TODAY IN HISTORY

1943

79 people were killed when a New York-bound Pennsylvania Railroad train derailed and crashed in Philadelphia.

1991

The Soviet Union recognized the independence of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

1995

Baltimore Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken broke Lou Gehrig’s record by playing his two-thousand-131st consecutive game.

1997

A public funeral was held for Princess Diana at Westminster Abbey in London, six days after her death in a car crash in Paris.

2002

Meeting outside Washington, D.C. for only the second time since 1800, Congress convened in New York to pay homage to the victims and heroes of September 11.

2006

President George W. Bush acknowledged for the first time that the CIA was running secret prisons overseas and said tough interrogation had forced terrorist leaders to reveal plots to attack the United States and its allies.

2007

Opera star Luciano Pavarotti died in Modena, Italy, at the age of 71.