April 25th

Today's Highlight in History:
On April 25th, 1945, delegates from some 50 countries met in San Francisco to organize the United Nations.

On this date:
In 1792, highwayman Nicolas Jacques Pelletier became the first person under French law to be executed by the guillotine.

In 1859, ground was broken for the Suez Canal.

In 1874, radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi was born in Bologna, Italy.

In 1898, the United States formally declared war on Spain.

In 1901, New York became the first state to require automobile license plates; the fee was one dollar.

In 1915, during World War One, Allied soldiers invaded the Gallipoli Peninsula in an unsuccessful attempt to take the Ottoman Turkish Empire out of the war.

In 1945, during World War Two, US and Soviet forces linked up on the Elbe River, a meeting that dramatized the collapse of Nazi Germany's defenses.

In 1959, the St. Lawrence Seaway opened to shipping.

In 1983, Soviet leader Yuri V. Andropov invited Samantha Smith to visit his country after receiving a letter in which the Manchester, Maine, schoolgirl expressed fears about nuclear war.

In 1983, the Pioneer Ten spacecraft crossed Pluto's orbit, speeding on its endless voyage through the Milky Way.

Ten years ago: Violeta Barrios de Chamorro was inaugurated as president of Nicaragua, ending eleven years of leftist Sandinista rule. The Hubble Space Telescope was deployed from the space shuttle "Discovery."

Five years ago: Show business legend Ginger Rogers died in Rancho Mirage, California, at age 83.

One year ago: On the third and final day of their Washington summit, NATO leaders promised military protection and economic aid to Yugoslavia's neighbors for standing with the West against Slobodan Milosevic. More than 70,000 mourners gathered in Littleton, Colorado, to remember the victims of the Columbine High School massacre. Lord Killanin, former president of the International Olympic Committee, died in Dublin, Ireland, at age 84.

"Prophecy is the wit of a fool."

-- Vladimir Nabokov, Russian-born author (1899-1977).