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President Suharto stepped down after 32 years in power.
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• Ten years ago: Christie Whitman resigned as Environmental Protection Agency administrator. The most devastating earthquake to hit Algeria in two decades killed at least 2,200 people. Ruben Studdard edged Clay Aiken to win the second "American Idol" competition on Fox.
• Five years ago: Oil prices blew past $130 a barrel and gas prices climbed above $3.80 a gallon. Israel and Syria unexpectedly announced the resumption of peace talks after an eight-year break. David Cook won "American Idol" in a landslide over David Archuleta.
• One year ago: President Barack Obama and other world leaders meeting in Chicago locked in place an Afghanistan exit path that would keep their troops fighting there for two more years. Former Rutgers University student Dharun Ravi (dah-ROON' RAH'-vee), who'd used a webcam to spy on his gay roommate, Tyler Clementi, who then committed suicide, was sentenced to 30 days in jail (he served 20). A Yemeni man detonated a bomb during a rehearsal for a military parade, killing 96 fellow soldiers; al-Qaida's branch in Yemen claimed responsibility. Grammy-winning polka great Eddie Blazonczyk, 70, died in Palos Heights, Ill.
• Today's Birthdays: Rhythm-and-blues singer Ron Isley (The Isley Brothers) is 72. Rock musician Hilton Valentine (The Animals) is 70. Actor Richard Hatch is 68. Musician Bill Champlin is 66. Singer Leo Sayer is 65. Actress Carol Potter is 65. Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., is 62. Actor Mr. T is 61. Music producer Stan Lynch is 58. Actor Judge Reinhold is 56. Actor-director Nick Cassavetes is 54. Actor Brent Briscoe is 52. Actress Lisa Edelstein is 47. Actress Fairuza Balk is 39. Rock singer-musician Mikel Jollett (Airborne Toxic Event) is 39. Rapper Havoc (Mobb Deep) is 39. Actress Ashlie Brillault is 26. Actor Scott Leavenworth is 23. Actress Sarah Ramos is 22.
• Thought for Today: "Our present addiction to pollsters and forecasters is a symptom of our chronic uncertainty about the future.... We watch our experts read the entrails of statistical tables and graphs the way the ancients watched their soothsayers read the entrails of a chicken." -- Eric Hoffer, American philosopher (1902-1983).
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