by Associated Press Monday, September 1. by The Associated Press, Associated Press - 24 August 2014 20:17-04:00 Today is Monday, September 1, the 244th day of 2014. There 121 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date: 1494 - France's King Charles VIII invades Italy to claim throne of Naples. 1674 - William of Orange takes Grave, Belgium, but is unable to invade France. 1706 - British successfully defend Charleston, South Carolina, against French and Spanish. 1879 - Britain signs peace treaty with Zulus in South Africa. 1905 - The provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta enter into the confederation of Canada. 1923 - The Great Kanto Earthquake shakes the Tokyo metropolitan area, killing more than 142,000 people. 1939 - Germany invades Poland, starting World War II. 1942 - A federal judge in Sacramento, California, upholds the wartime detention of Japanese-Americans and nationals. 1945 - Japan surrenders aboard U.S. battleship Missouri at end of World War II. 1958 - A British soldier is killed in Cyprus by Greek Cypriot rebels fighting against a British plan for partnership between Greek and Turkish Cypriots. 1961 - United Nations breaks off relations with the Katanga government in Congo, as heavy fighting in Elizabethville and Jadotville result from a U.N. attempt to arrest members of the government. 1962 - Singapore votes to join Federation of Malaysia. 1968 - Relief officials in Iran say more than 8,000 people are known to have perished in series of earthquakes. 1969 - A Libyan Arab Republic is proclaimed as the army stages a coup, deposing the monarchy and bringing Moammar Gadhafi into power. 1971 - Gulf state of Qatar declares independence from Britain. 1972 - American Bobby Fischer wins the international chess crown in Reykjavik, Iceland, defeating Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union. 1979 - U.S. space probe Pioneer 11 becomes the first man-made object to reach Saturn, passing through the ring plane within 21,000 kilometers (13,000 miles) of Saturn's atmosphere. 1983 - A Korean Air Lines Boeing 747 is shot down by a Soviet jet fighter after the airliner enters Soviet air space, killing 269 people. 1990 - Two Germanys sign a treaty that provides the blueprint for merging the countries. 1992 - France joins United States and British allies in enforcing the no-fly zone in southern Iraq. 1993 - Bosnia's government rejects a plan to end 17 months of ethnic warfare and peace talks collapse. 1994 - San Francisco Superior Court jury awards a former secretary at Baker & McKenzie, the world's largest law firm, a record US$7.1 million in punitive damages in a sexual-harassment case against the firm. 1995 - French navy commandos arrest two Greenpeace divers at the South Pacific atoll where France is to conduct an underground nuclear test. 1996 - Helmer Herrera Buitrago, a reputed leader of Colombia's Cali drug cartel, surrenders to authorities. He is the last of seven men believed to have been leaders of the cartel. 1998 - Vietnam's best-known dissident, Doan Viet Hoat, is freed as part of an amnesty for 5,219 inmates to mark Vietnam's National Day. He is immediately sent into exile in Thailand. 2001 - Forty-four people are killed in one of Tokyo's worst fires, when an explosion and blaze rip through a crowded gambling parlor and bar in the capital's most popular late-night entertainment area. 2003 - A three-member Israeli government commission issues a landmark report that found widespread official discrimination against the country's Arab citizens. 2005 - A Hong Kong jury convicts an American housewife of murdering her wealthy investment banker husband by drugging him with a milkshake laced with sedatives and beating him to death in the couple's luxury apartment. 2006 - An Iranian passenger plane in the northeastern city of Mashhad skids off the runway and rakes its wing along the ground, sparking a fire that kills 29 of the 148 people. 2007 - More than two dozen Colombian prisoners arrested three years ago in an alleged plot against President Hugo Chavez are freed in a goodwill gesture Chavez hopes will help facilitate a prisoner exchange in Colombia. 2008 - American forces hand over security responsibility to the Iraqis in a province that the U.S. once feared was lost — a sign of the stunning reversal of fortunes since local Sunnis turned against al-Qaida in Iraq. 2009 - Libya stages a lavish spectacle, parading white-robed horsemen and gold-turbaned dancers as jets streaked overhead to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the coup that brought Moammar Gadhafi to power in the oil-rich nation. 2010 — President Barack Obama convenes the first direct Israeli-Palestinian talks in two years, challenging Mideast leaders to seize a fleeting opportunity to settle their differences and deliver peace to a region haunted by decades of hostility. 2011 — World leaders line up behind Libya's new de facto administration and a U.N.-led effort to stabilize the country after decades under Moammar Gadhafi's rule. 2012 — The U.N.'s new envoy to Syria tells President Bashar Assad's regime that change is "urgent" and "necessary" and must meet the "legitimate" demands of the Syrian people, words that will not win the seasoned Algerian diplomat any friends in Damascus' ruling circle. 2013 — Egypt's top prosecutor refers ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi to trial on charges of inciting the killing of opponents outside his palace when he was in office. Today's Birthdays: Engelbert Humperdinck, German composer (1854-1921); Edgar Rice Burroughs, U.S. novelist (1875-1950); A(bhay) C(haranaravinda) Bhaktivedanta, Indian founder of Hare Krishna movement (1896-1977); Rocky Marciano, U.S. boxer (1923-1969); Seiji Ozawa, Japanese-American conductor (1935--); Lily Tomlin, U.S. actress/comedian (1939--); Gloria Estefan, Cuban-American singer (1957--). Thought for Today: With history being made all the time, every day now seems to be the first anniversary of something awful — Anonymous. News Topics: General news, Homicide, International agreements, World War II, Peace process, Violent crime, Crime, International relations, Government and politics, Events, Diplomacy People, Places and Companies: Muammar Gaddafi, Bobby Fischer, Boris Spassky, Hugo Chavez, Barack Obama, Bashar Assad, Mohamed Morsi, Engelbert Humperdinck, Seiji Ozawa, Lily Tomlin, Gloria Estefan, United Kingdom, Cyprus, Middle East, Libya, United States, France, Syria, Germany, Japan, Tokyo, Southeast Asia, Iraq, Colombia, Western Europe, Europe, North Africa, Africa, North America, East Asia, Asia, South America, Latin America and Caribbean Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.