Today in 2022, 1 year ago: in Colombia, Gustavo Francisco Petro takes over as president for the period 2022-2026.
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Today in 1819, 204 years ago: Simón Bolívar triumphs over Spain in the Battle of Boyacá.
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Today in 1962, 61 years ago: Canadian-born American pharmacologist Frances Oldham Kelsey is awarded the U.S. President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service for her refusal to authorize thalidomide.
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Today in 1974, 49 years ago: Philippe Petit performs a high wire act between the twin towers of the World Trade Center 1,368 feet (417 m) in the air.
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Today in 1970, 53 years ago: California judge Harold Haley is taken hostage in his courtroom and killed during an effort to free George Jackson from police custody.
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Today in 1987, 36 years ago: the presidents of Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras formalize a plan for the pacification of the area.
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Today in 1789, 234 years ago: The United States Department of War is established.
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Today in 1926, 97 years ago: in Brooklands (United Kingdom) the first car racing championship is held.
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Today in 1461, 562 years ago: The Ming dynasty Chinese military general Cao Qin stages a coup against the Tianshun Emperor.
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Today in 1909, 114 years ago: Alice Huyler Ramsey and three friends become the first women to complete a transcontinental auto trip, taking 59 days to travel from New York, New York to San Francisco, California.
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Today in 2002, 21 years ago: Apple releases its latest Mac Pro computer to the market after a year in advance, eliminating the PowerPC processor from its product line.
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Today in 1743, 280 years ago: The Treaty of Åbo ended the 1741–1743 Russo-Swedish War.
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Today in 1963, 60 years ago: the United Nations Security Council bans the sale of arms to South Africa.
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Today in 2008, 15 years ago: The start of the Russo-Georgian War over the territory of South Ossetia.
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Today in 1958, 65 years ago: in Colombia, Alberto Lleras Camargo takes over as president for the second time.
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Today in 1998, 25 years ago: Bombings at United States embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya kill approximately 212 people.
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Today in 1947, 76 years ago: Thor Heyerdahl's balsa wood raft, the Kon-Tiki, smashes into the reef at Raroia in the Tuamotu Islands after a 101-day, 7,000 kilometres (4,300 mi) journey across the Pacific Ocean in an attempt to prove that pre-historic peoples could have traveled from South America.
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Today in 1978, 45 years ago: U.S. President Jimmy Carter declares a federal emergency at Love Canal due to toxic waste that had been disposed of negligently.
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Today in 1858, 165 years ago: in London (England), Queen Victoria chooses Ottawa as the capital of Canada.
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Today in 1990, 33 years ago: First American soldiers arrive in Saudi Arabia as part of the Gulf War.
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