Today is Saturday, May 13, the 133rd day of 2006. There are 232 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
Twenty-five years ago, on May 13, 1981, Pope John Paul II was shot and seriously wounded in St. Peter’s Square by Turkish assailant Mehmet Ali Agca.
On this date:
In 1607, the English colony at Jamestown, Va., was settled.
In 1842, composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, who collaborated with Sir William Gilbert in writing 14 comic operas, was born in London.
In 1846, the United States declared that a state of war already existed against Mexico.
In 1917, three peasant children near Fatima, Portugal, reported seeing a vision of the Virgin Mary.
In 1918, the first U.S. airmail stamps, featuring a picture of an airplane, were introduced. (On some of the stamps, the airplane was printed upside-down, making them collector’s items.)
In 1940, in his first speech as prime minister of Britain, Winston Churchill told the House of Commons, “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.”
In 1954, President Eisenhower signed into law the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Act.
In 1954, the musical play “The Pajama Game” opened on Broadway.
In 1958, Vice President Nixon’s limousine was battered by rocks thrown by anti-U.S. demonstrators in Caracas, Venezuela.
In 1985, a confrontation between Philadelphia authorities and the radical group MOVE ended as police dropped an explosive onto the group’s headquarters; 11 people died in the resulting fire.
Ten years ago: Recovery workers in the Florida Everglades retrieved the flight data recorder from ValuJet Flight 592. The Supreme Court unanimously struck down Rhode Island’s ban on ads that list or refer to liquor prices, saying the law violated free-speech rights. A tornado killed more than 600 people in Bangladesh.
Five years ago: Basque nationalists won a key election in Spain’s semiautonomous Basque region. The center-right won Italy’s parliamentary elections, setting the stage for the return to power of media magnate Silvio Berlusconi. Actor-playwright Jason Miller died in Scranton, Pa., at age 62.
One year ago: The Pentagon proposed the most sweeping changes to its network of military bases in modern history. The president of Mexico, Vicente Fox, praised the dedication of Mexicans working in the United States, saying they were willing to take jobs that “even blacks” wouldn’t do, a statement that prompted criticism in the United States. Government troops in Uzbekistan put down an uprising they blamed on Islamic militants; opponents said the troops fired into crowds and killed hundreds of people.
Today’s Birthdays: Actress Beatrice Arthur is 84. Critic Clive Barnes is 79. Actor Buck Taylor is 68. Actor Harvey Keitel is 67. Author Charles Baxter is 59. Actor Franklin Ajaye is 57. Actress Zoe Wanamaker is 57. Singer Stevie Wonder is 56. Actress Julianne Phillips is 46. Basketball player Dennis Rodman is 45. Actor Tom Verica is 42. Country singer Lari White is 41. Singer Darius Rucker (Hootie and the Blowfish) is 40. Actress Susan Floyd is 38. Actress Samantha Morton is 29. Rock musician Mickey Madden (Maroon 5) is 27.
Thought for Today: “So you think that money is the root of all evil. Have you ever asked what is the root of money?” — Ayn Rand, Russian-born author (1905-1982).