FRIDAY, JULY 24, 2009

Today is Friday, July 24, the 205th day of 2009. There are 160 days left in the year.

1651 _ Anthony Johnson, a free black, receives grant of 250 acres in Virginia

1783 _ Georgia becomes a protectorate of tsarist Russia

1948 _ Soviets blockades Berlin from the west

1959 _ V.P. Nixon argued with Khrushchev, known as ``Kitchen Debate"

1961 _ Beginning of a trend, a U.S. commercial plane is hijacked to Cuba

1963 _ 124 Unification church couples wed in Korea

1965 _ Bob Dylan release ``Like a Rolling Stone"

1967 _ Beatles sign a petition in The Times to legalize marijuana

1967 _ Charles de Gaulle says, ``Vive le Quebec libre! (Long live free Quebec!)"

1985 _ Gandhi signs peace contract with Sikh leader Harchand Singh Longowai