On Aug. 17, 1807, Robert Fulton’s North River Steamboat began heading up the Hudson River on its successful round trip between New York and Albany.

Ten years ago

In a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, a federal judge in Detroit ruled that President George W. Bush’s warrantless surveillance program was unconstitutional. (A divided federal appeals court threw out the lawsuit in July 2007, and the U.S. Supreme Court later let the appeals court decision stand.) President Bush signed new rules to prod companies into shoring up their pension plans. Jordan became the first Arab state to send a fully accredited ambassador to Iraq.

Five years ago

Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Beijing to meet with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping.

One year ago

A bomb exploded within a central Bangkok shrine that was among the city’s most popular tourist spots, killing at least 20 people and injuring more than 100. (Two men are facing trial for the bombing, but one has maintained he was tortured to obtain a confession.) The National Labor Relations Board dismissed a historic ruling that Northwestern University football players were school employees entitled to form the nation’s first union of college athletes. Actress-dancer Yvonne Craig, 78, who played the sexy, crime-fighting Batgirl in the 1960s TV hit “Batman,” died in Los Angeles.

— By The Associated Press