Today in History

Today is Thursday, Sept. 6, the 250th day of 2012. There are 116 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Sept. 6, 1997, a public funeral was held for Princess Diana at Westminster Abbey in London, six days after her death in a car crash in Paris.

On this date:

In 1757, the Marquis de Lafayette, the French hero of the American Revolution, was born in Auvergne, France.

In 1861, Union forces led by Gen. Ulysses S. Grant occupied Paducah, Ky., during the Civil War.

In 1901, President William McKinley was shot and mortally wounded by anarchist Leon Czolgosz at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, N.Y. (McKinley died eight days later.)

In 1916, the first self-service grocery store, Piggly Wiggly, was opened in Memphis, Tenn., by Clarence Saunders.

In 1939, the Union of South Africa declared war on Germany.

In 1948, Princess Juliana of the Netherlands was inaugurated as queen, two days after the abdication of her mother, Queen Wilhelmina.

In 1952, Canadian television broadcasting began in Montreal.

In 1966, South African Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd was stabbed to death by an apparently deranged page during a parliamentary session in Cape Town.

In 1970, Palestinian guerrillas seized control of three U.S.-bound jetliners. (Two were later blown up on the ground in Jordan, along with a London-bound plane hijacked on Sept. 9; the fourth plane was destroyed on the ground in Egypt. No hostages were harmed.)

In 1972, a memorial service was held at the site of the Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, a day after the deadly terrorist attack that had claimed the lives of eleven Israelis and five of their abductors.

In 1985, all 31 people aboard a Midwest Express Airlines DC-9 were killed when the Atlanta-bound jetliner crashed just after takeoff from Milwaukee's Mitchell Field.

In 1991, the Soviet Union recognized the independence of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Russian lawmakers upheld a decision by residents of Leningrad to restore the city's pre-revolutionary name, St. Petersburg.

Ten years ago: Meeting outside Washington, D.C. for only the second time since 1800, Congress convened in New York to pay homage to the victims and heroes of September 11.

Five years ago: President George W. Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintao, in Sydney, Australia, for an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, called for greater international cooperation in tackling climate change without stifling economic growth. Death claimed opera superstar Luciano Pavarotti in Modena, Italy, at age 71 and author Madeleine L'Engle ("A Wrinkle in Time") in Litchfield, Conn., at age 88.

One year ago: A man with a rifle opened fire in an IHOP restaurant in Carson City, Nev., killing three of five uniformed National Guard members and a woman having breakfast with her husband; gunman Eduardo Sencion also shot himself and died in the parking lot. Convoys of Moammar Gadhafi loyalists, including his security chief, fled Libya, crossing the Sahara into Niger.

Today's Birthdays: Comedian JoAnne Worley is 75. Country singer David Allan Coe is 73. Rock singer-musician Roger Waters (Pink Floyd) is 69. Actress Swoosie Kurtz is 68. Comedian-actress Jane Curtin is 65. Country singer-songwriter Buddy Miller is 60. Country musician Joe Smyth (Sawyer Brown) is 55. Actor-comedian Jeff Foxworthy is 54. Actor-comedian Michael Winslow is 54. Rock musician Perry Bamonte is 52. Actor Steven Eckholdt is 51. Rock musician Scott Travis (Judas Priest) is 51. Pop musician Pal Waaktaar (a-ha) is 51. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is 50. Rock musician Kevin Miller is 50. ABC News correspondent Elizabeth Vargas is 50. Country singer Mark Chesnutt is 49. Actress Betsy Russell is 49. Actress Rosie Perez is 48. Rhythm and blues singer Macy Gray is 45. Singer CeCe Peniston is 43. Rhythm-and-blues singer Darryl Anthony (Az Yet) is 43. Actress Daniele Gaither is 42. Rock singer Dolores O'Riordan (The Cranberries) is 41. Actor Dylan Bruno is 40. Actor Idris Elba is 40. Actress Justina Machado is 40. Actress Anika Noni Rose is 40. Rock singer Nina Persson (The Cardigans) is 38. Actor Justin Whalin is 38. Actress Naomie Harris is 36. Rapper Noreaga is 35. Actress Natalia Cigliuti is 34. Rapper Foxy Brown is 34. Rock singer Max George (The Wanted) is 24.

Thought for Today: "It is a good rule in life never to apologize. The right sort of people do not want apologies, and the wrong sort take a mean advantage of them." -- P.G. Wodehouse, English author (1881-1975).

Copyright 2012, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.