JULY 23RD

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Today is Wednesday, July 23, the 205th day of 2008. There are 161 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

• On July 23, 1967, a week of deadly race-related rioting that claimed 43 lives erupted in Detroit.

On this date:

• In 1885, Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th president of the United States, died in Mount McGregor, N.Y., at age 63.
• In 1892, Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia was born.
• In 1914, Austria-Hungary issued an ultimatum to Serbia following the killing of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by a Serb assassin; the dispute led to World War I.
• In 1945, French Marshal Henri Petain, who had headed the Vichy government during World War II, went on trial, charged with treason. (He was condemned to death, but his sentence was commuted; Petain died in prison on this date in 1951.)
• In 1948, American pioneer filmmaker D.W. Griffith died in Los Angeles at age 73.
• In 1952, Egyptian military officers led by Gamal Abdel Nasser launched a successful coup against King Farouk I.
• In 1958, Britain's Queen Elizabeth II named the first four women to peerage in the House of Lords.
• In 1977, a jury in Washington convicted 12 Hanafi Muslims of charges stemming from the hostage siege at three buildings the previous March.
• In 1982, actor Vic Morrow and two child actors, 7-year-old Myca Dinh Le and 6-year-old Renee Chen, were killed when a helicopter crashed on top of them during filming of a Vietnam War scene for "Twilight Zone: The Movie." (Director John Landis and four associates were later acquitted of manslaughter charges.)
• In 1986, Britain's Prince Andrew married Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey in London. (The couple divorced in 1996.)

Ten years ago:

• Scientists at the University of Hawaii announced they had turned out more than 50 carbon-copy mice with a cloning technique said to be more reliable than the one used to create Dolly the sheep.

Five years ago:

• A new audiotape purported to be from toppled dictator Saddam Hussein called on Iraqis to resist the U.S. occupation.
• Massachusetts' attorney general issued a report saying clergy members and others in the Boston Archdiocese probably sexually abused more than 1,000 people over a period of six decades.
• New York City Councilman James Davis was shot to death by political rival Othniel Askew at City Hall; a police officer shot and killed Askew.

One year ago:

• In the first political debate of its kind, all eight Democratic Party contenders, appearing on CNN, fielded questions submitted by the public on the Internet video-sharing site YouTube.
• Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, in his new capacity as a Mideast envoy, opened his mission to help Palestinians build solid foundations for their future state.
• Two suspects were arrested in the slayings of a woman and her two daughters during a violent home invasion in Cheshire, Conn.
• Genial comic Drew Carey was tapped to replace legend Bob Barker on the CBS daytime game show "The Price is Right."

Today's Birthdays:

• Actress Gloria DeHaven is 83.
• Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy is 72.
• Actor Ronny Cox is 70.
• Radio personality Don Imus is 68.
• Country singer Tony Joe White is 65.
• Rock singer David Essex is 61.
• Actor Larry Manetti is 61.
• Singer-songwriter John Hall is 60.
• Actress Belinda Montgomery is 58.
• Rock musician Blair Thornton (Bachman Turner Overdrive) is 58.
• Actor Woody Harrelson is 47.
• Rock musician Martin Gore (Depeche Mode) is 47.
• Actor Eriq Lasalle is 46.
• Rock musician Yuval Gabay is 45.
• Rock musician Slash is 43.
• Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman is 41.
• Rock musician Nick Menza is 40.
• Model-actress Stephanie Seymour is 40.
• Actress Charisma Carpenter is 38.
• Rhythm-and-blues singer Sam Watters is 38.
• Country singer Alison Krauss is 37.
• Rhythm-and-blues singer Dalvin DeGrate is 37.
• Rock musician Chad Gracey (Live) is 37.
• Actor-comedian Marlon Wayans is 36.
• Country singer Shannon Brown is 35.
• Actor Omar Epps is 35.
• Baseball player Nomar Garciaparra is 35.
• Actress Stephanie March is 34.
• Country musician David Pichette (Emerson Drive) is 31.
• Rhythm-and-blues singer Michelle Williams is 28.
• Actor Daniel Radcliffe is 19.

Thought for Today:

"Troubles impending always seem worse than troubles surmounted, but this does not prove that they really are."
Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., American historian.

"Let's all be careful out there!"