On this day...

August 31: Independence Day in Malaysia (1957) and Trinidad and Tobago (1962) 1813 – Peninsular War: At the Battle of San Marcial, the Spanish Army of Galicia under Manuel Alberto Freire turned back Nicolas Soult's last major offensive against Arthur Wellesley's allied army. 1897 – Thomas Edison was granted a patent for theKinetoscope (pictured), a precursor to the movie projector. 1935 – In an effort to stay out of the growing European conflict, the United States passed the first of its Neutrality Acts. 1959 – A parcel bomb sent by Ngô Đình Nhu, younger brother and chief adviser of South Vietnamese President Ngô Đình Diệm, failed to kill Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia. 1986 – Aeroméxico Flight 498 collided with a privately owned Piper PA-28 Cherokee aircraft over Cerritos, California, killing 67 in the air and 15 on the ground.