On this date in history:

In 1618, Sir Walter Raleigh was beheaded in London. He had been charged with plotting against King James I.

In 1901, Leon Czolgosz was electrocuted for the assassination of U.S. President William McKinley.

In 1923, the musical "Runnin' Wild," which introduced the Charleston, opened on Broadway.

In 1929, the sale of 16 million shares marked the collapse of the stock market, setting the stage for the Great Depression.

In 1969, the first connection on what would become the Internet was made when bits of data flowed between computers at UCLA and the Stanford Research Institute. This was the beginning of ARPANET, the forerunner to the Internet developed by the Department of Defense.

In 1991, in a first meeting between Soviet and Israeli heads of state, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and Israeli Prime Minister Yizhak Shamir conferred at the Soviet Embassy.

In 1992, Alger Hiss said Russia had cleared him of the charge of being a Communist spy that sent him to prison for four years and helped propel Richard Nixon's political career.

In 1994, a Colorado man was arrested after he sprayed the White House with bullets from an assault rifle. U.S. President Bill Clinton was inside at the time but no one was injured.

In 1998, Sen. John Glenn, D-Ohio, who in 1962 became the first U.S. astronaut to orbit the Earth, returned to space aboard the shuttle Discovery. At 77, he was the oldest person to travel in space.

In 2002, U.S. President George W. Bush, elected in a chaotic tableau of ballot mishaps and court challenges, signed legislation said to help reduce ballot-counting errors and ensure greater citizen participation in the election process.

In 2003, digging through more than 164 feet of rock, rescuers liberated 11 of 13 Russian miners trapped underground for six days after a methane gas explosion.

Also in 2003, the third-largest recorded solar blast slammed into the Earth causing a severe but short-lived geomagnetic storm.

In 2004, Osama bin Laden, in a videotape to the American people, admitted publicly that he ordered the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.

Also in 2004, EU leaders signed the European Union's first constitution.

In 2005, three explosions in New Delhi hit a bus and markets crowded with holiday shoppers, killing at least 65 people.

Also in 2005, a reported 102 people died in a train wreck in southern India, where heavy rains caused major flooding.

In 2006, a Boeing 737 crashed near Nigeria's Abuja airport killing 96 of the 104 people aboard. Officials said the pilot took off after disobeying an air traffic controller and crashed moments later.

Also in 2006, 17 instructors and two translators were gunned down at a British-run police academy at Basra, Iraq.

In 2007, a suicide bomber attacked a police brigade in Iraq, blowing himself up to kill 29 people, including 26 police officers.

A thought for the day: Scottish biographer James Boswell wrote, "I think no innocent species of wit or pleasantry should be suppressed and that a good pun may be admitted among the smaller excellencies of lively conversation."

Today is Thursday, Oct. 30, the 304th day of 2008 with 62 to follow.

The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Saturn and Mercury. The evening stars are Mars, Venus, Neptune, Jupiter and Uranus.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Scorpio. They include John Adams, second president of the United States, in 1735; French Impressionist painter Alfred Sisley in 1839; French poet Paul Valery in 1871; poet Ezra Pound in 1885; strongman Charles Atlas in 1893; actress Ruth Gordon in 1896; film director Louis Malle in 1932; rock singer Grace Slick in 1939 (age 69); actor/director Henry Winkler in 1945 (age 63); news correspondent Andrea Mitchell in 1946 (age 62); and actor Harry Hamlin in 1951 (age 57).

On this date in history:

In 1817, Simon Bolivar established the independent government of Venezuela.

In 1938, Orson Welles triggered a national panic with a realistic radio dramatization of a Martian invasion, based on H.G. Wells' "War of the Worlds."

In 1941, more than a month before the United States entered World War II, a U.S. destroyer, the Reuben James, was sunk by a German submarine.

In 1975, as dictator Francisco Franco was near death, Prince Juan Carlos assumed power in Spain.

In 1983, the Rev. Jesse Jackson announced plans to become the first African-American to mount a full-scale campaign for the Democratic Party presidential nomination in the United States.

In 1991, the Middle East peace conference convened in Madrid with participants including Israel, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestinians from the Israeli-occupied territories.

In 1993, the U.N. Security Council condemned Haiti's military leaders for preventing the return of exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

In 1995, by a narrow margin, Quebec voters decided to remain a part of Canada.

In 2003, the death toll in the Southern California wildfire outbreak was set at 20 with 2,605 homes destroyed and 657,000 acres charred.

In 2004, Yasser Arafat's closest aides said the 75-year-old, long-time Palestinian leader had lost control of his mental faculties and couldn't communicate clearly. Arafat was flown to Paris for treatment of what was believed to be an acute blood disorder.

In 2005, Indian authorities sent army divers to look for people trapped in a derailed train near Veligonda, the result of massive flooding. Officials said 112 died in the train wreck while another 100 perished in the flood.

Also in 2005, an obscure radical Islamic group in India claimed responsibility for the bombings at two crowded New Delhi markets and on a bus that killed more than 60 people and injured close to 200.

In 2006, Pakistan hit an Islamic school near the Afghan border, killing at least 80 suspected militants.

In 2007, Iraqi rebuilding has fallen far short of goals, despite expenditures of more than $100 billion, a report from the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction said.

A thought for the day: in a letter to Thomas Jefferson, John Adams said, "You and I ought not to die before we have explained ourselves to each other." The two former presidents and political rivals both died on July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Declaration of Independence.

Today is Friday, Oct. 31, the 304th day of 2007 with 61 to follow.

This is Halloween.

The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Saturn and Mercury. The evening stars are Mars, Venus, Neptune, Jupiter and Uranus.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Scorpio. They include Dutch painter Jan Vermeer in 1632; English poet John Keats in 1795; Girl Scouts founder Juliette Gordon Low in 1860; Gen. Chiang Kai-shek, the first leader of Nationalist China, in 1887; actress/singer Ethel Waters in 1896; actresses Dale Evans in 1912 and Barbara Bel Geddes in 1922; astronaut Michael Collins in 1930 (age 78); former TV news anchorman Dan Rather in 1931 (age 77); actor/producer Michael Landon in 1936; folk singer/songwriter Tom Paxton in 1937 (age 71); actors David Ogden Stiers in 1942 (age 66) and Stephen Rea in 1946 (age 62); actress Deidre Hall in 1947 (age 61); comic actor John Candy in 1950; broadcaster Jane Pauley also in 1950 (age 58); comic actor Rob Schneider in 1963 (age 45); and rapper Vanilla Ice in 1967 (age 41).

On this date in history:

In 1517, Martin Luther began the Protestant Reformation by nailing a proclamation to the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany.

In 1864, Nevada was admitted to the Union as the 36th state.

In 1926, magician, illusionist and escape artist Harry Houdini died of peritonitis in a Detroit hospital following a blow to the abdomen.

In 1931, with the Great Depression in full swing, the U.S. Treasury Department announced that 827 banks had failed during the previous two months.

In 1941, the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota -- consisting of the sculpted heads of U.S. Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt -- was completed.

In 1968, U.S. President Lyndon Johnson announced a halt to the bombing of North Vietnam.

In 1984, India's Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by Sikh guards. Her son, Rajiv, succeeded her.

In 1985, salvage divers located the remains of the booty-laden pirate ship Whydah, which sank Feb.