On this day, Nov. 30
1782 The United States and Britain signed preliminary peace articles in Paris for ending the Revolutionary War; the Treaty of Paris was signed in September 1783.
1803 Spain completed the process of ceding Louisiana to France, which had sold it to the United States.
1874 British statesman Sir Winston Churchill was born at Blenheim Palace.
1981 The United States and the Soviet Union opened negotiations in Geneva aimed at reducing nuclear weapons in Europe.
1993 President Bill Clinton signed the Brady Bill, which required a five-day waiting period for handgun purchases and background checks of prospective buyers.
2000 Al Gore’s lawyers battled for his political survival in the Florida and U.S. Supreme Courts; meanwhile, GOP lawmakers in Tallahassee moved to award the presidency to George W. Bush in case the courts did not by appointing their own slate of electors.
2004 “Jeopardy!” fans saw Ken Jennings end his 74-game winning streak as he lost to real estate agent Nancy Zerg.
2010 The Obama administration announced that all 197 airlines that flew to the U.S. had begun collecting names, genders and birth dates of passengers so the government could check them against terror watch lists before they boarded flights.
2011 An Arizona jury sentenced convicted “Baseline Killer” Mark Goudeau to death for killing nine people in the Phoenix area. (He remains on death row.)
2012 Israel approved the construction of 3,000 homes in Jewish settlements on occupied lands, drawing swift condemnation from the Palestinians a day after their successful bid for recognition by the United Nations.
2013 Paul Walker, 40, the star of the “Fast & Furious” movie series, died with his friend, Roger W. Rodas, who was at the wheel of a Porsche sports car that crashed and burned north of Los Angeles.
2017 A jury found a Mexican man not guilty in the killing of a woman on a San Francisco pier, a shooting that touched off a fierce national immigration debate. (Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, who had been deported five times, did not deny shooting
Kate Steinle but said it was an accident. He was found guilty of being a felon in possession of a firearm.)
2018 Former President George H.W. Bush, a World War II hero who rose through the political ranks to the nation’s highest office, died at his Houston home at the age of 94; his wife of more than 70 years, Barbara Bush, had died in April.
2020 Two battleground states, Wisconsin and Arizona, certified their presidential election tallies in favor of Joe Biden, even as President Donald Trump’s legal team continued to dispute the results.
Today’s birthdays: Singer Billy Idol, 67. Rock musician John Ashton (The Psychedelic Furs), 65. Comedian Colin Mochrie, 65. Former football and baseball player Bo Jackson, 60. Actor-director Ben Stiller, 57. Rock musician Mike Stone, 53. Music producer Steve Aoki, 45. Singer Clay Aiken, 44. Actor Billy Lush, 41. Actor Elisha Cuthbert, 40. Actor Kaley Cuoco, 37. Model Chrissy Teigen, 37. Actor Christel Khali, 35. Actor Rebecca Rittenhouse, 34. Actor Adelaide Clemens, 33. World chess champion Magnus Carlsen, 32.