Today is Saturday, Sept. 5, the 248th day of 2009. There are 117 days left in the year.

Todays Highlight in History

On Sept. 5, 1972, Black September terrorists attacked the Israeli delegation at the Munich Olympic games; 11 Israelis, five guerrillas and a police officer were killed in the siege.

On this date

In 1774, the first Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia.

In 1793, the Reign of Terror began during the French Revolution as the National Convention instituted harsh measures to repress counter-revolutionary activities.

In 1836, Sam Houston was elected president of the Republic of Texas.

In 1914, the First Battle of the Marne, resulting in a French-British victory over Germany, began during World War I.

In 1939, four days after war had broken out in Europe, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued a proclamation declaring U.S. neutrality in the conflict.

In 1945, Japanese-American Iva Toguri DAquino, suspected of being wartime broadcaster Tokyo Rose, was arrested in Yokohama. (DAquino was later convicted of treason and served six years in prison; she was pardoned in 1977 by President Gerald Ford.)

In 1958, the novel Doctor Zhivago by Russian author Boris Pasternak was published in the United States for the first time.

In 1975, President Gerald Ford escaped an attempt on his life by Lynette Squeaky Fromme, a disciple of Charles Manson, in Sacramento, Calif.

In 1977, West German industrialist Hanns-Martin Schleyer was kidnapped in Cologne by the Baader-Meinhof gang. (Schleyer was later killed by his captors.) The U.S. launched the Voyager 1 spacecraft two weeks after launching its twin, Voyager 2.

In 1997, Britains Queen Elizabeth II broke the royal reticence over Princess Dianas death, delivering a televised address in which she called her former daughter-in-law a remarkable person. Mother Teresa died in Calcutta, India, at age 87; conductor Sir Georg Solti died in France at age 84.

Ten years ago

Hundreds of Islamic insurgents launched a new offensive in southern Russia, hours after a bomb smashed a building housing Russian military families; the blast was the first of four apartment building explosions blamed by Russian officials on Chechen rebels that killed a total of about 300 people. The Houston Comets won their third straight WNBA championship, beating the New York Liberty 59-47. Candid Camera creator Allen Funt died in Pebble Beach, Calif., at age 84.

Five years ago

Hurricane Frances struck Floridas central-eastern coast with heavy rain.

One year ago

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice became the highest-ranking American official in half a century to visit Libya, where she met Moammar Gadhafi. Europes Rosetta space probe flew by the Steins asteroid 250 million miles from Earth. Publishing giant Robert Giroux, whod guided and supported dozens of great writers from T.S. Eliot and Jack Kerouac to Bernard Malamud and Susan Sontag, died in Tinton Falls, N.J., at age 94.

Todays Birthdays

Former Federal Reserve Board chairman Paul A. Volcker is 82. Comedian-actor Bob Newhart is 80. Actress-singer Carol Lawrence is 77. Actor William Devane is 70. Actor George Lazenby is 70. Actress Raquel Welch is 69. Movie director Werner Herzog is 67. Singer Al Stewart is 64. Actor-director Dennis Dugan is 63. College Football Hall of Famer Jerry LeVias is 63. Singer Loudon Wainwright III is 63. Cathy cartoonist Cathy Guisewite is 59. Actor Michael Keaton is 58. Country musician Jamie Oldaker (The Tractors) is 58. Actress Debbie Turner-Larson (Film: Marta in The Sound of Music) is 53. Actress Kristian Alfonso is 46. Rhythm-and-blues singer Terry Ellis is 46. Rock musician Brad Wilk is 41. TV personality Dweezil Zappa is 40. Actress Rose McGowan is 36. NFL player Leonard Davis is 31. Actor Andrew Ducote is 23. Actor Skandar Keynes is 18.

Thought for Today

History may be divided into three movements: what moves rapidly, what moves slowly and what appears not to move at all.

Fernand Braudel

French historian (1902-85)