SATURDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2009

Today is Saturday, December 12, the 346th day of 2009. There are 19 days left in the year.

1098 _ First Crusaders capture and plunder Mara Syria

1474 _ Isabella crowns herself queen of Castile and Aragon

1792 _ In Vienna, Ludwig van Beethoven (21) receives first lesson in music composition from Franz Joseph Haydn

1800 _ Washington D.C. established as capital of U.S.

1878 _ Joseph Pulitzer begins publishing ``St Louis Dispatch"

1913 _ ``Mona Lisa", recovered after being stolen from the Louvre Museum in 1911

1917 _ Worst train disaster (derailment near mouth of Mt. Cenis tunnel) ever (Modane, France _ 543 French troops killed)

1968 _ Arthur Ashe becomes first black to be ranked No. 1 in tennis

1979 _ Rhodesia becomes the independent nation of Zimbabwe

1997 _ Japanese train builders (Maglev) claim world speed record at 332 MPH