On Nov. 17, 1558, Elizabeth I acceded to the English throne upon the death of her half-sister, Queen Mary, beginning a 44-year reign.

Ten years ago

U.S. Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania, considered one of Congress’ most hawkish Democrats, called for an immediate U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. A jury in Sarasota, Florida, convicted auto mechanic Joseph Smith of kidnapping, raping and strangling 11-year-old Carlie Brucia, whose abduction had been captured by a car-wash security camera. (Smith remains on death row.)

Five years ago

House Democrats elected Nancy Pelosi to remain as their leader despite massive party losses in midterm elections. Republicans voted to keep John Boehner as their top House leader, making him speaker in the new Congress. A hand-count of votes affirmed the re-election of U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, the first Senate candidate in over 50 years to win a write-in campaign.

One year ago

Pope Francis confirmed that he would be attending the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia in Sept. 2015. Dr. Martin Salia, a surgeon who’d contracted Ebola in his native Sierra Leone, died at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, two days after being admitted. John T. Downey, 84, a former CIA agent who survived more than 20 years in Chinese prisons during the Cold War before becoming a Connecticut judge, died in Hartford.

— By The Associated Press