DECEMBER 21ST

Today is Sunday, Dec. 21, the 356th day of 2008.
There are 10 days left in the year.
Winter will arrive at 7:04 a.m. Eastern time.
The Jewish Festival of Lights, Hanukkah, begins at sunset.

Today's Highlight in History:

• On Dec. 21, 1620, Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower went ashore for the first time at present-day Plymouth, Mass.

On this date:

• In 1804, British statesman Benjamin Disraeli was born in London.
• In 1937, the first feature-length animated cartoon in Technicolor, Walt Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," had its world premiere in Los Angeles.
• In 1940, author F. Scott Fitzgerald died in Hollywood, Calif., at age 44.
• In 1945, Gen. George S. Patton died in Heidelberg, Germany, of injuries from a car accident.
• In 1948, the state of Eire, or Ireland, passed an act declaring itself a republic.
• In 1958, Charles de Gaulle was elected to a seven-year term as the first president of the Fifth Republic of France.
• In 1968, Apollo 8 was launched on a mission to orbit the moon.
• In 1971, the U.N. Security Council chose Kurt Waldheim to succeed U Thant as Secretary-General.
• In 1976, the Liberian-registered tanker Argo Merchant broke apart near Nantucket Island, off Massachusetts, almost a week after running aground, spilling 7 1/2 million gallons of oil into the North Atlantic.
• In 1988, 270 people were killed when a terrorist bomb exploded aboard a Pam Am Boeing 747 over Lockerbie, Scotland, sending wreckage crashing to the ground.

Ten years ago:

• Israel's parliament voted overwhelmingly for early elections, signaling the demise of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ailing hard-line government.
• A Chinese court sentenced two dissidents (Xu Wenli, Wang Youcai) to long prison terms for trying to organize an opposition party. (Xu was released in December 2002; Wang, in March 2004.)

Five years ago:

• The government raised the national threat level to orange, indicating a high risk of terrorist attack. (It was lowered back to yellow on Jan. 9, 2004.)
• More than 150 people were killed in mudslides in the Philippines.
• Soviet diplomat Oleg Troyanovsky died at age 84.

One year ago:

• A suicide attacker detonated a bomb at a mosque outside the home of Pakistan's former interior minister, killing at least 50 people.

Today's Birthdays:

• Country singer Freddie Hart is 82.
• Actor Ed Nelson is 80.
• Talk show host Phil Donahue is 73.
• Movie director John Avildsen is 73.
• Actress Jane Fonda is 71.
• Actor Larry Bryggman is 70.
• Singer Carla Thomas is 66.
• Musician Albert Lee is 65.
• Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas is 64.
• Actor Samuel L. Jackson is 60.
• Movie producer Jeffrey Katzenberg is 58.
• Singer Betty Wright is 55.
• Tennis Hall-of-Famer Chris Evert is 54.
• Actress Jane Kaczmarek is 53.
• Country singer Lee Roy Parnell is 52.
• Entertainer Jim Rose is 52.
• Actor-comedian Ray Romano is 51.
• Country singer Christy Forester (The Forester Sisters) is 46.
• Rock musician Murph (The Lemonheads; Dinosaur Jr.) is 44.
• Actor-comedian Andy Dick is 43.
• Rock musician Gabrielle Glaser is 43.
• Actor Kiefer Sutherland is 42.
• Actress Karri Turner is 42.
• Actress Khrystyne Haje is 40.
• Country singer Brad Warren (The Warren Brothers) is 40.
• Actress Julie Delpy is 39.
• Country singer-musician Rhean Boyer (Carolina Rain) is 38.
• Contemporary Christian singer Natalie Grant is 37.
• Actor Glenn Fitzgerald is 37.
• Singer-musician Brett Scallions is 37.
• Rock singer Lukas Rossi (Rock Star Supernova) is 32.
• Country singer Luke Stricklin is 26.

Thought for Today:

"Many human beings say that they enjoy the winter, but what they really enjoy is feeling proof against it."
Richard Adams, English author.

"Let's all be careful out there!"