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4B – Daily News – Thursday, May 5, 2011 PEANUTS® By Charles Schultz Today in History By The Associated Press Today is Thursday, May 5, the 125th day of 2011. There are 240 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On May 5, 1961, astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. became America’s first space traveler as he made a 15-minute sub- orbital flight aboard Freedom 7, a Mercury capsule launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla. On this date: DILBERT® By Scott Adams In 1821, Napoleon Bonaparte, 51, died in exile on the island of St. Helena. In 1862, Mexican forces loyal to Benito Juarez defeat- ed French troops sent by Napoleon III in the Battle of Puebla. In 1891, New York’s Carnegie Hall (then named ‘‘Music Hall’’) had its official opening night. In 1925, schoolteacher John T. Scopes was charged in Tennessee with violating a state law that prohibited teach- ing the theory of evolution. (Scopes was found guilty, but his conviction was later set aside.) In 1936, the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, fell to Italian invaders. GARFIELD® By Jim Davis In 1941, Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie returned to Addis Ababa after the Italians were driven out with the help of Allied forces. In 1942, during World War II, Japanese forces land- ed on the Philippine island of Corregidor. In 1955, West Germany became a fully sovereign state. The baseball musical ‘‘Damn Yankees’’ opened on Broad- way. SHOE By Chris Cassatt and Gary Brookins BLONDIE® By Dean Young and Stan Drake BEETLE BAILEY® By Mort Walker In 1961, President John F. Kennedy signed a law rais- ing the minimum wage to $1.15 an hour, then to $1.25 an hour, for currently covered workers. In 1981, Irish Republican Army hunger-striker Bobby Sands died at the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland in his 66th day without food. Ten years ago: Pope John Paul II became the first pope to visit Syria, where President Bashar Assad asked him to take the Arabs’ side in their dispute with Israel, refer- ring to what Assad described as Jewish persecution of Jesus Christ. Monarchos won the Kentucky Derby. Five years ago: A military transport helicopter crashed in eastern Afghanistan, killing all ten U.S. sol- diers on board. CIA Director Porter Goss resigned in a second-term shake-up of President George W. Bush’s team. British Prime Minister Tony Blair shuffled his Cabinet, replacing Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. One year ago: Preliminary plans for a mosque and cul- tural center near ground zero in New York were unveiled, setting off a national debate over whether the project was disrespectful to 9/11 victims and whether oppo- sition to it exposed anti-Muslim biases. Three people, trapped in an Athens bank torched by rioters, died during a nation- wide strike against the cash-strapped Greek government’s harsh austerity measures. Today’s Birthdays: Actress Pat Carroll is 84. Former AFL-CIO president John J. Sweeney is 77. Saxophonist Ace Cannon is 77. Country singer-musician Roni Stone- man is 73. Actor Michael Murphy is 73. Actor Lance Hen- riksen is 71. Comedian-actor Michael Palin is 68. Actor John Rhys-Davies is 67. Actor Roger Rees is 67. Rock correspondent Kurt Loder is 66. Rock musician Bill Ward (Black Sabbath) is 63. Actor Richard E. Grant is 54. Broad- cast journalist-turned-FBI spokesman John Miller is 53. Rock singer Ian McCulloch (Echo and the Bunnymen) is 52. NBC News anchor Brian Williams is 52. Rock musi- cian Shawn Drover (Megadeth) is 45. TV personality Kyan (KY’-ihn) Douglas is 41. Actress Tina Yothers is 38. Actor Vincent Kartheiser is 32. Singer Craig David is 30. Actress Danielle Fishel is 30. Actor Henry Cavill is 28. Soul singer Adele is 23. Rock singer Skye Sweetnam is 23. Rhythm- and-blues singer Chris Brown is 22. Thought for Today: ‘‘It’s a very sobering feeling to be up in space and realize that one’s safety factor was determined by the lowest bidder on a government con- tract.’’ — Alan B. Shepard Jr., American astronaut (1923- 1998). HAGAR the Horrible® By Chris Browne RUBES® By Leigh Rubin ZITS BY JERRY SCOTT & JIM BORGMAN FRANK & ERNEST® By Bob Thaves ALLEY OOP