Wednesday, April 22

Today is Wednesday, April 22, the 112th day of 2009. There are 253 days left in the year:

Highlights in history on this date:

1500 - Portuguese navigator Pedro Alvares Cabral is the first European to discover Brazil, putting ashore in what today is Porto Seguro.

1509 - Henry VIII becomes king of England following the death of his father, Henry VII.

1529 - Treaty of Saragossa defines interests of Spain and Portugal in the Pacific; Spain gives up claim to the East Indies.

1821 - Greek Patriarch of Constantinople is slain by Turks as reprisal for Greek massacre of Turks in the Peloponnese.

1822 - Turkish fleet captures island of Chios off Greece and massacres Christian inhabitants or sells them as slaves.

1864 - Congress authorizes the use of the phrase "In God We Trust" on U.S. coins.

1889 - Homesteaders swarm into the Oklahoma territory; staking claim to free land.

1898 - The first shot of the Spanish-American War rings out as the USS Nashville captures a Spanish merchant ship off Key West, Florida.

1915 - In first reported use of gas in a conflict, German army releases a cloud of chlorine that causes havoc among French troops at Ypres, Belgium.

1931 - Egypt and Iraq sign treaty of friendship _ the first pact between Egypt and another Arab state.

1945 - Allied forces take Bologna in Italy during World War II.

1956 - China appoints Dalai Lama chairman of committee to prepare Tibet for regional autonomy within Chinese People's Republic.

1970 - Millions of Americans concerned about the environment observe the first "Earth Day."

1975 - First Vietnamese refugees arrive on west coast of United States while South Vietnam is falling to communists.

1990 - Pro-Iranian kidnappers in Lebanon free American hostage Robert Polhill after nearly 39 months of captivity.

1991 - A strong earthquake hits Costa Rica, causing extensive damage throughout that country and in western Panama.

1992 - Gasoline leaked from a nearby refinery explodes in the sewer system of Guadalajara, Mexico, ripping open streets and killing 194 people.

1993 - A military court in Cairo sentences to death 7 of 49 Islamic militants for attacks against tourists.

1995 - Hutu refugees flee the refugee camp at Kibeho, Zaire, after thousands are gunned down by soldiers or trampled to death in stampedes.

1996 - Italy takes a turn to the left as a coalition of parties dominated by former Communists wins legislative majorities.

1997 - Peruvian troops storm the Japanese ambassador's mansion in Lima, Peru, and rescue 72 hostages held for four months, but one dies on the way to the hospital. All 14 Tupac Amaru rebels and two soldiers die in the shootout.

1998 - Despite a last-minute plea from the president of Honduras, the U.S. state of Arizona executes a Honduran citizen for murder.

1999 - NATO destroys Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's home in Belgrade with bombs, claiming it is part of his military machine.

2000 - Six-year-old Elian Gonzalez is reunited with his father after a frantic and forceful end to a five-month standoff between the U.S. government and the Cuban boy's Miami relatives.

2002 - All four defendants on trial for the kidnapping and murder of U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl plead not guilty as the trial begins in Karachi, Pakistan. The accused face the death penalty.

2003 - France calls for the immediate suspension of most U.N. sanctions against Iraq allowing civilian trade to resume, as well as commercial air travel and the revival of the financial securities industry

2005 - Belarus' authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko thanks Russia for supporting his isolated nation amid mounting U.S. criticism, and emphasizes the need for closer military cooperation between the two ex-Soviet allies.

2006 - Hundreds are injured in Katmandu when Nepali security open fire on tens of thousands of protesters marching toward the royal palace in defiance of a curfew, as opposition leaders reject the king's proposals for restoring democracy.

2007 - Gunmen execute 23 members of the ancient Yazidi religious sect in northern Iraq after stopping their bus and separating out followers of other faiths.

2008 - The office of Colombia's chief prosecutor orders the arrest of President Alvaro Uribe's cousin over alleged links to paramilitary gangs.

Today's Birthdays:

Henry Fielding, English author (1707-1754); Immanuel Kant, German philosopher (1724-1804); Vladimir Lenin, Russian statesman (1870-1924); Sir Yehudi Menuhin, U.S.-born violinist (1916-1999); Sir Sidney Nolan, Australian artist (1917-1993); Aaron Spelling, U.S. television producer (1923-2006); Alan Bond, Australian entrepreneur and America's Cup sponsor (1938--); Jack Nicholson, U.S. actor (1937--); John Waters, U.S. director (1946--); Peter Frampton, British rock singer (1950--).

Thought For Today:

For a man learns more quickly and remembers more easily that which he laughed at, than that which he approves and than that which he approves and reveres _ Horace, Roman poet (65-8 B.C.)