TODAY IN HISTORYToday is Friday, Sept. 15, the 258th day of 2006. There are 107 days left in the year.

ON THIS DATE<$>

In 1776, British forces occupied New York City during the American Revolution.

In 1821, independence from Spain was proclaimed for Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador.

In 1917, Russia was proclaimed a republic by Alexander Kerensky, the head of a provisional government.

In 1935, the Nuremberg Laws deprived German Jews of their citizenship and made the swastika the official symbol of Nazi Germany.

In 1940, during the Battle of Britain in the Second World War, the tide turned as the Luftwaffe sustained heavy losses inflicted by the Royal Air Force.

In 1950, during the Korean conflict, United Nations forces landed at Incheon in the south and began their drive toward Seoul.

In 1959, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev arrived in the US to begin a 13-day visit.

In 1963, four black girls were killed when a bomb went off during Sunday services at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. (Three Ku Klux Klansmen were eventually convicted for their roles in the blast.)

In 1987, hackers in Germany known as the Chaos Computer Club said they had tapped into NASA’s computer system and planted a “Trojan Horse” program in it.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

“My heart is a lonely hunter that hunts on a lonely hill.” — “Fiona MacLeod” (William Sharp), Scottish author and poet (1855-1905).