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• In 1963, the U.S. Post Office raised the cost of a first-class stamp from 4 to 5 cents.
• In 1979, Vietnamese forces captured the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, overthrowing the Khmer Rouge government.
• In 1989, Emperor Hirohito of Japan died in Tokyo at age 87; he was succeeded by his son, Crown Prince Akihito.
• In 2006, Jill Carroll, a freelance journalist for The Christian Science Monitor, was kidnapped and her translator shot dead in Baghdad. (Carroll was freed almost three months later.)
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• Ten years ago: President George W. Bush unveiled his $674 billion economic expansion plan. Police in London announced they had found traces of the deadly poison ricin (RY'-sin) in a north London apartment and arrested six men in connection with the virulent toxin that had been linked to al-Qaida terrorists and Iraq.
• Five years ago: The Pentagon reported an Iranian fleet of high-speed boats charged at and threatened to blow up a three-ship U.S. Navy convoy passing near Iranian waters, then vanished as the American ship commanders were preparing to open fire. In Baghdad, the head of a key U.S.-backed Sunni group was killed in a double suicide bombing that claimed at least 11 other lives. Second-ranked LSU defeated No. 1 Ohio State, 38-24, in the BCS championship game played in New Orleans. Philip Agee, a renegade CIA agent whose naming of operatives led to a law against exposing spies, died in Cuba at age 72.
• One year ago: Three days before the New Hampshire primary, Mitt Romney brushed aside rivals' criticism in the opening round of a weekend debate doubleheader that left his Republican presidential campaign challengers squabbling among themselves and unable to knock the front-runner off stride. Record-shattering Drew Brees threw for 466 yards and three touchdowns, and the New Orleans Saints poured it on in the second half for a 45-28 NFC wild-card victory over the Detroit Lions.
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• Today's Birthdays: Author William Peter Blatty is 85. Country singer Jack Greene is 83. Pop musician Paul Revere is 75. Magazine publisher Jann Wenner is 67. Singer Kenny Loggins is 65. Singer-songwriter Marshall Chapman is 64. Latin pop singer Juan Gabriel is 63. Actress Erin Gray is 63. Actor Sammo Hung is 61. Actor David Caruso is 57. Talk show host Katie Couric is 56. Country singer David Lee Murphy is 54. Rock musician Kathy Valentine (The Go-Go's) is 54. Actor David Marciano is 53. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., is 52. Actress Hallie Todd is 51. Actor

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