14 August 1250

A magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck in Haiti, killing at least 2,248 people and causing $1.5 billion in damages and economic loss.

Security forces raided two camps of supporters of the ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi in Cairo, leading to the deaths of at least 595 civilians.

The inaugural edition of the Youth Olympic Games opened in Singapore for athletes aged between 14 and 18.

Helios Airways Flight 522 crashed into a mountain north of Marathon, Greece, killing all 121 people on board.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show premiered in London, the first in its record-breaking run in cinemas, which continues in limited release.

After a secret meeting in Newfoundland, British prime minister Winston Churchill and U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt (both pictured) issued the Atlantic Charter, establishing a vision for a post–World War II world.

One of the first recordings of music, of Arthur Sullivan's "The Lost Chord", was played at a press conference in London to introduce Thomas Edison's phonograph.

The United Kingdom formally annexed the Tristan da Cunha archipelago, administering the islands from the Cape Colony in South Africa.

The Spanish Villasur expedition, intended to slow the progress of French influence on the Great Plains of North America, ended in failure when it was ambushed (depicted) by Pawnee and Otoe forces.

War of Saint Sabas: A Genoese fleet captured or sank most of the ships of a Venetian trade convoy off the Albanian coast.

Former U.S. president Donald Trump is charged in Georgia along with 18 others in attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election in that state, his fourth indictment of 2023.

An explosion destroys a market in Armenia, killing six people and injuring dozens.

A magnitude 7.2 earthquake strikes southwestern Haiti, killing at least 2,248 people and causing a humanitarian crisis.

The collapse of the Ponte Morandi bridge in Genoa, Italy, left 16 people injured and 43 people killed.

The U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba re-opens after 54 years of being closed when Cuba–United States relations were broken off.

Egypt declares a state of emergency as security forces kill hundreds of demonstrators supporting former president Mohamed Morsi.

UPS Airlines Flight 1354 crashes short of the runway at Birmingham–Shuttlesworth International Airport, killing both crew members on board.

Lebanon War: A ceasefire takes effect three days after the United Nations Security Council's approval of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, formally ending hostilities between Lebanon and Israel.

Sri Lankan Civil War: Sixty-one schoolgirls killed in Chencholai bombing by Sri Lanka Air Force air strike.

Helios Airways Flight 522, en route from Larnaca, Cyprus to Prague, Czech Republic via Athens, crashes in the hills near Grammatiko, Greece, killing 121 passengers and crew.

A widescale power blackout affects the northeast United States and Canada.

Greek Cypriot refugee Solomos Solomou is shot and killed by a Turkish security officer while trying to climb a flagpole in order to remove a Turkish flag from its mast in the United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus.

Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, also known as "Carlos the Jackal", is captured.

Lech Wałęsa leads strikes at the Gdańsk, Poland shipyards.