Today in History

On April 28, 2004, the world first viewed images of prisoner abuse and torture by U.S. troops at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, via a report broadcast on the CBS television news program “60 Minutes II.”

Also on this date:

In 1789, mutineers led by Fletcher Christian took control of the ship HMS Bounty three weeks after departing Tahiti, setting the ship’s captain, Lieutenant William Bligh, and 18 other crew members adrift in the Pacific Ocean.

In 1945, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci, were executed by Italian partisans after attempting to flee the country.

In 1947, a six-man expedition led by Norwegian Thor Heyerdahl set out from Peru aboard a balsa wood raft named the Kon-Tiki on a 101-day, 4,300 mile (6,900 km) journey across the Pacific Ocean to the Polynesian Islands.

In 1967, heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali was stripped of his WBA title after he refused to be inducted into the armed forces.

In 1994, former CIA official Aldrich Ames, who had passed U.S. secrets to the Soviet Union and then Russia, pleaded guilty to espionage and tax evasion, and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

In 2001, a Russian rocket lifted off from Central Asia carrying the first space tourist, California businessman Dennis Tito, and two cosmonauts on a journey to the International Space Station.

In 2011, convicted sex offender Phillip Garrido and his wife, Nancy Garrido, pleaded guilty to kidnapping and raping a California girl, Jaycee Dugard, who was abducted in 1991 at the age of 11 and rescued 18 years later. (Phillip Garrido was sentenced to 431 years to life in prison; Nancy Garrido was sentenced to 36 years to life.)

Today’s Birthdays: Former Secretary of State James A. Baker III is 95. Actor-singer Ann-Margret is 84. Chef Alice Waters is 81. TV host-comedian Jay Leno is 75. Actor Mary McDonnell is 73. Musician Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth) is 72. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan is 65. Baseball Hall of Famer Barry Larkin is 61. Golfer John Daly is 59. Rapper Too Short is 59. Actor Bridget Moynahan is 54. Actor Jorge Garcia is 52. Actor Penelope Cruz is 51. TV personalities Drew and Jonathan Scott are 47. Actor Jessica Alba is 44. Actor Harry Shum Jr. is 43. Singer-songwriter Melanie Martinez is 30.