Today is Friday, October 17, the 291st day of 2008. There are 75 days left in the year.
1492 _ Columbus sights isle of San Salvador (Watling Island, Bahamas)
1871 _ President Grant suspends writ of habeas corpus
1918 _ Yugoslavia proclaims itself a republic
919 _ Radio Corporation of America (RCA) created
1931 _ Al Capone convicted of tax evasion, sentenced to 11 years in prison
1933 _ Albert Einstein arrives in the U.S., a refugee from Nazi Germany
1957 _ French author Albert Camus awarded Nobel Prize in Literature
1967 _ The play ``Hair" is 1st performed
1979 _ Mother Teresa of India, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
1986 _ U.S. Senate approved immigration bill prohibiting hiring of illegal aliens and offered amnesty to illegals who entered prior to 1982