Is This Sort Of Thing For Which The AP Wants To Imprison The Blog-O-Sphere?

By The Associated Press 39 mins ago Today is Friday, April 24, the 114th day of 2009. There are 251 days left in the year. The other AP. Their A/V. And the UPI Almanac. 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," was composed by Capt. 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. [At that rate AmeriKKKan baby-killers should be out of Iraq by 2020. — Ed.] 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 1962, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology achieved the first satellite relay of a television signal, between Camp Parks, Calif., and Westford, Mass. In 1968, leftist students at Columbia University in New York City began a weeklong occupation of several campus buildings.In 1970, the People's Republic of China launched its first satellite, which kept transmitting "The East is Red." [And don't forget it, round-eyes!! — Ed.] 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. President Carter announces the failed mission.In 1990, the space shuttle Discovery blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., carrying the $1.5 billion Hubble Space Telescope.Ten years ago: On the second day of a NATO summit, the alliance ran into objections from Russia and questions among its own members about enforcing an oil embargo against Yugoslavia by searching ships at sea. President Bill Clinton urged Americans to be patient with the bombing strategy in the meantime. Five years ago: Suicide boat bombers attacked Iraqi oil facilities in the Persian Gulf, killing three Americans and disabling Iraq's biggest terminal for more than 24 hours. A U.N. plan to reunify the war-divided island of Cyprus collapsed when Greek Cypriots rejected the proposal in one referendum and Turkish Cypriots endorsed it in another. In Los Angeles, Vitali Klitschko stopped Corrie Sanders late in the eighth round to win the WBC heavyweight title vacated by the retirement of Lennox Lewis. Cosmetics queen Estee Lauder died in New York at 97. One year ago: The White House accused North Korea of assisting Syria's secret nuclear program, saying a Syrian nuclear reactor destroyed by Israel in 2007 was not intended for "peaceful purposes." The U.S. government reported new home sales fell 8.5 percent in March to their lowest level since the 1990s. The housing backlog was reported to be the largest since 1981. Today's Birthdays: Film and drama critic Stanley Kauffmann is 93. Movie director-producer Richard Donner is 79. Actress Shirley MacLaine is 75. Author Sue Grafton is 69. Actor-singer Michael Parks is 69. Actress-singer-director Barbra Streisand is 67. Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley is 67. Country singer Richard Sterban (The Oak Ridge Boys) is 66. Rock musician Doug Clifford (Creedence Clearwater Revival) is 64. Rock singer-musician Rob Hyman is 59. Actor-playwright Eric Bogosian is 56. Actor Michael O'Keefe is 54. Rock musician David J (Bauhaus) is 52. Actor-comedian Cedric the Entertainer is 45. Actor Djimon Hounsou is 45. Rock musician Patty Schemel is 42.  Today in Entertainment History: In 1957, Ricky Nelson released his first record, "Teenager's Romance" backed with a cover of Fats Domino's "I'm Walkin'." In 1958, Dion and the Belmonts' first single, "I Wonder Why" backed with "Teen Angel," was released. In 1961, Bob Dylan made his recording debut, playing harmonica on Harry Belafonte's "Midnight Special" album. He was paid $50. In 1969, Muddy Waters recorded the live album "Fathers and Sons," with a host of special guests, including Paul Butterfield and Mike Bloomfield. In 1972, several people were injured and at least six teenage girls fainted in a stampede prior to a Jethro Tull concert in New York. About 2,500 people rushed the lobby of the concert hall trying to get tickets. In 1974, comedian Bud Abbott of Abbott and Costello died in Woodland Hills, Calif. He was 78. In 1990, the road crew for Roger Waters of Pink Floyd discovered an unexploded World War Two-era bomb while constructing the set for "The Wall" in Potsdamer Platz, Germany. In 1992, singer David Bowie and fashion model Iman (EE'-mahn) got married in a secret ceremony in Switzerland. News of the wedding was not announced until more than a week later. [Probably because no one cared then or the next wk. — Ed.] In 1993, about 40,000 people turned out for Willie Nelson's Farm Aid Six concert in Ames, Iowa. Nelson was joined by Neil Young, John Mellencamp and more than 40 other top artists. In 2002, Jewel broke her collarbone and a rib when she was thrown from a horse at her boyfriend's ranch.

Thought for Today: "To change and to improve are two different things." — German proverb. Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reversed. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Copyright © 2009 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reversed.