Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe Today is April 23. On this date in 2002, Pope John Paul II apologized to victims of the sexual abuse scandal that had rocked the Roman Catholic church and said what had happened to them was a crime and "an appalling act in the eyes of God." The pope met with U.S. cardinals to determine how to handle the situation. Advertisement It was on this date in 1992 that jurors in the Rodney King beating trial in Simi Valley, Calif., began deliberating the fate of four Los Angeles police officers accused of brutality. King had been savagely beaten during a traffic stop in March 1991. A man trying out a new camcorder captured the incident on tape. When the jury acquitted the four officers, rioting erupted in Los Angeles and spread to other cities. The federal government later would charge the cops with violating King's civil rights. Asking people to "Remember the Maine," the U.S. government on this date in 1898 asked for 125,000 volunteers to fight against Spain in Cuba. The Maine, you might recall, was an American naval ship that had blown up while anchored in Havana Bay. The United States blamed Spain and used that as an excuse to declare war. Advertisement At an "America First" rally in New York City on this date in 1941, aviator Charles Lindbergh said, "It is obvious that England is losing the war." Lindbergh opposed U.S. entry into World War II -- a position that cost him many fans. Elvis Presley made his Las Vegas debut on this date in 1956, opening for the Freddie Martin Orchestra and comic Shecky Greene at the New Frontier Hotel. He was dropped from the bill after only a week due to poor audience response. And in 1992, McDonald's opened its first restaurant in Beijing, China. We now return you to the present, already in progress.
