Today in 1735, 288 years ago: Freedom of the press: New York Weekly Journal writer John Peter Zenger is acquitted of seditious libel against the royal governor of New York, on the basis that what he had published was true.
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Today in 1583, 440 years ago: Sir Humphrey Gilbert establishes the first English colony in North America, at what is now St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador.
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Today in 2010, 13 years ago: near the city of Copiapó (Atacama) there is a collapse in a Chilean mine, trapping 33 miners 700 meters deep.
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Today in 2007, 16 years ago: In South Korea, the female musical group Girls' Generation debuts, one of the most successful in the history of k-pop (Korean pop music).
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Today in 1772, 251 years ago: First Partition of Poland: The representatives of Austria, Prussia, and Russia sign three bilateral conventions condemning the ‘anarchy’ of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and imputing to the three powers ‘ancient and legitimate rights’ to the territories of the Commonwealth. The conventions allow each of the three great powers to annex a part of the Commonwealth, which they proceed to do over the course of the following two months.
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Today in 1999, 24 years ago: the president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, declares the Fourth Republic of Venezuela dead and proclaims a revolution in the country, with intervention in all the powers of the State.
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Today in 2004, 19 years ago: the Israeli Army withdraws from northern Gaza after a month of siege.
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Today in 1963, 60 years ago: in the salt lake of Bonneville (Utah), the American Craig Breedlove reaches 653.71 km/h. and achieves a new absolute world speed record for cars, with the Spirit of America.
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Today in 1994, 29 years ago: in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay decide to create a free trade zone between Mercosur and Bolivia.
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Today in 1930, 93 years ago: in Japan, a strong storm causes 50 deaths.
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Today in 1924, 99 years ago: Juan Bautista Llorens wins the Spanish Cycling Championship.
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Today in 1957, 66 years ago: American Bandstand, a show dedicated to the teenage "baby-boomers" by playing the songs and showing popular dances of the time, debuts on the ABC television network.
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Today in 1933, 90 years ago: the Law of Vagrants and Thugs was enacted in Spain.
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Today in 1888, 135 years ago: Bertha Benz drives from Mannheim to Pforzheim and back in the first long distance automobile trip, commemorated as the Bertha Benz Memorial Route since 2008.
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Today in 1973, 50 years ago: Mars 6 is launched from the USSR.
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Today in 1963, 60 years ago: Cold War: The United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union sign the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
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Today in 2016, 7 years ago: the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro 2016 are inaugurated in Brazil.
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Today in 2014, 9 years ago: in Buenos Aires (Argentina) the appearance of the missing grandson No. 114 is reported, who turns out to be the grandson of Estela de Carlotto herself (president of the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo).
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Today in 2004, 19 years ago: In New York, a medical team separates two two-year-old Filipino Siamese, who were joined by the skull, with independent brains.
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Today in 1717, 306 years ago: in the city of Antigua (Guatemala) the image of Jesús Nazareno de la Merced is consecrated.
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