THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2008

Today is Thursday, March 13, the 73rd day of 2008. There are 293 days left in the year.

1519 _ Cortez lands in Mexico

1634 _ Academie Francaise opens

1639 _ Cambridge College renamed Harvard for clergyman John Harvard

1656 _ Jews are denied the right to build a synagogue in New Amsterdam

1868 _ Senate begins President Andrew Johnson impeachment trial

1884 _ Siege of Khartoum Sudan begins

1921 _ Mongolia (formerly Outer Mongolia) declares independence from China

1979 _ European Monetary System is established, ECU created

1981 _ Attempt on Pope John Paul II by Mehemet Ali Agca

1991 _ Exxon pays $1-billion dollars in fines and cleanup of Valdez oil spill (Prince William Sound, Alaska)