TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY IS SATURDAY, SEPT. 1, the 244th day of 2018. There are 121 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1945, Americans received word of Japan’s formal surrender that ended World War II. Because of the time difference, it was Sept. 2 in Tokyo Bay, where the ceremony took place.

In 1807, former Vice President Aaron Burr was found not guilty of treason. Burr was then tried on a misdemeanor charge, but was again acquitted.

In 1939, World War II began as Nazi Germany invaded Poland.

In 1969, a coup in Libya brought Moammar Gadhafi to power.

In 1972, American Bobby Fischer won the international chess crown in Reykjavik, Iceland, after Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union resigned before the resumption of Game 21.

In 1981, Albert Speer, a close associate of Adolf Hitler who ran the Nazi war machine, died at a London hospital at age 76.

In 2004, more than 1,000 people were taken hostage by heavily armed Chechen militants at a school in Beslan in southern Russia; more than 330 people, more than half of them children, were killed in the three-day ordeal.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Actor George Maharis is 90. Attorney and law professor Alan Dershowitz is 80. Comedian-actress Lily Tomlin is 79. Singer Barry Gibb is 72. Rock musician Greg Errico is 70. Talk show host Dr. Phil McGraw is 68. Singer Gloria Estefan is 61. Country singer-songwriter Charlie Robison is 54. Retired NBA All-Star Tim Hardaway is 52. Actors Ricardo Antonio Chavira and Maury Sterling are 47.