Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger briefs newsmen on Friday, Oct. 12, 1973 at the State Department in Washington. The press conference followed his visit to the United Nations where he conferred with Israeli Foreign Minister Abba Eban on the troubled Middle West. (AP Photo)

Today is Monday, Oct. 12, the 286th day of 2020. There are 80 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Oct. 12, 2002, bombs blamed on al-Qaida-linked militants destroyed a nightclub on the Indonesian island of Bali, killing 202 people, including 88 Australians and seven Americans.

On this date:

In 1492 (according to the Old Style calendar), Christopher Columbus’ expedition arrived in the present-day Bahamas.

In 1864, Roger B. Taney (TAH’-nee), the fifth Chief Justice of the United States, died at 87; he was succeeded by Salmon Chase.

In 1870, General Robert E. Lee died in Lexington, Virginia, at age 63.

In 1942, during World War II, American naval forces defeated the Japanese in the Battle of Cape Esperance. Attorney General Francis Biddle announced during a Columbus Day celebration at Carnegie Hall in New York that Italian nationals in the United States would no longer be considered enemy aliens.

In 1957, the Dr. Seuss Yuletide tale “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” was first published by Random House.

In 1973, President Richard Nixon nominated House minority leader Gerald R. Ford of Michigan to succeed Spiro T. Agnew as vice president.

In 1976, it was announced in China that Hua Guofeng had been named to succeed the late Mao Zedong as chairman of the Communist Party; it was also announced that Mao’s widow and three others, known as the “Gang of Four,” had been arrested.

In 1984, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher escaped an attempt on her life when an Irish Republican Army bomb exploded at a hotel in Brighton, England, killing five people.

In 1986, the superpower meeting in Reykjavik, Iceland, ended in stalemate, with President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev unable to agree on arms control or a date for a full-fledged summit in the United States.

In 1997, singer John Denver was killed in the crash of his privately built aircraft in Monterey Bay, California; he was 53.

In 2000, 17 sailors were killed in a suicide bomb attack on the destroyer USS Cole in Yemen.

In 2007, Former Vice President Al Gore and the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change won the Nobel Peace Prize for sounding the alarm over global warming.

Ten years ago: The Obama administration announced it was lifting the six-month moratorium on deep water oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico imposed after the BP oil spill. General Motors CEO Dan Akerson and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner (GYT’-nur) met for the first time in New York to discuss GM’s initial public offering as the automaker waited for approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission to sell the shares. At least 44 people were killed when a train hit a bus at a crossing in eastern Ukraine.

Five years ago: Princeton University’s Angus Deaton won the Nobel prize in economics for work that helped redefine the way poverty was measured around the world, notably in India. Actor Joan Leslie, 90, died in Los Angeles. Jamie Zimmerman, a doctor and reporter with ABC News’ medical unit, drowned while on vacation in Hawaii; she was 31.

One year ago: A Black woman, Atatiana Jefferson, was fatally shot by a white Fort Worth, Texas, police officer inside her home after police were called to the residence by a neighbor who reported that the front door was open. (Officer Aaron Dean, who shot Jefferson through a back window, resigned in the days after the shooting and is charged with murder; he has pleaded not guilty.) A large section of a Hard Rock Hotel under construction besides New Orleans’ historic French Quarter collapsed, killing three workers. Legislation signed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom would ban the sale and manufacture of new fur products starting in 2023.

Today’s Birthdays: Former Sen. Jake Garn, R-Utah, is 88. Singer Sam Moore (formerly of Sam and Dave) is 85. Broadcast journalist Chris Wallace is 73. Actor-singer Susan Anton is 70. Pop/rock singer/songwriter Jane Siberry is 65. Actor Hiroyuki Sanada is 60. Actor Carlos Bernard is 58. Jazz musician Chris Botti (BOH’-tee) is 58. Rhythm-and-blues singer Claude McKnight (Take 6) is 58. Rock singer Bob Schneider is 55. Actor Hugh Jackman is 52. Actor Adam Rich is 52. Rhythm-and-blues singer Garfield Bright (Shai) is 51. Country musician Martie Maguire (Courtyard Hounds, The Chicks) is 51. Actor Kirk Cameron is 50. Olympic gold medal skier Bode Miller is 43. Rock singer Jordan Pundik (New Found Glory) is 41. Actor Brian J. Smith is 39. Actor Tyler Blackburn is 34. Actor Marcus T. Paulk is 34. Actor Ito Aghayere is 33. Actor Josh Hutcherson is 28.

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