Today is Saturday, April 14, the 105th day of 2012. There are 261 days left in the year.
Today's highlight in history:
On April 14, 1912, the British liner RMS Titanic collided with an iceberg in the North Atlantic at 11:40 p.m. ship's time and began sinking. (The ship went under two hours and 40 minutes later with the loss of 1,514 lives.)
On this date:
In 1775, the first American society for the abolition of slavery was formed in Philadelphia.
In 1828, the first edition of Noah Webster's "American Dictionary of the English Language" was published.
In 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth during a performance of "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theater in Washington.
In 1902, James Cash Penney opened his first store, The Golden Rule, in Kemmerer, Wyo.
In 1910, President William Howard Taft became the first U.S. chief executive to throw the ceremonial first pitch at a baseball game as the Washington Senators beat the Philadelphia Athletics 3-0.
In 1931, King Alfonso XIII of Spain went into exile, and the Second Spanish Republic was proclaimed.
In 1949, the "Wilhelmstrasse Trial" in Nuremberg ended with 19 former Nazi Foreign Office officials sentenced by an American tribunal to prison terms ranging from four to 25 years.
In 1956, Ampex Corp. demonstrated its videotape recorder at the National Association of Radio and Television Broadcasters Convention in Chicago.
In 1960, the musical "Bye Bye Birdie" opened on Broadway.
In 1981, the first test flight of America's first operational space shuttle, the Columbia, ended successfully with a landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
In 1986, Americans got word of a U.S. air raid on Libya (because of the time difference, it was the early morning of April 15 where the attack occurred.) French feminist author Simone de Beauvoir died in Paris at age 78.
Ten years ago: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez returned to office two days after being ousted and arrested by his country's military. Tiger Woods became only the third player to win back-to-back Masters titles; he closed with a 1-under 71 to claim a three-stroke victory over Retief Goosen.
Five years ago: Riot police beat and detained protesters as thousands defied an official ban and attempted to stage a rally in Moscow against Russian President Vladimir Putin's government. A car bomb exploded near one of Shiite Islam's holiest shrines in Karbala, Iraq, killing 47 people. Entertainer Don Ho died in Honolulu, Hawaii, at age 76.
One year ago: Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi rolled defiantly through the streets of Tripoli the same day NATO air strikes shook the city. North Korean confirmed it was holding an American who was detained in November 2010, reportedly for proselytizing. (Eddie Jun was freed in May 2011.) ABC canceled two of its longtime soap operas, "One Life to Live" and "All My Children."
Today's birthdays: Actors Bradford Dillman and Jay Robinson are 82. Country singer Loretta Lynn is 80. Actress Julie Christie is 72. Retired MLB All-Star Pete Rose is 71. Rock musician Ritchie Blackmore is 67. Actor John Shea is 63. Actor-race car driver Brian Forster and actor Brad Garrett are 52. Actor Robert Carlyle is 51. Rock singer-musician John Bell (Widespread Panic) is 50. Actor Robert Clendenin is 48. Actress Catherine Dent is 47. Actor Lloyd Owen and retired MLB All-Star Greg Maddux are 46. Rock musician Barrett Martin is 45. Actor Anthony Michael Hall is 44. Actor Adrien Brody and classical singer David Miller is 39. Rapper DaBrat is 38. Actor Antwon Tanner is 37. Actress Sarah Michelle Gellar and actor-producer Rob McElhenney are 35. Actor Christian Alexander is 22. Actor Nick Krause (Film: "The Descendants") is 20. Actress Vivien Cardone is 19. Actress Abigail Breslin is 16.
Thought for today: "Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point." — C.S. Lewis, Irish-born author (1898-1963).
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