FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2011

Today is Friday, September 2, the 245th day of 2011. There are 120 days left in the year.

31 B.C. ― Battle of Actium; Octavian defeats Antony, becomes Emperor Augustus

490 B.C. ― Phidippides runs first marathon, seeking aid from Sparta vs. Persia

1919 ― Communist Party of America organized in Chicago

1930 ― first nonstop airplane flight from Europe to U.S. (37 hours)

1944 ― Anne Frank (Diary of Anne Frank), is sent to Auschwitz

1945 ― Ho Chi Minh declares Vietnam independence from France (National Day)

1945 ― V-J Day; formal surrender of Japan aboard USS Missouri (WWII ends)

1987 ― Donald Trump takes out a full page N.Y. Times ad lambasting Japan

1987 ― West German pilot Mathias Rust, who flew a private plane from Helsinki Finland, to Moscow's Red Square, goes on trial in Russia

1988 ― Amnesty International's Human Rights Now tour begins in Wembley