Today is the 183rd day of 2016 and the 12th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1863, the Battle of Gettysburg began.

In 1908, SOS was adopted as the international distress signal.

In 1968, 62 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, signed the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

In 1997, China resumed sovereignty of Hong Kong after 156 years of British rule.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Amantine-Lucile-Aurore Dupin aka George Sand (1804-1876), author; Walter Francis White (1893-1955), NAACP leader; Estee Lauder (1906-2004), cosmetics company co-founder; Jamie Farr (1934- ), actor; Sydney Pollack (1934-2008), filmmaker; Dan Aykroyd (1952- ), actor; Diana, Princess of Wales (1961-1997); Carl Lewis (1961- ), Olympic athlete; Pamela Anderson (1967- ), actress; Claire Forlani (1972- ), actress; Liv Tyler (1977- ), actress; Nelson Cruz (1980- ), baseball player.

TODAY'S FACT: The International Criminal Court, established on this day in 2002, is an independent institution and is not part of the United Nations.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1903, the first Tour de France bicycle race began in Paris. Of the 60 cyclists who began the nearly 2,500-kilometer race, only 21 finished, including champion Maurice Garin.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "The truth is too simple: one must always get there by a complicated route." -- George Sand

TODAY'S NUMBER: $150 -- approximate price in U.S. dollars of the first Sony Walkman portable cassette player when it went on sale in Japan on this day in 1979.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (June 27) and new moon (July 4).

Today is the 182nd day of 2016 and the 11th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1934, the "Night of the Long Knives," a series of murders ordered by Adolf Hitler to eliminate his political rivals, began in Germany.

In 1936, Margaret Mitchell's "Gone With the Wind" was published.

In 1966, the National Organization for Women (NOW) was formed.

In 1982, the proposed Equal Rights Amendment, designed to guarantee equal rights for women, failed when its ratification deadline passed.

In 2007, an SUV loaded with propane canisters exploded in a terrorist attack at Glasgow airport in Scotland.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Czeslaw Milosz (1911-2004), poet/essayist; Lena Horne (1917-2010), singer; Paul Berg (1926- ), biochemist; Robert Ballard (1942- ), oceanographer; David Alan Grier (1956- ), actor; Vincent D'Onofrio (1959- ), actor; Mike Tyson (1966- ), boxer; Monica Potter (1971- ), actress; Matisyahu (1979- ), rapper; Lizzy Caplan (1982- ), actress; Michael Phelps (1985- ), Olympic swimmer.

TODAY'S FACT: In 1953, the first Chevrolet Corvette was produced at the General Motors plant in Flint, Michigan.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1994, Tonya Harding was stripped of the national figure skating championship title and banned for life from the sport for planning an attack that injured rival skater Nancy Kerrigan.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "The purpose of poetry is to remind us / how difficult it is to remain just one person, / for our house is open, there are no keys in the doors, / and invisible guests come in and out at will." -- Czeslaw Milosz, "Ars Poetica?"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 999 -- telephone number of the world's oldest emergency call service, which was introduced in London on this day in 1937.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (June 27) and new moon (July 4).

Today is the 181st day of 2016 and the 10th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed into law the Federal-Aid Highway Act, creating the interstate system.

In 1972, in Furman v. Georgia, the Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty as it was then applied in the United States was unconstitutional "cruel and unusual punishment."

In 1974, Isabel Peron was sworn in as Argentina's president, becoming the Western Hemisphere's first female head of government.

In 1995, the space shuttle Atlantis docked with the Russian Mir station in orbit for the first time.

In 2007, Apple Inc. released the first iPhone.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Harry Frazee (1881-1929), producer/Red Sox owner; Alan Blumlein (1903-1942), engineer; Leroy Anderson (1908-1975), composer; Slim Pickens (1919-1983), actor; Harmon Killebrew (1936-2011), baseball player; Gary Busey (1944- ), actor; Richard Lewis (1947- ), actor/comedian; Dan Dierdorf (1949- ), football player/sportscaster; Matthew Weiner (1965- ), TV writer/producer; Bret McKenzie (1976- ), comedian/musician; Kawhi Leonard (1991- ), basketball player.

TODAY'S FACT: The United States executed 28 convicts in 2015.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 2004, Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Randy Johnson became the fourth pitcher in Major League Baseball with 4,000 career strikeouts.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "My dark side, my shadow, my lower companion is now in the back room blowing up balloons for kids' parties." -- Gary Busey

TODAY'S NUMBER: 47,856 -- miles of roads in the U.S. interstate highway system.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (June 27) and new moon (July 4).