Today in 1920, 103 years ago: US baseball player Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians is hit on the head by a fastball thrown by Carl Mays of the New York Yankees. Next day, Chapman will become the second player to die from injuries sustained in a Major League Baseball game.
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Today in 2005, 18 years ago: The Helsinki Agreement between the Free Aceh Movement and the Government of Indonesia was signed, ending almost three decades of fighting.
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Today in 1971, 52 years ago: Bahrain gains independence from the United Kingdom.
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Today in 1537, 486 years ago: Asunción, Paraguay is founded.
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Today in 1907, 116 years ago: Ordination in Constantinople of Fr. Raphael Morgan, the first African-American Orthodox priest, "Priest-Apostolic" to America and the West Indies.
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Today in 2004, 19 years ago: in Venezuela, Hugo Chávez wins the presidential referendum against him with 58% of the vote.
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Today in 1885, 138 years ago: Germany's first power plant for private supply is put into operation in Berlin.
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Today in 1534, 489 years ago: Ignatius of Loyola and six classmates take initial vows, leading to the creation of the Society of Jesus in September 1540.
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Today in 1511, 512 years ago: on the island of Cuba, the "advanced" Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar (1465-1524) founded the village Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de Baracoa, one of the first towns founded by Spaniards in America. On November 27, 1492, Christopher Columbus had described it as “the most beautiful thing in the world.”
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Today in 1760, 263 years ago: Seven Years' War: Battle of Liegnitz: Frederick the Great's victory over the Austrians under Ernst Gideon von Laudon.
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Today in 1954, 69 years ago: in Paraguay the dictator Alfredo Stroessner assumes as president of Paraguay, and as such will remain in successive elections, until February 3, 1989.
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Today in 1999, 24 years ago: Beni Ounif massacre in Algeria: Some 29 people are killed at a false roadblock near the Moroccan border, leading to temporary tensions with Morocco.
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Today in 1985, 38 years ago: in Barcelona the Banco Hispanoamericano is robbed, with a loot of more than one billion pesetas.
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Today in 1430, 593 years ago: in Italy, Francis I Sforza, lord of Milan (Italy), conquers the town of Lucca.
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Today in 1943, 80 years ago: the village Asquerosa (Spain) changes its name to Valderrubio, as it produces the best blond tobaccos in the plain of that province.
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Today in 1843, 180 years ago: The Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu, Hawaii is dedicated. Now the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu, it is the oldest Roman Catholic cathedral in continuous use in the United States.
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Today in 1511, 512 years ago: Afonso de Albuquerque of Portugal conquers Malacca, the capital of the Malacca Sultanate.
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Today in 1998, 25 years ago: Northern Ireland: Omagh bombing takes place; 29 people (including a woman pregnant with twins) killed and some 220 others injured.
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Today in 1947, 76 years ago: the United Kingdom grants India and Pakistan the status of Independent States Associated with the Commonwealth of Nations.
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Today in 1940, 83 years ago: in the port of Tinos Island, in the waters of the Aegean Sea, an Italian submarine torpedoes and sinks the Greek cruiser Elli. This was the greatest Italian provocation before the start of the Greco-Italian War (28 October 1940 to 23 April 1941).
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