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Almanac for July 8, 2026

Today is Wednesday, July 8, the 189th day of 2026. There are 176 days left in the year. Today in History: In 2018, divers rescued four of the 12 boys who had been trapped in a flooded cave in northern Thailand with their soccer coach for more than two weeks. (The remaining eight boys and their coach were rescued over the next two days.) Also on this date: In 1776, Col. John Nixon gave the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence, outside the State House (now Independence Hall) in Philadelphia. In 1853, an expedition led by U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry arrived in Edo ...

America’s multicultural miracle

The welcoming reception that so many European soccer fans have received as they have crossed the nation in pursuit of World Cup games has struck many as a happy surprise of the summer of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. “The World Cup is at our shores, and all these ...

NATO chief demands plans to reach defense spending targets

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte on Monday demanded that members put forward “clear, concrete and credible plans” to reach the organization’s defense spending targets at its annual summit in Ankara. Rutte spoke in the Turkish capital ahead of the two-day summit ...

Almanac for July 7, 2026

Today is Tuesday, July 7, the 188th day of 2026. There are 177 days left in the year. Today in History: In 1981, President Ronald Reagan announced he was nominating Arizona Judge Sandra Day O’Connor to become the first female justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. Also on this date: In 1865, four people were hanged in Washington, D.C., for conspiring with John Wilkes Booth to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln: Lewis Powell, David Herold, George Atzerodt and Mary Surratt, the first woman to be executed by the federal government. In 1898, President William McKinley signed the ...

Reflecting on July 4, 2026

"Which is better — to be ruled by one tyrant 3,000 miles away or by 3,000 tyrants one mile away?" — the Rev. Mather Byles (1706-1788) Does it really matter if the instrument curtailing liberty is a monarch or a popularly elected legislature? This conundrum, along with the witty version of ...

Trump headlines DC celebration of America’s ‘joyous’ 250th

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump mixed partisan politics with patriotic appeals Saturday as he commemorated the 250th anniversary of American independence, a moment he declared “one of the most joyous and glorious milestones of all time.” Speaking in Washington after storms ...