May 12th

Today's Highlight in History:
On May 12th, 1820, the founder of modern nursing, Florence Nightingale, was born in Florence, Italy.

On this date:
In 1870, Manitoba entered Confederation as a Canadian province.

In 1932, the body of the kidnapped son of Anne and Charles Lindbergh was found in a wooded area of Hopewell, New Jersey.

In 1937, Britain's King George the Sixth was crowned at Westminster Abbey.

In 1943, during World War Two, Axis forces in North Africa surrendered.

In 1949, the Soviet Union announced an end to the Berlin Blockade.

In 1965, West Germany and Israel exchanged letters establishing diplomatic relations.

In 1970, the Senate voted unanimously to confirm Harry A. Blackmun as a Supreme Court justice.

In 1975, the White House announced the new Cambodian government had seized an American merchant ship, the "Mayaguez," in international waters.

In 1978, the Commerce Department said hurricanes would no longer be given only female names.

In 1982, in Fatima, Portugal, security guards overpowered a Spanish priest armed with a bayonet who was trying to reach Pope John Paul the Second.

Ten years ago: The presidents of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania forged a united front by reviving a 1934 political alliance in hopes of enhancing their drive for independence from the Soviet Union.

Five years ago: President Clinton, during a stopover in Ukraine, visited Babi Yar, the site where more than 30,000 Kiev Jews were massacred by the Nazis in 1941.

One year ago: Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin announced he was leaving his post in July (he was succeeded by his deputy, Lawrence Summers). Russian President Boris Yeltsin dismissed Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov and the Cabinet.

"Act well at the moment, and you have performed a good action to all eternity."

-- Johann Kaspar Lavater, Swiss theologian (1741-1801).