 30 days in a military jail for abandoning his unit in North Korea nearly 40 years ago.

2005 - Allegations that the CIA set up secret jails in eastern Europe and elswhere to interrogate al-Qaida prisoners trigger a flurry of denials from governments in the former Soviet sphere and prompt EU officials and human rights organizations to demand answers.

2006 - Latin American and Caribbean nations endorse Panama for a seat on the U.N. Security Council, after Guatemala and Venezuela withdrew to break a deadlock that dragged through 47 votes.

2007 - Gen. Pervez Musharraf declares a state of emergency in Pakistan, suspending the constitution, replacing the chief justice before a crucial Supreme Court ruling on his future as president, and cutting communications in the capital.

Today's Birthdays:

2008 - _A U.S. military jury at Guantanamo sentences Osama bin Laden's former media aide, Ali Hamza al-Bahlul, to life for encouraging terrorist attacks.

Today's Birthdays:

Karl Baedecker, German guide book compiler-publisher (1801-1859); Andre Malraux, French novelist and cultural minister (1901-1976); Charles Bronson, U.S. actor (1922-2003); Adam Ant, British pop singer (1954--); Kate Capshaw, U.S. actress (1953--).

Thought for Today:

On the plus side, death is one of the few things that can be done just as easily lying down. _ Woody Allen, American actor/producer (1935-)