By The Associated Press
                  - Today is Saturday, April 17, the 107th day of 1999. There are 258
                    days left in the year.

                  - On April 17, 1961, about 1,500 CIA-trained Cuban exiles launched the
                    disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in a failed attempt to
                    overthrow the government of Fidel Castro.
                  - 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 harbor.
                  - In 1790, American statesman Benjamin Franklin died in Philadelphia
                    at age 84.
                  - In 1861, the Virginia State Convention voted to secede from the
                    Union.
                  - In 1941, Yugoslavia surrendered to Germany in World War II.
                  - In 1964, Ford Motor Company unveiled its new "Mustang" model.
                  - In 1964, Jerrie Mock of Columbus, Ohio, became the first woman to
                    complete a solo airplane flight around the world.
                  - In 1969, a jury in Los Angeles convicted Sirhan Sirhan of
                    assassinating Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.
                  - 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.
                  - In 1975, Phnom Penh fell to Communist insurgents, ending Cambodia's
                    five-year war.
                  - In 1993, a federal jury in Los Angeles convicted two former police
                    officers of violating the civil rights of beaten motorist Rodney
                    King; two other officers were acquitted.
                  - Ten years ago: The House Ethics Committee released its report
                    accusing Speaker Jim Wright of violating House rules on acceptance
                    of gifts and outside income - charges denied by the Texas Democrat.
                  - Five years ago: Bosnian Serb tanks entered the Muslim enclave of
                    Gorazde; the UN Security Council issued a nonbinding statement that
                    condemned the Serbs' escalating military activities, but made no
                    threat of force to back its condemnation.
                  - One year ago: A Thai military team collected evidence from the body
                    of Pol Pot, former chief of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge guerrillas, to
                    confirm that one of the century's worst tyrants was truly dead.

                  *Happy Birthday*
                  - Actor Lon McCallister is 76.
                  - Rock promoter Don Kirshner is 65.
                  - Composer-musician Jan Hammer is 51.
                  - Actress Olivia Hussey is 48.
                  - Rock singer-musician Pete Shelley is 44.
                  - Actress Teri Austin is 40.
                  - Actress Lela Rochon 35.
                  - Singer Liz Phair is 32.