HISTORY AT A GLANCE
TODAY is Friday, November 3, the 307th day of 2017. There are 58 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1957 – Sputnik program: The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 2. On board is the first animal to enter orbit, a dog named Laika. 1967 – Vietnam War: The Battle of Dak To begins. 1969 – Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon addresses the nation on television and radio, asking the “silent majority” to join him in solidarity on the Vietnam War effort and to support his policies. 1973 – Mariner program: NASA launches the Mariner 10 toward Mercury. On March 29, 1974, it becomes the first space probe to reach that planet. 1975 – Syed Nazrul Islam, A. H. M. Qamaruzzaman, Tajuddin Ahmad, and Muhammad Mansur Ali, Bangladeshi politicians and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman loyalists, murdered in the Dhaka Central Jail. 1978 – Dominica gains its independence from the United
Kingdom. 1979 – Greensboro massacre: Five members of the Communist Workers Party are shot dead and seven are wounded by a group of Klansmen and neo-Nazis during a “Death to the Klan” rally in Greensboro, North Carolina, United States. 1986 – Iran–Contra affair: The Lebanese magazine Ash-Shiraa reports that the United States has been secretly selling weapons to Iran in order to secure the release of seven American hostages held by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon. 1986 – The Federated States of Micronesia gain independence
from the United States of America. 1988 – Sri Lankan Tamil mercenaries try to overthrow the Maldivian government. At President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s request, the Indian military suppresses the coup attempt within 24 hours. 1996 – Death of Abdullah Çatli, leader of the Turkish ultranationalist organisation Grey Wolves in the Susurluk car-crash, which leads to the resignation of the Turkish Interior Minister, Mehmet Agar (a leader of the True Path Party, DYP). 1997 – The United States of America imposes economic sanctions against Sudan in response to its human rights abuses of its own citizens and its material and political assistance to Islamic extremist groups across the Middle East and Eastern Africa. 2013 – A solar eclipse sweeps across Africa, Europe and the
Eastern United States. 2014 – One World Trade Center officially opens