164 BC – During Maccabbean revolt Judas Maccabaeus recaptures Jersusalem and rededicates the Second Temple, commemorated since as Jewish festival Hanukkah
1620 – Mayflower Compact signed by Pilgrims at Cape Cod [O.S. Nov 11]
1818 – Russia’s Tsar Alexander I petitions for a Jewish state in Palestine
1906 – China prohibits the opium trade
1964 – The Verrazzano- (originally Verrazano-) Narrows Bridge, spanning New York Harbor from Brooklyn to Staten Island, opened to traffic.
1970 – General Hafez al-Assad becomes Prime Minister of Syria following military coup
1971 – Battle of Garibpur: Indian troops aided by the Mukti Bahini, Bengali guerrillas, defeat the army of Pakistan
1995 – A peace agreement, known as the Dayton Accords, was reached by the presidents of Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia, ending the Bosnian War.
1995 – Israel grants jailed US spy Jonathan Pollard citizenship
2000 – The United Farm Workers called off the boycott of California table grapes begun in 1984 by union organizer Cesar Chavez, saying the goals of the strike had been met.
2002 – A North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit meeting in Prague extended an official invitation to become new alliance members to Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia.
2004 – The Paris Club agrees to write off 80% (up to $100 billion) of Iraq’s external debt.
2013 – 31 people are killed by a truck bomb in northeaster Iraq
2017 – Robert Mugabe’s resignation after 37 years in power is read out in Zimbabwe’s parliaments during impeachment proceedings
2017 – Pixar animation head John Lasseter takes 6 month leave of absence amid sexual misconduct claims
2019 – 44% of Americans work in low-wage jobs with medium annual wage of just $18,000, with most aged 25 – 54 according to analysis by Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program
2019 – Elon Musk launches Tesla’s electric Cybertruck with shatterproof windows that when demonstrated on stage shatter
2020 – Texas National Guard mobilized to help El Paso County, deal with a morgue crisis as COVID-19 cases and deaths surge
Film & TV
1931 – The horror classic Frankenstein, based on a stage adaptation of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s 1818 novel, was released in the United States, and it helped make the hulking monster, who was portrayed by Boris Karloff, one of the most recognizable characters in film history.
1976 – “Rocky” directed by John G. Avildsen and starring Sylvester Stallone premieres in New York (Best Picture 1977)
Music:
1937 – Dmitri Shostakovich’s 5th Symphony premieres in Lenningrad, with the ovation lasting over an hour
Sport:
1905 – 1st match ever played in the Australian National Tennis Championships
Via Britannica / On This Day
