Today is Wednesday, November 9, the 313th of 2011. There are 52 days left in the year.

1799 ― Napoleon becomes dictator (first consul) of France

1904 ― First airplane flight to last more than five minutes

1918 ― Bavaria proclaims itself a republic

1918 ― Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicates after German defeat in WW I

1927 ― Giant Panda discovered, China

1938 ― ``Kristallnacht" (Crystal Night); Nazi storm troopers attacked Jews

1963 ― 450 die in a coal-dust explosion and 160 die in train crash (Japan)

1976 ― U. N. General Assembly condemns apartheid in South Africa

1984 ― Vietnam Veterans Memorial (``3 Servicemen") completed

1989 ― East Berlin opens its borders