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Today is Thursday, July 11, the 193rd day of 2024. There are 173 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On July 11, 1995, the UN-designated ‘safe haven’ Srebrenica (sreh-breh-NEET’-sah) in Bosnia-Herzegovina fell to Bosnian Serb forces, who subsequently carried out the murders of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys . .
Also on this date:
In 1798, the US Marine Corps was formally re-established by an act of Congress that also created the US Marine Band.
In 1804, Vice President Aaron Burr fatally wounded former Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton during a pistol duel in Weehawken, New Jersey. (Hamilton died the next day.)
In 1859, Big Ben, the large bell in London’s famous clock tower, rang for the first time.
In 1864, Confederate forces under General Jubal Early mounted an unsuccessful invasion of Washington, D.C., returning the next day.
In 1914, Babe Ruth made his Major League baseball debut, pitching the Boston Red Sox to a 4-3 victory over Cleveland.
In 1921, the fighting in the Irish War of Independence ended with an armistice.
In 1960, Harper Lee’s novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” was published.
In 1972, the World Chess Championship opened when grandmasters Bobby Fischer of the United States and defending champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union began playing in Reykjavik, Iceland. (Fischer won after 21 games.)
In 1979, the abandoned US space station Skylab returned to Earth in spectacular fashion, burning up in the atmosphere and dumping debris over the Indian Ocean and Australia.
In 1991, a Nigeria Airways DC-8 carrying Muslim pilgrims crashed at Jiddah International Airport, Saudi Arabia, killing all 261 people on board.
In 2006, eight bombs struck a commuter rail network during the evening rush hour in Mumbai, India, killing more than 200 people.
In 2022, President Joe Biden unveiled the first image from NASA’s new space telescope, the farthest humanity had ever seen in both time and distance, closer to the dawn of the universe and the edge of the cosmos.
Today’s Birthdays:
- Fashion designer Giorgio Armani is 90.
- Actor Susan Seaforth Hayes is 81.
- Actor Bruce McGill is 74.
- Actor Stephen Lang is 72.
- Actor Mindy Sterling is 71.
- Actor Sela Ward is 68.
- Reggae singer Michael Rose (Black Uhuru) is 67.
- Singer Peter Murphy (Bauhaus) is 67.
- Actor Mark Lester is 66.
- Saxophonist Kirk Whalum is 66.
- Singer Suzanne Vega is 65.
- Rock guitarist Richie Sambora (Bon Jovi) is 65.
- Actor Lisa Rinna is 61.
- Author Jhumpa Lahiri is 57.
- Wildlife expert Jeff Corwin is 57.
- Actor Justin Chambers (TV: “Grey’s Anatomy”) is 54.
- Actor Michael Rosenbaum (TV: “Smallville”) is 52.
- Rapper Lil’ Kim is 50.
- U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona is 49 years old.
- Pro Football Hall of Famer Andre Johnson is 43.
- Pop jazz singer-musician Peter Cincotti is 41.
- Actor Serinda Swan is 40.
- Actor David Henrie is 35.
- Actor Connor Paolo is 34.
- Tennis star Caroline Wozniacki is 34.
- R&B/pop singer Alessia Cara is 28.