Today is Tuesday, April 24, the 115th day of 2012. There are 251 days left in the year.

1061 ― Halley's Comet sparks English monk to predict country will be destroyed

1871 ― Giuseppe Verdi's opera ``Aida" is produced (Cairo)

1872 ― Volcano Vesuvius erupts

1950 ― President Harry Truman denies there are communists in U.S.. government

1953 ―Winston Churchill knighted by Queen Elizabeth II

1955 ― Conference of Bandung against colonialism and for self determination ends

1955 ― Gaullists lose elections in France

1961 ― JFK accepts ``sole responsibility" following Bay of Pigs

1969 ― Paul McCartney says there is no truth to the rumors he is dead

1970 ― People's Republic of China launches its first satellite transmitting song ``East is Red"