THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2007

Today is Thursday, September 20, the 262nd day of 2007. There are 103 days left in the year.

622 _ Mohammad's Hegira

1519 _ Magellan starts the first successful circumnavigation of the world

1792 _ French defeat Prussians at Valmy

1797 _ U.S. frigate Constitution (Old Ironsides) launched in Boston

1854 _ British and French defeat Russians at Alma, in the Crimea

1877 _ Chase National Bank opens in NYC (later merges into Chase Manhattan)

1945 _ German rocket engineers begin work in the U.S.

1951 _ The first North Pole jet crossing

1954 _ The first National People's Congress adopts Chinese constitution

1966 _ U.S. Surveyor B launched toward Moon; crashed Sept. 23

1976 _ Playboy releases Jimmy Carter's interview that he lusts for women

1984 _ Suicide car bomb attacks US Embassy annex in Beirut

1985 _ Walt Disney World's 200-millionth guest

1990 _ Both Germanys ratify reunification

1990 _ Saddam Hussein demands U.S. networks broadcast his message