Today in History - April 18

Today is Friday, April 18, the 109th day of 2008. There are 257 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:
On April 18, 1906, a devastating earthquake struck San Francisco, followed by raging fires; estimates of the final death toll range between 3,000 and 6,000.

On this date:
In 1775, Paul Revere began his famous ride from Charlestown to Lexington, Mass., warning American colonists that the British were coming.
In 1907, San Francisco's Fairmont Hotel opened, a year to the day after the earthquake.
In 1934, the first laundromat (called a "washateria") opened, in Fort Worth, Texas.
In 1942, an air squadron from the USS Hornet led by Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle raided Tokyo and other Japanese cities.
In 1945, famed American war correspondent Ernie Pyle, 44, was killed by Japanese gunfire on the Pacific island of Ie Shima, off Okinawa.
In 1946, the League of Nations went out of business.
In 1978, the Senate approved the Panama Canal Treaty, providing for the complete turnover of control of the waterway to Panama on the last day of 1999.
In 1980, the independent nation of Zimbabwe, formerly Zimbabwe Rhodesia, came into being.

In 1983, 63 people, including 17 Americans, were killed at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, by a suicide bomber.
In 1988, an Israeli court convicted John Demjanjuk, a retired auto worker from Cleveland, of committing war crimes at the Treblinka death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland. (However, Israel's Supreme Court later overturned Demjanjuk's conviction.)

Ten years ago: Despite fierce internal dissent, Northern Ireland's main Protestant party, the Ulster Unionists, approved a peace agreement. The remains of Pol Pot were cremated, three days after the Khmer Rouge leader blamed for the killings of up to 2 million Cambodians died at age 73. Former North Carolina Gov. and U.S. Sen. Terry Sanford died in Durham at age 80.

Five years ago: Iraqi police arrested Saddam Hussein's former finance minister (Hikmat Mizban Ibrahim al-Azzawi) and turned him over to the U.S. Marines. Scott Peterson was arrested in San Diego in the death of his wife, Laci, who was eight months pregnant when she vanished on Christmas Eve. (Peterson was later convicted and sentenced to death.)

One year ago: The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling, upheld the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act that Congress passed and President Bush signed into law in 2003. Four large bombs exploded in mainly Shiite locations of Baghdad, killing at least 183 people. Mark Buehrle of the Chicago White Sox faced the minimum 27 batters in a 6-0 no-hit victory over the Texas Rangers. Curtis Strange and Hubert Green joined the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Thought for Today: "It's what you learn after you know it all that counts." _ Earl Weaver, baseball manager.