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Today is Wednesday, April 10, the 100th day of 2002. There are 265 days left in the year. 

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 1847, American newspaperman Joseph Pulitzer was born in Mako, Hungary. 

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, with Adolf Hitler coming in second. 

In 1952, 50 years ago, the MGM movie musical “Singin’ in the Rain,” starring Gene Kelly, was first released. 

In 1963, the nuclear-powered submarine USS Thresher failed to surface 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 1974, Golda Meir announced her resignation as prime minister of Israel. 

In 1981, imprisoned IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands won election to the British Parliament. 

In 1998, the Northern Ireland peace talks concluded as negotiators reached a landmark settlement to end 30 years of bitter rivalries and bloody attacks. 

Ten years ago: Financier Charles Keating Jr. was sentenced in Los Angeles to nine years in prison for swindling investors when his Lincoln Savings and Loan collapsed (however, Keating’s convictions were later overturned). Comedian Sam Kinison was killed in a car crash outside Needles, Calif., at age 38. 

Five years ago: A federal judge struck down the Line-Item Veto Act, a law that let the president strike specific items from bills passed by Congress. (The U.S. Supreme Court later set aside the judge’s ruling; however, the nation’s highest court ultimately struck down the veto as unconstitutional in 1998.) Onetime fighter pilot and former POW Pete Peterson was confirmed by the Senate as the first postwar U.S. ambassador to Vietnam. 

One year ago: Republican Jane Swift took office as the first female governor of Massachusetts, succeeding Paul Cellucci, who’d resigned to become U.S. ambassador to Canada. The Netherlands legalized mercy killings and assisted suicide for patients with unbearable, terminal illness. Rap star Eminem was placed on two years’ probation for carrying a concealed weapon outside a Michigan nightclub. 

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Harry Morgan is 87. Country singer Sheb Wooley is 81. Actor Max von Sydow is 73. Actress Liz Sheridan is 73. Actor Omar Sharif is 70. Sportscaster John Madden is 66. Rhythm-and-blues singer Bobbie Smith (The Spinners) is 66. Sportscaster Don Meredith is 64. Reggae artist Bunny Wailer is 55. Actor Steven Seagal is 51. Folk-pop singer Terre Roche (The Roches) is 49. Actor Peter MacNicol is 48. Rock musician Steven Gustafson (10,000 Maniacs) is 45. Singer-producer Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds is 44. Rock singer-musician Brian Setzer is 43. Rapper Afrika Bambaataa is 42. Actor Jeb Adams is 41. Olympic gold medal speedskater Cathy Turner is 40.  

Rock musician Tim “Herb” Alexander is 37. Singer Kenny Lattimore is 32. Blues singer Shemekia Copeland is 23. Actor Ryan Merriman is 19. Singer Mandy Moore is 18. Actor Haley Joel Osment is 14.