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Highlight in History
On May 5, 1862, the Battle of Puebla took place in Mexico as forces loyal to Benito Juarez defeated troops that had been sent by Napoleon III during the so-called French Intervention. (The Cinco de Mayo holiday commemorates Mexico’s victory.)
On this date
In 1821, Napoleon Bonaparte, 51, died in exile on the island of St. Helena.
In 1922, construction began on the original Yankee Stadium in New York.
In 1925, schoolteacher John T. Scopes was charged in Tennessee with violating a state law that prohibited teaching the theory of evolution. (Scopes was found guilty, but his conviction was later set aside.)
In 1941, Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie returned to Addis Ababa after the Italians were driven out with the help of Allied forces.
In 1955, West Germany became a fully sovereign state. The baseball musical “Damn Yankees” opened on Broadway.
In 1961, astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. became America’s first space traveler as he made a 15-minute suborbital flight aboard Freedom 7, a Mercury capsule launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla.
In 1972, an Alitalia DC-8 crashed into Mount Longa near Palermo, Sicily, with the loss of all 115 people on board.
In 1981, Irish Republican Army hunger-striker Bobby Sands died at the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland in his 66th day without food.
In 1987, the congressional Iran-Contra hearings opened with former Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard V. Secord the lead-off witness. The federal government began a yearlong amnesty program, offering citizenship to illegal aliens who met certain conditions.
Ten years ago
French President Jacques Chirac was re-elected in a landslide victory over extreme-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen. Movie director George Sidney, who had directed dozens of musicals when the genre was at its peak, died in Las Vegas at age 85. Movie producer Michael Todd Jr. died in Ireland at age 72. Former Bolivian President Hugo Banzer died in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, at age 75.
Five years ago
A Kenya Airways jet crashed in southern Cameroon, killing all 114 people on board. Street Sense roared from next-to-last in a 20-horse field to win the Kentucky Derby. Floyd Mayweather Jr. beat Oscar De La Hoya to win the WBC 154-pound title at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas.
One year ago
Solemnly honoring victims of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, President Barack Obama hugged survivors at ground zero in New York and declared that the killing of Osama bin Laden was an American message to the world: “When we say we will never forget, we mean what we say.”
Pakistan broke its silence over the U.S. commando raid that killed bin Laden, acknowledging its “shortcomings” in finding him but threatening to review cooperation with Washington if there were another similar violation of Pakistani sovereignty. Director, playwright and screenwriter Arthur Laurents died in New York at age 93. Actress Dana Wynter (“Invasion of the Body Snatchers”) died in Ojai, Calif., at age 79.
Top News
Today in History for Saturday, May 5, 2012
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Series of attacks kill 51 people across Iraq
A blistering string of apparently coordinated bombings and a shooting across Iraq killed at least 51 and wounded dozens Sunday, spreading fear throughout the county in a wave of violence that is raising the prospect of a return to widespread sectarian killing a decade after a U.S.-led invasion.
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Turkey unrest goes on despite end to park protest
Riot police cordoned off streets, set up roadblocks and fired tear gas and water cannon to prevent anti-government protesters from converging on Istanbul’s central Taksim Square on Sunday, unbowed even as Turkey’s prime minister addressed hundreds of thousands of supporters a few kilometers away.
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Iraq no-fly zone viewed as symbol for one in Syria
The Obama administration, trying to avoid getting drawn deeper into Syria’s civil war, has pointed to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 as a symbol of what can go wrong when America’s military wades into Middle East conflicts.
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Steady rain falls as crews work against Colo. fire
With evacuees anxious to return, firefighters worked Sunday to dig up and extinguish hot spots to protect homes spared by the most destructive wildfire in Colorado’s history.
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Valdosta Dollar General robbed at gunpoint
Valdosta Dollar General robbed at gunpoint
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GOP charges into Ga. elections
With three U.S. House seats in Georgia wide open in 2014, the chance to go to Washington is already attracting a crowd of several state legislators, a minister, a surgeon, a political novice and an ex-congressman seeking a comeback. So far, not one is a Democrat.
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Today in History for Monday, June 17, 2013
Today is Monday, June 17, the 168th day of 2013. There are 197 days left in the year.
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Iran reformists dance in streets for new president
Wild celebrations broke out on Tehran streets that were battlefields four years ago as reformist-backed Hasan Rowhani capped a stunning surge to claim Iran’s presidency on Saturday, throwing open the political order after relentless crackdowns by hard-liners to consolidate and safeguard their grip on power.
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Riot police end Istanbul park protest
Turkish riot police firing tear gas and water cannon took less than half an hour on Saturday to bring to an end an 18-day occupation of an Istanbul park at the center of the strongest challenge to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s 10-year tenure.
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Shock lingers after Nazi unit leader found in U.S.
The revelation that a former commander of a Nazi SS-led military unit has lived quietly in Minneapolis for the past six decades came as a shock to those who know 94-year-old Michael Karkoc. World War II survivors in both the U.S. and Europe harshly condemned the news and prosecutors in Poland have said they’ll investigate.
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