THURSDAY, JULY 17, 2008

Today is Thursday, July 17, the 199th day of 2008. There are 167 days left in the year.

1841 _ British humor magazine ``Punch" first published

1850 _ Harvard Observatory takes first photograph of a star (Vega)

1861 _ Congress authorizes paper money

1917 _ British Royal family changes its name from Hanover to Windsor

1945 _ Potsdam Conference (FDR, Stalin, Churchill) holds first meeting

1948 _ Proclamation of the Constitution of the Republic of Korea

1959 _ Tibet abolishes serfdom

1962 _ Senate rejects medicare for the aged

1975 _ Apollo 18 and Soyuz 19 make first U.S./USSR linkup in space

1990 _ Hussein's Revolutionary Day speech claims Kuwait stole oil from Iraq