Today in History

Today is Sunday, Nov. 13, the 317th day of 2022. There are 48 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Nov. 13, 2015, Islamic State militants carried out a set of coordinated attacks in Paris on the national stadium, restaurants and streets, and a crowded concert hall, killing 130 people in the worst attack on French soil since World War II.

On this date:

In 1775, during the American Revolution, the Continental Army captured Montreal.

In 1789, Benjamin Franklin wrote in a letter to a friend, Jean-Baptiste Leroy: "In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."

In 1909, 259 men and boys were killed when fire erupted inside a coal mine in Cherry, Illinois.

In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a measure lowering the minimum draft age from 21 to 18.

In 1956, the Supreme Court struck down laws calling for racial segregation on public buses.

In 1971, the U.S. space probe Mariner 9 went into orbit around Mars.

In 1974, Karen Silkwood, a 28-year-old technician and union activist at the Kerr-McGee Cimarron plutonium plant near Crescent, Oklahoma, died in a car crash while on her way to meet a reporter.

In 1979, former California Gov. Ronald Reagan announced in New York his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination.

In 1982, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

In 1985, some 23,000 residents of Armero, Colombia, died when a volcanic mudslide buried the city.

In 2019, the House Intelligence Committee opened two weeks of public impeachment hearings with a dozen current and former career foreign service officials and political appointees scheduled to testify about efforts by President Donald Trump and others to pressure Ukraine to investigate Trump's political rivals.

In 2020, speaking publicly for the first time since his defeat by Joe Biden, President Donald Trump refused to concede the election. Masked workers in teams of two began counting ballots in counties across Georgia; the hand tally of the presidential race stemmed from an audit required by a new state law.

Ten years ago: President Barack Obama put a hold on the nomination of Afghan war chief Gen. John Allen to become the next commander of U.S. European Command as well as the NATO supreme allied commander in Europe amid questions over documents and emails involving Allen and Tampa socialite Jill Kelley (a Pentagon investigation cleared Allen of professional misconduct). Christie's auctioned off the Archduke Joseph Diamond in Geneva for nearly $21.5 million, a world auction record price per carat for a colorless diamond.

Five years ago: A second woman accused Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore of sexually assaulting her as a teenager in the late 1970s; Moore described the charge as "absolutely false" and a "political maneuver." Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Moore should drop out of the race. (Moore went on to lose a special election to Democrat Doug Jones.) A North Korean soldier was shot several times by his comrades as he fled over the border to the South; he underwent surgery and recovered at a South Korean hospital. The Oakland Raiders broke ground on a 65,000-seat domed stadium in Las Vegas.

One year ago: Almost 200 nations at a climate conference in Scotland accepted a compromise deal aimed at keeping a key global warming target alive, though some were disappointed by a last-minute change put forward by India to "phase down" rather than "phase out" coal power. A prolonged gunbattle between rival gangs inside Ecuador's largest prison killed at least 68 inmates and wounded 25; authorities said it took most of the day to regain control.

Today's Birthdays: Journalist-author Peter Arnett is 88. Actor Jimmy Hawkins is 81. Blues singer John Hammond is 80. Country singer-songwriter Ray Wylie Hubbard is 76. Actor Joe Mantegna is 75. Actor Sheila Frazier is 74. Actor Tracy Scoggins is 69. Actor Chris Noth is 68. Actor-comedian Whoopi Goldberg is 67. Actor Rex Linn is 66. Actor Caroline Goodall is 63. Actor Neil Flynn is 62. Former NFL quarterback and College Football Hall of Famer Vinny Testaverde is 59. Rock musician Walter Kibby (Fishbone) is 58. Comedian and talk show host Jimmy Kimmel is 55. Actor Steve Zahn is 55. Actor Gerard Butler is 53. Writer-activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali is 53. Actor Jordan Bridges is 49. Actor Aisha Hinds is 47. Rock musician Nikolai Fraiture is 44. Former NBA All-Star Metta Sandiford-Artest (formerly Ron Artest and Metta World Peace) is 43. Actor Monique Coleman is 42. Actor Rahul Kohli is 37. Actor Devon Bostick is 31.