1940 - U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Selective Service Act, which made all American men aged 21 to 35 eligible for military conscription.
1945 - The last remnants of the Japanese army in Hong Kong surrendered to the British.
1977 - Opera soprano Maria Callas passed away in Paris at the age of 53.
1996 - The death of Mac George Bundy, a senior aide to Presidents John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson and an architect of U.S. policy in Vietnam.
1998 - In Spain, the Basque militant group ETA announced an "unlimited and comprehensive" ceasefire that would take effect on September 18.
1999 - Algerians almost unanimously voted in favor of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's campaign to end years of violence.
2000 - Australian swimmer Ian Thorpe and his teammates set a new world record at the Olympics.
2004 - Africans inaugurated a new headquarters near Johannesburg for the Pan-African Parliament, the first representative body in Africa.
2005 - King Juan Carlos inaugurated the Agbar Tower in Barcelona.
2007 - A budget airliner carrying foreign tourists crashed on the Thai resort island of Phuket, killing 89 people while attempting to land amidst heavy rain.
2013 - A shooting occurred at the Washington Navy Yard, resulting in the deaths of 12 individuals.
