by Associated Press Thursday, August 14 by The Associated Press, Associated Press - 6 August 2014 18:56-04:00 Today is Thursday, August 14, the 226th day of 2014. There are 139 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date: 1385 - Portuguese led by Blessed Nuno Alvares Pereira defeat Castilians at Aljubarrota, securing the independence of Portugal. 1598 - Irish rebel Hugh O'Neill, the earl of Tyrone, annihilates an English force at Yellow Ford. The greatest Irish victory in the wars with the English sparks a general uprising. 1784 - First Russian colony in Alaska is founded on Kodiak Island. 1811 - Paraguay declares itself independent of Spain; British occupy Java. 1894 - Belgium's King Leopold II abandons claims to Upper Nile territory after protest by France. 1900 - International forces capture Beijing, China, relieving foreigners besieged there for 56 days during the Boxer Rebellion. More than 1,500 Europeans had been killed by the Boxers, who protested western influences. It marked the demise of western occupation in China. 1917 - China declares war on Germany and Austria during World War I. 1935 - The U.S. Social Security Law is established, setting up a government pension system. Two years later, the first insurance payments go out to retired and unemployed individuals. 1941 - The Atlantic Charter is signed by England and the United States, setting postwar goals, and establishing a permanent structure of peace. Fifteen countries endorse the charter. 1945 - Japan stops fighting resulting in the end of World War II; Soviet Union signs treaty with Nationalist China, recognizing independence of Outer Mongolia; French Gen. Henri Philippe Petain is sentenced to death (later commuted to life imprisonment) for collaborating with Nazis. 1947 - Pakistan, including what is now Bangladesh, gains independence from Britain with Mohammed Ali Jinnah as president. 1958 - NATO countries announce relaxing trade restrictions with Soviet bloc and China, but United States maintains trade embargo on China, North Korea and North Vietnam. 1968 - Floods in India claim more than 1,000 lives in seven days. 1969 - British troops arrive in Northern Ireland to intervene in sectarian violence between Protestants and Roman Catholics. 1973 - U.S. bombing in Cambodia ends, marking official halt to 12 years of combat activity in Indochina. 1974 - Greece withdraws troops from NATO after breakdown of Geneva peace talks and new fighting on Cyprus. 1980 - A rash of jet hijackings to Cuba by Cuban refugees in the United States continue when two Spanish-speaking men force a National Airlines flight from Miami to Puerto Rico to land at Jose Marti Airport in Havana. 1986 - Car bomb kills 19 people and wounds 90 in a residential area of Christian east Beirut in Lebanon. 1987 - Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini threatens United States with punishment, blaming it for death of hundreds of pilgrims in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. 1990 - King Hussein of Jordan flies to Washington in attempt to mediate U.S.-Iraq confrontation; Syrian troops begin arriving in Saudi Arabia. 1997 - The United States grants a visa to Gerry Adams, head of the Sinn Fein party in Northern Ireland. 1998 - Congolese President Laurent Kabila flees the capital, Kinshasa, as rebels advance through Congo. 2003 - A massive power failure hits eight states in the Northeastern and Midwestern U.S. and Eastern Canada, knocking out electricity in an area that was home to more than 50 million people. 2004 - Attackers with machetes and automatic weapons raided a U.N. refugee camp in western Burundi, shooting and hacking to death at least 180 men, women and children. 2005 - A Cypriot airliner filled with vacationers slams into a hill near the ancient city of Marathon, killing all 121 people on board — including dozens of children — in Greece's deadliest plane crash 2006 - Fighting between the Sri Lankan government and Tamil insurgents and a suicide bombing kills dozens. 2008 - U.S. President George W. Bush signs consumer-safety legislation that bans lead from children's toys, imposing the toughest standard in the world. 2010 - The deadly, waterborne disease cholera surfaces in flood-ravaged Pakistan, the U.N. confirms, adding to the misery of 20 million people the government says have been made homeless by the disaster. 2011 - Six suicide bombers attack a governor's security meeting in one of Afghanistan's most secure provinces, killing 22 people and driving home the point that the Taliban is able to strike at will virtually anywhere in the country. 2012 - The United States says China should not use bilateral talks to attempt to "divide and conquer" nations with competing territorial claims in the South China Sea. 2013 — Riot police smash two protest camps of supporters of Egypt's deposed Islamist president, touching off street violence that officials say killed nearly 300 people and forced the military-backed interim leaders to impose a state of emergency and curfew. Today's Birthdays: Hans Christian Oersted, Danish physicist (1777-1851); Ernest Thayer, U.S. author, wrote 'Casey at the Bat' (1863-1940); John Galsworthy, British novelist and Nobel laureate (1867-1933); Richard von Krafft-Ebing, German physician (1840-1902); Pierre Schaeffer, French composer (1910-1995); Max Klein, U.S. painter, invented 'paint by numbers' (1915-1993); Gary Larson, U.S. cartoonist 'The Far Side' (1950--); Steve Martin, American actor (1945--); Marcia Gay Harden, U.S. actress (1959--); Halle Berry, U.S. actress (1966--). Thought For Today: Do not look back, and do not dream about the future, either. It will neither give you back the past, nor satisfy your other daydreams. Your duty, your reward — your destiny — are here and now — Dag Hammarskjold, U.N. secretary-general (1905-1961). News Topics: General news, Charters, International agreements, Government pensions and social security, Rebellions and uprisings, War and unrest, Suicide bombings, Government and politics, International relations, Government business and finance, Business, Terrorist attacks, Terrorism People, Places and Companies: Ruhollah Khomeini, Gerry Adams, George W. Bush, Gary Larson, Steve Martin, Marcia Gay Harden, Halle Berry, United Kingdom, China, United States, Cuba, East Asia, Saudi Arabia, Middle East, South Asia, Western Europe, Europe, Greater China, Asia, North America, Caribbean, Latin America and Caribbean Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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