| Friday,
December
24,
2004 |
AP Highlight in History:
On Dec. 24, 1968, the Apollo 8 astronauts, orbiting the moon, read passages from the Old Testament Book of Genesis during a Christmas Eve TV broadcast.
![Audio Link]() | Astronaut Frank Borman |
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| AP Photo |
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| On this date in: |
| 1524 | Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama, who had discovered a sea route around Africa to India, died in India. |
| 1814 | The War of 1812 officially ended as the United States and Britain signed the Treaty of Ghent in Belgium. |
| 1851 | Fire devastated the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., destroying about 35,000 volumes. |
| 1865 | Several veterans of the Confederate Army formed a private social club in Pulaski, Tenn., called the Ku Klux Klan. |
| 1871 | Giuseppe Verdi's opera ''Aida'' had its world premiere in Cairo, Egypt, to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal. |
| 1906 | Canadian physicist Reginald A. Fessenden became the first person to broadcast a music program over radio, from Brant Rock, Mass. |
| 1920 | Enrico Caruso gave his last public performance, singing in Jacques Halevy's ''La Juive'' at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. |
| 1943 | President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower supreme commander of Allied forces. |
| 1951 | Gian Carlo Menotti's ''Amahl and the Night Visitors,'' the first opera written specifically for TV, was first broadcast by NBC. |
| 1989 | Ousted Panamanian ruler Manuel Noriega, who had succeeded in eluding U.S. forces, took refuge at the Vatican's diplomatic mission in Panama City. |
| 1992 | President George H.W. Bush pardoned former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger and five others in the Iran-Contra scandal. |
| 1997 | Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, the aging revolutionary known as ''Carlos the Jackal,'' was sentenced by a French court to life in prison for the 1975 murders of two French investigators and a Lebanese national. |
| 2002 | Laci Peterson was reported missing from her Modesto, Calif., home, by her husband, Scott, who was later convicted of murdering her and their unborn son. |
| 2003 | Air France canceled several flights to the United States after U.S. officials passed on what were termed ''credible'' security threats. |
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| Today's Birthdays: |
| Singer Ricky Martin turns 33 years old today. |
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| AP Photo/Alan Diaz |
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| Dave Bartholomew | Bandleader | 84 |
| Mike Curb | Recording company executive | 60 |
| Lemmy | Rock musician (Motorhead) | 59 |
| Grand L. Bush | Actor | 49 |
| Clarence Gilyard | Actor | 49 |
| Stephanie Hodge | Actress | 48 |
| Ian Burden | Rock musician (The Human League) | 47 |
| Kate Spade | Designer | 42 |
| Mary Ramsey | Rock singer (10,000 Maniacs) | 41 |
| Mark Valley | Actor | 40 |
| Diedrich Bader | Actor (''The Drew Carey Show'') | 38 |
| Ryan Seacrest | TV-radio host | 30 |
| Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, turns 64 years old today. |
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| AP Photo/Dennis Cook |
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