Today is Thursday, August 16, the 227th day of 2007. There are 138 days left in the year.
1777 _ Americans defeat British in Battle of Bennington, Vt.
1819 _ Manchester Massacre; English police charge unemployed demonstrators
1858 _ Britain's Queen Victoria telegraphs U.S. President James Buchanan
1861 _ President Lincoln prohibits Union states from trading with Confederacy
1863 _ Emancipation Proclamation signed
1898 _ Roller coaster patented
1934 _ The U.S. ends occupation of Haiti
1936 _ The 11th Olympic Games close in Berlin
1959 _ USSR introduces installment buying
1960 _ Britain grants independence to crown colony of Cyprus
1960 _ The Republic of the Congo (Zaire) forms
1963 _ Independence is restored to the Dominican Republic
1985 _ Singer Madonna weds actor Sean Penn
1988 _ IBM introduces software for artificial intelligence
1988 _ Jailed black nationalist Nelson Mandela struck with tuberculosis
1990 _ Iraq orders 4000 Britons and 2500 Americans in Kuwait to Iraq