TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY is Friday, August 23, 2013. On this day:

1617 - The first one-way streets are opened in London.

1839 - Hong Kong was taken by the British in a war with China.

1899 - The first ship-to-shore wireless message is received.

1914 - Tsingtao, China, was bombarded as Japan declared war on Germany in World War I.

1939 - Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression treaty.

1944 - During World War II, Romanian prime minister Ion Antonescue was dismissed. Soon after the country would abandon the Axis and join the Allies.

1944 - Marseilles was captured by Allied troops during WWII.

1952 - The security pact of the Arab League went into effect.

1962 - The first live TV program was relayed between the U.S. and Europe through the U.S. Telstar satellite.

1982 - The parliament of Lebanon elected Bashir Bemayel president. He was assassinated three weeks later.

1983 - The U.S. announced that it was nearly ready for a test flight of an anti-satellite missile.

1990 - President Saddam Hussein appeared on Iraqi state television with a group of Western detainees that he referred to as “guests.” He told the group that they were being held “to prevent the scourge of war.”

1993 - It was confirmed by Los Angeles police that Michael Jackson was the subject of a criminal investigation.

1998 - Boris Yeltsin dismissed the Russian government again.

1999 - Rescuers in Turkey found a young boy who had been buried in rubble from an earthquake for about a week.

2001 - A French stuntman hangs from the statue of Liberty for half an hour when a stunt goes wrong.