Today is Wednesday, April 17, the 107th day of 2002. There are 258 days left in the year.

On this date<$>In 1492, a contract was signed by Christopher Columbus and a representative of Spain’s King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, giving Columbus a commission to seek a westward ocean passage to Asia.

In 1524, Giovanni da Verrazano reached present-day New York harbour.

In 1941, Yugoslavia surrendered to Germany in World War II.

In 1969, Czechoslovak Communist Party chairman Alexander Dubcek was deposed.

In 1970, the astronauts of Apollo 13 splashed down safely in the Pacific, four days after a ruptured oxygen tank crippled their spacecraft.

Thought for the Day

“If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading, or do things worth the writing.” — Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790).