This day in history - Thursday, Nov. 12

The Associated Press
Members of the Politburo paid their respects to the late Soviet President Leonid I. Brezhnev in Moscow on Friday, Nov. 12, 1982. They are left to right Viktor Grishin, Yuri Andropov, Nikolai Tikhonov, Konstantin Chernenko and Dmitri Ustinov.

Today is Thursday, Nov. 12, the 317th day of 2020. There are 49 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight

On Nov. 12, 1948, former Japanese premier Hideki Tojo and several other World War II Japanese leaders were sentenced to death by a war crimes tribunal.

On this date



In 1975, Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas retired because of failing health, ending a record 36-year term.

In 1977, the city of New Orleans elected its first Black mayor, Ernest "Dutch" Morial, the winner of a runoff.



In 1994, Olympic track-and-field gold medalist Wilma Rudolph died in Brentwood, Tennessee, at age 54.

In 1996, a Saudi Boeing 747 jetliner collided shortly after takeoff from New Delhi, India, with a Kazak Ilyushin-76 cargo plane, killing 349 people.

In 2009, Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan was charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder in the Fort Hood, Texas, shooting rampage. (Hasan was later convicted and sentenced to death; no execution date has been set.)

Ten years ago: President Barack Obama arrived in Japan from South Korea to attend a regional economic summit; it was the fourth and final stop on the president's 10-day tour of Asia. 

Five years ago: President Barack Obama presented the Medal of Honor to Florent Groberg, an Army captain who shoved a suicide bomber to the ground and away from his security detail in Afghanistan. (Four people were killed in the attack; Groberg survived with severe injuries.) 

One year ago: The Supreme Court said a survivor of the Newtown, Connecticut school shooting and relatives of the victims could pursue their lawsuit against Remington Arms, the maker of the rifle that was used to kill 26 people. 

Today's birthdays

Singer Brian Hyland is 77. Singer-songwriter Neil Young is 75. Actor Megan Mullally is 62. Actor Vincent Irizarry is 61. Olympic gold medal gymnast Nadia Comaneci is 59. Rock musician David Ellefson is 56. Retired MLB All-Star Sammy Sosa is 52. Figure skater Tonya Harding is 50. Actor Rebecca Wisocky is 49. Actor Radha Mitchell is 47. Actor Lourdes Benedicto is 46. Actor Tamala Jones is 46. Actor Angela Watson is 46. Singer Tevin Campbell is 44. Actor Ashley Williams is 42. Actor Cote de Pablo is 41. Actor Ryan Gosling is 40. Contemporary Christian musician Chris Huffman is 40. Actor Anne Hathaway is 38. Pop singer Omarion is 36. NBA All-Star Russell Westbrook is 32. Folk-rock musician Griffin Goldsmith (Dawes) is 30. Actor Macey Cruthird is 28.