April 13th

Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3, a North Korean Earth observation satellite, exploded shortly after its launch. The U.S. and other countries called the launch a violation of United Nations Security Council rules.

A federal jury in San Francisco convicted Barry Bonds of obstruction of justice, but failed to reach a verdict on allegations that he'd used steroids and lied to a grand jury about it.

Jack Kervorkian was sentenced in Pontiac, Mich., to 10 to 25 years in prison for the second-degree murder of a man whose assisted suicide was videotaped and shown on "60 Minutes.".

Tiger Woods, 21, became the youngest person to win the Masters Tournament and the first person of African heritage to claim a major golf title.

Pope John Paul II visited a Rome synagogue in the first recorded papal visit of its kind.

Civil War began in Lebanon when gunmen killed 4 Christian Phalangists who retaliated by killing 27 Palestinians.

Apollo 13, four-fifths of the way to the moon, was crippled when a tank containing liquid oxygen burst.

Sidney Poitier became the first black performer in a leading role to win an Academy Award, for "Lilies of the Field.".

The world's first satellite navigation system is launched. Transit 1B was primarily used by the U.S. Navy to update the navigation systems aboard their Polaris submarines.

Baseball Hall of Famer Hank Aaron made his major league debut with the Milwaukee Braves.

British troops massacre around 400 unarmed civilians in India. Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer ordered his men to shoot into the crowd, in his own words “to punish the Indians for disobedience.” The Indian independence movement grew considerably after the Amritsar massacre.

Abyssinian War ends as British and Indian troops capture Magdala and Ethiopian Emperor commits suicide.

At the start of the Civil War, Fort Sumter in South Carolina fell to Confederate forces as the Union commander, Maj. Robert Anderson, agreed to surrender in the face of relentless bombardment.

1st Pony Express reaches Sacramento, California.

George Frideric Handel's oratorio "Messiah" performed for the 1st time at New Music Hall in Dublin.

King Henry IV of France signed the Edict of Nantes, granting rights to the Protestant Huguenots.

The Seventh Crusade is defeated in Egypt, Louis IX of France is captured.