Today is Sunday, Oct. 18, the 291st day of 2009. There are 74 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History

On Oct. 18, 1962, Dr. James D. Watson of the United States and Drs. Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins of Britain were named winners of the Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology for their work in determining the double-helix molecular structure of DNA.

On this date

In 1009 (by some accounts on Oct. 18), the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem was destroyed at the order of Fatimid caliph al-Hakim of Egypt. (The church was later rebuilt.)

In 1685, King Louis XIV signed the Edict of Fontainebleau, revoking the Edict of Nantes that had established legal toleration of France’s Protestant population, the Huguenots. (The French Parliament recorded the new edict four days later.)

In 1858, the play “Our American Cousin” by Tom Taylor premiered at Laura Keene’s theater in New York.

In 1867, the United States took formal possession of Alaska from Russia.

In 1892, the first long-distance telephone line between New York and Chicago was officially opened (it could only handle one call at a time).

In 1931, inventor Thomas Alva Edison died in West Orange, N.J., at age 84.

In 1944, Soviet troops invaded Czechoslovakia during World War II.

In 1969, the federal government banned artificial sweeteners known as cyclamates because of evidence they caused cancer in laboratory rats.

In 1977, West German commandos stormed a hijacked Lufthansa jetliner on the ground in Mogadishu, Somalia, freeing all 86 hostages and killing three of the four hijackers.

In 1982, former first lady Bess Truman died at her home in Independence, Mo., at age 97.

Ten years ago

Career prosecutor Robert Ray was sworn in to replace Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr and wrap up the wide-ranging investigation of President Bill Clinton and first lady Hillary Clinton.

The New York Yankees won a record 36th pennant, beating the Boston Red Sox 6-1 in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series at Fenway Park.

Five years ago

President George W. Bush and Democratic rival John Kerry traded biting accusations over the war in Iraq, with Bush saying his Democratic challenger stood for “protest and defeatism,” while Kerry accused the president of “arrogant boasting.”

An Anglican church commission urged the U.S. Episcopal Church not to elect any more gay bishops and called on conservative African bishops to stop meddling in the affairs of other dioceses.

One year ago

President George W. Bush, speaking at Camp David, said he would host an international summit in response to the global financial crisis, but did not set a date or place for the meeting. Anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr urged Iraq’s parliament to reject a pact that would extend U.S. presence in Iraq for three years. Cole Puffinburger, a 6-year-old boy kidnapped from a Las Vegas home by alleged drug dealers posing as policemen, was found safe in a neighborhood northeast of the Las Vegas Strip. Soul singer Dee Dee Warwick died in New Jersey’s Essex County at age 63.

Today’s Birthdays

Rock-’n’-roll performer Chuck Berry is 83. Sportscaster Keith Jackson is 81. Actress Dawn Wells is 71. Pro Football Hall of Famer Mike Ditka is 70. Actor Joe Morton is 62. Actress Pam Dawber is 59. Author Terry McMillan is 58. Writer-producer Chuck Lorre is 57. Gospel singer Vickie Winans is 56. International Tennis Hall of Famer Martina Navratilova is 53. Boxer Thomas Hearns is 51. Actor Jean-Claude Van Damme is 49. Actress Erin Moran is 49. Jazz musician Wynton Marsalis is 48. Actor Vincent Spano is 47. Rock musician Tim Cross is 43. Tennis player Michael Stich is 41. Singer Nonchalant is 36. Rock musician Peter Svenson (The Cardigans) is 35. Actor Wesley Jonathan is 31. Singer-actor Ne-Yo is 30. Country singer Josh Gracin is 29. Country musician Jesse Littleton (Marshall Dyllon) is 28. Actress-model Freida Pinto is 25. Actor Zac Efron is 22. Actress Joy Lauren is 20. Actor Tyler Posey is 18.

Thought for Today

“I do not prize the word cheap. It is not a badge of honor … it is a symbol of despair. Cheap prices make for cheap goods; cheap goods make for cheap men; and cheap men make for a cheap country!”

— President William McKinley (1843-1901)