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Today is Thursday, April 17, the 108th day of 2008. There are 258 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History:
On April 17, 1961, about 1,500 CIA-trained Cuban exiles launched the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in a failed attempt to overthrow the government of Fidel Castro.
On this date:
In 1521, Martin Luther went before the Diet of Worms to face charges stemming from his religious writings. (He was later declared an outlaw by Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.)
In 1524, Giovanni da Verrazano reached present-day New York Harbor.
In 1790, American statesman Benjamin Franklin died in Philadelphia at age 84.
In 1861, the Virginia State Convention voted to secede from the Union.
In 1941, Yugoslavia surrendered to Germany in World War II.
In 1964, Ford Motor Co. unveiled its new Mustang model at the New York World's Fair.
In 1969, a jury in Los Angeles convicted Sirhan Sirhan of assassinating Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.
In 1969, Czechoslovak Communist Party First Secretary Alexander Dubcek was deposed.
In 1970, the astronauts of Apollo 13 splashed down safely in the Pacific, four days after a ruptured oxygen tank crippled their spacecraft.
In 1990, the Rev. Ralph D. Abernathy, the civil rights activist and top aide to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., died in Atlanta at age 64.
Today's Birthdays: Rock promoter Don Kirshner is 74. Composer-musician Jan Hammer is 60. Actress Olivia Hussey is 57. Rock singer-musician Pete Shelley (Buzzcocks) is 53. Actor Sean Bean is 49. Rock singer Maynard James Keenan (Tool) is 44. Actress Lela Rochon is 44. Actor William Mapother is 43. Actress Kimberly Elise is 41. Singer Liz Phair is 41. Rapper-actor Redman is 38. Actress Jennifer Garner is 36. Country musician Craig Anderson (Heartland) is 35. Singer Victoria Adams Beckham (Spice Girls) is 34. Actress-singer Lindsay Korman is 30. Actor Paulie Litt is 13. Actress Dee Dee Davis is 12.
Thought for Today: "A cynic is not merely one who reads bitter lessons from the past; he is one who is prematurely disappointed in the future." -- Sydney J. Harris, American journalist (1917-1986).
The Associated Press
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