Today is Saturday, June 23, the 174th day of 2007. There are 191 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History:
On June 23, 1868, Christopher Latham Sholes received a patent for his "Type-writer."
On this date:
In 1757, forces of the East India Company led by Robert Clive defeated troops loyal to the nawab, or provincial governor, of Bengal in the Battle of Plassey, which effectively marked the beginning of British colonial rule in India.
In 1836, Congress approved the Deposit Act, which contained a provision for turning over surplus federal revenue to the states.
In 1931, aviators Wiley Post and Harold Gatty took off from New York on a round-the-world flight that lasted eight days and 15 hours.
In 1947, the Senate joined the House in overriding President Truman's veto of the Taft-Hartley Act, designed to limit the power of organized labor.
In 1956, Gamal Abdel Nasser was elected president of Egypt.
In 1967, President Johnson and Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin held the first of two meetings at Glassboro State College in New Jersey.
In 1967, the U.S. Senate voted to censure Democrat Thomas J. Dodd of Connecticut for using campaign money for personal uses.
In 1969, Warren E. Burger was sworn in as chief justice by the man he was succeeding, Earl Warren.
In 1972, President Nixon and White House chief of staff H.R. Haldeman discussed a plan to use the CIA to obstruct the FBI's Watergate investigation. (Revelation of the tape recording of this conversation sparked Nixon's resignation in 1974.)
In 1985, all 329 people aboard an Air-India Boeing 747 were killed when the plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near Ireland, after a bomb on board exploded.
Ten years ago: Civil rights activist Betty Shabazz, the widow of Malcolm X, died in New York of burns suffered in a fire set by her 12-year-old grandson; she was 61. (Malcolm Shabazz pleaded guilty to arson and other charges and was placed in juvenile detention.)
Five years ago: Rival groups of Protestants and Catholics clashed on the streets of north Belfast, Northern Ireland, following a weekend of sporadic sectarian violence. Twenty-six North Korean asylum seekers left South Korean and Canadian diplomatic compounds in Beijing bound for South Korea, ending a monthlong diplomatic standoff.
One year ago: Vice President Cheney denounced the revelation of an anti-terrorism program that tapped into an immense international database of confidential financial records. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta announced he was leaving the Bush administration. Television producer Aaron Spelling died in Los Angeles at age 83.
Today's Birthdays: Singer Diana Trask is 67. Musical conductor James Levine is 64. Rhythm-and-blues singer Rosetta Hightower (The Orlons) is 63. Actor Ted Shackelford is 61. Actor Bryan Brown is 60. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is 59. "American Idol" judge Randy Jackson is 51. Actress Frances McDormand is 50. Rock musician Steve Shelley (Sonic Youth) is 45. Actor Paul La Greca is 45. Actress Selma Blair is 35. Rock singer KT Tunstall is 32. Rhythm-and-blues singer Virgo Williams (Ghostowns DJs) is 32. Singer-songwriter Jason Mraz is 30.
Thought for Today: "Understanding is often a prelude to forgiveness, but they are not the same, and we often forgive what we cannot understand (seeing nothing else to do) and understand what we cannot pardon." _ Mary McCarthy, American author (1912-1989).
