Today is the 103rd day of 2014 and the 25th day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1941, the Soviet Union and Japan signed a five-year non-aggression pact.

In 1964, Sidney Poitier became the first African-American to win an the Academy Award for Best Actor, for his performance in "Lilies of the Field."

In 1970, an oxygen tank exploded on Apollo 13, crippling the spacecraft, which was on its way to the moon.

In 2005, Eric Rudolph pleaded guilty to four bombings between 1996 and 1998, including a blast at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), third U.S. president; Samuel Beckett (1906-1989), playwright; Eudora Welty (1909-2001), author; Howard Keel (1919-2004), actor/singer; Seamus Heaney (1939- ), poet/playwright; Paul Sorvino (1939- ), actor; Al Green (1946- ), singer-songwriter; Christopher Hitchens (1949-2011), journalist/author; Ron Perlman (1950- ), actor; Max Weinberg (1951- ), drummer/TV personality; Garry Kasparov (1963- ), chess player; Nellie McKay (1982- ), singer-songwriter/actress.

TODAY'S FACT: The first African-American to win the Academy Award for Best Actress was Halle Berry, for the 2001 film "Monster's Ball."

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1997, Tiger Woods became the youngest player to win the Masters Tournament, at age 21.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Try again. Fail again. Fail better." -- Samuel Beckett, "Worstward Ho"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 19 -- moves it took the IBM Deep Blue supercomputer to defeat chess champion Garry Kasparov in 1997.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (April 7) and full moon (April 15).

Today is the 102nd day of 2014 and the 24th day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1861, Confederate forces fired on Union-held Fort Sumter in the harbor of Charleston, S.C., in an engagement that marked the beginning of the Civil War.

In 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt died at his retreat in Warm Springs, Ga.

In 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human being to travel in space and the first to orbit the Earth.

In 1981, the first space shuttle, Columbia, was launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Henry Clay (1777-1852), politician/statesman; Lily Pons (1898-1976), opera singer/actress; Beverly Cleary (1916- ), writer; Herbie Hancock (1940- ), musician; Ed O'Neill (1946- ), actor; Tom Clancy (1947-2013), author; David Letterman (1947- ), TV personality; Scott Turow (1949- ), author; Jon Krakauer (1954- ), author; Andy Garcia (1956- ), actor; Vince Gill (1957- ), singer-songwriter; Claire Danes (1979- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: Franklin D. Roosevelt has consistently come in first or second in the Zogby International Presidential Greatness polls since 1997, but his wife, Eleanor Roosevelt, consistently outranked him in approval polls during his lifetime.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1981, the New York Giants drafted University of North Carolina linebacker Lawrence Taylor in the first round of the NFL draft.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "She was not a slowpoke grownup. She was a girl who could not wait. Life was so interesting she had to find out what happened next." -- Beverly Cleary, "Ramona the Pest"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 108 -- length (in minutes) of the first orbital human spaceflight, by Yuri Gagarin aboard the Vostok 3KA spacecraft on this day in 1961.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (April 7) and full moon (April 15).

Today is the 101st day of 2014 and the 23rd day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1814, French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte abdicated the throne and was banished to the island of Elba.

In 1945, U.S. forces liberated the Buchenwald concentration camp.

In 1951, President Harry Truman relieved Gen. Douglas MacArthur of his command in Korea.

In 1979, Ugandan dictator Idi Amin was overthrown.

In 2006, Iran announced that it had successfully enriched uranium.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Dean Acheson (1893-1971), diplomat/statesman; Oleg Cassini (1913-2006), fashion designer; Joel Grey (1932- ), actor; Louise Lasser (1939- ), actress; Thomas Harris (1940- ), author/screenwriter; Jason Varitek (1972- ), baseball player; Jennifer Esposito (1973- ), actress; Mark Teixeira (1980- ), baseball player; Joss Stone (1987- ), singer.

TODAY'S FACT: Idi Amin was one of only two native officers in Uganda's military when the nation gained its independence in 1962.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 2004, Phil Mickelson won his first Masters Golf Tournament after eight second- or third-place majors finishes in almost 12 years as a professional golfer, sinking an 18-foot birdie putt on the final hole to edge Ernie Els by a single stroke.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "No people in history have ever survived who thought they could protect their freedom by making themselves inoffensive to their enemies." -- Dean Acheson

TODAY'S NUMBER: 16.4 million -- mobile phone subscriptions in Uganda in 2012, compared to only 315,000 landlines.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (April 7) and full moon (April 15).