By The Associated Press
                      - Today is Friday, April 9, the 99th day of 1999. There are 266 days
                        left in the year.

                      - On April 9, 1865, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered his
                        army to Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in
                        Virginia.
                      - In 1682, French explorer Robert La Salle reached the Mississippi
                        River.
                      - In 1939, singer Marian Anderson performed a concert at the Lincoln
                        Memorial in Washington, D.C., after she was denied the use of
                        Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution.
                      - In 1940, Germany invaded Denmark and Norway.
                      - In 1942, American and Philippine defenders on Bataan capitulated to
                        Japanese forces; the surrender was followed by the notorious "Bataan
                        Death March," which claimed nearly 10,000 lives.
                      - In 1947, tornadoes in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas claimed 169 lives.
                      - In 1959, NASA announced the selection of America's first seven
                        astronauts: Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom,
                        Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard and Donald Slayton.
                      - In 1963, British statesman Winston Churchill was made an honorary
                        U.S. citizen.
                      - In 1965, the newly built Houston Astrodome featured its first
                        baseball game, an exhibition between the Astros and the New York
                        Yankees. The Astros won, 2-1.
                      - In 1992, former Panamanian ruler Manuel Noriega was convicted in
                        Miami of eight drug and racketeering charges.
                      - In 1993, the Rev. Benjamin Chavis was chosen to head the NAACP,
                        succeeding Benjamin Hooks.
                      - Ten years ago: Hundreds of thousands of people marched in
                        Washington, D.C., demanding continued access to safe and legal
                        abortion.
                      - Five years ago: Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali ordered U.N.
                        troops to use "all available means" to roll back Serb military gains
                        in the Muslim enclave of Gorazde. The space shuttle Endeavour
                        blasted off on an 11-day mission that included mapping the Earth's
                        surface in three dimensions.
                      - One year ago: The National Prisoner of War Museum opened in
                        Andersonville, Ga., the site of the infamous Civil War prison camp.
                        More than 150 Muslims died in a stampede that occurred on the last
                        day of the annual pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca, Saudi
                        Arabia.

                      *Happy Birthday*
                      - Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner is 73.
                      - Naturalist Jim Fowler is 67.
                      - Actor Jean-Paul Belmondo is 66.
                      - Comedian Avery Schreiber is 64.
                      - Actress Michael Learned is 60.
                      - Country singer Margo Smith is 57.
                      - Country singer Hal Ketchum is 46.
                      - Actor Dennis Quaid is 45.
                      - Golfer Severiano Ballesteros is 42.
                      - Actress-model Paulina Porizkova is 34.
                      - Rock singer Kevin Martin (Candlebox) is 30.
                      - Actress Keshia Knight Pulliam is 20.