Today is Sunday, July 1, the 182nd day of 2007. There are 183 days left in the year. This is Canada Day.

Today's Highlight in History:

On July 1, 1946, the United States exploded a 20-kiloton atomic bomb near Bikini Atoll in the Pacific.

On this date:

96 Vespasian, a Roman army leader, is hailed as a Roman emperor by the Egyptian legions.

1543 England and Scotland sign the Peace of Greenwich.

1596 An English fleet under the Earl of Essex, Lord Howard of Effingham and Francis Vere capture and sack Cadiz, Spain.

1690 Led by Marshall Luxembourg, the French defeat the forces of the Grand Alliance at Fleurus in the Netherlands.

1777 British troops depart from their base at the Bouquet river to head toward Ticonderoga, New York.

1798 Napoleon Bonaparte takes Alexandria, Egypt.

1838 Charles Darwin presents a paper on his theory of evolution to the Linnean Society in London.

1847 The U.S. Post Office issued its first adhesive stamps.

1862 Union artillery stops a Confederate attack at Malvern Hill, Virginia.

1863, the Civil War Battle of Gettysburg, resulting in a Union victory, began in Pennsylvania.

1867, Canada became a self-governing dominion of Great Britain as the British North America Act took effect.

1876 Montenegro declares war on the Turks.

1897 Three years after the first issue of "Billboard Advertising" was published, the publication was renamed, "The Billboard."

1898, during the Spanish-American War, U.S. forces, including Theodore Roosevelt's "Rough Riders," waged a victorious assault on San Juan Hill in Cuba.

1932, New York Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt was nominated for president at the Democratic convention in Chicago.

1934 The Federal Communications Commission replaced the Federal Radio Commission as the regulator of broadcasting in the United States.

1941 NBC airs first official TV commercial

1942 German troops capture Sevestapol, Crimea, in the Soviet Union.

1945 The New York State Commission Against Discrimination is established--the first such agency in the United States.

1950 American ground troops arrive in South Korea to halt the advancing North Korean army.

1956 Highway Revenue Act goes into effect - The Highway Revenue Act of 1956 was put into effect by Congress, outlining a policy of taxation with the aim of creating a fund for the construction of over 42,500 miles of interstate highways over a period of 13 years.

1957, the International Geophysical Year, an 18-month global scientific study, began.

1961, Diana, the princess of Wales, was born in Sandringham, England. (She died in a 1997 car crash in Paris at age 36.)

1961 British troops land in Kuwait to aid against Iraqi threats.

1961 The first community air-raid shelter was built. The shelter in Boise, ID, had a capacity of 1,000 people and family memberships sold for $100.

1963 The U.S. postmaster introduces the zip code.

1966 The U.S. Marines launch Operation Holt in an attempt to finish off a Vietcong battalion in Thua Thien Province in Vietnam.

1968, the U.S., Britain, the Soviet Union and nearly 60 other nations signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

1969 Britain's Prince Charles was invested as the Prince of Wales.

1974 Isavel Peron became the President of Argentina upon the death of her husband, Juan.

1979 Susan B. Anthony was commemorated on a U.S. coin, the Susan B. Anthony dollar.

1980, "O Canada" was proclaimed the national anthem of Canada.

1981 The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that candidates for federal office had an "affirmative right" to go on national television.

1987, President Ronald Reagan nominated federal appeals court judge Robert Bork to the U.S. Supreme Court, setting off a tempestuous confirmation process that ended with Bork's rejection by the Senate.

1987 John Kevin Hill, at age 11, became the youngest to fly across the U.S. when he landed at National Airport in Washington, DC.

1991, President Bush nominated federal appeals court judge Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court, beginning an ultimately successful confirmation process marked by allegations of sexual harassment.

1994 Yasif Arafat of the Palestinian Liberation Organization visited the Gaza Strip.

1995 Wolfman Jack dies

1997 The sovereignty over Hong Kong was transferred from Great Britain to China. Britain had controlled Hong Kong as a colony for 156 years.



Ten years ago:
Hong Kong reverted to Chinese rule after 156 years as a British colony.

Actor Robert Mitchum died in Santa Barbara County, Calif., at age 79.


Five years ago:
The world's first permanent war crimes tribunal came into existence.

A U.S. Air Force gunship attacked several villages in Afghanistan, killing 48 civilians, according to Afghan officials.

A Russian passenger jet collided with a cargo plane over southern Germany, killing all 69 people on the Russian plane, and the two cargo jet pilots.

Chile's Supreme Court ruled that former dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet was suffering from dementia and dropped all charges against him for human rights violations during his regime.


One year ago:
Thunderstorms forced NASA to call off the launch of Discovery, delaying the first space shuttle flight in a year. (Discovery was launched three days later, on July 4.)

A huge car bomb exploded at a bustling outdoor market in a Shiite district of Baghdad, killing more than 60 people.


Today's Birthdays:
1649 Gottfried Von Leibniz, German philosopher and mathematician.
1804 George Sand (Amandine-Aurore Lucille Dupin), French novelist.
1876 Susan Glaspell, playwright, (Alison's House).
1892 James M. Cain, author (The Postman Always Rings Twice, Mildred Pierce).
1899 Thomas Dorsey, American songwriter, singer and pianist, the "father of gospel music."
1902 William Wyler, film director (The Best Years of Our Lives, Ben Hur).
1903 Amy Johnson, English aviator.
1908 Estee Lauder, cosmetician
1915 Willie Dixon, blues musician.
1915 Sydney Pollack, film director (Tootsie, Out of Africa).
1915 Jean Stafford, American writer (The Mountain Lion).
1916 Roland Robert Tuck, British fighter ace during World War II.
1961 Diana Frances Spencer, princess of Wales.

Actress Olivia de Havilland is 91.
Actor Farley Granger is 82.
Actress-dancer Leslie Caron is 76.
Actress Jean Marsh is 73.
Movie director Sydney Pollack is 73.
Movie producer-director Claude Berri is 73.
Actor Jamie Farr is 73.
Bluesman James Cotton is 72.
Actor David Prowse is 72.
Cookiemaker Wally Amos is 71.
Singer-musician Delaney Bramlett is 68.
Dancer-choreographer Twyla Tharp is 66.
Actress Genevieve Bujold is 65.
Gospel singer Andrae Crouch is 65.
Rock singer-actress Deborah Harry is 62.
Movie-TV producer-director Michael Pressman is 57.
Rock singer Fred Schneider (B-52's) is 56.
Actor Daryl Anderson is 56.
Actor Trevor Eve is 56.
Actor-comedian Dan Aykroyd is 55.
Actor Alan Ruck is 51.
Actress Lisa Blount is 50.
Olympic gold medal track star Carl Lewis is 46.
Country singer Michelle Wright is 46.
Actor Andre Braugher is 45.
Actress Pamela Anderson is 40.
Rock musician Mark Pirro is 37.
Rock musician Franny Griffiths (Space) is 37.
Actor Henry Simmons is 37.
Hip-hop artist Missy Elliott is 36.
Actress Liv Tyler is 30.
Actress Hilarie Burton is 25.
Actress Lynsey Bartilson is 24.
Actors Andrew and Stephen Cavarno are 15.
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