Today is Thursday, April 24, the 114th day of 2025. There are 251 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On April 24, 1916, Irish republicans launched the Easter Rising, a rebellion against British rule in Ireland. Though the rebels surrendered to British forces six days later, the uprising set the stage for republican victories in the Irish general election of 1918 and the establishment of the Irish Free State via the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1922.
Also on this date:
In 1915, in what is considered the start of the Armenian genocide, the Ottoman Empire began rounding up Armenian political and cultural leaders in Constantinople.
In 1960, rioting erupted in Biloxi, Mississippi, after Black protesters staging a “wade-in” at a whites-only beach were attacked by a crowd of hostile white people.
In 1967, Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov was killed when his Soyuz 1 spacecraft smashed into the Earth after his parachutes failed to deploy properly during reentry. He was the first human spaceflight fatality.
In 1980, the United States launched Operation Eagle Claw, an unsuccessful attempt to free 53 American hostages in Iran that resulted in the deaths of eight U.S. service members.
In 1990, Space Shuttle Discovery blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying the $1.5 billion Hubble Space Telescope.
In 1995, the final bomb linked to the Unabomber exploded inside the Sacramento, California, offices of the California Forestry Association, killing chief lobbyist Gilbert B. Murray. (Theodore Kaczynski was later sentenced to four lifetimes in prison for a series of bombings that killed three people and injured 23 others.)
In 2013, in Bangladesh, a shoddily constructed eight-story commercial building housing garment factories collapsed, killing more than 1,100 people.
In 2018, former police officer Joseph DeAngelo was arrested at his home near Sacramento after DNA linked him to crimes attributed to the Golden State Killer; authorities believed he committed 13 murders and more than 50 rapes in the 1970s and 1980s. (DeAngelo would plead guilty in 2020 to 13 counts of murder and be sentenced to life in prison without parole.)
Today’s Birthdays:
- Actor Shirley MacLaine is 91.
- Actor-singer-filmmaker Barbra Streisand is 83.
- Fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier is 73.
- Actor Eric Bogosian is 72.
- Actor Michael O’Keefe is 70.
- Actor-comedian Cedric the Entertainer is 61.
- Actor Djimon Hounsou (JEYE’-mihn OHN’-soo) is 61.
- Actor Aidan Gillen is 57.
- Actor Rory McCann is 56.
- Latin pop singer Alejandro Fernandez is 54.
- Baseball Hall of Famer Chipper Jones is 53.
- Actor Derek Luke is 51.
- Singer-TV personality Kelly Clarkson is 43.
- Country singer Carly Pearce is 35.
- Actor-musician Joe Keery is 33.
- Actor Jack Quaid is 33.
- Actor Jordan Fisher is 31.
- Golfer Lydia Ko is 28.