By The Associated Press

              - Today is Wednesday, July 28, the 209th day of 1999. There are 156
                days left in the year.

              - On July 28, 1945, a U.S. Army bomber crashed into the 79th floor of
                New York's Empire State Building, killing 14 people.
              - In 1540 King Henry VIII's chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, was
                executed, the same day Henry married his fifth wife, Catherine
                Howard.
              - In 1794 Maximilien Robespierre, a leading figure of the French
                Revolution, was sent to the guillotine.
              - In 1821 Peru declared its independence from Spain.
              - In 1868 the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing
                due process of law, was declared in effect.
              - In 1896 the city of Miami was incorporated.
              - In 1929 Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, first lady of the U.S.
                from 1961 to 1963, was born in Southampton, N.Y.
              - In 1943 President Roosevelt announced the end of coffee rationing.
              - In 1959, in preparation for statehood, Hawaiians voted to send the
                first Chinese-American, Hiram L. Fong, to the U.S. Senate and the
                first Japanese-American, Daniel K. Inouye, to the U.S. House of
                Representatives.
              - In 1965 President Johnson announced he was increasing the number of
                American troops in South Vietnam from 75,000 to 125,000.
              - In 1976 an earthquake devastated northern China, killing at least
                242,000 people, according to an official estimate.

              - Ten years ago Israeli commandos abducted a pro-Iranian Shiite Muslim
                cleric, Sheik Abdul-Karim Obeid, from his home in south Lebanon.
              - Five years ago congressional negotiators agreed on a crime-fighting
                package that included hiring 100,000 new police officers, banning
                assault-style weapons, vastly expanding the death penalty and
                putting third-time felons behind bars for life.
              - One year ago, during a day of official mourning, President Clinton
                praised two slain police officers at the U.S. Capitol as heroes
                whose sacrifice "consecrated this house of freedom." General Motors
                reached a tentative agreement with the United Auto Workers to end
                an almost two-month strike. Bell Atlantic and GTE announced a $52
                billion deal to create the second-biggest phone company. Monica
                Lewinsky received blanket immunity in exchange for providing "full
                and truthful testimony" to a grand jury investigating President
                Clinton.
 

              *Happy Birthday*
              ----------------
              - Movie director Andrew V. McLaglen is 79.
              - Actor Darryl Hickman is 68.
              - The president of Peru, Alberto Fujimori, is 61.
              - Former Sen. Bill Bradley is 56.
              - "Garfield" creator Jim Davis is 54.
              - Rock musician Rick Wright (Pink Floyd) is 54.
              - Singer Jonathan Edwards is 53.
              - Actress Linda Kelsey is 53.
              - Actress Sally Struthers is 51.
              - Actress Georgia Engel is 51.
              - Actor Michael Hayden is 36.
              - Actress Elizabeth Berkley is 27.
              - Actor Jonathan Osser ("Hiller and Diller") is 10.