The moon is waning. The morning stars are Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune. The evening stars are Mercury and Saturn.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Taurus. They include French Emperor Napoleon III in 1808; sculptor Daniel Chester French, creator of "The Minute Man" statue, in 1850; German dictator Adolf Hitler in 1889; silent film comedian Harold Lloyd and Spanish surrealist painter Joan Miro, both in 1893; U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens in 1920 (age 89); actress Nina Foch in 1924; actor Ryan O'Neal in 1941 (age 68); actress Jessica Lange in 1949 (age 60); singer Luther Vandross in 1951; and actors Carmen Electra in 1972 (age 37) and Joey Lawrence in 1976 (age 33).

In 735 B.C., according to the Roman historian Varro, Romulus founded the city of Rome.

In 1653, Oliver Cromwell -- Puritan, revolutionary and Lord Protector of England -- dissolved Parliament to rule by decree.

In 1871, the U.S. Congress passed the Third Force Act, popularly known as the Ku Klux Klan Act, authorizing President Ulysses S. Grant to declare martial law, impose heavy penalties against terrorist organizations and use military force to suppress the Klan.

In 1902, Marie and Pierre Curie isolated radioactive radium salts from the mineral pitchblende in their laboratory in Paris.

In 1976, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that federal courts could order low-cost housing for minorities in a city's white suburbs to ease racial segregation.

In 1987, Karl Linnas, sentenced to death by the Soviets in 1962 for running a World War II concentration camp, became the first Nazi war criminal returned by the United States to the Soviet Union against his will.

In 1990, Pete Rose, banished from baseball for gambling, pleaded guilty to two felony counts alleging he concealed nearly $300,000 in income from the Internal Revenue Service.

In 1991, U.S. Marines crossed into northern Iraq to set up camps for Kurds seeking refuge from Iraqi civil strife.

Also in 1991, the United States announced plans to open an office in Hanoi to investigate unresolved cases of 2,278 U.S. military personnel listed as MIAs and POWs.

In 1992, Madonna signed a multimillion-dollar deal with Time Warner to form an entertainment company that would make her the highest paid female pop star in the world.

In 1998, a federal jury in Chicago awarded more than $85,000 in damages to two women's health clinics that had accused abortion opponents of threats and extortion in an effort to shut them down.

In 1999, two teenage boys killed 12 fellow students and a teacher at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., before turning their guns on themselves.

In 2001, the opening session of the Summit of the Americas was delayed as protesters massed in the streets of Quebec City. They were demonstrating against a proposed hemisphere-wide free trade area.

Also in 2001, a U.S. missionary and her infant daughter were killed when their plane was fired on by the crew of a Peruvian jetfighter who thought the aircraft was carrying illegal drugs.

In 2002, Pope John Paul II, speaking on the sex scandal that had rocked the Roman Catholic clergy, said bishops must "diligently investigate accusations" against priests who broke their vows of celibacy.

In 2004, some 21 Iraqi detainees were killed at Abu Ghraib prison, largest facility used by U.S. troops to detain Iraqis, by mortar rounds apparently fired by anti-coalition insurgents. Many others were hurt.

In 2005, more than 50 bodies, believed to be those of hostages, were found in Iraq's Tigris River and another 20 soldiers shot to death were found near Baghdad.

In 2008, more than 1,000 Zimbabweans were reported fleeing for South Africa daily to escape violence by loyalists to President Robert Mugabe.

Also in 2008, former Roman Catholic Bishop Fernando Lugo was elected president of Paraguay with 41 percent of the vote.

And, in 2008 sports, Danica Patrick won the Indy Japan 300 auto race, becoming the first woman to win an IndyCar event.

The moon is waning. The morning stars are Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune. The evening stars are Mercury and Saturn.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Taurus. They include German educator Friedrich Froebel, who established the concept of the kindergarten, in 1782; English novelist Charlotte Bronte in 1816; James Starley, English inventor of the geared bicycle, in 1830; naturalist and author John Muir in 1838; German sociologist Max Weber in 1864; actor Anthony Quinn in 1915; Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in 1926 (age 83); comedian, actress and director Elaine May in 1932 (age 77); actor/director Charles Grodin in 1935 (age 74); rock singer Iggy Pop in 1947 (age 62); actress/singer Patti LuPone in 1949 (age 60); actor Tony Danza in 1951 (age 58); and actress Andie MacDowell in 1958 (age 51).

In 1836, with the battle cry, "Remember the Alamo!" Texas forces under Sam Houston defeated the army of Mexican Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna at San Jacinto, Texas, opening the door to Texas independence.

In 1918, German World War I flying ace, Manfred von Richthofen, known as "The Red Baron," was killed by Allied fire over Vaux-sur-Somme, France.

In 1954, U.S. Air Force planes began flying French troops to Indochina to reinforce Dien Bien Phu. The city later fell to communist Viet Minh forces.

In 1967, a Greek army coup in Athens sent King Constantine into exile in Italy.

In 1975, Nguyen Van Thieu resigned as president of South Vietnam after denouncing the United States as untrustworthy. His replacement, Tran Van Huong, prepared for peace talks with North Vietnam as communist forces advanced on Saigon.

In 1987, the bombing of a bus terminal in Colombo, Sri Lanka, killed 127 people and wounded 288.

In 1992, killer Robert Alton Harris became the first person executed in California's gas chamber in 25 years.

Also in 1992, gas explosions ripped through the historic center of Guadalajara, Mexico, killing more than 200 people and injuring hundreds more.

In 1993, the 11-day siege at a prison near Lucasville, Ohio, ended. Ten people died.

In 1995, Timothy McVeigh, 27, arrested 90 minutes after the Oklahoma City federal building explosion because he was driving without license plates, was charged in the bombing.

In 2004, a series of coordinated car bombings at police buildings in Basra, Iraq, killed more than 50 people, including about 20 school children.

In 2005, the U.S. Senate approved the nomination of John Negroponte to be the nation's first national intelligence director.

Also in 2005, insurgents shot down a civilian helicopter north of Baghdad, killing all 11 aboard including six U.S. contractors.

And, Brazil granted asylum to former Ecuadorian President Lucio Gutierrez after he was ousted from office.

In 2006, U.S. oil prices hit a record high, topping $75 a barrel and the cost of regular gasoline at the pump soared to more than $3 gallon in some parts of the nation.

Also in 2006, King Gyanendra, Nepal's embattled monarch, agreed to restore a democratic government to his country.

In 2007, an aircraft of the U.S. Navy's Blue Angels precision flight team crashed during an air show in Beaufort, S.C., killing the pilot and injuring eight people on the ground.

In 2008, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced a link had been found between contaminated drug thinners from China and 81 reported deaths in the United States.

The moon is waning. The morning stars are Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune. The evening stars are Mercury and Saturn.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Taurus. They include Spanish Queen Isabella I, who funded the first voyage of Christopher Columbus to the New World, in 1451; English novelist Henry Fielding in 1707; German philosopher Immanuel Kant in 1724; Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, leader of Russia's 1917 Communist revolution, in 1870; pioneer nuclear physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer in 1904; actor Eddie Albert in 1906; violin virtuoso Yehudi Menuhin in 1916; jazz bass player Charles Mingus in 1922; actress Charlotte Rae in 1926 (age 83); TV producer Aaron Spelling in 1923; singer Glen Campbell in 1936 (age 73); actor Jack Nicholson in 1937 (age 72); filmmaker John Waters in 1946 (age 63); rock guitarist and singer Peter Frampton in 1950 (age 59); actor Ryan Stiles in 1959 (age 50); comedian/TV host Byron Allen in 1961 (age 48); and actor Chris Makepeace in 1964 (age 45).

In 1500, Brazil was discovered by Pedro Alvarez Cabral.

In 1509, Henry VIII became king of England.

In 1889, some 20,000 homesteaders massed along the border of the Oklahoma Territory, awaiting the signal to start the Oklahoma land rush.

In 1914, Babe Ruth made his professional baseball debut as a pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles.

In 1915, during World War I, German forces became the first to use poison gas on the Western Front.

In 1972, Apollo 16 astronauts John Young and Charles Duke walked and rode on the surface of the moon for 7 hours, 23 minutes.

In 1985, Jose Sarney was sworn in as Brazil's first civilian president in 21 years.

In 1990, Muslim extremists in Lebanon freed a U.S. hostage for the first time in more than three years, releasing college professor Robert Polhill after 39 months in captivity.

In 1991, at least 70 people were killed and 500 more injured when an earthquake measuring 7.4 on the Richter scale struck Costa Rica.

In 1994, Richard Nixon, the 37th U.S. president and the only U.S. president to resign his office, died four days after suffering a stroke. He was 81.

In 1997, a 126-day standoff at the Japanese Embassy in Lima ended when Peruvian commandos stormed the building and freed 72 hostages held by the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement. All 14 rebels were killed.

In 2000, in a predawn raid, armed U.S. immigration agents broke into the Miami house where Elian Gonzalez had been staying and took charge of the 6-year-old Cuban refugee, flying him to Washington to be reunited with his Cuban father.

In 2003, hundreds of thousands of Shiites journeyed to Karbala for annual religious observances banned under Saddam Hussein and many called on Americans to go home.

In 2004, former NFL star Pat Tillman, who turned down a lucrative contract with the Arizona Cardinals to join the U.S. Army Rangers, was killed in Afghanistan. The U.S. military said later he was a victim of friendly fire.

In 2005, Zacarias Moussaoui, the only man charged in the United States in connection with the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison.

In 2006, Iraq's parliament ratified the selection of Nouri al-Maliki as prime minister, ending a four-month political deadlock.

In 2007, gunmen in the Iraqi city of Mosul killed 23 followers of Yazidi, a religious minority, after they were pulled from their bus. Individuals of other faiths were unharmed.

In 2008, Hillary Clinton scored a decisive victory over Barack Obama in the Pennsylvania Democratic presidential primary but Obama still owned the delegate lead.

The moon is waning. The morning stars are Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune. The evening stars are Mercury and Saturn.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Taurus. They include English playwright William Shakespeare in 1564; James Buchanan, 15th president of the United States, in 1791; Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev in 1891; novelist Vladimir Nabokov in 1899; actress/diplomat Shirley Temple Black in 1928 (age 81); singer Roy Orbison in 1936; actors Lee Majors and David Birney, both in 1939 (age 70), Herve Villechaize in 1943, Sandra Dee in 1942, Joyce DeWitt in 1949 (age 60), Jan Hooks ("Saturday Night Live") in 1957 (age 52), Valerie Bertinelli in 1960 (age 49) and Melina Kanakaredes in 1967 (age 42).

In 1635, the first public school in America, the Boston Latin School, opened.

In 1898, the first movie theater opened at Koster and Bials Music Hall in New York City.

In 1898, the U.S. government asked for 125,000 volunteers to fight against Spain in Cuba.

In 1965, more than 200 U.S. planes struck North Vietnam in one of the heaviest raids of the Vietnam War.

In 1985, former U.S. Sen. Sam Ervin died at age 88. The North Carolina Democrat directed the Senate Watergate investigation that led to U.S. President Richard Nixon's resignation.

In 1987, an apartment building under construction in Bridgeport, Conn., collapsed, killing 28 construction workers.

In 1990, the West German government bowed to East German demands and agreed to a 1-1 exchange rate between East and West marks, clearing the path to a planned currency union.

In 1991, Virgilio Pablo Paz Romero was arrested for the 1976 car-bomb killing of Chilean Ambassador Orlando Letelier in Washington.

In 1992, McDonald's opened its first restaurant in Beijing.

In 1993, United Farm Workers founder Cesar Chavez died at age 66 of apparent natural causes.

In 2002, Pope John Paul II met at the Vatican with U.S. cardinals to discuss the sexual abuse scandal that had rocked the Roman Catholic clergy. He expressed an apology to victims of abuse, saying what had happened to them was a crime and "an appalling act in the eyes of God."

In 2003, after a 10-day stalemate, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat reached agreement on a new Cabinet with his choice for prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas.

In 2006, Hungary's Socialist-Liberal coalition recaptured government control by a comfortable majority in parliamentary elections.

In 2007, former Russian President Boris Yeltsin, who faced down army tanks during the fall of the Soviet Union, died of cardiac arrest at the age of 76.

Also in 2007, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said he was ordering a halt to construction of a wall separating a Sunni neighborhood from other parts of Baghdad.

In 2008, U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus, top U.S. military official in Iraq, was promoted to head of Central Command, overseeing military affairs in the Middle East and Central Asia, including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He succeeds Adm. William Fallon, who recently retired from the post.

The moon is waning. The morning stars are Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune. The evening stars are Mercury and Saturn.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Taurus. They include English novelist Anthony Trollope in 1815; artist Willem de Kooning in 1904; U.S. poet laureate Robert Penn Warren in 1905; actresses Shirley MacLaine in 1934 (age 75) and Jill Ireland in 1936; singer, actress and director Barbra Streisand and Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, both in 1942 (age 67); and actors Eric Bogosian in 1953 (age 56) and Michael O'Keefe in 1955 (age 54).

In 1704, the Boston News Letter became the first American newspaper to be published on a regular basis.

In 1800, the U.S. Congress established the Library of Congress.

In 1877, U.S. troops moved out of New Orleans, ending the North's military occupation of the South following the Civil War.

In 1981, IBM introduced its first personal computer.

In 1986, the Duchess of Windsor, Wallis Warfield Simpson, for whom England's King Edward VIII gave up his throne, died in Paris at age 89.

In 1987, genetically altered bacteria, designed to prevent frost damage, were sprayed on a California strawberry field in the first test of such biotechnology in nature.

In 1991, the first U.N. peacekeeping forces were deployed along the Kuwait-Iraq border.

Also in 1991, Freddie Stowers, a World War I corporal, was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor to become the first African-American to receive the highest medal for valor in combat.

In 1995, the "UNAbomber" struck with a mail bomb that killed Gilbert Murray, president of the California Forestry Association, in Sacramento.

In 1996, the Palestinian National Council voted to drop its official commitment to the destruction of Israel.

In 1997, with ratification by the U.S. Senate, the United States became the 75th country to approve the Chemical Weapons Convention.

In 2003, North Korea announced it had nuclear weapons and had begun making bomb-grade plutonium.

In 2004, Greek Cypriot voters overwhelmingly rejected a U.N. plan for the reunification of the divided Mediterranean island.

In 2005, Benedict XVI was installed in Rome as the 265th Roman Catholic pope, promising to continue the policies of John Paul II.

In 2006, three coordinated bomb blasts shattered part of the popular Egyptian resort town of Dahab, killing a reported 30 people and injuring more than 115 others.

Also in 2006, police in Kansas and Alaska report breaking up two plots by middle school and high school students for school massacres hours before they were to begin.

In 2007, Toyota overtook General Motors as No. 1 in global vehicle sales from January to March largely because of increased demand for fuel-efficient cars.

Also in 2007, Mexico City lawmakers voted to legalize abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, a landmark decision in the largely Roman Catholic country.

In 2008, 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.

Also in 2008, Iraq's largest Sunni bloc, known as Tawafiq, rejoined Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Cabinet after a yearlong boycott.

The moon is new. The morning stars are Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune. The evening stars are Mercury and Saturn.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Taurus. They include Oliver Cromwell, lord protector of England, in 1599; Guglielmo Marconi, inventor of the radio telegraph, in 1874; U.S. Supreme Court Justice William Brennan in 1906; pioneer broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow in 1908; singer Ella Fitzgerald in 1917; former Harlem Globetrotters basketball player George "Meadowlark" Lemon III in 1932 (age 77); and actors Al Pacino in 1940 (age 69), Talia Shire in 1946 (age 63), Hank Azaria in 1964 (age 45) and Renee Zellweger in 1969 (age 40).

In 1507, German geographer and mapmaker Martin Waldseemuller published a book in which he named the newly discovered continent of the New World "America" after the man he mistakenly thought had discovered it, Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci.

In 1859, ground was broken for the Suez Canal at Port Said, Egypt.

In 1862, Union forces captured New Orleans during the Civil War.

In 1898, the U.S. Congress formally declared war on Spain in the battle over Cuba.

In 1901, New York became the first state to require license plates on automobiles.

In 1945, delegates of 46 countries gathered in San Francisco to organize a permanent United Nations.

In 1967, the first law legalizing abortion in the United States was signed into law by Colorado Gov. John Arthur Love.

In 1982, Israel turned over the final third of the occupied Sinai Peninsula to Egypt under the Camp David peace agreement.

In 1990, space shuttle Discovery astronauts released the $1.5 billion Hubble Space Telescope into orbit. The telescope was determined to be flawed, prompting another space mission to repair it.

Also in 1990, Violeta Chamorro assumed the Nicaraguan presidency, ending more than a decade of leftist Sandinista rule.

In 1991, the United States announced its first financial aid to Hanoi since the 1960s: $1 million to make artificial limbs for Vietnamese disabled during the war.

In 1993, an estimated 300,000 people took part in a gay rights march on the National Mall in Washington.

In 1994, the Japanese Diet elected Tsutomu Hata as prime minister.

In 1995, regular season play by major league baseball teams got under way, the first official action since what was the then longest strike in sports history began in August 1994.

In 2000, Vermont approved a measure legalizing "civil unions" among same sex couples becoming the first state in the nation to give homosexual couples the same legal status as heterosexual married couples.

In 2001, the Japanese Diet elected Junichiro Koizumi, a former Health and Welfare minister, as the country's prime minister.

In 2003, Chinese health officials closed a second hospital and ordered about 4,000 people in Beijing to stay home as the number of cases and deaths from severe acute respiratory syndrome continued to surge in the country.

Also in 2003, Farouk Hijazi, the former director of external operations for Iraqi intelligence and a former ambassador to Tunisia and Turkey, was arrested as a suspect in an alleged 1993 Kuwait plot to assassinate former U.S. President George H.W. Bush in Kuwait.

In 2004, hundreds of victims in the North Korea train explosion were reported being treated in an ill-equipped hospital lacking beds and medical equipment. At least 161 people were reported killed and about 1,300 others were wounded.

In 2005, the crash of a Japanese commuter train near Osaka killed more than 70 people and injured more than 300 others.

In 2006, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was greeted in Athens, Greece, by masked rioters throwing gasoline bombs and stones to protest her arrival.

In 2007, the Dow Jones industrial average closed at more than 13,000 for the first time.

Also in 2007, astronomers in Chile discovered a planet they described as the "most Earth-like planet outside our solar system." Researchers said that Gliese 581 C, located 20.5 light-years from Earth, had temperatures similar to Earth's and could have water.

In 2008, job losses and price hikes sent U.S. consumer confidence spiraling to a reported 26-year low in April. Experts blamed the consumer uneasiness largely on the sustained loss of jobs.

Also in 2008, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said the United States is planning for "potential military courses of action" against Iran. Adm. Michael Mullen told reporters at the Pentagon that he expects no such conflict "in the near future" and while confrontation would be "extremely stressing" on U.S. forces it would be possible to carry out.

The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune. The evening stars are Mercury and Saturn.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Taurus. They include naturalist John James Audubon in 1785; landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted in 1822; author Anita Loos in 1893; Rudolf Hess, Adolf Hitler's deputy, in 1894; inventor Charles Richter, responsible for the Richter scale of earthquake measurement, in 1900; novelist Bernard Malamud in 1914; architect I.M. Pei in 1917 (age 92); actress/comedian Carol Burnett in 1933 (age 76); influential pop guitarist Duane Eddy in 1938 (age 71); pop singer Bobby Rydell in 1942 (age 67); and actors Giancarlo Esposito in 1958 (age 51) and Kevin James in 1965 (age 44).

In 1607, the first British colonists to establish a permanent settlement in America landed at Cape Henry, Va.

In 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, German-made planes destroyed the Basque town of Guernica, Spain.

In 1986, a fire at the Soviet Union's Chernobyl nuclear reactor north of Kiev resulted in the world's worst nuclear disaster.

In 1993, a domestic Indian airliner slammed into a parked truck during takeoff and crashed near Aurangabad, killing at least 55 of the 118 people aboard.

Also in 1993, gunmen seized the Costa Rica Supreme Court, holding 17 judges and five other people hostage. The assailants freed their hostages three days later and were captured en route to the airport.

And, the U.S. Holocaust Museum opened in Washington.

In 1994, South Africans began going to the polls in the country's first election that was open to all. Four days of voting would elect Nelson Mandela president.

In 1996, an auction of the belongings of Jackie Onassis yielded $34 million, about seven times what Sotheby's auction house had estimated.

In 2002, a German youth who had been expelled from the Gutenberg school in Erfurt, Germany, returned to the school and shot 16 people to death.

In 2003, U.S. officials said a large munitions dump at a coalition-controlled Iraqi army base exploded, sending an errant missile into a neighborhood and killing at least six Iraqi civilians and injuring many more.

In 2005, the last of the Syrian troops left Lebanon, ending a 29-year military presence.

In 2006, solemn commemorative events in Ukraine and Russia marked the 20th anniversary of the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl. The United Nations said about 9,000 people died from the accident but environmental groups claim the real toll is at least 10 times higher.

Also in 2006, U.S. President George Bush appointed Fox News commentator Tony Snow as his press secretary, replacing Scott McClellan.

In 2007, the U.S. Senate gave final approval to a $124 billion supplemental spending bill that imposed a timetable for withdrawal of American troops from Iraq. U.S. President George Bush vowed to veto the measure.

Also in 2007, New Hampshire lawmakers approved a measure legalizing civil unions between gay and lesbian couples.

In 2008, officials in Morocco said at least 55 people were killed and 12 injured in a fire that swept through a Casablanca mattress factory. Authorities said the intense fire apparently was fueled by flammable chemicals stored in the building.

Also in 2008, a gun battle in the streets of Tijuana, Mexico, left as many as 15 members of rival drug gangs dead and eight wounded. It was one of the worst recent violent outbreaks in the hotbed of narcotics smuggling.