This day in history

[April 24, 2010]  (AP)  Today is Saturday, April 24, the 114th day of 2010. There are 251 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On April 24, 1898, Spain declared war on the United States after rejecting America's ultimatum to withdraw from Cuba. (The United States responded in kind the next day.)

On this date:

In 1792, the national anthem of France, "La Marseillaise" (lah mahr-say-YEHZ'), was composed by Captain Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle.

In 1800, Congress approved a bill establishing the Library of Congress.

In 1877, federal troops were ordered out of New Orleans, ending the North's post-Civil War rule in the South.

In 1915, the Ottoman Empire rounded up Armenian political and cultural leaders in Constantinople at the start of what many scholars regard as the first genocide of the 20th century in which an estimated 1.5 million Armenians died.

In 1916, some 1,600 Irish nationalists launched the Easter Rising by seizing several key sites in Dublin. (The rising was put down by British forces almost a week later.)

In 1953, British statesman Winston Churchill was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.

In 1960, rioting erupted in Biloxi, Miss. after black protesters staging a "wade-in" at a whites-only beach were attacked by a crowd of hostile whites.

In 1970, the People's Republic of China launched its first satellite, which kept transmitting a song, "The East is Red."

In 1980, the United States launched an unsuccessful attempt to free the American hostages in Iran, a mission that resulted in the deaths of eight U.S. servicemen.

In 1990, the space shuttle Discovery blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., carrying the $1.5 billion Hubble Space Telescope.

Ten years ago: Concerned about the disappearance of a laptop computer with highly sensitive documents, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright announced a five-point plan to help guard against such lapses in the future. A teen-age gunman opened fire at Washington's National Zoo, wounding seven children. (Antoine Jones, then 16, later pleaded guilty in connection with the shooting and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.)

Five years ago: Pope Benedict XVI formally began his stewardship of the Roman Catholic Church; the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger said in his installation homily that as pontiff he would listen to the will of God in governing the world's 1.1 billion Catholics. Former Israeli president Ezer Weizman died in Caesarea, Israel, at age 80.

One year ago: Mexico shut down schools, museums, libraries and state-run theaters across its overcrowded capital in hopes of containing a deadly swine flu outbreak. Back-to-back suicide bombers struck near a Shiite shrine in Baghdad, killing 71.

Today's birthdays: Film and drama critic Stanley Kauffmann is 94. Movie director-producer Richard Donner is 80. Actress Shirley MacLaine is 76. Author Sue Grafton is 70. Actor-singer Michael Parks is 70. Actress-singer-director Barbra Streisand is 68. Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley is 68. Country singer Richard Sterban (The Oak Ridge Boys) is 67. Rock musician Doug Clifford (Creedence Clearwater Revival) is 65. Rock singer-musician Rob Hyman is 60. Actor-playwright Eric Bogosian is 57. Rock singer-musician Jack Blades (Night Ranger) is 56. Actor Michael O'Keefe is 55. Rock musician David J (Bauhaus) is 53. Actor Glenn Morshower is 51. Rock musician Billy Gould is 47. Actor-comedian Cedric the Entertainer is 46. Actor Djimon Hounsou (JEYE'-mihn OHN'-soo) is 46. Rock musician Patty Schemel is 43. Rock musician Aaron Comess (Spin Doctors) is 42. Actress Melinda Clarke is 41. Latin pop singer Alejandro Fernandez is 39. Country-rock musician Brad Morgan (Drive-By Truckers) is 39. Rock musician Brian Marshall (Creed; Alter Bridge) is 37. Actor Derek Luke is 36. Actor Eric Balfour is 33. Country singer Rebecca Lynn Howard is 31. Country singer Danny Gokey is 30. Contemporary Christian musician Jasen Rauch (Red) is 29. Singer Kelly Clarkson is 28. Rock singer-musician Tyson Ritter (The All-American Rejects) is 26.

Thought for today: "Never practice what you preach. If you're going to practice it, why preach it?" -- Lincoln Steffens, American journalist-reformer (1866-1936)

[Associated Press]

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