On This Day: Britain returns Hong Kong to China

June 25 (UPI) -- On this date in history:

In 1847, the first U.S. postage stamps were issued.

In 1859, the first intercollegiate baseball game was played in Pittsfield, Mass., and it was a high-scoring contest. Amherst beat Williams, 66-32.

In 1867, Canada was granted its independence by Great Britain. It consisted at the time of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and future provinces of Ontario and Quebec.

In 1874, the Philadelphia Zoological Society, the first U.S. zoo, opened to the public.

In 1898, Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders led a charge up Cuba's heavily fortified San Juan Hill in a key Spanish-American War battle.

In 1908, more than a thousand suffragettes in London attempted to rescue 28 of their fellow protesters who were arrested by police following a demonstration in Parliament Square.

In 1916, in the worst single day of casualties in British military history, 20,000 soldiers were killed and 40,000 injured in a massive offense against German forces in France's Somme River region during World War I.

In 1932, Democrats nominated Franklin Delano Roosevelt for president. FDR was elected to four consecutive terms.

In 1941, NBC broadcast the first FCC-sanctioned TV commercial, a spot for Bulova watches shown during a Dodgers-Phillies game. It cost Bulova $9.

In 1946, the United States conducted its first post-war test of the atomic bomb at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific.

In 1979, Sony introduced the Walkman, known as the Soundabout, in U.S. stores. It sold for about $200.

In 1985, the Motion Picture Association of America introduced the PG-13 rating to warn parents that a film may be too violent for children under the age of 13. A top U.S. Catholic Conference official said the move was just another way to exploit young people.

In 1990, the West and East German economies were united, with the Deutsche Mark replacing the mark as currency in East Germany.

In 1997, Hong Kong was returned to China after 156 years as a British territory. Britain's Prince Charles, Prime Minister Tony Blair, Chinese President Jiang Zemin and U.S. Secretary Madeleine Albright attended the ceremony. Britain first occupied Hong Kong in the 1840s amid the First Opium War.

In 2002, in a rare high-altitude accident, a passenger airliner collided with a cargo plane over Germany, killing all 71 people on the two planes -- 69 on the airliner and two on the cargo aircraft.

Marlon Brando (L) appears in 1998 with fellow actor Sean Penn. Brando died at the age of 80 on July 1, 2004 in Los Angeles. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI

In 2004, Hollywood legend Marlon Brando died of lung failure. He was 80.

In 2005, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman on the U.S. Supreme Court, announced she planned to retire.

In 2007, Moshe Katsav stepped down as president of Israel, a post he had held since 2000. Rape charges against him were dropped in exchange for a guilty plea to sexual harassment.

In 2012, a military court in Israel sentenced a former Hamas commander, Ibrahim Hamed, to 54 life prison terms for his role in 2001-03 terror attacks that killed scores of Israelis.

In 2013, a year after Mohamed Morsi became president of Egypt, hundreds of thousands of protesters marched in cities across the country, calling for him to step down. Morsi was ousted by the military two days later.

In 2014, a U.N. report said conflicts in Iraq killed about 2,400 people in June, "more than half of them civilians. The report it was "the deadliest month in the country since 2007."