Today in History....May 31

On this day in …

* 1889, more than 2,000 people perished when a dam break sent water rushing through Johnstown, Pa.

* 1910, the Union of South Africa was founded

* 1916, during World War I, British and German fleets fought the naval Battle of Jutland off Denmark; there was no clear-cut victor, although the British suffered heavier losses

* 1961, South Africa became an independent republic

* 1962, World War II Gestapo official Adolf Eichmann, ym"sh, was hanged in Israel for his role in the Nazi Holocaust

* 1970, tens of thousands of people died in an earthquake in Peru

* 1977, the trans-Alaska oil pipeline, three years in the making, was completed

* 1994, the U.S. announced it was no longer aiming long-range nuclear missiles at targets in the former Soviet Union

* 2006, the U.S. said it would join in face-to-face talks with Iran over its disputed nuclear program if Tehran first agreed to put challenged atomic activities on hold; Iran dismissed the offer as "a propaganda move"