On this date in history:

In 1770, British troops killed five colonials in the so-called Boston Massacre, one of the events that led to the American Revolution.

In 1933, in German elections, Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party won nearly half the seats in the Reichstag (the Parliament).

In 1946, Winston Churchill, in a famous speech in Fulton, Mo., said a Soviet Union Iron Curtain had descended across Europe.

In 1953, the Soviet Union announced that dictator Joseph Stalin had died at age 73.

In 1984, the Standard Oil Co. of California, also known as Chevron, bought Gulf Corp. for more than $13 billion in the largest business merger in U.S. history at the time.

In 1993, Canada's Ben Johnson, once called the world's fastest human, tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs and was banned for life from track competition.

In 1998, NASA announced that ice had been found at the moon's north and south poles.

In 2011, archeologists renovating the Rio de Janeiro harbor for the 2016 Olympics reported uncovering the remains of a 19th-century port where thousands of people arrived from Africa and were sold into slavery.

In 2013, U.S. transportation officials said they would relax rules on what passengers may carry on airline flights and focus more on higher threat items.

In 2014, the New York-based College Board announced plans for a major overhaul of the SAT test -- the college entrance exam -- to take effect in 2016.

Copyright 2015 by United Press International