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• In 1970, the People's Republic of China launched its first satellite, which kept transmitting a song, "The East is Red."
• In 1980, the United States launched an unsuccessful attempt to free the American hostages in Iran, a mission that resulted in the deaths of eight U.S. servicemen.
• In 1986, Wallis, Duchess of Windsor, for whom King Edward VIII had given up the British throne, died in Paris at age 89.
• In 1997, comedian Pat Paulsen died in Tijuana, Mexico, at age 69.
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• Ten years ago: After an extraordinary meeting at the Vatican sparked by a sex abuse scandal, American Roman Catholic leaders agreed to make it easier to remove priests who were guilty of sexually abusing minors. Michael McDermott, a software engineer who'd claimed he was insane when he shot to death seven co-workers, was convicted of murder in Cambridge, Mass., and automatically sentenced to life in prison without parole.
• Five years ago: In a harsh exchange, Vice President Dick Cheney accused Democratic leader Harry Reid of personally pursuing a defeatist strategy in Iraq to win votes at home -- a charge dismissed by Reid as President George W. Bush's "attack dog" lashing out. Seven people were killed by a tornado in Maverick County on the Texas-Mexico border. European astronomers announced they had found a potentially habitable planet outside the solar system. Warren Avis, the founder of Avis Rent A Car, died in Ann Arbor, Mich., at age 92.
• One year ago: Pope Benedict XVI offered an Easter Sunday prayer for diplomacy to prevail over warfare in Libya and for citizens of the Middle East to build a new society. Taliban militants staged a massive jailbreak in Kandahar, Afghanistan, as some 480 inmates escaped through a tunnel that had been dug over a matter of months. Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu, 86, who'd served as South Vietnam's unofficial first lady early in the Vietnam War, died in Rome.
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• Today's Birthdays: Film and drama critic Stanley Kauffmann is 96. Movie director-producer Richard Donner is 82. Actress Shirley MacLaine is 78. Author Sue Grafton is 72. Actor-singer Michael Parks is 72. Actress-singer-director Barbra Streisand is 70. Former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley is 70. Country singer Richard Sterban (The Oak Ridge Boys) is 69. Rock musician Doug Clifford (Creedence Clearwater Revival) is 67. Rock singer-musician Rob Hyman is 62. Actor-playwright Eric Bogosian is 59. Rock singer-musician Jack Blades (Night Ranger) is 58. Actor Michael O'Keefe is 57. Rock musician David J (Bauhaus) is 55. Actor Glenn Morshower is 53. Rock musician Billy Gould is 49. Actor-comedian Cedric the Enter

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