1 of 2 | On December 13, 2003, Saddam Hussein, the deposed Iraqi president, was captured by U.S. troops in a small underground hideout southeast of his hometown of Tikrit. File Photo by Ali Khaligh/UPI |
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Today is Friday, Dec. 13, the 348th day of 2024 with 18 to follow.
The moon is waxing. Morning stars are Jupiter, Mars, Neptune, Uranus. Evening stars are Jupiter, Mars, Neptune, Saturn, Uranus and Venus.
Those born on this date are under the sign of Sagittarius. They include Pope Sixtus V in 1520; former U.S. first lady Mary Todd Lincoln in 1818; World War I hero Sgt. Alvin York in 1887; former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz in 1920; Baseball Hall of Fame member Larry Doby in 1923; comedian/actor/dancer Dick Van Dyke in 1925 (age 99); actor Christopher Plummer in 1929; musician/actor John Davidson in 1941 (age 83); Baseball Hall of Fame member Ferguson "Fergie" Jenkins in 1942 (age 82); political figure Herman Cain in 1945; musician Ted Nugent in 1948 (age 76); musician Jeff "Skunk" Baxter (Doobie Brothers/Steely Dan) in 1948 (age 76); musician Randy Owen (Alabama) in 1949 (age 75); actor Wendie Malick in 1950 (age 74); actor Steve Buscemi in 1957 (age 67); actor Johnny Whitaker in 1959 (age 65); musician John Munson (Semisonic) in 1966 (age 58); actor Jamie Foxx in 1967 (age 57); filmmaker Jesse Armstrong in 1970 (age 54); musician Tom DeLonge (Blink-182) in 1975 (age 49); musician Amy Lee (Evanescence) in 1981 (age 43); golfer Rickie Fowler in 1988 (age 36); musician Taylor Swift in 1989 (age 35); writer Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt in 1989 (age 35); actor Emma Corrin in 1995 (age 29); actor/musician Maisy Stella in 2003 (age 21).
On this date in history:
In 1642, Dutch navigator Abel Tasman discovered New Zealand.
In 1816, the United States' first savings bank, the Provident Institution for Savings, opened in Boston.
In 1862, Union troops suffered a major defeat in the Civil War battle of Fredericksburg. An estimated 12,000 northern soldiers were killed or injured, about three times the toll suffered by Confederate forces.
In 1937, the Nanjing Massacre began, during which Japanese troops killed between 40,000 and 300,000 Chinese civilians and soldiers. The episode lasted six weeks as part of the Second Sino-Japanese War.
In 1981, martial law was imposed in Poland.
In 1982, the Sentry armored car company in New York discovered the overnight theft of $8 million from its headquarters. It was the biggest cash theft in U.S. history at the time.
In 1998, in a non-binding referendum giving Puerto Ricans the opportunity to express a political preference, most voters indicated they wished to remain a U.S. commonwealth.
In 2000, seven inmates -- later dubbed the "Texas Seven" -- escaped from prison, sparking a six-week manhunt. The men robbed a sporting-goods store on Christmas Eve, killing a police officer.
In 2002, Cardinal Bernard Law, under fire for allegedly protecting priests accused of abusing minors, resigned as Roman Catholic archbishop of Boston. Pope John Paul II put Law in charge of a basilica in Rome in 2004.
In 2003, a bearded and apparently disoriented Saddam Hussein, the deposed Iraqi president, was captured by U.S. troops in a small underground hideout southeast of his hometown of Tikrit, ending an eight-month manhunt.
In 2007, a landmark report implicated 89 U.S. Major League Baseball players, some of them prominent figures of the era, in the use of steroids and other illegal performance-enhancing drugs.
In 2022, President Joe Biden signed signed the Respect for Marriage Act into law, codifying marriage rights for interracial and same-sex couples.
In 2023, world leaders at the COP28 United Nations climate summit in Dubai reached a historic deal calling on countries to transition away from the use of fossil fuels for the first time.
A thought for the day: "I have always thought that what is needed is the development of people who are interested not in being leaders as much as developing leadership in others." -- American civil rights activist Ella J. Baker
