Today is Tuesday, Oct. 25, the 298th day of 2011. There are 67 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Oct. 25, 1854, the “Charge of the Light Brigade” took place during the Crimean War as an English brigade of more than 600 men charged the Russian army despite hopeless odds and suffered heavy losses.
On this date:
In 1760, Britain’s King George III succeeded his late grandfather, George II.
In 1859, radical abolitionist John Brown went on trial in Charles Town, Va., for his failed raid at Harpers Ferry. (Brown was convicted and hanged.)
In 1881, artist Pablo Picasso was born in Malaga, Spain.
In 1910, “America the Beautiful,” with words by Katharine Lee Bates and music by Samuel A. Ward, was first published.
In 1929, former Interior Secretary Albert B. Fall was convicted in Washington, D.C., of accepting a $100,000 bribe from oil tycoon Edward L. Doheny. (Fall was sentenced to a year in prison and fined $100,000; he ended up serving nine months.)
In 1951, peace talks aimed at ending the Korean War resumed in Panmunjom after 63 days.
In 1962, U.S. ambassador Adlai E. Stevenson presented photographic evidence of Soviet-built missile bases in Cuba to the U.N. Security Council.
In 1971, the U.N. General Assembly voted to admit mainland China and expel Taiwan.
In 1981, on the centenary of the birth of Pablo Picasso, the artist’s painting “Guernica” was returned to Spain after spending four decades in the possession of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
In 1986, in Game 6 of the World Series, the Boston Red Sox lost to the New York Mets, 6-5, on a wild pitch and an error in the tenth inning, forcing a seventh game, which the Mets ended up winning.
Ten years ago: A day after the House signed on, the Senate sent President George W. Bush the USA PATRIOT (Uniting and Strengthening America By Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism) Act, a package of measures giving police sweeping new powers to search people’s homes and business records secretly and to eavesdrop on telephone and computer conversations. Ford Motor Co. settled one of the industry’s biggest auto defect cases, agreeing to pay for repairs on millions of cars and trucks with an ignition-system flaw that could cause the vehicles to stall in traffic.
Five years ago: Acknowledging painful losses in Iraq, President George W. Bush told a news conference he was not satisfied with the progress of the long and unpopular war, but he still insisted the United States was winning and should not think about withdrawing. Serial killer Danny Harold Rolling was executed by injection for butchering five University of Florida students in Gainesville in 1990.
One year ago: Afghan President Hamid Karzai acknowledged receiving millions of dollars in cash from Iran, adding that Washington gave him “bags of money” as well because his office lacked funds. In Indonesia, an earthquake triggered a tsunami off western Sumatra that killed more than 460 people and destroyed homes, mosques and other buildings.
(Above Advance for Use Tuesday, Oct. 25)
Copyright 2011, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.