Today is Monday, Oct. 23, the 296th day of 2023.
There are 69 days left in the year.
Today’s highlight
On Oct. 23, 1983, 241 U.S. service members, most of them Marines, were killed in a suicide truck-bombing at Beirut International Airport in Lebanon, while a near-simultaneous attack on French forces killed 58 paratroopers.
On this date
In 1707, the first Parliament of Great Britain, created by the Acts of Union between England and Scotland, held its first meeting.
In 1910, Blanche S. Scott became the first woman to make a public solo airplane flight, reaching an altitude of 12 feet at a park in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
In 1915, tens of thousands of women paraded up Fifth Avenue in New York City, demanding the right to vote.
In 1942, during World War II, Britain launched a major offensive against Axis forces at El Alamein (el ah-lah-MAYN’) in Egypt, resulting in an Allied victory.
In 1944, the World War II Battle of Leyte (LAY’-tee) Gulf began, resulting in a major Allied victory against Japanese forces.
In 1956, a student-sparked revolt against Hungary’s Communist rule began; as the revolution spread, Soviet forces started entering the country, and the uprising was put down within weeks.
In 1973, President Richard Nixon agreed to turn over White House tape recordings subpoenaed by the Watergate special prosecutor to Judge John J. Sirica.
In 1987, the U.S. Senate rejected the Supreme Court nomination of Robert H. Bork 58-42.
In 1989, 23 people were killed in an explosion at Phillips Petroleum Co.‘s chemical complex in Pasadena, Texas.
In 1995, a jury in Houston convicted Yolanda Saldivar of murdering Tejano singing star Selena.
In 2009, President Barack Obama declared the swine flu outbreak a national emergency, giving his health chief the power to let hospitals move emergency rooms offsite to speed treatment and protect non-infected patients.
In 2014, officials announced that an emergency room doctor who’d recently returned to New York City after treating Ebola patients in West Africa tested positive for the virus, becoming the first case in the city and the fourth in the nation. (Dr. Craig Spencer later recovered.)
In 2017, New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced a civil rights investigation into the Weinstein Co., amid sexual harassment and assault allegations against its founder, Harvey Weinstein.
In 2021, a driver lost control during a Texas drag racing event on an airport runway and slammed into a crowd of spectators, killing two children and injuring eight other people.
