Today in History - April 10

Today is Thursday, April 10, the 101st day of 2008. There are 265 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On April 10, 1912, the RMS Titanic set sail from Southampton, England, on its ill-fated maiden voyage.

On this date:

In 1790, President Washington signed into law the first United States Patent Act.

In 1866, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was incorporated.

In 1925, the novel "The Great Gatsby," by F. Scott Fitzgerald, was first published.

In 1932, German president Paul Von Hindenburg was re-elected in a runoff, with Adolf Hitler coming in second.

In 1957, Egypt reopened the Suez Canal to all shipping traffic. (The canal had been closed due to wreckage resulting from the Suez Crisis.)

In 1957, John Osborne's play "The Entertainer," starring Laurence Olivier, opened in London.

In 1963, the nuclear-powered submarine USS Thresher sank during deep-diving tests off Cape Cod, Mass., in a disaster that claimed 129 lives.

In 1972, the United States and the Soviet Union joined some 70 nations in signing an agreement banning biological warfare.

In 1978, Arkady Shevchenko, a high-ranking Soviet citizen employed by the United Nations, sought political asylum in the United States.

In 1992, comedian Sam Kinison, 38, was killed in a car crash outside Needles, Calif.

Ten years ago: The Northern Ireland peace talks concluded as negotiators reached a landmark settlement to end 30 years of bitter rivalries and bloody attacks.

Five years ago: Iraqi television aired videotaped greetings from President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The House passed a bill creating a national Amber Alert system and strengthening child pornography laws. A fire in a boarding school for the deaf in southern Russia killed 30 children. Eva Narcissus Boyd, the singer formerly known as "Little Eva," died in Kinston, N.C.

One year ago: A woman wearing an explosives vest strapped underneath her black robe blew herself up in the midst of 200 Iraqi police recruits in Muqdadiyah, killing 16. Two Russian cosmonauts and U.S. billionaire Charles Simonyi arrived at the international space station. DNA tests showed that former boyfriend Larry Birkhead was the father of Anna Nicole Smith's baby.

Thought for Today: "Take from me the hope that I can change the future, and you will send me mad." _ Israel Zangwill, English dramatist (1864-1926).

Source: The Associated Press