SATURDAY, AUGUST 9, 2008

Today is Saturday, August 9, the 222nd day of 2008. There are 144 days left in the year.

480 B.C. _ Persia defeats Spartan king Leonidas at Thermopylae

1786 _ First ascent of Mt. Blanc

1849 _ Hungarian Republic crushed by Austria and Russia

1854 _ Henry David Thoreau publishes ``Walden"

1936 _ Jesse Owens wins fourth gold medal of Berlin Olympics

1942 _ British arrests Indian nationalist Mohandas K. Gandhi

1945 _ U.S. drops second atomic bomb ``Fat Man" on Japan destroys part of Nagasaki

1965 _ Singapore gains independence from Malaysia (National Day)

1974 _ Richard Nixon resigns presidency, V.P. Gerald Ford becomes 38th president

1992 _ 25th Olympic Summer games close in Barcelona, Spain