Today in History

Today is Thursday, April 18, the 108th day of 2013. There are 257 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On April 18, 1943, during World War II, Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto, commander-in-chief of the Japanese Combined Fleet, was killed as his plane was shot down by U.S. fighters while approaching Bougainville in the Solomon Islands.

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 1831, the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa was officially opened.

In 1906, a devastating earthquake struck San Francisco, followed by raging fires; estimates of the final death toll range between 3,000 and 6,000.

In 1910, suffragists showed up at the U.S. Capitol with half a million signatures demanding that women be given the right to vote.

In 1923, the first game was played at the original Yankee Stadium in New York; the Yankees defeated the Boston Red Sox 4-1.

In 1942, an air squadron from the USS Hornet led by Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle raided Tokyo and other Japanese cities. The first World War II edition of The Stars and Stripes was published as a weekly newspaper.

In 1945, famed American war correspondent Ernie Pyle, 44, was killed by Japanese gunfire on the Pacific island of Ie Shim, off Okinawa.

In 1949, the Republic of Ireland was proclaimed.

In 1955, physicist Albert Einstein died in Princeton, N.J., at age 76.

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 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: 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 of murder and sentenced to death.)

Five years ago: Addressing the United Nations, Pope Benedict XVI said international cooperation needed to solve urgent problems was "in crisis" because decisions rested in the hands of a few powerful nations. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin gave birth to her fifth child, a son named Trig Paxson Van Palin.

One year ago: Defense Secretary Leon Panetta apologized for gruesome photographs published in the Los Angeles Times that purported to show U.S. soldiers posing with the bloodied remains of dead insurgents in Afghanistan two years earlier. Dick Clark, the ever-youthful television host and producer who helped bring rock 'n' roll into the mainstream on "American Bandstand" and rang in the New Year for the masses at Times Square, died in Santa Monica, Calif., at age 82.

Today's Birthdays: Actress Barbara Hale is 92. Actor Clive Revill is 83. Actor James Drury is 79. Actor Robert Hooks is 76. Actress Hayley Mills is 67. Actor James Woods is 66. Actress-director Dorothy Lyman is 66. Actress Cindy Pickett is 66. Country musician Walt Richmond (The Tractors) is 66. Country musician Jim Scholten (Sawyer Brown) is 61. Actor Rick Moranis is 60. Actress Melody Thomas Scott is 57. Actor Eric Roberts is 57. Actor John James is 57. Rock musician Les Pattinson (Echo and the Bunnymen) is 55. Author-journalist Susan Faludi is 54. Actress Jane Leeves is 52. Talk show host Conan O'Brien is 50. Bluegrass singer-musician Terry Eldredge is 50. Actor Eric McCormack is 50. Actress Maria Bello is 46. Actress Mary Birdsong is 45. Rock musician Greg Eklund (The Oolahs) is 43. Actor David Tennant is 42. Country musician Marvin Evatt is 39. Rock musician Mark Tremonti is 39. Rhythm-and-blues singer Trina (Trina and Tamara) is 39. Actress Melissa Joan Hart is 37. Actor Sean Maguire is 37. Actor Kevin Rankin is 37. Actor Bryce Johnson is 36. Reality TV star Kourtney Kardashian is 34. Actress America Ferrera is 29. Actress Alia Shawkat is 24. Actress Britt Robertson is 23. Rock singer Nathan Sykes (The Wanted) is 20. Actor Moises Arias is 19.

Thought for Today: "Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere." -- Albert Einstein (1879-1955).

Copyright 2013, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.