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 Today's highlight in history:
On April 25, 1945, during World War II, U.S. and Soviet forces linked up on the Elbe River, a meeting that dramatized the collapse of Nazi Germany's defenses.
On this date:
In 1507, German cartographer Martin Waldseemueller used the term "America" on a world map to refer to the huge land mass in the Western Hemisphere, in honor of Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci.
In 1792, highwayman Nicolas Jacques Pelletier became the first person under French law to be executed by the guillotine.
In 1859, ground was broken for the Suez Canal.
In 1898, the United States formally declared war on Spain.
In 1901, New York Gov. Benjamin Barker Odell Jr. signed an automobile registration bill which imposed a 15 mph speed limit on highways.
In 1908, broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow was born in Polecat Creek, N.C.
In 1915, during World War I, Allied soldiers invaded the Gallipoli Peninsula in an unsuccessful attempt to take the Ottoman Empire out of the war.
In 1945, delegates from some 50 countries met in San Francisco to organize the United Nations.
In 1959, the St. Lawrence Seaway opened to shipping.
In 1983, Soviet leader Yuri V. Andropov invited Samantha Smith to visit his country after receiving a letter in which the Manchester, Maine, schoolgirl expressed fears about nuclear war.
Ten years ago: Whitewater prosecutors questioned first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton on videotape about her work as a private lawyer for the failed savings and loan at the center of the investigation.
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 Five years ago: The Pentagon announced that Army Secretary Thomas White, whose tenure as civilian chief of the military's largest service was marked by tensions with his boss, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, was leaving office. Georgia lawmakers voted to scrap the Dixie cross from the state's flag.
One year ago: Brushing off a presidential veto threat, the House passed, 218-208, a $124.2 billion supplemental spending bill ordering U.S. troops to begin coming home from Iraq in the fall of 2007. Seven people were killed by a tornado in Maverick County on the Texas-Mexico border. The Dow Jones industrial average topped 13,000 for the first time, ending the day at 13,089.89. Rosie O'Donnell announced she was leaving the ABC talk show "The View" in June.
Today's birthdays: Movie director-writer Paul Mazursky is 78. Songwriter Jerry Leiber is 75. Actor Al Pacino is 68. Rock musician Stu Cook (Creedence Clearwater Revival) is 63. Singer Bjorn Ulvaeus (ABBA) is 63. Actress Talia Shire is 62. Actor Jeffrey DeMunn is 61. Rock musician Michael Brown (The Left Banke) is 59. Rock musician Steve Ferrone (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers) is 58. Country singer-songwriter Rob Crosby is 54. Actor Hank Azaria is 44. Rock singer Andy Bell (Erasure) is 44. Rock musician Eric Avery (Jane's Addiction) is 43. TV personality Jane Clayson is 41. Actress Renee Zellweger is 39. Actress Gina Torres is 39. Actor Jason Lee is 38. Actor Jason Wiles is 38. Actress Emily Bergl is 33. Actress Marguerite Moreau is 31. Singer Jacob Underwood is 28.
Thought for today: "Prophecy is the wit of a fool." -- Vladimir Nabokov,
Russian-born author (1899-1977)
[Associated Press]
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