TODAY IN HISTORYToday is Wednesday, November 23, the 327th day of 2005. There are 38 days left in the year.

ON THIS DATE<$>

In 1499, Perkin Warbeck, pretender to English throne, is executed.

In 1531, the Peace of Kappel ends second civil war in Switzerland.

In 1890, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is separated from the Netherlands.

In 1932, the kingdoms of Nejd and Hejaz merge to become the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia under King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud.

In 1943, US forces defeat Japanese in Pacific battle of Tarawa in the Second World War.

In 1945, most US wartime rationing of foods, including meat and butter, ends.

In 1971, China takes seat as a permanent member of UN Security Council.

In 1976, the Thai government returns 26 refugees to Cambodia saying that they are a threat to the national security. The government says some 70,000 refugees in Thailand who escaped Communist rule in other Indochina states, including 10,000 Cambodians, will also not be permitted to stay.

In 1979, in Dublin, Thomas McMahon was sentenced to life imprisonment for the assassination of Earl Mountbatten, cousin of Queen Elizabeth.

In 1983, the Soviet Union walked out of arms limitation talks in Geneva in protest at the deployment of US cruise missiles in Europe.

In 1989, at least 300,000 people jam Prague’s Wenceslas Square to demand democratic reforms in Czechoslovakia.

In 1990, Iraq ends curfew in occupied Kuwait, but begins calling up army reservists in their thirties.

In 1994, a large cache of bomb-grade uranium is transferred from Kazakhstan to the United States.

In 1999, Kuwait’s Parliament rejects a decree giving women the right to vote and run for office.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

It is better to debate an important matter without settling it than to settle it without debating it — Anonymous.