Today is Friday, November 9, the 314
th
day of 2012. 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 ― Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicates after German defeat in WW I
1927 ― Giant Panda discovered, China
1953 ― Supreme Court rules Major League baseball exempt from anti-trust laws
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 ("Three Servicemen") completed
1985 ― Gary Kasparov (USSR) becomes World Chess Champion at age of 22
1989 ― East Berlin opens its borders