WEDNESDAY, JULY 23, 2008

Today is Wednesday, July 23, the 205th day of 2008. There are 161 days left in the year.

636 _ Arabs gain control of most of Palestine from the Byzantine Empire

1798 _ Napoleon captures Alexandria, Egypt

1829 _ William Austin Burt patents ``typographer" (typewriter)

1920 _ Kenya becomes a British crown colony

1940 _ ``Blitz" begins, all-night raid on London

1944 _ U.S. forces invade Japanese-held Tinian in WW II

1958 _ First four women named to peerage in House of Lords

1965 _ Beatles ``Help" is released in the U.K.

1968 _ PLO's first hijacking of an El Al plane

1974 _ Greek military dictatorship collapses