HISTORY AT A GLANCE

TODAY is Wednesday, August 17, the 229th day of 2016. There are 136 days left in the year.

Highlights in history on this date:

1945 – Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta proclaim the independence of Indonesia, igniting the Indonesian National Revolution against the Dutch Empire.

1950 – Hill 303 massacre: American POWs are shot to death by the North Korean Army.

1958 – Pioneer 0, America’s first attempt at lunar orbit, is launched using the first Thor-Able rocket and fails. Notable as one of the first attempted launches beyond Earth orbit by any country.

1959 – Kind of Blue by Miles Davis, the much acclaimed and highly influential best selling jazz recording of all time, is released.

1960 – Decolonization: Gabon gains independence from France.

1962 – East German border guards kill Peter Fechter, 18, as he attempts to cross the Berlin Wall into West Berlin becoming one of the first victims of the wall.

1970 – Venera program: Venera 7 launched. It will later become the first spacecraft to successfully transmit data from the surface of another planet (Venus).

1977 – The Soviet icebreaker Arktika becomes the first surface ship to reach the North Pole.

1982 – The first Compact Discs (CDs) are released to the public in Germany.

1988 – President of Pakistan Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq and US Ambassador Arnold Raphel are killed in a plane crash.

1998 – Lewinsky scandal: US President Bill Clinton admits in taped testimony that he had an “improper physical relationship” with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. On the same day he admits before the nation that he “misled people” about the relationship.

2005 – Over 500 bombs are set off by terrorists at 300 locations in 63 out of the 64 districts of Bangladesh

2008 – American swimmer Michael Phelps becomes the first person to win eight gold medals in one Olympic Games.

2009 – An accident at the Sayano –Shushenskaya Dam in Khakassia, Russia, kills 75 and shuts down the hydroelectric power station, leading to widespread power failure in the local area.

2015 – A bomb explodes near the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok, Thailand, killing at least 19 people and injuring 123 others.