Today in History

November 17

1869 - Suez Canal opens in Egypt, linking the Mediterranean and Red Sea. 1954 - General Jamal Abdul Nasser becomes head of state in Egypt.

1963 - Army in Iraq revolts and sets up new revolutionary government headed by Abdul Salam Arif.

1972 - Former Argentine dictator Juan D. Peron returns to his homeland after 17 years in exile.

1988 - Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party scores solid victory in parliamentary elections.

1993 - South African leaders endorse a new constitution to end apartheid. 2003 - Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger is sworn in as governor of California. 2012 - Fifty people are killed when a train slams into a school bus as it crosses tracks in Cairo.