Today is Monday, September 10, the 253rd day of 2018. There are 112 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT:

1963: Twenty black students entered Alabama public schools following a stand-off between federal authorities and Governor George C Wallace.

OTHER EVENTS:

1813: An American naval force commanded by Oliver H Perry defeated the British in the Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812. (Afterward, Perry sent the message, “We have met the enemy and they are ours.”)

1846: Elias Howe received a patent for his sewing machine.

1919: New York City welcomed home General John J Pershing and 25,000 soldiers who’d served in the US First Division during World War I.

1935: Senator Huey P Long died in Baton Rouge two days after being shot in the Louisiana state Capitol, allegedly by Dr Carl Weiss.

1939: Canada declared war on Germany.

1960: Hurricane Donna, a dangerous Category four storm eventually blamed for 364 deaths, struck the Florida Keys.

1962: The US Supreme Court ordered the University of Mississippi to admit James Meredith, a black student.

1979: Four Puerto Rican nationalists imprisoned for a 1954 attack on the US House of Representatives and a 1950 attempt on the life of President Harry S Truman were freed from prison after being granted clemency by President Jimmy Carter.

1987: Pope John Paul II arrived in Miami, where he was welcomed by President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan, as he began a 10-day tour of the United States.

1991: The Senate Judiciary Committee opened hearings on the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the US Supreme Court.

1993: The X-Files premiered on Fox Television.

2006: Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts defeated Eli Manning and the New York Giants 26-21 in the first NFL game to feature two brothers starting at quarterback.

2008: The world’s largest particle collider passed its first major tests by firing two beams of protons in opposite directions around a 17-mile (27-kilometre) ring under the Franco-Swiss border.

2013: President Barack Obama, in a nationally broadcast address, said diplomacy held “the potential to remove the threat of chemical weapons” in Syria without the use of force, but declared the US military would be “ready to respond” against President Bashar Assad if other measures failed. An Indian court convicted four men in the fatal gang rape of a young woman on a moving New Delhi bus. (The four were later sentenced to death.) Thomas Bach was elected president of the International Olympic Committee, succeeding Jacques Rogge (zhahk ROH’-geh).

2017: After cutting a trail of destruction across the Caribbean, Hurricane Irma blew ashore on the Florida Keys as a Category four storm with winds of 130 mph; it would destroy 1,200 homes and damage 3,000 others in the Keys. As Irma headed toward Georgia, Atlanta was under a tropical storm warning for the first time. As he flew home from Colombia, Pope Francis called on President Donald Trump to rethink his decision ending a programme protecting young immigrants from deportation; he said anyone who considers himself “pro-life” should keep families together. Miss North Dakota, Cara Mund, was crowned Miss America in Atlantic City, New Jersey, after saying in an onstage interview that Donald Trump was wrong to pull the United States out of the Paris climate accord.

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Philip Baker Hall is 87. Actor Greg Mullavey is 85. Jazz vibraphonist Roy Ayers is 78. Actor Tom Ligon is 78. Singer Danny Hutton (Three Dog Night) is 76. Singer Jose Feliciano is 73. Actress Judy Geeson is 70. Former Canadian first lady Margaret Trudeau is 70. Political commentator Bill O’Reilly is 69. Rock musician Joe Perry (Aerosmith) is 68. Country singer Rosie Flores is 68. Actress Amy Irving is 65. Actor-director Clark Johnson is 64. Actress Kate Burton is 61. Movie director Chris Columbus is 60. Actor Colin Firth is 58. Rock singer-musician David Lowery (Cracker) is 58. Actor Sean O’Bryan is 55. Baseball Hall of Famer Randy Johnson is 55. Actor Raymond Cruz is 54. Rock musician Robin Goodridge (Bush) is 53. Rock musician Stevie D (Buckcherry) is 52. Rock singer-musician Miles Zuniga (Fastball) is 52. Actress Nina Repeta (NY’-nuh ruh-PEHT’-ah) is 51. Rapper Big Daddy Kane is 50. Movie director Guy Ritchie is 50. Actor Johnathan Schaech (shehk) is 49. Contemporary Christian singer Sara Groves is 46. Actor Ryan Phillippe (FIHL’-ih-pee) is 44. Actor Kyle Bornheimer is 43. Actor Jacob Young is 39. Rock musician Mikey Way (My Chemical Romance) is 38. Olympic bronze medal figure skater Timothy Goebel is 38. Ballerina Misty Copeland is 36. Rock musician Matthew Followill (Kings of Leon) is 34. Singer Ashley Monroe (Pistol Annies) is 32. Singer Sanjaya Malakar (American Idol) is 29. Actor Chandler Massey is 28. Actress Hannah Hodson is 27. Actor Gabriel Bateman is 14.

Thought for Today: “There are years that ask questions and years that answer.” — Zora Neale Hurston, American author (1891-1960).

— AP