November 30th

Today's Highlight in History:
On November 30th, 1782, the United States and Britain signed preliminary peace articles in Paris, ending the Revolutionary War.

On this date:
In 1804, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase went on trial, accused of political bias. (He was acquitted by the Senate.)

In 1835, Samuel Langhorne Clemens -- better known as author Mark Twain -- was born in Florida, Missouri.

In 1874, British statesman Sir Winston Churchill was born at Blenheim Palace.

In 1900, Irish author Oscar Wilde died in Paris.

In 1936, London's famed Crystal Palace, constructed for the International Exhibition of 1851, was destroyed in a fire.

In 1939, the Russo-Finnish War began as Soviet troops invaded Finland.

In 1949, Chinese Communists captured Chungking.

In 1962, U Thant of Burma was elected Secretary-General of the United Nations, succeeding the late Dag Hammarskjold.

In 1966, the former British colony of Barbados became independent.

In 1993, President Clinton signed into law the Brady gun control bill.

Ten years ago: President Bush left Washington for his first summit with Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev that took place aboard ships off the Mediterranean island of Malta. Alfred Herrhausen, chairman of West Germany's largest bank, was killed in a bombing claimed by the Red Army Faction.

Five years ago: Two passengers died and nearly one-thousand others and crew members fled the cruise ship "Achille Lauro" after it caught fire off the coast of Somalia; the ship sank two days later. (The Achille Lauro had gained notoriety in 1985 when it was hijacked by Palestinian extremists.)

One year ago: Quebec's separatist premier, Lucien Bouchard, was returned to power, but with only 43 percent of the vote, setting back the Parti Quebecois' goal of seeking independence from Canada. Deutsche Bank AG officially announced it was acquiring Bankers Trust Corporation for more than $10 billion.

"`Classic': a book which people praise and don't read."

-- Mark Twain (1835-1910).