FRIDAY, JULY 17, 2009

Today is Friday, July 17, the 198th day of 2009. 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

1898 _ Spanish American War ― Spaniards surrender to U.S. at Santiago Cuba

1948 _ Proclamation of the constitution of the Republic of Korea

1954 _ First major league game where majority of team is black (Dodgers)

1955 _ Disneyland opens its doors in rural Orange County, Calif.

1967 _ Monkees perform at Forest Hills, N.Y., Jimi Hendrix is opening act

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