AUGUST 25TH

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Today is Monday, August 25, the 238th day of 2008.
There are 128 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

• On August 25, 1944, during World War II, Paris was liberated by Allied forces after four years of Nazi occupation.

On this date:

• In 1825, Uruguay declared independence from Brazil.
• In 1875, Capt. Matthew Webb became the first person to swim the English Channel, getting from Dover, England, to Calais, France, in 22 hours.
• In 1916, the National Park Service was established within the Department of the Interior.
• In 1921, the United States signed a peace treaty with Germany.
• In 1928, an expedition led by Richard E. Byrd set sail from Hoboken, N.J., on its journey to Antarctica.
• In 1943, U.S. forces liberated New Georgia in the Solomon Islands from the Japanese during World War II.
• In 1958, President Eisenhower signed a measure providing pensions for former U.S. presidents and their widows.
• In 1958, the game show "Concentration" premiered on NBC-TV.
• In 1981, the U.S. spacecraft Voyager 2 came within 63,000 miles of Saturn's cloud cover, sending back pictures of and data about the ringed planet.
• In 1985, Samantha Smith, 13, the schoolgirl whose letter to Yuri V. Andropov resulted in her famous peace tour of the Soviet Union, died with her father in an airliner crash in Auburn, Maine.

Ten years ago:

• Retired Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell died in Richmond, Va., at age 90.

Five years ago:

• A pair of car bombs killed 53 people in Bombay, India.
• Rwandans re-elected Paul Kagame in their country's first real presidential election.
• Tennis champion Pete Sampras announced his retirement during a news conference at the U.S. Open in New York.

One year ago:

• The government of Greece declared a nationwide state of emergency as the death toll from wildfires rose to at least 49.
• Bombs blamed on Islamic extremists killed at least 43 people at a park and a street-side food stall in Hyderabad, India.

Today's Birthday

• Actor Van Johnson is 92.
• Game show host Monty Hall is 87.
• Actor Sean Connery is 78.
• Actor Page Johnson is 78.
• Talk show/game show host Regis Philbin is 77.
• Actor Tom Skerritt is 75.
• Jazz musician Wayne Shorter is 75.
• Movie director Hugh Hudson is 72.
• Actor David Canary is 70.
• Movie director John Badham is 69.
• Filmmaker Marshall Brickman is 67.
• Rhythm-and-blues singer Walter Williams (The O'Jays) is 66.
• Actor Anthony Heald is 64.
• Actress Anne Archer is 61.
• Rock singer-actor Gene Simmons is 59.
• Actor John Savage is 59.
• Country singer-musician Henry Paul (Outlaws; Blackhawk) is 59.
• Rock singer Rob Halford is 57.
• Rock musician Geoff Downes (Asia) is 56.
• Rock singer Elvis Costello is 54.
• Movie director Tim Burton is 50.
• Actress Ally Walker is 47.
• Country singer Billy Ray Cyrus is 47.
• Rock musician Vivian Campbell (Def Leppard) is 46.
• Actress Joanne Whalley is 44.
• Actor Blair Underwood is 44.
• Rap DJ Terminator X (Public Enemy) is 42.
• Alternative country singer Jeff Tweedy (Wilco) is 41.
• Actor David Alan Basche is 40.
• Television chef Rachael Ray is 40.
• Actor Cameron Mathison is 39.
• Country singer Jo Dee Messina is 38.
• Model Claudia Schiffer is 38.
• Country singer Brice Long is 37.
• Actor Eric Millegan is 34.
• Actor Kel Mitchell is 30.
• Actress Rachel Bilson ("The O.C.") is 27.
• Actor Josh Flitter is 14.

Thought for Today:

"The final lesson of history: 'Let's never go back there again!'"
Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher (1844-1900).

"Let's all be careful out there!"