AUGUST 15TH

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Today is Friday, August 15, the 228th day of 2008.
There are 138 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

• On August 15, 1945, Emperor Hirohito announced to his subjects in a prerecorded radio address that Japan had accepted terms of surrender for ending World War II.

On this date:

• In 1057, Macbeth, King of Scots, was killed in battle by Malcolm, the eldest son of King Duncan, whom Macbeth had slain.
• In 1769, Napoleon Bonaparte was born on the island of Corsica.
• In 1914, the Panama Canal opened to traffic.
• In 1935, humorist Will Rogers and aviator Wiley Post were killed when their airplane crashed near Point Barrow, Alaska.
• In 1944, during World War II, Allied forces landed in southern France in Operation Dragoon.
• In 1947, India became independent after some 200 years of British rule.
• In 1948, the Republic of Korea (South Korea) was proclaimed.
• In 1961, East German workers began building the Berlin Wall.
• In 1969, the Woodstock Music and Art Fair opened in upstate New York.
• In 1971, President Nixon announced a 90-day freeze on wages, prices and rents.

Ten years ago:

• Twenty-nine people were killed by a car bomb that tore apart the center of Omagh, Northern Ireland; a splinter group calling itself the Real IRA claimed responsibility.

Five years ago:

• Bouncing back from the largest blackout in U.S. history, cities from the Midwest to Manhattan restored power to millions of people — but encountered difficulties in fully reviving public services.

One year ago:

• Former NBA referee Tim Donaghy pleaded guilty to felony charges for taking cash payoffs from gamblers and betting on games he'd officiated in a scandal that rocked the league. (A federal judge sentenced Donaghy to 15 months behind bars.)
• A magnitude-8 earthquake in Peru's southern desert killed at least 540 people.
• Master jazz percussionist Max Roach died in New York at age 83.

Today's Birthdays:

• Actress Rose Marie is 85.
• Political activist Phyllis Schlafly is 84.
• Actor Mike Connors is 83.
• Actress Lori Nelson is 75.
• Civil rights activist Vernon Jordan is 73.
• Actor Jim Dale is 73.
• Actress Pat Priest is 72.
• Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer is 70.
• Musician Pete York (Spencer Davis Group) is 66.
• Author-journalist Linda Ellerbee is 64.
• Songwriter Jimmy Webb is 62.
• Britain's Princess Anne is 58.
• Actress Tess Harper is 58.
• Actor Larry Mathews is 53.
• Actor Zeljko Ivanek is 51.
• Actor-comedian Rondell Sheridan is 50.
• Rock singer-musician Matt Johnson (The The) is 47.
• Movie director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu ("Babel") is 45.
• Actress Debi Mazar is 44.
• Country singer Angela Rae (Wild Horses) is 42.
• Actor Peter Hermann is 41.
• Actress Debra Messing is 40.
• Actor Anthony Anderson is 38.
• Actor Ben Affleck is 36.
• Singer Mikey Graham (Boyzone) is 36.
• Actress Natasha Henstridge is 34.
• Actress Nicole Paggi is 31.
• Latin pop singer Belinda (Film: "The Cheetah Girls 2") is 19.
• Rock singer Joe Jonas (The Jonas Brothers) is 19.

Thought for Today:

"We must not read either law or history backwards."
Helen M. Cam, English historian and educator (1885-1968).

"Let's all be careful out there!"