Today is Thursday, Sept. 30, the 274th day of 2004. There are 92 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Sept. 30, 1938, British, French, German and Italian leaders decided to appease Adolf Hitler by allowing Nazi annexation of Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland.

On this date:

In 1777, the Congress of the United States – forced to flee in the face of advancing British forces – moved to York, Penn.

In 1791, Mozart’s opera “The Magic Flute” premiered in Vienna, Austria.

In 1846, dentist William Morton used ether as an anesthetic for the first time on a patient in his Boston office.

In 1927, Babe Ruth hit his 60th homer of the season to break his own major-league record.

In 1946, an international military tribunal in Nuremberg, Germany, found 22 top Nazi leaders guilty of war crimes.

In 1949, the Berlin Airlift came to an end.

In 1954, the first atomic-powered vessel, the submarine “Nautilus,” was commissioned by the Navy.

In 1955, actor James Dean was killed in a two-car collision near Cholame, Calif.

In 1962, black student James Meredith succeeded on his fourth try in registering for classes at the University of Mississippi.

In 1993, an estimated 10,000 people were killed when an earthquake measuring a magnitude of 6.4 struck southern India.

Ten years ago: The space shuttle “Endeavour” and its six astronauts roared into orbit on an 11-day mission.

Five years ago: Defense Secretary William Cohen ordered a top-level investigation of accounts of mass killings of Korean civilians by U.S. soldiers at No Gun Ri in 1950. A major leak at a uranium-processing plant in northeastern Japan exposed dozens of people to radiation. German novelist Guenter Grass wins the Nobel Prize in literature. The San Francisco Giants played the Los Angeles Dodgers in the last baseball game at Candlestick Park; the Dodgers won, 9-4.

One year ago: The FBI began a full-scale criminal investigation into whether White House officials had illegally leaked the identity of an undercover CIA officer. Eighteen accused al-Qaida sympathizers were convicted in Belgium’s biggest terrorism trial.

Today’s Birthdays: Actress Deborah Kerr is 83. Actress Angie Dickinson is 73. Singer Cissy Houston is 71. Singer Johnny Mathis is 69. Actor Len Cariou is 65. Rock singer-musician Dewey Martin (Buffalo Springfield) is 62. Singer Marilyn McCoo is 61. Pop singer Sylvia Peterson (The Chiffons) is 58. Rock musician John Lombardo is 52. Singer Deborah Allen is 51. Actor Calvin Levels is 50. Actor Barry Williams is 50. Singer Patrice Rushen is 50. Actor Vondie Curtis-Hall is 48. Actress Fran Drescher is 47. Country singer Marty Stuart is 46. Actress Debrah Farentino is 45. Rock musician Bill Rieflin (R.E.M.) is 44. Actress Crystal Bernard is 43. Actor Eric Stoltz is 43. Rapper-producer Marley Marl is 42. Country singer Eddie Montgomery (Montgomery-Gentry) is 41. Rock musician Robby Takac (Goo Goo Dolls) is 40. Actress Lisa Thornhill is 38. Actress Monica Bellucci is 36. Actress Jenna Elfman is 33. Actor Ashley Hamilton is 30. Actor Mike Damus is 25. Tennis player Martina Hingis is 24. Olympic gold medal gymnast Dominique Moceanu is 23. Actress Lacey Chabert is 22. Actor Kieran Culkin is 22.

Thought for Today: “Nothing you can’t spell will ever work.” – Will Rogers, American humorist (1879-1935).