Today is Monday, December 12, the 346th day of 2011. There are 19 days left in the year.
1769 ― Pope Clement XIV proclaims a universal jubilee
1792 ― In Vienna, Ludwig van Beethoven (21) receives first lesson in music composition from Franz Joseph Haydn
1878 ― Joseph Pulitzer begins publishing ``St. Louis Dispatch"
1901 ― Marconi receives first transatlantic radio signal, England to U.S.
1913 ― ``Mona Lisa", recovered after being stolen from the Louvre Museum in 1911
1917 ― Worst train disaster (derailment near mouth of Mount Cenis tunnel) ever (Modane, France; 543 French troops killed)
1925 ― Arthur Heinman coins term ``motel," opens Motel Inn, San Luis Obispo
1963 ― Argentina asks for extradition of ex-President Peron
1988 ― PLO leader Yasser Arafat accepts Israel's right to exist
1997 ― Carlos the Jackal, ``professional revolutionary" goes on trial in Paris