This day in history

► Today is Saturday, Aug. 13, the 225th day of 2011. There are 140 days left in the year. ► Today’s birthdays: Former Cuban President Fidel Castro is 85. Actor Pat Harrington is 82. Former US Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders is 78. Actor Kevin Tighe is 67. Actress Gretchen Corbett is 64. Opera singer Kathleen Battle is 63. High wire aerialist Philippe Petit is 62. Hockey Hall of Famer Bobby Clarke is 62. Comedian-writer Tom Davis is 59. Golf Hall of Famer Betsy King is 56. Movie director Paul Greengrass is 56. Actor Danny Bonaduce is 52. TV host/weatherman Sam Champion (“Good Morning America’’) is 50. Actress Dawnn Lewis is 50. Actor John Slattery is 49. Actress Debi Mazar is 47. Actress Quinn Cummings is 44. Actress Seana Kofoed is 41. Country singer Andy Griggs is 38. Country musician Mike Melancon (Emerson Drive) is 33. Actress Kathryn Fiore is 32. Pop-rock singer James Morrison is 27. ► In 1521, Spanish conqueror Hernando Cortez captured Tenochtitlan, present-day Mexico City, from the Aztecs. ► In 1624, King Louis XIII of France appointed Cardinal Richelieu his first minister. ► In 1910, Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, died in London at 90. ► In 1934, the satirical comic strip “Li’l Abner,’’ created by Al Capp, made its debut. ► In 1961, Berlin was divided as East Germany sealed off the border between the city’s eastern and western sectors and began building a wall that would stand for the next 28 years. ► In 1981, President Reagan signed a historic package of tax and budget reductions. ► In 1989, searchers in Ethiopia found the wreckage of a plane which had disappeared while carrying Texas Congressman Mickey Leland and 14 others; there were no survivors. ► In 2006, Israel’s Cabinet became the final party to sign on to a UN cease-fire deal with Hezbollah. ► In 2010, weighing in for the first time on a controversy gripping New York City and the nation, President Obama endorsed allowing a mosque near ground zero, telling a White House dinner celebrating the Islamic holy month of Ramadan that the country’s founding principles demanded no less. Former NBC newsman Edwin Newman died in Oxford, England, at 91.