On this date in history:

In 1812, the U.S. Navy frigate Constitution defeated the British ship Guerriere in a furious engagement off the coast of Nova Scotia and earned its nickname of Old Ironsides. Witnesses said British shots seemed to bounce off the Constitution.

In 1960, U-2 spy plane pilot Francis Gary Powers was convicted in a Moscow court and sentenced to 10 years in prison. (He was released 18 months later and exchanged for Soviet spy Rudolf Abel.)

In 1987, gun enthusiast Michael Ryan went on a shooting rampage in Hungerford, England, killing 16 people.

In 1992, delegates to the Republican National Convention nominated President George H.W. Bush and Vice President Dan Quayle for re-election. (They were defeated in November by Democrats Bill Clinton and Al Gore.)

In 1995, three U.S. negotiators, including Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Robert Frasure, were killed when their vehicle plunged from a mountain road near Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina

In 1996, the Green Party nominated Ralph Nader as its presidential candidate.

In 2003, a suicide bomber exploded a device aboard a Jerusalem bus, killing and injuring more than 100 people.

In 2004, the price of oil hit a record high of $48.70 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In 2008, the resignation of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was followed by insurgent bombing attacks that killed about 100 people.

In 2009, two massive bomb attacks killed at least 95 people and wounded more than 600 others in Baghdad. It was said to be the worst attack in the region since the U.S. military gave control of the country's security back to the Iraqi government.

In 2012, Todd Akin, Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Missouri, was quoted as saying pregnancy is really rare in rape cases and if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. (Akin lost in by a wide martin in the general election.)

in 2013, an express train killed at least 37 people and injured many others crossing tracks at a remote transit station in the eastern India state of Bihar. After the accident, an angry mob severely beat the operator of the train, authorities said.

Copyright 2014 by United Press International