Today is Friday, August 17, the 228th day of 2007. There are 137 days left in the year.
682 _ St. Leo II begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1846 _ The U.S. takes Los Angeles
1939 _ ``Wizard of Oz" opens at Loew's Capitol Theater in N.Y.
1942 _ U.S. bombers staged the first independent raid on Europe attack Rouen, France
1945 _ Indonesia declares independence from Netherlands
1959 _ 7.1 quake strikes Yellowstone National Park
1960 _ Francis Gary Powers U-2 spy trial opens in Moscow
1960 _ Gabon gains independence from France
1961 _ Building of the Berlin Wall begins
1961 _ The Kennedy administration establishes Alliance for Progress
1962 _ Beatles replaces Pete Best with Ringo Starr
1985 _ Rajiv Gandhi announces Punjab state elections in India
1990 _ ``The Exorcist 3" premiers
1990 _ Phyllis Polander sues Mike Tyson for sexual harassment