HIGHLIGHTS IN HISTORY

Today’s highlight:

On Dec. 9, 1987, the first Palestinian intefadeh, or uprising, began as riots broke out in Gaza and spread to the West Bank, triggering a strong Israeli response.

On this date:

1608: English poet John Milton was born in London. 1917: British forces captured Jerusalem from the Ottoman Turks.

1935: The Downtown Athletic Club of New York honored college football player Jay

Berwanger of the University of Chicago with the DAC Trophy, which later became known as the Heisman

Trophy. 1940: British troops opened their first major offensive in North Africa during World War II.

1958: The anti-communist John Birch Society was formed in Indianapolis.

1962: The Petrified Forest in Arizona was designated a national park.

1965: “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” the first animated TV special featuring characters from the “Peanuts” comic strip by Charles M. Schulz, premiered on CBS. 1975: President Gerald R. Ford signed a $2.3 billion seasonal loan-authorization that officials of New York City and State said would prevent a city default.

1984: The 5-day-old hijacking of a Kuwaiti jetliner that claimed the lives of two Americans ended as Iranian security men seized control of the plane, which was parked at Tehran airport. 1990: Solidarity founder Lech Walesa won Poland’s presidential runoff by a landslide.

1992: Britain’s Prince Charles and Princess Diana announced their separation. The couple’s divorce became final in August 1996.

2000: The U.S. Supreme Court ordered a temporary halt in the Florida vote count on which Al Gore pinned his best hopes of winning the White House.