Today in History

In 1513, Spanish explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama and sighted the Pacific Ocean.

In 1789, the first United States Congress adopted 12 amendments to the Constitution and sent them to the states for ratification.

In 1932, the Spanish region of Catalonia received a Charter of Autonomy (however, the Charter was revoked by Francisco Franco at the end of the Spanish Civil War).

In 1957, nine black students who'd been forced to withdraw from Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, because of unruly white crowds were escorted to class by members of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division.

In 1978, 144 people were killed when a Pacific Southwest Airlines Boeing 727 and a private plane collided over San Diego.

British forces in Iraq shot and killed Omar al-Farouq, a leading al-Qaida terrorist, more than a year after he embarrassed the U.S. military by escaping from a maximum security military prison in Afghanistan.

The Louisiana Superdome, a symbol of misery during Hurricane Katrina, reopened for a New Orleans Saints game.

Declaring they'd been detained because of their nationality, not their actions, Joshua Fattal and Shane Bauer, two American hikers held for more than two years in an Iranian prison, returned to the United States.

President Barack Obama laid out a fresh threat of sanctions for economic espionage emanating from China, even as he and President Xi Jinping pledged their countries would not conduct or support such hacking.

During a visit to New York City, Pope Francis offered comfort to 9/11 victims' families at ground zero, warnings to world leaders at the United Nations and encouragement to schoolchildren in Harlem.

International leaders at the United Nations approved an ambitious 15-year plan to tackle the world's biggest problems, from eradicating poverty to preserving the planet.

Olympic silver medal figure skater Mao Asada is 26.