TODAY in HISTORY

Today is Saturday, August 30, the 242nd day of 2014. There are 123 days left in the year.

30 BC Cleopatra of Egypt commits suicide by letting an asp bite her.

1526 Suleiman I, Sultan of Turkey, defeats Hungarian army at Battle of Mohacs, at which Louis II of Hungary is killed.

1528 French Army capitulates at Aversa and subsequently is expelled from Naples and Genoa in Italy.

1645 Dutch make treaty of peace with Native Americans at New Amsterdam, New York.

1914 German forces take Amiens in France during World War I. 1916 Turkey declares war on Russia; Paul von Hindenburg is named German Chief of General Staff.

1928 Independence of India League is formed in India.

1944 Russian forces enter Bucharest, Romania, in World War II.

1945 Britain re- establishes its governance of Hong Kong, ending three years and seven months of Japanese occupation. 1951 United States and the Philippines sign mutual defence pact.

1957 All- African Federal Executive Council is formed in Nigeria.

1960 East Germany imposes partial blockade of West Berlin. 1963 A hotline is established between Moscow and Washington, D. C. 1967 Thurgood Marshall becomes the first black American appointed to the US Supreme Court.

1972 US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports that the fivemegaton underground nuclear explosion at Amchitka Island in the Aleutians in November caused 22 minor earthquakes and hundreds of aftershocks over three months.

1979 Hurricane David devastates island nation of Dominica as it rampages through the Caribbean and US eastern seaboard, claiming 1,000 lives.

1980 Polish workers win strike led by Lech Walesa and Poland becomes the first Eastern Bloc country to recognise independent trade unions. 1981 Iran’s President and Prime minister are killed when a bomb explodes in government offices in Tehran. 1983 Guion S. Bluford Jr. becomes the first black American astronaut to travel in space, blasting off aboard the Challenger.

1991 Soviet republic of Azerbaijan declares independence.