Today is Wednesday, July 28, the 209th day of 2021. There are 156 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On July 28, 1976, an earthquake devastated northern China, killing at least 242,000 people, according to an official estimate.

On this date:

In 1540, King Henry VIII’s chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, was executed, the same day Henry married his fifth wife, Catherine Howard.

In 1821, Peru declared its independence from Spain.

In 1914, World War I began as Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia.

In 1932, federal troops forcibly dispersed the so-called “Bonus Army” of World War I veterans who had gathered in Washington to demand payments they weren’t scheduled to receive until 1945.

In 1945, the U.S. Senate ratified the United Nations Charter by a vote of 89-2. A U.S. Army bomber crashed into the 79th floor of New York’s Empire State Building, killing 14 people.

In 1984, the Los Angeles Summer Olympics opened.

In 1995, a jury in Union, South Carolina, rejected the death penalty for Susan Smith, sentencing her to life in prison for drowning her two young sons (Smith will be eligible for parole in 2024).

In 2015, it was announced that Jonathan Pollard, the former U.S. Naval intelligence analyst who had spent nearly three decades in prison for spying for Israel, had been granted parole. Tom Brady’s four-game suspension for his role in using underinflated footballs during the AFC championship game was upheld by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

In 2017, the Senate voted 51-49 to reject Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s last-ditch effort to dismantle President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul with a trimmed-down bill. John McCain, who was about to begin treatments for a brain tumor, joined two other GOP senators in voting against the repeal effort.

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Darryl Hickman is 90. Former Senator and NBA Hall of Famer Bill Bradley is 78. “Garfield” creator Jim Davis is 76. Actor Sally Struthers is 74. Rock musician Simon Kirke (Bad Company) is 72. Rock musician Steve Morse (Deep Purple) is 67. Former CBS anchorman Scott Pelley is 64. Actor Lori Loughlin is 57.