2004In a video tape statement, Osama Bin Laden directly admits for the first time that he ordered the September 11th attacks. The Al-Qaeda leader warns the best way to avoid another Manhattan is to stop threatening the security of Muslims.

1956During the Suez Canal Crisis, Israel invades Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. Just days later, British and French forces occupy the canal which Egypt had nationalized. Then both Cold War superpowers the United States and Soviet Union demand a ceasefire. The crisis ends with U.N. peacekeepers deployed in the Canal Zone.

1901In Upstate New York, Leon Czolgosz dies in the electric chair for assassinating President William McKinley in Buffalo. And 1998, “Booster ignition and liftoff of Discovery with the crew of 6 astronaut heroes and one American legend.” Ohio US Senator John Glenn, the first American to orbit the earth, rolls back into space aboard shuttle Discovery at the age of 77.

Today in History, October 29th, Tim Maguire, the Associated Press.