Today in History

Today is Wednesday, Nov. 23, the 327th day of 2022. There are 38 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Nov. 23, 1971, the People's Republic of China was seated in the U.N. Security Council.

On this date:

In 1889, the first jukebox made its debut in San Francisco, at the Palais Royale Saloon. (The coin-operated device consisted of four listening tubes attached to an Edison phonograph.)

In 1903, Enrico Caruso made his American debut at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, appearing in "Rigoletto."

In 1936, Life, the photojournalism magazine created by Henry R. Luce, was first published.

In 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson proclaimed Nov. 25 a day of national mourning following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

In 1980, some 2,600 people were killed by a series of earthquakes that devastated southern Italy.

In 1996, a commandeered Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 767 crashed into the water off the Comoros Islands, killing 125 of the 175 people on board, including all three hijackers.

In 2000, in a setback for Al Gore, the Florida Supreme Court refused to order Miami-Dade County officials to resume hand-counting its election-day ballots. Meanwhile, Gore's lawyers argued in a brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court that the high court should stay out of the Florida election controversy.

In 2003, five U.S. soldiers were killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan. Eduard Shevardnadze resigned as president of Georgia in the face of protests.

In 2006, former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko died in London from radiation poisoning after making a deathbed statement blaming Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In 2008, the government unveiled a bold plan to rescue Citigroup, injecting a fresh $20 billion into the troubled firm as well as guaranteeing hundreds of billions of dollars in risky assets.

In 2011, Yemen's authoritarian President Ali Abdullah Saleh agreed to step down amid a fierce uprising to oust him after 33 years in power.

In 2020, the federal government recognized Joe Biden as the "apparent winner" of the Nov. 3 election, formally starting the transition of power; President Donald Trump still refused to concede and vowed to continue a court fight after General Services Administrator Emily Murphy gave the green light for Biden to coordinate with federal agencies ahead of his inauguration. Michigan certified Biden's win in the battleground state.

Ten years ago: Supporters and opponents of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi clashed in the streets of Cairo and other major cities in the worst violence since Morsi took office nearly five months earlier. Actor Larry Hagman, best known for playing the scheming oil baron J.R. Ewing on TV's "Dallas," died in Dallas at the age of 81.

Five years ago: The holiday shopping season kicked off with some major retailers opening on Thanksgiving afternoon or evening, hoping for a lift from a better economy.

One year ago: A jury in Virginia ordered 17 white nationalist leaders and organizations to pay more than $26 million in damages over the violence that erupted during the deadly 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in 2017. A federal jury in Cleveland found that CVS, Walgreens and Walmart pharmacies recklessly distributed massive amounts of pain pills in two Ohio counties. (A judge awarded $650 million in damages.) NASA launched a spacecraft on a mission to smash into an asteroid and test whether it would be possible to knock a speeding space rock off course. (NASA said the mission was a success.) President Joe Biden ordered a record 50 million barrels of oil released from America's strategic reserve, aiming to bring down gasoline and other costs. The only person convicted in the 2007 murder in Italy of British student Meredith Kercher, Rudy Guede, was freed after serving most of his 16-year prison sentence. Multi-genre performer Jon Batiste scored the most Grammy nominations with 11.

Today's Birthdays: Actor Franco Nero is 81. Screenwriter Joe Eszterhas is 78. Actor-comedy writer Bruce Vilanch is 75. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is 72. Singer Bruce Hornsby is 68. Former Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., is 67. Actor Maxwell Caulfield is 63. Actor John Henton is 62. TV personality Robin Roberts ("Good Morning America") is 62. Rock singer-musician Ken Block (Sister Hazel) is 56. Actor Salli Richardson-Whitfield is 55. Actor Oded Fehr is 52. Rapper-actor Kurupt (Tha Dogg Pound) is 50. Actor Page Kennedy is 46. Actor Kelly Brook is 43. Actor Lucas Grabeel is 38. TV personality Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi is 35. Actor-singer Miley Cyrus is 30. Actor Olivia Keville (TV: "Splitting Up Together") is 20.