By The Associated Press
                      - Today is Tuesday, April 6, the 96th day of 1999. There are 269 days
                        left in the year.

                      - On April 6, 1909, explorers Robert E. Peary and Matthew A. Henson
                        became the first men to reach the North Pole. The claim, disputed by
                        skeptics, was upheld in 1989 by the Navigation Foundation.
                      - In 1830, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was
                        organized by Joseph Smith in Fayette, N.Y.
                      - In 1862, the Civil War Battle of Shiloh began in Tennessee.
                      - In 1896, the first modern Olympic games formally opened in Athens,
                        Greece.
                      - In 1917, Congress approved a declaration of war against Germany.
                      - In 1945, during World War II, the Japanese warship Yamato and nine
                        other vessels sailed on a suicide mission to attack the U.S. fleet
                        off Okinawa; the fleet was intercepted the next day.
                      - In 1965, the U.S. launched the Early Bird communications satellite.
                      - In 1971, Russian-born composer Igor Stravinsky died in New York
                        City.
                      - In 1985, William J. Schroeder became the first artificial heart
                        recipient to be discharged from the hospital as he moved into an
                        apartment in Louisville, Ky.
                      - Ten years ago: Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev met with British
                        Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in London, holding daylong talks
                        characterized as argumentative, but friendly.
                      - Five years ago: Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun announced
                        his retirement after 24 years. The presidents of Rwanda and Burundi
                        were killed in a mysterious plane crash near Rwanda's capital;
                        widespread violence erupted in Rwanda over claims the plane had been
                        shot down. A Palestinian suicide-bomber killed seven Israelis in an
                        attack on a bus in Afula.
                      - One year ago: The Dow Jones industrial average closed above 9,000
                        points for the first time. Energy Secretary Federico Pena announced
                        his resignation. Country singer Tammy Wynette died at her Nashville,
                        Tenn., home at age 55.

                      *Happy Birthday*
                      - Composer-conductor Andre Previn is 70.
                      - Actor Ivan Dixon is 68.
                      - Country singer Merle Haggard is 62.
                      - Actor Billy Dee Williams is 62.
                      - Actor Roy Thinnes is 61.
                      - Movie director Barry Levinson is 57.
                      - Singer Michelle Phillips is 55.
                      - Actor John Ratzenberger is 52.
                      - Actress Marilu Henner is 47.
                      - Figure skater Janet Lynn is 46.
                      - Actor Michael Rooker is 44.
                      - Actress Ari Meyers is 30.
                      - Actor Paul Rudd is 30.
                      - Actor Jason Hervey is 27.
                      - Actress Candace Cameron is 23.