On Sept. 1, 1939, World War II began as Nazi Germany invaded Poland.

Ten years ago

Mexican President Vicente Fox was forced to forego delivering his final state-of-the-nation address in person after leftist lawmakers stormed the stage of Congress to protest disputed July elections; Fox instead gave his speech on television. An Iranian passenger plane caught fire on landing in Mashhad, killing 28 of the 148 people on board. Nellie Connally, the former Texas first lady who was riding in President John F. Kennedy’s limousine when he was assassinated, died in Austin, Texas, at age 87.

Five years ago

In a fiery broadcast from hiding, Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi warned that loyalist tribes in his main strongholds were armed and preparing for battle. Leaders and envoys from 60 countries and the U.N. met in Paris for talks with Libya’s rebel-led National Transitional Council to map the country’s future.

One year ago

Invoking “God’s authority,” Rowan County, Kentucky, Clerk Kim Davis denied marriage licenses to gay couples again in direct defiance of the federal courts, and vowed not to resign, even under the pressure of steep fines or jail. Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz, a police officer for Fox Lake, Illinois, was found shot to death after reporting he was pursuing a group of men; authorities eventually concluded that Gliniewicz’s death was a suicide.

— By The Associated Press