Today in History, August 14

HIGHLIGHTS IN HISTORY ON THIS DATE:

1040 - King Duncan of Scotland is murdered by Macbeth, who then becomes king and rules for 17 years.

1778 - Death of Augustus Toplady, English hymn-writer who wrote Rock of Ages.

1863 - First Kanakas arrive in Brisbane for employment on a cotton plantation.

1880 - Australia's first soccer club, The Wanderers, plays its first match, against Kings School, Parramatta, NSW.

1893 - France becomes the first country to introduce motor vehicle registration plates.

1917 - China declares war on Germany and Austria during World War I.

1924 - Australia's Cobb & Co stagecoach service makes its last run, from Surat to Yeulba in Queensland.

1945 - Japan surrenders to the United States, ending World War II.

1947 - Pakistan is founded after British rule ends.

1949 - West Germans vote for the first time since the end of World War II.

1951 - Death of William Randolph Hearst, US newspaper owner and publisher.

1958 - Death of Gladys Presley, Elvis's mother.

1968 - Reports from Bombay say floods in India claim more than 1000 lives in seven days.

1969 - British troops arrive in Northern Ireland to intervene in sectarian violence between Protestants and Roman Catholics.

1973 - US bombing in Cambodia ends, marking official halt to 12 years of combat activity in Indochina.

1974 - Greece withdraws troops from North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) after the breakdown of Geneva peace talks and new fighting on Cyprus.

1989 - PW Botha resigns as South African president.

1990 - King Hussein of Jordan flies to Washington in an attempt to mediate US-Iraq confrontation, as Syrian troops begin arriving in Saudi Arabia.

1991 - Scientists report that worldwide band of volcanic dust from eruption of Mount Pinatubo in Philippines could be cooling the world's climate.

1992 - Death of Judge John Sirica who was a central figure in America's Watergate scandal.

1994 - Several thousand IRA supporters rally outside Belfast's city hall, 25 years after Britain deployed troops in Northern Ireland as would-be peacekeepers.

1996 - Ian Macfarlane is appointed new head of Australia's Reserve Bank.

1997 - Timothy McVeigh is formally sentenced to death in the US for the Oklahoma City bombing.

1998 - President Laurent Kabila flees the capital Kinshasa as rebels advance through Congo.

2004 - At least 189 Tutsi children, women and men are hacked or shot to death by Hutu rebels raiding a UN refugee camp in western Burundi.

2005 - All 21 people are killed onboard a Cypriot airliner when it crashes into mountains north of Athens.

2006 - Australian security contractor Jon Hadaway, 34, dies in Germany from injuries suffered in a roadside bombing in Iraq on August 3.

2008 - The US bans lead from children's toys.

2010 - The deadly waterborne disease cholera surfaces in flood-ravaged Pakistan adding to the misery of an estimated 20 million people made homeless by the disaster.

2011 - At least 25 people are killed when Syria uses gunboats for the first time to crush the uprising against Bashar al-Assad's regime.

2013 - About 421 people are killed after riot police smash two protest camps established by supporters of Egypt's deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

2014 - Iraq's prime minister Nouri-al-Malaki ends a political deadlock by relinquishing his post to his nominated successor the Iranian-backed Haider Al-Abadi.

2015 - US Secretary of State John Kerry officially reopens the American embassy in Havana, Cuba.

2016: Australia scores a medal in every colour by day nine of the Olympic games, with three gold, three bronze and two silver in Rio de Janeiro.

2017 - A female stunt driver dies on the set of 20th Century Fox's superhero movie Deadpool 2 in Vancouver while filming a stunt on a motorcycle.

Today's Birthdays:

Richard von Krafft-Ebing, German physician (1840-1902); John Galsworthy, British novelist and Nobel laureate (1867-1933); Hector Crawford, Australian TV producer (1913-1991); Buddy Greco, US singer (1926-2017); Steve Martin, US actor-comedian (1945-); Susan Saint James, US actress (1946-); Danielle Steel, US author (1947-); Gary Larson, US cartoonist (1950-); Peter Costello, former Australian federal treasurer (1957-); Magic Johnson, US basketball player (1959-); Susan Olsen, US actress (The Brady Bunch) (1961-); Halle Berry, US actress (1966-); Kieren Perkins, Australian swimmer (1973-); Kate Ritchie, Australian actress (1978-); Mila Kunis, US actress (1983-); Montaigne, Australian singer (1995-).

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, UN secretary-general (1905-1961).

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