1571: The Holy League consisting of Spain and Italy defeat the Ottoman Turkish fleet in the Battle of Lepanto off the coast of Greece. The Ottoman's defeat halted their advance into Europe.
1897: Elijah Muhammad, who would become the spiritual leader (but not the founder) of the Nation of Islam, is born Elijah Poole in Sandersville, Ga.
1928: Persian poet and painter Sohrab Sepehri is born in Kashan, in Iran's Isfahan province. He died in 1980.
1958: The president of Pakistan, Iskander Mirza, with the Pakistani military's backing, suspends the constitution, imposes martial law, and cancels elections.
1981: The Egyptian parliament names Hosni Mubarak president of Egypt following the assassination of Anwar Sadat the previous day. Mubarak had been Sadat's vice president.
1985: Four Palestinian Liberation Front terrorists led by Abu Abbas hijacked the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro off the coast of Egypt. (The PLA was an offshoot of the Palestine Liberation Organization.) The Palestinians demand the release of prisoners held in Israeli jails, including Palestinian terrorist Samir Kuntar, in exchange for the release of the 440 passengers and crew members. Abu Abbas murders American passenger Leon Klinghoffer, a 69-year-old American Jew from New York, in full view of Klinghoffer's wide Marilyn, then shove him, in his wheelchair, into the Mediterranean. The terrorists surrender two days later but were able to flee Italian authorities. American forces captured Abu Abbas in Baghdad in 2003, where he'd been living under the protection of Saddam Hussein. Abu Abbas died in a Baghdad prison in 2004.
2001: U.S. President George W. Bush launches an air assault on Afghanistan, soon to be followed by a ground assault, attacking Taliban and al-Qaeda targets in retaliation for Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
