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Today in history: August 7

Celebrity birthdays, highlights in history, plus more facts about this day
/ Source: The Associated Press

Today is Monday, Aug. 7, the 213th day of 2005. There are 152 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:
On Aug. 1, 1790, the first United States census was completed, showing a population of nearly 4 million people.

On this date:
In 1873, inventor Andrew S. Hallidie successfully tested a cable car he had designed for the city of San Francisco.

In 1876, Colorado was admitted as the 38th state.

In 1894, the First Sino-Japanese War erupted, the result of a dispute over control of Korea; Japan’s army routed the Chinese.

In 1936, the Olympic games opened in Berlin with a ceremony presided over by Adolf Hitler.

In 1944, an uprising broke out in Warsaw, Poland, against Nazi occupation, a revolt that lasted two months before collapsing.

In 1946, President Truman signed the Fulbright Program into law, establishing the scholarships named for Sen. William J. Fulbright.

In 1946, the Atomic Energy Commission was established.

In 1957, the United States and Canada reached agreement to create the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD).

In 1966, 25-year-old Charles Joseph Whitman shot and killed 15 people at the University of Texas before he was gunned down by police.

In 1981, the rock music video channel MTV made its debut.

Ten years ago: In the second TV network takeover in as many days, Westinghouse Electric Corp. struck a deal to buy CBS for $5.4 billion. (A day earlier, Walt Disney had agreed to acquire Capital Cities-ABC for $19 billion.

Five years ago: A U.S. military court in Germany sentenced Army Staff Sgt. Frank Ronghi to life in prison without parole for sexually assaulting and killing Merita Shabiu, an 11-year-old ethnic Albanian girl, while on peacekeeping duty in Kosovo.

One year ago: The federal government warned of possible al-Qaida terrorist attacks against specific financial institutions in New York City, Washington and Newark, N.J. A supermarket fire on the outskirts of Asuncion, Paraguay, killed 434 people. World Trade Organization members meeting in Geneva approved a plan to end export subsidies on farm products and cut import duties across the world. Karen Stupples won the Women’s British Open. Alexandra Scott, a young cancer patient who started a lemonade stand to raise money for cancer research, sparking a nationwide fund-raising campaign, died at her home in Wynnewood, Pa., at age 8.

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Arthur Hill is 83. Actor-director Geoffrey Holder is 75. Singer Ramblin’ Jack Elliott is 74. Cartoonist Tom Wilson (“Ziggy”) is 74. Actor-comedian Dom DeLuise is 72. Fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent is 69. Former Sen. Alfonse D’Amato, R-N.Y., is 68. Actor Giancarlo Giannini is 63. Blues singer-musician Robert Cray is 52. Singer Michael Penn is 47. Rock singer Joe Elliott (Def Leppard) is 46. Rock singer-musician Suzi Gardner (L7) is 45. Rapper Chuck D (Public Enemy) is 45. Actor Jesse Borrego is 43. Rapper Coolio is 42. Rock singer Adam Duritz (Counting Crows) is 41. Movie director Sam Mendes is 40. Country singer George Ducas is 39. Country musician Charlie Kelley (Buffalo Club) is 37. Actress Tempestt Bledsoe is 32. Actor Jason Momoa is 26. Singer Ashley Parker Angel (“Making the Band”) is 24. Actress Taylor Fry is 24.

Thought for Today: “Pride, like humility, is destroyed by one’s insistence that he possesses it.” — Kenneth Bancroft Clark, American educator and psychologist.