A memo from CNN News Group president Jim Walton:

Happy birthday to everyone at CNN International.

"This Friday, the world's most talked about and recognized news network, CNN International, turns 20. The channel launched Sept. 30, 1985.

Now reaching out to more than 200 countries and territories and available to approximately 180 million households, CNN International is the network of choice for millions of people. It has also been defined by others as "the first draft of history."

The list of historical images captured by CNN's cameras and broadcast around the world reads like an encyclopedia of world events: the Gulf War, Nelson Mandela's release, Tiananmen Square, the Balkans War, the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, the Lockerbie bombing, the fall of the Berlin Wall, Rabin's assassination, the millennium celebrations, the Beslan School massacre, the death of Princess Diana, Hong Kong's handover and the Palestinian Intifada. And that is just a snapshot of two decades of global broadcasting.

Additionally, the events of 2005 -- starting with the tsunami in South Asia, the death of Pope John Paul II, the London terrorists bombings and hurricanes Katrina and Rita -- continue to underscore the importance of 24-hour news services and CNN International in particular.

Watched by millions every day and used by world leaders, business men and women, economists and industrialists as a vital part of their daily life, CNN International is the preeminent global news service and the standard bearer for those who seek to emulate what your colleagues started in 1985.

Over the next few days, please take a moment to reflect on what has been achieved in these past 20 years and what you have all done to build this remarkable network."