HISTORY AT A GLANCE

TODAY is Monday, October 23, the 296th day of 2017. There are 69 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date: 1944 – World War II: Battle of Leyte Gulf: The largest naval

battle in history begins in the Philippines. 1946 – The United Nations General Assembly convenes for the first time, at an auditorium in Flushing, Queens, New York City. 1958 – The Smurfs, a fictional race of blue dwarves, later popularized in a Hanna-Barbera animated cartoon series, appear for the first time in the story La flute à six schtroumpfs, a Johan and Peewit adventure by Peyo, which is serialized in the weekly Spirou magazine. 1972 – Operation Linebacker, a US bombing campaign against North Vietnam in response to its Easter Offensive, ends after five months. 1973 – The Watergate scandal: US President Richard M. Nixon agrees to turn over subpoenaed audio tapes of his Oval Office conversations. 1973 – A United Nations sanctioned cease-fire officially ends

the Yom Kippur War between Israel and Syria. 1983 – Lebanese Civil War: The US Marines barracks in Beirut is hit by a truck bomb, killing 241 US military personnel. A French army barracks in Lebanon is also hit that same morning, killing 58 troops. 1989 – The Hungarian Republic is officially declared by president Mátyás Szurös, replacing the communist Hungarian People’s Republic. 1993 – The Troubles: A Provisional IRA bomb prematurely detonates in the Shankill area of Belfast, killing the bomber and nine civilians. Ulster loyalists retaliate a week later with the Greysteel massacre. 1998 – Israeli–Palestinian conflict: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat reach a “land for peace” agreement. 1998 – Swatch Internet Time, a measure of 1000 “beats” per

day was inaugurated by the Swatch Group. 2002 – Moscow Theatre Siege begins: Chechen terrorists seize the House of Culture theater in Moscow and take approximately 700 theater-goers hostage. 2011 – A powerful 7.2 magnitude earthquake strikes Van Province, Turkey, killing 582 people and injuring thousands. 2011 – The Libyan National Transition Council deems the

Libyan Civil War over. 2012 – After 38 years, the world’s first teletext service (BBC’s Ceefax) ceases broadcast due to Northern Ireland completing the digital switchover.