FRIDAY, APRIL 24, 2009

Today is Friday, April 24, the 114th day of 2009. There are 251 days left in the year.

1792 _ ``La Marseillaise" composed by Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle

1833 _ Patent granted for first soda fountain to Jacob Evert & George Dulty

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

1872 _ Volcano Vesuvius erupts

1898 _ Spain declares war on U.S. rejecting ultimatum to withdraw from Cuba

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/for self determination ends

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

1989 _ Tens of thousands of students strike in Beijing China