• Today is Monday, Dec. 9, the 343rd day of 2013. There are 22 days left in the year.
• Today's Highlight in History:
• On Dec. 9, 1987, the first Palestinian intefadeh, or uprising, began as riots broke out in Gaza and spread to the West Bank, triggering a strong Israeli response.
• On this date:
• In 1608, English poet John Milton was born in London.
• In 1854, Alfred, Lord Tennyson's famous poem, "The Charge of the Light Brigade," was published in England.
• In 1911, an explosion inside the Cross Mountain coal mine near Briceville, Tenn., killed 84 workers. (Five were rescued.)
• In 1912, longtime House Speaker Thomas "Tip" O'Neill was born in Cambridge, Mass.
• In 1940, British troops opened their first major offensive in North Africa during World War II.
• In 1942, the Aram Khachaturian ballet "Gayane," featuring the surging "Sabre Dance," was first performed by Russia's Kirov Ballet.
• In 1958, the anti-communist John Birch Society was formed in Indianapolis.
• In 1962, the Petrified Forest in Arizona was designated a national park.
• In 1971, Nobel Peace laureate Ralph Bunche died in New York.
• In 1982, special Watergate prosecutor Leon Jaworski died at his Wimberley, Texas, ranch at age 77.
• In 1984, the five-day-old hijacking of a Kuwaiti jetliner that claimed the lives of two Americans ended as Iranian security men seized control of the plane, which was parked at Tehran airport.
• In 1992, Britain's Prince Charles and Princess Diana announced their separation. (The couple's divorce became final Aug. 28, 1996.)
• Ten years ago: The owners of a Rhode Island nightclub and the tour manager for the rock band Great White were indicted on charges related to a fire the previous February that killed 100 people. A suicide bomber killed five victims outside an ex

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