Aug. 8 (UPI) -- On this date in history:
In 1911, newsreels became a standard part of U.S. movie screenings when the French film company Pathe began releasing weekly black-and-white features to theaters.
In 1940, the German Luftwaffe began a series of daylight air raids on Britain.
In 1945, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan, two days after an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and several days before Tokyo surrendered.
In 1956, a fire in a Belgian coal mine trapped and killed 262 workers in the worst mining disaster in the country's history.
In 1968, Richard Nixon won the Republican nomination for president. He was elected in November, defeating Democrat Hubert Humphrey and independent George Wallace.
In 1974, facing expected impeachment over the Watergate scandal, Richard Nixon became the first U.S. president to resign. He left office the next day. Listen to UPI Radio's original report.
In 1988, military conservatives overthrew the government of Gen. Efrain Rios Montt in a coup, promising staunch anti-communism.
In 1988, the first night game at Chicago's Wrigley Field was played. The park was the last major league stadium to add lights for night baseball.
In 1990, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein annexed Kuwait.
In 2003, U.S. leaders of the Episcopal Church approved a landmark local-option resolution on the issue of same-sex marriages, leaving it to local dioceses whether to bless unions of gay and lesbian couples. Church leaders earlier in the week approved their first openly gay bishop.
In 2010, U.N. officials estimated 1,600 people had been killed in monsoon-triggered flooding in Pakistan, and authorities said China's deadliest mudslides had claimed more than 1,100 lives. Hundreds of people were missing in the two disasters. In addition to flooding deaths, inclement weather factored into a deadly Airblue crash near Islamabad.
In 2018, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced plans to add a Popular Film category for the Oscars. The academy scrapped the plans less than a month later after backlash.
In 2021, the U.S. women's basketball team won its record-extending seventh straight gold medal at the Olympics, giving veterans Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi their record fifth gold medal. The Tokyo Summer Games concluded that night with closing ceremonies.