On this date in history:

In 1927, the Holland Tunnel was opened under the Hudson River, linking New York City and New Jersey.

In 1933, the first recorded sit-down strike in the United States was staged by workers at the Hormel Packing Co. in Austin, Minn.

In 1956, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a case from Montgomery, Ala., that segregation on interstate buses was unconstitutional.

In 1967, Carl Stokes became the first black U.S. mayor when he was elected in Cleveland.

In 1985, the Nevado del Ruiz volcano erupted in Colombia, killing 25,000 people. It was one of the deadliest volcanic eruptions in history.

In 1993, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Farooq Leghari was chosen president.

In 2004, an Iraqi national security adviser said up to 1,000 insurgents were killed in a six-day battle for Fallujah.

In 2010, the military government of Myanmar, formerly Burma, released pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest. The leader of the National League for Democray, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, had spent 15 of the past 21 years confined to her home.

In 2011, Mario Monti, an economist and former EU commissioner, was picked to succeed Silvio Berlusconi as Italy's prime minister. Berlusconi, 75, resigned after Parliament passed austerity measures to address the country's $2.6 trillion debt. (Monti was PM until April 2013.)

In 2012, Syria's information minister, Omran Zoubi, said there is no power in the world that can topple President Bashar al-Assad. He said all efforts to replace Assad are futile.

In 2013, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported that 106,185 people had chosen health plans in the new Affordable Care Act marketplace through October, about 20 percent of the number expected. The new health system had been plagued by problems with its federal website since it opened Oct. 1.

Copyright 2014 by United Press International