Today in History

Today is Wednesday, Nov. 27, the 331st day of 2013. There are 34 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Nov. 27, 1978, San Francisco Mayor George Moscone) and City Supervisor Harvey Milk, a gay-rights activist, were shot to death inside City Hall by former supervisor Dan White.

On this date:

In 1701, astronomer Anders Celsius, inventor of the Celsius temperature scale, was born in Uppsala, Sweden.

In 1901, the U.S. Army War College was established in Washington, D.C.

In 1910, the Pennsylvania Railroad began regularly serving New York's Pennsylvania Station.

In 1942, during World War II, the French navy at Toulon scuttled its ships and submarines to keep them out of the hands of German troops.

In 1953, playwright Eugene O'Neill died in Boston at age 65.

In 1962, the first Boeing 727 was rolled out at the company's Renton Plant.

In 1970, Pope Paul VI, visiting the Philippines, was slightly wounded at the Manila airport by a dagger-wielding Bolivian painter disguised as a priest.

In 1973, the Senate voted 92-3 to confirm Gerald R. Ford as vice president, succeeding Spiro T. Agnew, who'd resigned.

In 1983, 181 people were killed when a Colombian Avianca Airlines Boeing 747 crashed near Madrid's Barajas airport.

In 1989, a bomb blamed on drug traffickers destroyed a Colombian Avianca Boeing 727, killing all 107 people on board and three people on the ground.

In 1999, Northern Ireland's biggest party, the Ulster Unionists, cleared the way for the speedy formation of an unprecedented Protestant-Catholic administration.

In 2009, Tiger Woods crashed his SUV outside his Florida mansion, sparking widespread attention to reports of marital infidelity.

Ten years ago: President Bush flew to Iraq under extraordinary secrecy and security to spend Thanksgiving with U.S. troops and thank them for "defending the American people from danger."

Five years ago: Indian commandoes fought to wrest control of two luxury hotels and a Jewish center from militants, a day after a chain of attacks across Mumbai. Iraq's parliament approved a pact requiring all U.S. troops to be out of the country by Jan. 1, 2012.

One year ago: Consumer confidence reached its highest level in nearly five years, with the help of rising home values, more hiring and lower gas prices. U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice met privately with three Republican senators who had indicated they would block her possible nomination to be secretary of state; they said afterward that they were even more troubled by her initial explanation of the attack that killed four Americans in Benghazi, Libya.

Today's Birthdays: Author Gail Sheehy is 76. Actor James Avery is 65. Academy Award-winning director Kathryn Bigelow (Film: "The Hurt Locker") is 62. TV host Bill Nye ("Bill Nye, the Science Guy") is 58. Actor William Fichtner is 57. Caroline Kennedy is 56. Academy Award-winning screenwriter Callie Khouri (Film: "Thelma and Louise") is 56. Rock musician Charlie Burchill (Simple Minds) is 54. Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty is 53. Rock musician Charlie Benante (Anthrax) is 51. Rock musician Mike Bordin (Faith No More) is 51. Actor Fisher Stevens is 50. Actress Robin Givens is 49. Actor Michael Vartan is 45. Rapper Skoob (DAS EFX) is 43. Actor Kirk Acevedo is 42. Rapper Twista is 41. Actor Jaleel White is 37. Actor Arjay Smith (TV: "Perception") is 30. Actress Alison Pill is 28.

Thought for Today: "Man's loneliness is but his fear of life." -- Eugene O'Neill, American playwright (born 1888, died this date in 1953).

Copyright 2013, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.