• Today is Wednesday, Aug. 8, the 221st day of 2012. There are 145 days left in the year.
• Today's Highlight in History:
• On Aug. 8, 1942, during World War II, six Nazi saboteurs who were captured after landing in the U.S. were executed in Washington, D.C.; two others who'd cooperated with authorities were spared.
• On this date:
• In 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte set sail for St. Helena to spend the remainder of his days in exile.
• In 1911, President William Howard Taft signed a measure raising the number of U.S. representatives from 391 to 433, effective with the next Congress, with a proviso to add two more when New Mexico and Arizona became states.
• In 1937, during the Second Sino-Japanese War, Japan completed its occupation of Beijing.
• In 1945, President Harry S. Truman signed the U.S. instrument of ratification for the United Nations Charter. The Soviet Union declared war against Japan during World War II.
• In 1953, the United States and South Korea initialed a mutual security pact.
• In 1963, Britain's "Great Train Robbery" took place as thieves made off with 2.6 million pounds in banknotes.
• In 1968, the Republican national convention in Miami Beach nominated Richard Nixon for president on the first ballot.
• In 1973, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew branded as "damned lies" reports he had taken kickbacks from government contracts in Maryland, and vowed not to resign -- which he ended up doing.
• In 1974, President Richard Nixon announced his resignation, effective the next day, following damaging new revelations in the Watergate scandal.
• In 1978, the U.S. launched Pioneer Venus 2, which carried scientific probes to study the atmosphere of Venus.
• In 1992, AIDS activist Alison Gertz died in Westhampton Beach, Long Island, N.Y., at age 26.

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