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• Ten years ago: President George W. Bush put allies on notice that diplomacy would give way to a decision on war with Iraq in "weeks, not months." Wary world leaders and congressional critics urged patience and demanded proof of Iraq's transgressions. Richard Reid, the British citizen and al-Qaida follower who'd tried to blow up a trans-Atlantic jetliner with explosives hidden in his shoes, was sentenced to life in prison by a federal judge in Boston.
• Five years ago: John Edwards bowed out of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. Rudy Giuliani dropped out of the Republican presidential contest and endorsed front-runner and longtime friend John McCain. The Federal Reserve cut a key interest rate for the second time in just over a week, reducing the federal funds rate by a half point to 3 percent.
• One year ago: All European Union countries except Britain and the Czech Republic agreed to sign a new treaty designed to stop overspending in the eurozone and put an end to the bloc's crippling debt crisis. A reactor at a northern Illinois nuclear plant shut down after an electrical insulator failed (the Unit 2 reactor at the Byron Generating Station resumed operating a week later).
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• Today's Birthdays: Actress Dorothy Malone is 88. Producer-director Harold Prince is 85. Actor Gene Hackman is 83. Actress Tammy Grimes is 79. Actress Vanessa Redgrave is 76. Chess grandmaster Boris Spassky is 76. Country singer Jeanne Pruett is 76. Country singer Norma Jean is 75. Former Vice President Dick Cheney is 72. Rock singer Marty Balin is 71. Rhythm-and-blues musician William King (The Commodores) is 64. Singer Phil Collins is 62. Actor Charles S. Dutton is 62. World Golf Hall of Famer Curtis Strange is 58. Actress-comedian Brett Butler is 55. Singer Jody Watley is 54. Actor-filmmaker Dexter Scott King is 52. The King of Jordan, Abdullah II, is 51. Actor Norbert Leo Butz is 46. Country singer Tammy Cochran is 41. Actor Christian Bale is 39. Rock musician Carl Broemel (My Morning Jacket) is 39. Pop-country singer-songwriter Josh Kelley is 33. Actor Wilmer Valderrama is 33. Actor Jake Thomas is 23.
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• Thought for Today: "The excellent becomes the permanent." - Jane Addams, American social worker and Nobel Peace laureate (1860-1935).
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