TODAY IN HISTORY

1741 Danish explorer Vitus Bering, on a mission sponsored by Russia, discovers Alaska.

1970 South Africa announces a new concession giving urban black people full title to the land on which they live.

1987 Treasure hunters salvaging objects from the Titanic scoop up a satchel containing a fortune in jewels.

1988 Three managers of the African Bank are sentenced to 14 years for 90 counts of fraud.

2009 The US government branch that keeps world weather records says July is the hottest the world’s oceans have been in almost 130 years of record-keeping. The average water temperature worldwide was 17°C.

2010 Iranian and Russian nuclear technicians make final preparations to start up Iran’s first reactor.

2011 A huge thunderstorm forces Pope Benedict XVI to cut short his speech to an estimated 1 million young pilgrims gathered in Madrid for the church’s world youth festival.