Today in History - August 1
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10 BCE Aug 1, Claudius (d.54CE).,
Roman Emperor, was born. Tiberius Claudius Nero Caesar Drusus, the
nephew of Tiberius and grandson of the wife of Augustus, was made
emperor after Caligula.
(HN, 8/1/98)
126CE Aug 1, Publius Helvius
Pertinax, Roman emperor (193 AD), was born.
(MC, 8/1/02)
527 Aug 1, Justinus I,
Byzantine emperor (518-27), died.
(PC, 1992 ed, p.54)
860 Aug 1, Peace of Koblenz
involved Charles the Bare, Louis the German & Lotharius II.
(MC, 8/1/02)
902 Aug 1, The Aghlabid rulers
of Ifriqiyah (modern day Tunisia) captured Taormina, Sicily.
(HN, 8/1/98)
1086 Aug 1, English barons
submitted to William the Conqueror.
(MC, 8/1/02)
1096 Aug 1, The crusaders under
Peter the Hermit reached Constantinople. Anna Comnena, a 13 year-old
Christian in Constantinople, watched as the crusaders marched into
the city.
(ATC, p.18)(HN, 8/1/98)
1291 Aug 1, The Everlasting
League formed and became the basis of Swiss Confederation. The
people of the 3 small cantons (Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden) formed a
co-operative pact called the Bundesbrief following the death of
Habsburg Emp. Rudolf I.
(Econ, 2/14/04, Survey p.6)
1315 Nov 15, Swiss soldiers
ambushed and slaughtered invading Austrians in the Battle of
Morgarten. The Bundesbrief prevailed over a Habsburg army. Voluntary
agreements among the cantons led to the formation of the
Willensnation, a nation created by acts of free will by a diverse
people.
(HN, 11/15/98)(Econ, 2/14/04, p.6)
1464 Aug 1, Piero de Medici
succeeded his father, Cosimo, as ruler of Florence.
(HN, 8/1/98)
1485 Aug 1, Henry (VII) Tudor's
army set sail from Harfleur to Wales.
(ON, 12/06, p.1)
1589 Aug 1, Monk Jacques
Clement attempted to murder French King Hendrik III. [see Aug 2]
(MC, 8/1/02)
1595 May 28, It was a shaken
and demoralized English column that returned to its northern Irish
base at Newry.
(HN, 8/1/98)
1628 Aug 1, Emperor Ferdinand
II demanded that Austria Protestants convert to Catholicism.
(MC, 8/1/02)
1628 Aug 1, Francesco Gonzaga
(37), composer, died.
(MC, 8/1/02)
1664 Aug 1, The Turkish army
was defeated by French and German troops at St. Gotthard, Hungary.
(HN, 8/1/98)
1686 Aug 1, Benedetto Marcello,
Italian author, composer (Lettera Famigliare), was born in Venice,
Italy. [see Jul 24]
(MC, 8/1/02)
1689 Aug 1, A siege of
Londonderry, Ireland, by the Catholic Army of King James II ended in
failure. The Protestants were victorious and the event led to the
annual Apprentice Boy’s March. The group is named in honor of 13
teenage apprentices, all Protestants, who bolted the city gates in
front of the advancing Catholic forces at the start of the 105-day
siege.
(SFEC, 8/11/96, p.A13)(HN, 8/1/98)(AP, 8/13/06)
1711 Aug 1, Czar Peter the
Great fled Azov after being surrounded.
(MC, 8/1/02)
1714 Aug 1, Queen Anne
(1702-1714) of Britain died at age 48. By the 1701 Act of Settlement
Prince George Louis (54) of Hanover succeeded her as King George I
(d.1727).
(PCh, 1992,
p.279)(www.britannia.com/history/monarchs/mon53.html)
1740 Aug 1, Thomas Arne's song
"Rule Britannia," which celebrated Britain’s military and commercial
prowess, was performed for the 1st time. It grew to become the
unofficial anthem.
(HN, 8/1/98)(Econ, 2/3/07, SR p.3)
1744 Aug 1,
Jean-Baptiste-Pierre-Antoine Monnet de Lamarck, French zoologist,
was born.
(MC, 8/1/02)
1759 Aug 1, British and
Hanoverian armies defeated the French at the Battle of Minden,
Germany. The marquis de Lafayette was killed by a British cannonball
and his son, Gilbert du Motier (2), inherited the title. In 1777
Lafayette joined the American Continental Army.
(HN, 8/1/98)(ON, 2/09, p.1)
1770 Aug 1, William Clark,
American explorer, was born in Charlottesville, VA. He led the Corps
of Discovery with Meriwether Lewis.
(HN, 8/1/00)(MC, 8/1/02)
1774 Aug 1, British scientist
Joseph Priestley succeeded in isolating oxygen from air in Calne,
England. He called his new gas "dephlogisticated air.”
(ON, 10/05, p.2)(AP, 8/1/07)
1779 Aug 1, Francis Scott Key,
author of the "Star Spangled Banner," was born.
(HN, 8/1/98)
1781 Aug 1, English army under
Lord Cornwallis occupied Yorktown, Virginia.
(MC, 8/1/02)
1791 Aug 1, Robert Carter III,
a Virginia plantation owner, freed all 500 of his slaves in the
largest private emancipation in U.S. history.
(HN, 8/1/98)
1798 Aug 1, Admiral Horatio
Nelson routed the French fleet in the Battle of the Nile at Aboukir
Bay, Egypt. Nelson's fleet of 14 ships led the attack on Napoleon's
fleet in Abu Qir Bay, capturing six and destroying seven of the 17
French vessels. The flagship of Napoleon's fleet, L'Orient, sank in
the battle. It was uncovered by a French team in 1998. More than
1,500 Frenchmen and 200 British soldiers reportedly died in the sea
battle.
(AP, 4/19/05)
1801 Aug 1, The American
schooner Enterprise captured the Barbary cruiser Tripoli.
(HN, 8/1/98)
1808 Aug 1, Joachim Murat
(1767-1815), French marshal and Napoleon's brother in law, became
king of Naples (1808-1815) and Sicily.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joachim_Murat)
1815 Aug 1, Richard Henry Dana
(d.1882), US jurist, novelist, lawyer and sailor, was born. He wrote
"Two Years Before the Mast."
(WUD, 1994, p.366)(SFEC, 2/9/97, p.W5)(MC,
8/1/02)
1818 Aug 1, Maria Mitchell
(d.1889), the first female astronomer in the U.S., was born. She
discovered a comet in 1847 and was the first prof. of astronomy at
Vassar College. In 1869 she was the first woman elected to the
American Philosophical Society.
(Alg, 1990, p.30)(HN, 8/1/00)
1819 Aug 1, Herman Melville
(d.1891), American novelist, author of Moby Dick, was born. In
1996 part one of a 2-part biography was published by Hershel Parker:
Herman Melville: 1819-1851. In 1951 Leon Howard wrote a biography.
Melville wrote 5 books between 1845-1850. They included "Typee" and
"White-Jacket."
(AHD, p.818)(WSJ, 11/22/96, p.A14)(HN, 8/1/98)
1825 Aug 1, William Beaumont, a
US Army assistant surgeon at Fort Mackinac in the Michigan
territory, began experiments to study the digestive system of Alexis
St. Martin, a fur trader who was accidentally shot in the
abdomen in 1822.
(ON, 1/02, p.6)
1831 Aug 1, London Bridge
opened to traffic.
(MC, 8/1/02)
1834 Aug 1, The British
Emancipation Act went into effect abolishing slavery throughout the
British Empire. This ended slavery in Canada, in the West Indies and
in all Caribbean holdings. Some 35,000 slaves were freed in the Cape
Colony. The Minstrels Parada in Cape Town, SA, originated as a
spontaneous outpouring of marches, music and dancing to mark the
abolition of slavery.
(NH, 7/98, p.29)(HN, 8/1/98)(EWH, 4th ed,
p.885)(AP, 1/2/06)
1843 Aug 1, Robert Todd Lincoln
(d.1926), son of Abraham Lincoln, Capt (Union volunteers), was born.
(MC, 8/1/02)
1862 Aug 1, James Henley
Thornwell (b.1812), Presbyterian preacher from South Carolina, died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Henley_Thornwell)
1863 Aug 1, Battle of Little
Rock, AK, and start of the Chattanooga campaign.
(MC, 8/1/02)
1863 Aug 1, Cavalry action near
Brandy Station marked the end of Gettysburg Campaign.
(MC, 8/1/02)
1864 Aug 1, Union General
Ulysses S. Grant gave general Philip H. Sheridan the mission of
clearing the Shenandoah Valley of Confederate forces.
(HN, 8/1/98)
1864 Aug 1, Battle of
Petersburg, VA.
(MC, 8/1/02)
1872 Aug 1, The first
long-distance gas pipeline in the U.S. was completed. Designed for
natural gas, the two-inch pipe ran five miles from Newton Wells to
Titusville, Pennsylvania.
(HN, 8/1/00)
1876 Aug 1, Colorado was
admitted as the 38th state.
(AP, 8/1/97)(HN, 8/1/99)
1880 Aug 1, Sir Frederick
Roberts freed the British Afghanistan garrison of Kandahar from
Afghan rebels.
(HN, 8/1/98)
1889 Aug 1, John F. Mahoney,
developed penicillin treatment of syphilis, was born.
(MC, 8/1/02)
1893 Aug 1, Henry Perky and
William Ford patented a machine for making shredded wheat breakfast
cereal.
(HN, 8/1/00)(MC, 8/1/02)
1894 Aug 1, The First
Sino-Japanese War erupted, the result of a dispute over control of
Korea; Japan's army routed the Chinese.
(AP, 8/1/04)
1907 Aug 1, The US Air Force
had its beginnings as the US Army Signal Corps established an
aeronautical division in charge of "all matters pertaining to
military ballooning, air machines and all kindred subjects."
(AP, 8/1/07)
1911 Aug 1, Konrad Duden
(b.1829), German philologist, died. His 1880 dictionary represents
the start of the Duden series and included 28,000 words on 187
pages.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konrad_Duden)
1914 Aug 1, France and Germany
mobilized.
(MC, 8/1/02)
1914 Aug 1, Germany declared
war on Russia at the onset of World War I.
(AP, 8/1/07)
1917 Aug 1, Frank Little, IWW
organizer, was lynched in Butte, MT.
(MC, 8/1/02)
1921 Aug 1, Sid Hatfield,
police chief of Matewan, WV, and Ed Chambers were murdered on
the steps of the McDowell County Courthouse by Baldwin-Felts
detectives. Hatfield and 22 miners had been recently been acquitted
of the May 19, 1920 shootings in Matewan, WV, but he was indicted
for conspiracy for continuing mine violence. Hatfield had been a
long-time supporter of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA).
This soon led to the Battle of Blair Mountain, a labor uprising also
know as the Red Neck War.
(http://pubs.socialistreviewindex.org.uk/isj66/newsinger.htm)(AH,
4/07, p.63)
1927 Aug 1, In Bristol,
Tennessee, the Carter Family (A.P., wife Sara, and cousin Maybelle)
came down from the mountains of Virginia and began recording their
country style "hillbilly" music for Ralph Peer of the Victor Talking
Machine Co. Jimmy Rogers (1898-1933) came from Mississippi to
record. In 2002 Mark Zwonitzer and Charles Hirshberg authored "Will
You Miss me When I’m Gone: The Carter Family and Their Legacy in
American Music."
(Hem., 4/97, p.68)(WSJ, 8/1/02, p.A1)(SSFC,
8/4/02, p.M3)
1931 Aug 1, Tom Wilson
(cartoonist of Ziggy), was born.
(MC, 8/1/02)
1933 Aug 1, The National
Recovery Administration's "Blue Eagle" symbol began to appear in
store windows and on packages to show support for the National
Industrial Recovery Act.
(AP, 8/1/08)
1933 Aug 1, The death penalty
was declared for anti fascists in Germany.
(MC, 8/1/02)
1936 Aug 1, The 11th Olympic
games, dubbed "The Nazi Games," opened in Berlin with a ceremony
presided over by Adolf Hitler. Jesse Owens won four gold medals
including the 100-meter dash--becoming the world's fastest man.
Owens also set new Olympic records in the long jump, the 200-meter
dash and the 4 x 100-meter relay. It had been 36 years since a
track-and-field athlete had won three gold medals in one Olympics.
The games were filmed by Leni Riefenstahl and the torch relay was
introduced by Joseph Geobbel’s Propaganda Ministry. Berlin’s
homeless and itinerant Gypsies were sent into concentration camps.
The game of Kabaddi was played as a demonstration sport.
(TMC, 1994, p.1936)(WSJ, 7/30/96, p.A12)(Hem,
6/96, p.104)(AP, 8/1/97)(HNPD, 8/1/98)
1937 Aug 1, The Buchenwald
concentration camp, near Weimar, Germany, became operational. The
hill on which it stood was called "Ettersberg," a place where Goethe
often wrote and sketched, and that was the initial name for the
camp, which the people of Weimar protested. The name was then
changed to Buchenwald, Beech Forest. By April 11, 1945, an estimated
56,000 people were killed here, including approximately 11,000 Jews.
(HN, 8/1/98)(SFC, 8/3/99, p.A10)(AP, 6/5/09)
1939 Aug 1, Synthetic vitamin K
was produced for the first time.
(HN, 8/1/00)
1940 Aug 1, The idea of the
Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere was formally announced by
Japan’s Foreign Minister Matsuoka Yosuke, in a press interview, but
had already existed in various forms for many years. Japan urged the
nations of the region to unite in one economic sphere, ousting the
colonial powers and enjoying economic prosperity together. The
concept was used to justify Japan's seizure of raw materials from
throughout Southeast Asia to further its drive for economic,
political and military domination of East Asia. The Sphere was
intended to include, in addition to Japan, China, Manchukuo,
Southeast Asia and the Pacific mandates islands.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_East_Asia_Co-prosperity_Sphere)(HNQ,
2/8/00)(Econ, 4/11/09, p.43)
1941 Aug 1, The Grumman TBF
Avenger torpedo plane made its first flight.
(HN, 8/1/98)
1941 Aug 1, Luftwaffe bombed
the German 23rd division.
(MC, 8/1/02)
1942 Aug 1, Jerry Garcia, lead
singer of the Grateful Dead, was born.
(HN, 8/1/98)
1942 Aug 1, Ensign Henry C.
White, while flying a J4F Widgeon plane, sank U-166 as it approaches
the Mississippi River, the first U-boat sunk by the U.S. Coast
Guard. In the summer of 1942, German submarines put saboteurs ashore
on American beaches. [see Jul 30, 1942]
(HN, 8/1/98)(SFC, 6/9/01, p.A5)
1943 Aug 1, Race-related
rioting erupted in New York City's Harlem section, resulting in
several deaths.
(AP, 8/1/97)
1943 Aug 1, Over 177 B-24
Liberator bombers attacked the German oil fields in Ploesti,
Romania, for a second time. Of 1,762 airmen on the mission, 532 were
killed, captured, interned or listed as missing in action. In 2007
Duane Schultz authored “Into the Fire: Ploesti” The Most Fateful
Mission of World War II.
(HN, 8/1/98)(WSJ, 11/13/07, p.D5)
1944 Aug 1, Anne Frank's last
diary entry; 3 days later she was arrested.
(MC, 8/1/02)
1944 Aug 1-1944 Oct 2, The
Warsaw Uprising was fought. The Polish underground began an uprising
against the occupying German army, as the Red Army approaches
Warsaw. The revolt lasted two months before collapsing. US Air Force
Groups dropped medicine and food to the Polish freedom fighters
under heavy fire from German fighter planes. The supply planes were
also shot at by Soviet gunners. American dead were buried in the
military cemetery at Poltava, Ukraine. The uprising ended with the
Nazis killing 250,000 people. During the 63-day uprising the
insurgents, largely ill-armed teenagers, organized a postal service
to help city residents get information to relatives. Marek Edelman
(1909-2009) was among the commanders of the uprising and managed to
survive the war.
(Civilization, July-Aug, 1995, p. 23)(AP,
8/1/97)(HN, 8/1/98)(AP, 3/6/08)(Econ, 10/10/09, p.91)
1946 Aug 1, President Truman
signed the Fulbright Program into law, establishing the scholarships
named for Sen. William J. Fulbright.
(AP, 8/1/97)
1946 Aug 1, President Truman
established the Atomic Energy Commission. Physicist John Simpson
(d.2000 at 83) helped develop the 1946 McMahon Act, which called for
civilian control of atomic energy.
(AP, 8/1/97)(SFC, 9/2/00,
p.A23)(http://tinyurl.com/66tsq)
1950 Aug 1, Lead elements of
the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division arrived in Korea from the United
States.
(HN, 8/1/98)
1951 Aug 1, Jim Carroll,
musician and writer of "The Basketball Diaries," was born
(HN, 8/1/00)
1952 Aug 1, Jo Stafford
(1917-2008), pop star singer during the 1940s and 1950s, entered the
Billboard charts with the song “You Belong To Me.” It was her
greatest hit, topping the charts in both the United States and the
United Kingdom (the first song by a female singer to top the UK
chart) and remained on the chart for 24 weeks.
(SFC, 7/19/08,
p.B5)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Belong_to_Me_(1952_song))
1952 Aug 1, Kemmons Wilson
(d.2003) opened the first Holiday Inn just outside Memphis, Tenn.
(WSJ, 6/19/96, Adv. Supl)
1953 Aug 1, Fidel Castro was
arrested in Cuba. [see Jul 26]
(MC, 8/1/02)
1954 Aug 1, The Geneva Accords
divided Vietnam into two countries at the 17th parallel. U.S.
complicity in the overthrow of South Vietnam's president made it
impossible to stay uninvolved in the war. The Geneva Accords called
for elections in 1956 and put a limit on the presence of foreign
advisors. US military advisors were limited to 685.
(WSJ, 11/30/95, p.A-23)(HN, 8/1/98)
1956 Aug 1, Pres. Eisenhower
signed legislation expanding Social Security benefits to include
disability insurance. The Disability Insurance Trust Fund was
created as a part of the Social Security Act Amendments.
(Econ, 3/12/11,
p.36)(www.ssa.gov/history/tally56.html)
1957 Aug 1, The United States
and Canada reached agreement to create the North American Air
Defense Command (NORAD).
(AP, 8/1/97)
1957 Aug 1, Lewis Hill (b.1919)
committed suicide in Duncan Mills, Sonoma County, Ca. He had helped
found Pacifica Radio (KPFA).
(SFC, 7/22/99,
p.E5)(www.ringnebula.com/folio/Issue-12/Conversation_Joy_Hill.htm)
1958 Aug 1, US atomic sub USS
Nautilus 1st dove under the North Pole.
(MC, 8/1/02)
1958 Aug 1, Jordan’s King
Hussein dissolved the Arab Federation of Jordan and Iraq.
(PCh, 1992, p.963)
1960 Aug 1, Dahomey, just west
of Nigeria, became independent from France with Hubert Maga as
president. It was renamed Benin with the capital at Porto Novo.
(WUD, 1994, p.139)(PC, 1992, p.973)(EWH, 1st ed.,
p.1172)
1964 Aug 1, Beatles' "Hard
Day's Night" single went #1.
(MC, 8/1/02)
1964 Aug 1, Arthur Ashe became
the first African-American to play on the U.S. Davis Cup tennis
team.
(HN, 8/1/98)
1966 Aug 1, Charles Joseph
Whitman (25), architectural engineering student and ex-Marine, shot
and killed 14 people at the University of Texas before he was gunned
down by police. His mother and wife were the first victims before he
climbed to the tower at the Univ. of Texas in Austen and shot 14
people dead and wounded 31. One shooting victim died of
complications in 2001 bringing the death toll to 17. The 1997 film
"The Delicate Art of the Rifle" by the Cambrai Liberation Collective
of North Carolina was a reimaging of the attack at the Austin
Campus.
(AP, 8/1/97)(SFC,11/19/97, p.A3)(SFC, 4/17/07,
p.A8)
1966 Aug 1, In Nigeria Gen'l.
Yakuba Gowon (b.1934) was named head of state and ruled until 1975.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakubu_Gowon)
1970 Aug 1, The dance piece
"The Fugue," created by Twyla Tharp (b.1941), premiered at the Univ.
of Massachusetts in Amherst.
(WSJ, 10/17/96,
p.A20)(www.abt.org/education/archive/ballets/fugue.html)
1970 Aug 1,
W. Lain Guthrie (d.1997 at 84), a commercial airline pilot, refused
to dump kerosene into the atmosphere as had been common practice. He
kept his DC-8 on the ground and ordered the ground crew to drain the
waste fuel from the previous flight. He was fired but other pilots
supported him and he was reinstated and the industry stopped its
dumping.
(SFC, 3/28/97, p.D2)
1971 Aug 1, The Concert For
Bangladesh, two benefit concerts organized by George Harrison and
Ravi Shankar, played to a total of 40,000 people at Madison Square
Garden.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Concert_for_Bangladesh)
1971 Aug 1, CBS presented
Masterpiece Theatre's 6 Wives of Henry VIII. The BBC produced
program series first aired in 1970.
(www.tvguide.com/tvshows/six-wives-henry/204436)(WSJ, 7/15/96, p.A9)
1972 Aug 1, The 1st article
exposing Watergate scandal was published by Bernstein and Woodward.
(www.edwardjayepstein.com/archived/watergate.htm)
1975 Aug 1, A 35-nation summit
in Helsinki, Finland, concluded with the signing the Helsinki
Accords, dealing with European security, human rights and East-West
contacts. The Helsinki Final Act, signed by 35 states, was an
attempt to improve the relations between the Communist bloc and the
West.
(AP, 8/1/00)(www.hri.org/docs/Helsinki75.html)
1976 Aug 1, Liz Taylor had her
6th divorce when she re-divorced Richard Burton.
(www.ibdb.com/person.asp?id=21815)
1976 Aug 1, Trinidad &
Tobago became a republic.
(http://library2.nalis.gov.tt/Default.aspx?PageContentMode=1&tabid=79)
1977 Aug 1, Francis Gary Powers
(b.1929), US U-2 pilot, died in fiery helicopter crash.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Gary_Powers)
1977 Aug 1, In Uruguay teacher
Julio Castro disappeared. His remains were identified in 2011 using
DNA tests.
(AP, 12/1/11)
1978 Aug 1, Pete Rose of the
Cincinnati Reds, who had tied the National League record of hitting
in 44 consecutive games, saw his streak end in a game against the
Atlanta Braves.
(AP, 8/1/98)
1980 Aug 1, In Iceland Vigdis
Finnbogadottir (b.1930) began serving as president and the world’s
first female head of state. She was re-elected 3 times and retired
in 1996.
(SFC, 6/30/96,
B7)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vigd%C3%ADs_Finnbogad%C3%B3ttir)
1981 Aug 1, The US rock music
video channel MTV, founded by Bob Pittman, made its debut. The first
music video shown on the rock-video cable channel was, "Video Killed
the Radio Star", by the Buggles. In 2007 Saul Austerlitz authored
“Money for Nothing: A History of the Music Video From the Beatles to
the White Stripes.”
(WSJ, 3/24/97, p.B1)(AP, 8/1/97)(SSFC, 3/18/07,
p.M2)(Econ, 11/22/08, p.78)
1981 Aug 1, Paddy Chayefsky
(b.1923), dramatist and screenwriter, died of cancer in NYC.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paddy_Chayefsky)
1982 Aug 1, In Kenya there was
a coup attempt against Pres. Daniel arap Moi. Oginga Odinga, Kenya’s
1st vice-president, was implicated in the coup along with his son
Raila Odinga, who was put into solitary confinement for 6 years for
his alleged involvement.
(Econ, 12/22/07,
p.77)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982_Kenyan_coup)
1985 Aug 1, It was reported
that SF Mayor Diane Feinstein, currently on a visit to Ireland, has
received a $10,000 gift from the SF 49ers, the largest gift to date
to any city official. The gift came as the Feinstein administration
was in touchy negotiations over renovations to Candlestick Park.
(SSFC, 8/1/10, DB p.42)
1985 Aug 1, The French
government began to require the testing of all donated blood for
AIDS following the launch of a test by Diagnostic Pasteur. By this
time some 1,300 hemophiliacs were contaminated with AIDS-tainted
blood. By 1997 over 500 had died, most of them children. Four health
officials were charged and convicted in the case.
(SFEC, 2/7/99, p.A2)
1987 Aug 1, Iranians attacked
the Saudi Arabian and Kuwaiti embassies in Tehran as word spread of
rioting in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, a day earlier that claimed some 400
lives, most of them Iranian pilgrims.
(AP, 8/1/97)
1988 Aug 1, Conservative
commentator Rush Limbaugh began broadcasting his nationally
syndicated radio program.
(AP, 8/1/08)
1988 Aug 1, Iran said it would
honor an immediate cease-fire in its eight-year-old war with Iraq.
(AP, 8/1/98)
1989 Aug 1, The Revolutionary
Justice Organization, a pro-Iranian group in Lebanon which had
threatened to kill American hostage Joseph Cicippio, extended its
deadline a day after another group released a videotape showing a
body said to be that of hostage William R. Higgins.
(AP, 8/1/99)
1990 Aug 1, Robert Stempel took
charge at GM.
(WSJ, 6/19/96, Adv.
Supl)(http://tinyurl.com/q8mqs)
1990 Aug 1, Iraq pulled out of
talks with Kuwait.
(www.milnet.com/gulfwar.htm)
1990 Aug 1, In Trinidad, dozens
of Muslim militants surrendered and freed 42 hostages they had
seized six days earlier in a failed bid to overthrow the government.
Jamaat al Muslimeen, a Trinidadian radical Muslim group led by Yasin
Abu Bakr (formerly Lennox Phillip), launched the unsuccessful
rebellion that left 24 dead.
(AP, 8/1/00)(AP, 6/3/07)(Econ, 6/9/07, p.44)
1991 Aug 1, President Bush,
visiting the Ukrainian capital of Kiev, urged Soviet republics to
show restraint in their demands for more autonomy.
(AP, 8/1/01)
1991 Aug 1, Israeli Prime
Minister Yitzhak Shamir accepted a US formula for Middle East peace
talks with the Arabs.
(AP, 8/1/01)
1992 Aug 1, The US Supreme
Court permitted the Bush administration to continue returning
Haitians intercepted at sea to their Caribbean homeland.
(AP, 8/1/97)
1992 Aug 1, Gail Devers won the
women's 100 meters and Linford Christie the men's 100 meters at the
Barcelona Summer Olympics.
(AP, 8/1/97)
1993 Aug 1, The city of St.
Louis found itself besieged by the Mississippi and Missouri rivers,
which had swelled to record levels after months of flooding in nine
Midwestern states.
(AP, 8/1/98)
1993 Aug 1, Ewing Marion
Kauffman (b.1916) founder of Marion Laboratories (1950) and the
Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation (1966), died.
(www.kauffman.org/ewingkauffman.cfm)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ewing_Kauffman)
1994 Aug 1, Michael Jackson and
Lisa Marie Presley confirmed they had secretly married eleven weeks
earlier.
(AP, 8/1/99)
1994 Aug 1, Supporters of
Haiti's military rulers declared their intention to fight back in
the face of a U.N. resolution paving the way for a U.S.-led
invasion.
(AP, 8/1/99)
1995 Aug 1, In the second TV
network takeover in as many days, Westinghouse Electric Corporation
struck a deal to buy CBS for $5.4 billion. A day earlier, Walt
Disney had agreed to acquire Capital Cities-ABC for $19 billion.
(AP, 8/1/00)
1995 Aug 1, NATO threatened
major air strikes if any more "safe areas" were attacked in Bosnia.
(SFC,10/16/97, p.A12)
1996 Aug 1, In a political
victory for President Clinton, a federal jury in Little Rock, Ark.,
acquitted two Arkansas bankers of misapplying bank funds and
conspiracy to boost his political career; the jury deadlocked on
seven other counts.
(AP, 8/1/97)
1996 Aug 1, At the Atlanta
Olympics, Michael Johnson broke his world track record by more than
three-tenths of a second, winning the 200 meters in 19.32 seconds.
(AP, 8/1/97)
1996 Aug 1, In Kazakhstan
doctors warned of a surge in TB when 56,000 prisoners are released
under a government amnesty. It was estimated that 16,500 prisoners
had the disease.
(WSJ, 8/2/96, p.A1)
1996 Aug 1, It was reported
that 1/5 of China’s river water can no longer be used to irrigate
land.
(WSJ, 8/2/96, p.A1)
1996 Aug 1, In Venezuela the
tax authorities increased the general sales tax to 16.5% from 12.5%.
There has been a 108% rate of inflation over the last 12 months.
Transparency Int’l., a Berlin base nongovernmental anticorruption
organization, rated Venezuela as the most corrupt country in the
Western hemisphere.
(WSJ, 8/9/96, p.A11)
1997 Aug 1, Pres. Clinton
announced that the 1978 ban on sales of high-performance aircraft
and other advanced weapons to Latin America would be lifted.
(SFC, 8/2/97, p.A8)(AP, 8/1/98)
1997 Aug 1, The National Cancer
Institute reported that fallout from 1950s nuclear bomb tests had
exposed millions of children across the country to radioactive
iodine.
(AP, 8/1/98)
1997 Aug 1, In Algeria 38
villagers at Sidi el Madani in Blida province were killed.
(SFEC, 8/3/97, p.A19)
1997 Aug 1, In Bangladesh at
least 150 fishermen were missing in the Bay of Bengal after a storm
sank their boats.
(SFC, 8/1/97, p.A16)
1997 Aug 1, Israel withheld $25
million in tax revenues from the Palestinian Authority, which made
the Authority unable to meet its payroll.
(SFC, 8/4/97, p.A8)
1997 Aug 1, In Palestine 16 of
Arafat’s 18 Cabinet members offered their resignations in response
to allegations of widespread corruption.
(SFC, 8/2/97, p.A12)
1997 Aug 1, In Russia
Svyatoslav Richter, concert pianist, died at 82 in Moscow. He was
known for his brilliant technique in numerous styles.
(SFC, 8/2/97, p.A21)
1998 Aug 1, Dismissing as "an
empty promise" GOP-backed legislation to create a patients' bill of
rights, President Clinton in his Saturday radio address pressed
Congress to pass a measure that would allow patients to sue their
health insurers.
(AP, 8/1/99)
1998 Aug 1, In China
floodwaters burst through a levee along the Yangtze in Hubei
province and over 1000 people were reported missing. News of more
flooding was hushed and it was later learned that 8,000-10,000
people in Jiayu province were inundated and presumed dead.
(SFC, 8/5/98, p.A9)(SFC, 8/6/93, p.A12)(SFEC,
8/16/98, p.A18)
1998 Aug 1, In Northern Ireland
a car bomb exploded in Banbridge and wounded 35 people.
(SFEC, 8/2/98, p.A18)
1998 Aug 1, The 5th quadrennial
Gay Games began in Amsterdam with some 15,000 competitors.
(SFEC, 8/2/98, p.A2)
1998 Aug 1, In South Korea
flooding killed at least 20 sleeping campers and left 70 others
missing.
(SFEC, 8/2/98, p.A24)
1999 Aug 1, A US heat wave that
had gripped the nation since mid-July finally broke; authorities
attributed nearly 200 deaths to the heat and humidity.
(AP, 8/1/00)
1999 Aug 1, In Colombia a
weekend attack by rebels killed at least 17 people in Narino, 100
miles northwest of Bogota.
(SFC, 8/2/99, p.A12)
1999 Aug 1, The EU cleared
British beef for export. A ban had followed the 1996 mad cow crises.
(SFC, 8/3/99, p.A9)
1999 Aug 1, In South Korea
torrential rains over the weekend killed at least 12 people and
forced some 15,000 from their homes.
(SFC, 8/2/99, p.A12)
1999 Aug 1, In Zambia
Jean-Pierre Bemba, head of the Congo Liberation Movement, signed the
cease-fire accord that representatives of 5 nations involved had
signed on July 10. The Congolese Rally for Democracy faction still
contested leadership between Ernest Wamba dia Wamba and Emile
Ilunga.
(SFC, 8/2/99, p.A12)
2000 Aug 1, In Philadelphia
police arrested at least 280 protesters and raided a warehouse site
used as a staging area for passive resistance demonstrations. 15
police officers were injured.
(SFC, 8/2/00, p.A9)(SFC, 8/5/00, p.A3)
2000 Aug 1, A US military court
in Germany sentenced Army Staff Sergeant Frank Ronghi to life in
prison without parole for sexually assaulting and killing Merita
Shabiu, an eleven-year-old ethnic Albanian girl, while on
peacekeeping duty in Kosovo.
(AP, 8/1/01)
2000 Aug 1, In Chile the
Supreme Court was reported to have voted in secret to strip Gen.
Pinochet of his senatorial immunity.
(SFC, 8/2/00, p.A12)
2000 Aug 1, Costa Rica planned
to begin offering free e-mail access to all its citizens through the
government owned commercial Internet monopoly, RACSA.
(SFEC, 6/18/00, p.A15)
2000 Aug 1, In Indonesia a car
bomb exploded outside the house of the Philippine ambassador. Two
people were killed and 22 wounded including Ambassador Leonides
Caday.
(SFC, 8/2/00, p.A12)
2000 Aug 1, In Kashmir
terrorists killed nearly 50 people in 2 attacks. 18 men at a village
in the Anantnag area were killed as well as 30 Hindu pilgrims and
Muslim porters on their way to the Amarmath cave shrine at Pahalgam.
(SFC, 8/2/00, p.A13)
2000 Aug 1, Two Britons and 2
Canadians were arrested in northern Montenegro while driving to
Kosovo on suspicion of spying and terrorism.
(SFC, 8/8/00, p.A12)
2001 Aug 1, The US House passed
energy legislation that included opening the Arctic national
Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling.
(SFC, 8/2/01, p.A1)
2001 Aug 1, The Federal Trade
Commission cleared the way for PepsiCo to acquire Quaker Oats for
about $13.4 billion in stock.
(AP, 8/1/06)
2001 Aug 1, Robert Henry
Rimmer, author of the 1960s novel "The Harrad Experiment," died at
age 84.
(SFC, 8/11/01, p.A17)
2001 Aug 1, Pro Bowl tackle
Korey Stringer died of heat stroke, a day after collapsing at the
Minnesota Vikings' training camp on the hottest day of the year.
(AP, 8/1/02)
2001 Aug 1, In Chechnya 86
refugees attempted a 1000-mile march to Moscow to protest atrocities
but were immediately stopped by force and 12 were arrested.
(SFC, 8/3/01, p.A12)
2001 Aug 1, A boatload of
Cubans capsized off Key West and at least 2 people died. 4 were
missing and 22 were rescued.
(WSJ, 8/2/01, p.A1)
2001 Aug 1, In Indonesia at
least 64 people were killed on Nias island from floods and
landslides. Another 200 were missing.
(SFC, 8/2/01, p.A9)(WSJ, 8/2/01, p.A1)
2001 Aug 1, In Indonesia Taufik
Abdul Halim, a member of the Malaysian Mujahedeen Group, blew off
his lower right leg at a Jakarta shopping mall when a bomb he
carried exploded prematurely. Halim was linked to Dedi Setiono
(Abbas), who was linked to Hambali (Riduan Isamuddin), operations
leader of Jemaah Islamiah.
(SSFC, 3/3/02, p.A16)(SFC, 9/20/02, p.A14)
2001 Aug 1, In Germany
legislation went into effect offering legal status to same-sex
couples.
(SFC, 8/2/01, p.A9)
2001 Aug 1, Israeli troops
killed a Palestinian man in heavy fighting in Hebron.
(WSJ, 8/2/01, p.A1)
2002 Aug1, The United States
and a bloc of Southeast Asian nations signed a sweeping
anti-terrorism treaty.
(AP, 8/1/03)
2002 Aug 1, Two former WorldCom
executives were arrested on charges of falsifying the books at the
now-bankrupt long-distance company. David Myers, controller, was
charged with securities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud
and false filings.
(AP, 8/1/03)(WSJ, 3/24/05, p.A1)
2002 Aug 1, In California 2
girls (one 16 and Jacqueline Marris, 17) were rescued in Kern County
12 hours after being kidnapped and raped near Lancaster by Roy
Ratliff (37). Police shot Ratliff dead. Police credited the new
Amber alert system, named after a Texas girl abducted and killed in
1996.
(SFC, 8/2/02, p.A1,8)(SFC, 8/3/02, p.A5)
2002 Aug 1, In NYC the alleged
ringleader of a massive identity theft operation was indicted along
with 3 associates.
(SFC, 8/2/02, p.A6)
2002 Aug 1, In Atlanta,
Georgia, a 35,000 pound billboard collapsed at a suburban shopping
center and 3 construction workers were killed.
(SFC, 8/2/02, p.A6)
2002 Aug 1, In Colombia a
helicopter crashed while on an army medical evacuation mission in a
rebel zone killing six people. Also a 14-year-old girl died and five
other people were wounded w hen suspected rebels threw a grenade at
a bakery in the village of Venecia, 40 miles south of Bogota.
(AP, 8/2/02)
2002 Aug 1, In Ghana the
government raised the cost of electricity by 60%.
(SSFC, 12/8/02, p.D6)
2002 Aug 1, In Iran the
Education Ministry relaxed dress codes for girls in all-female
schools for the 1st time in 23 years.
(SFC, 8/3/02, p.A7)
2002 Aug 1, Opponents of Iraqi
leader Saddam Hussein shot and wounded his younger son, Qusai (35),
in an assassination attempt in Baghdad. The Iraqi National Congress
opposition group reported the event 2 weeks later.
(AP, 8/14/02)
2002 Aug 1, In Northern Ireland
a Protestant construction worker was killed with a booby-trap bomb.
Police blamed the IRA.
(SFC, 8/2/02, p.A17)
2002 Aug 1, In Mexico Pope John
Paul II beatified Juan Bautista and Jacinto de los Angeles (d.1700)
as part of a trip reaching out to Indians across the Americas, who
have been increasingly converting to rival Protestant faiths.
Beatification is a necessary step on the path to sainthood. Bautista
and Angeles had informed Spanish authorities of an Indian religious
and were killed by fellow Indians. Christian officials decapitated
and quartered 15 men and staked their body parts by the roadside as
a warning.
(AP, 7/30/02)
2002 Aug 1, In Mexico the
government decided to yield to protests by machete-wielding farmers
and radicals and cancelled plans to build a new international
airport on the eastern outskirts of Mexico City.
(AP, 8/2/02)
2003 Aug 1, The Belgian Senate
gave final approval to a scaled-down war crimes law that the
government hopes will repair relations with Washington and preserve
Belgium's role as NATO headquarters.
(AP, 8/1/03)
2003 Aug 1, In Bolivia
police seized 2 tons of cocaine and arrested 20 people in what
officials called the country's biggest drug bust in nearly a decade.
(AP, 8/1/03)
2003 Aug 1, Marie Trintignant
(41) died after several days on a respirator in France. She was
initially hospitalized in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, on July
27 after French rock star Bertrand Cantat (39) allegedly beat her at
the hotel where they were staying with her mother and one of her
sons. Trintignant, had been in Lithuania since June filming a joint
French-Lithuanian television movie, "Colette," about the French
female writer. Bertrand Cantat was later sentenced to 8 years in
prison for manslaughter. He was released for good behavior in
October 2007 after serving four years.
(AP,
8/5/03)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Trintignant)
2003 Aug 1, In Israel Yehiya
Farhan and a 16-year-old girlfriend lured Dana Bennett (18) into
their vehicle. Farhan beat her to death and concealed the body in
the northern hills. Months earlier the couple had picked up Czech
hitch hiker Sylvia Molrova (27), killed her and dumped her body in a
remote spot. In 2009 Israeli detectives arrested Farhan. He was
already in custody on suspicion of raping an Australian tourist when
a tip led homicide detectives to him. In 2010 Farhan (34) was
sentenced to 102 years in prison. Farhan's female accomplice helped
police with their investigation and was sentenced to a shorter
prison term in a plea bargain.
(www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3721705,00.html)(AP, 7/21/10)
2003 Aug 1, In Kenya a
terrorist suspect detonated a hand grenade as he was being arrested
near Mombasa's central police station, killing himself and a
policeman.
(AP, 8/1/03)
2003 Aug 1, In Monrovia,
Liberia, shelling erupted after a one-day lull, killing at least 9
people. Top West African officials flew into the capital to press
the country's president to cede power after peacekeepers arrive, but
Charles Taylor kept them waiting by reportedly heading to a southern
war zone. Taylor actually flew to Libya to gather arms and
ammunition.
(AP, 8/1/03)(SFC, 8/8/03, p.A10)
2003 Aug 1, Mexican soldiers
used a bazooka to return fire against cars believed to be carrying
drug traffickers during a wild pre-dawn battle, killing three
suspects.
(AP, 8/1/03)
2003 Aug 1, North Korea eased
its insistence on one-on-one talks with Washington and agreed to
join U.S.-proposed multilateral talks, where it will find little
sympathy for its suspected nuclear weapons programs.
(AP, 8/1/03)
2003 Aug 1, A suicide
bomber rammed a truck packed with explosives through the gates of a
Russian military hospital near Chechnya, destroying the building and
killing at least 50 people.
(AP, 8/3/03)
2003 Aug 1, In Rwanda the
largest trial so far seeking justice for the 1994 genocide ended. A
tribunal convicted 100 people of rape, torture, murder and crimes
against humanity.
(AP, 8/4/03)
2003 Aug 1, In Sao Tome PM
Maria das Neves resigned. Four other government ministers also have
offered to resign.
(AP, 8/1/03)
2003 Aug 1, The UN Security
Council approved sending a multinational force to Liberia.
(AP, 8/2/03)
2004 Aug 1, The US government
warned of possible al-Qaida terrorist attacks against specific
financial institutions in New York City, Washington and Newark, N.J.
(AP, 8/1/05)
2004 Aug 1, Alexandra Scott, a
young cancer patient who started a lemonade stand to raise money for
cancer research, sparking a nationwide fund-raising campaign, died
at her home in Wynnewood, Pa., at age 8.
(AP, 8/1/05)
2004 Aug 1, Karen Stupples won
the Women's British Open.
(AP, 8/1/05)
2004 Aug 1, A roadside bombing
near the town of Samarra killed one U.S. soldier and wounded two
others. A car bomb exploded outside a police station in the northern
Iraqi city of Mosul, killing at least five people and injuring 53
others. The blast followed a night of clashes between U.S. troops
and insurgents that killed 12 Iraqis and wounded 39 others in
Fallujah. Car bombings in Baghdad targeted at 4 churches and at
least 11 people including 2 children were killed.
(AP, 8/1/04)(SFC, 8/2/04, p.A1)
2004 Aug 1, A militant group
claiming links to al Qaeda has given Italy a 15-day deadline to
withdraw its troops from Iraq or face attacks.
(AP, 8/1/04)
2004 Aug 1, A Kenyan government
spokesman said 7 truck drivers taken hostage in Iraq have been
released.
(AP, 8/1/04)
2004 Aug 1, A Lebanese hostage
was freed unharmed after Iraqi police raided his kidnappers' hideout
in an operation that ended with the arrest of three terror suspects.
(AP, 8/2/04)
2004 Aug 1, Ulises Ruiz Ortiz
(b.1958) was elected governor of Oaxaca, Mexico, by a narrow 2%
margin. Defeated candidate Gabino Cue, nominated by an alliance
mainly of Convergencia and the Party of the Democratic Revolution
(PRD), repeatedly alleged electoral fraud.
(http://tinyurl.com/jnpk8)(Econ, 9/30/06, p.48)
2004 Aug 1, In Paraguay a
fast-spreading fire killed 420 people. Survivors of the inferno in a
crowded supermarket on the outskirts of Asuncion said that locked
doors slowed their escape. In 2008 a father and son who owned the
supermarket were sentenced to prison for manslaughter and
endangerment. In 2009 Supreme Court voted 2-1 in favor of a sentence
of 12 years for Juan Pio Paiva and 10 years for his son Daniel
Paiva. In 2009 a court upheld a two-year prison sentence for
architect Bernardo Ismachowiez, designer of the supermarket.
(AP, 8/2/04)(AP, 8/6/04)(AP, 2/3/08)(AP,
8/6/09)(AP, 8/29/09)
2004 Aug 1, In Peru a bus
plunged off a cliff in the Andes Mountains, killing at least 34
passengers and injuring 21.
(AP, 8/2/04)
2004 Aug 1, The Sudanese
cabinet condemned the 30-day deadline for action on Darfur set by
the U.N. Security Council, but said it would implement a 90-day
program agreed earlier with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan.
(AP, 8/1/04)
2004 Aug 1, World Trade
Organization members meeting in Geneva approved a plan to end export
subsidies on farm products and cut import duties across the world.
(AP, 8/1/05)
2005 Aug 1, President Bush
sidestepped the Senate and installed embattled nominee John Bolton
as ambassador to the United Nations. Bolton would only be able to
serve until the end of the current Congress i.e. December 2006.
(AP, 8/1/05)(Econ, 8/6/05, p.23)
2005 Aug 1, Michael Chertoff,
US Sec. of Homeland Security, said most of 582 alleged gang members
recently arrested in a 2-week nationwide sweep, could be deported
for immigration violations.
(SFC, 8/2/05, p.A3)
2005 Aug 1, The California
State Supreme Court ruled that state businesses must treat same-sex
domestic couples the same as married couples.
(SFC, 8/2/05, p.A1)
2005 Aug 1, Rafael Palmeiro,
Baltimore Orioles star, was suspended for 10 days for use of
steroids. The action raised the possibility of a perjury probe.
(SFC, 8/2/05, p.A1)
2005 Aug 1, The Oregon state
legislature passed the nation’s strictest anti-methamphetamine
measure requiring prescriptions for many over-the-counter cold
medications. Gov. Ted Kulongoski was expected to sign it within 5-10
days. It posed a challenge to the FDA in regulating medicines.
(WSJ, 8/1/05, p.A3)
2005 Aug 1, Al Gore and Joel
Hyatt premiered their current TV cable and satellite channel. In
2008 Current Media planned an IPO to raise $100 million.
(www.current.tv/news/nypost080205.html)(SFC,
1/29/08, p.B1)
2005 Aug 1-2005 Sep 2, An
American man and 11 Chinese citizens were arrested in a counterfeit
medicine scheme that spanned 11 countries and involved millions of
dollars worth of fake drugs.
(AP, 9/8/05)
2005 Aug 1, In Brazil Rep.
Valdemar Costa Neto, president of the government-allied Liberal
Party resigned from Congress, the first lawmaker to step down in a
widening corruption scandal that has plagued the government of
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
(AP, 8/1/05)
2005 Aug 1, Britain revealed a
two-year plan for slashing its army garrison and base network to
peacetime levels in Northern Ireland in a dramatic, detailed
response to Irish Republican Army peace moves.
(AP, 8/1/05)
2005 Aug 1, In Cambodia 2 men
who said their confessions were coerced by police were convicted of
murder in the death of a prominent labor union leader. Chea Vichea,
the former head of Cambodia's Free Trade Union of Workers, was
gunned down in January 2004 at a roadside newsstand in the capital,
Phnom Penh. The union leader was an outspoken critic of government
corruption and human rights abuses.
(AP, 8/2/05)
2005 Aug 1, In Cristales,
Colombia, more than 2,000 outlawed paramilitary fighters, from the
"Heroes of Granada" faction of the AUC, laid down their arms in
return for amnesty. Commander Diego Murillo, an accused drug lord
indicted on trafficking charges in the US, stood by and watched. In
2008 Murillo (47) was extradited to the US and pleaded guilty to
drug-smuggling charges.
(AP, 8/1/05)(WSJ, 6/18/08, p.A2)
2005 Aug 1, In northern
Colombia a roadside bomb exploded as a police convoy traveled down a
rural highway, killing at least 15 officers.
(AP, 8/2/05)
2005 Aug 1, Egyptian police
cornered a main suspect in the Sharm el-Sheik bombings in his
mountain hideout and killed him in a shootout that also fatally
wounded his wife. The couple's 4-year-old daughter also was wounded.
(AP, 8/1/05)
2005 Aug 1, Iraq announced that
it will begin rationing gasoline over the next few months to cope
with a continuing fuel shortage.
(SFC, 8/2/05, p.A5)
2005 Aug 1, In western Iraq six
US Marines were killed in Haditha. A 7th Marine was killed by a car
bomb in Hit.
(AP, 8/2/05)
2005 Aug 1, Japan said it would
retaliate against America’s abuse of WTO anti-dumping rules with a
15% duty on 15 American products.
(Econ, 8/6/05, p.62)
2005 Aug 1, A prosecutor said
that Kyrgyzstan will send 15 Uzbeks asylum seekers back to their
home country, despite pleas from the United Nations and rights
groups that it violates international treaties on refugees.
(AP, 8/1/05)
2005 Aug 1, In Tonala, Mexico,
assailants threw grenades into a crowded cockfighting ring before
dawn, killing four people and wounding 25 others.
(AP, 8/2/05)
2005 Aug 1, In Nigeria
protesting Akabuka villagers demanding more jobs for their community
forced the Nigerian branch of Total SA to shut down the Obagi
onshore oil field.
(AP, 8/6/05)
2005 Aug 1, King Fahd (83),
Saudi ruler since 1982, died at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital
in Riyadh. He moved Saudi Arabia closer to the US but ruled the
nation in name only since suffering a stroke in 1995. His half
brother, Crown Prince Abdullah, was named to replace him.
(AP, 8/1/05)(Econ, 8/6/05, p.71)
2005 Aug 1, Rioters burned cars
and threw stones in Sudan's capital following news of the death of
VP John Garanga in a helicopter crash. Garang's longtime deputy,
Silva Kiir, was quickly named to succeed him as head of his Sudan
People's Liberation Army and as president of south Sudan. 36 people
died in riots.
(AP, 8/1/05)(AP, 8/2/05)
2005 Aug 1, Trucks loaded with
produce and other merchandise began crossing into Syria from Lebanon
on their way to Gulf countries after Syria eased restrictions that
left them stranded for nearly four weeks in the border area.
(AP, 8/1/05)
2005 Aug 1, The directors of
Turkey's eight privately owned Kurdish language schools announced
they were closing them due to bureaucratic hurdles and Kurdish
demands for the language to be part of the regular school
curriculum.
(AP, 8/1/05)
2006 Aug 1, Former President
Clinton and mayors of some of the world's largest cities announced
an initiative to combat climate change and increase energy
efficiency in everything from street lights to building materials.
(AP, 8/1/06)
2006 Aug 1, A US report said
graft in Iraq reconstruction is running at $4 billion a year and
growing.
(WSJ, 8/2/06, p.A1)
2006 Aug 1, US sanctions on
Myanmar were extended for up to three years under a law signed by
President Bush, an attempt to increase pressure on the government to
follow through with democratic reforms.
(AP, 8/1/06)
2006 Aug 1, Mel Gibson issued a
statement in which he denied being a bigot; he also apologized to
"everyone in the Jewish community for the vitriolic and harmful
words" he'd used when he was arrested in southern California for
investigation of drunken driving.
(AP, 8/1/07)
2006 Aug 1, Kansas voters in
the state’s primary ousted the conservative majority on the Board of
Education that favored “intelligent design” over Darwin’s theory of
evolution.
(SFC, 8/3/06, p.A3)
2006 Aug 1, Philip H. Knight,
founder of Nike Inc., pledged $105 million to the Stanford Graduate
School of Business. Most of it will be used for a new $275 million
facility to be called the Knight Management Center.
(SFC, 8/2/06, p.B1)
2006 Aug 1, In southern
Afghanistan Taliban militants killed three British soldiers. 18
Taliban militants and one policeman were killed as Afghan forces and
coalition aircraft raided an insurgent hide-out near Garmser.
(AP, 8/1/06)(AP, 8/2/06)
2006 Aug 1, Cabinda, a 7,000
sq-km province of Angola located on the western coast just north of
the CongoDRC, signed the “Memorandum of Understanding for Peace in
Cabinda” with the government of Angola, granting it “a special
statute” and greater autonomy. In 2007 the province pumped over half
of Angola’s 1.7 million barrels per day oil production.
(Econ, 1/5/08, Angola p.8)
2006 Aug 1, Britain launched
the country's first public terror alert system and said it faces a
severe risk of another terrorist attack.
(AP, 8/1/06)
2006 Aug 1, Chinese official
media reported that Mouding county in Yunnan killed as many as
50,000 dogs in a 5-day government campaign ordered after three
people died from rabies. China’s government said police have seized
about 6,000 illegal firearms and tons of explosives in a two-month
crackdown across three provinces.
(AP, 8/1/06)
2006 Aug 1, A Congolese
opposition party and former rebel group denounced widespread fraud
in the country's historic elections in a protest that heralded a
divisive political dispute over the polls.
(AP, 8/1/06)
2006 Aug 1, Fidel Castro
remained out of sight after undergoing intestinal surgery and
temporarily turning over power to his brother Raul. He released a
statement in which he sought to reassure Cubans that his health was
stable after intestinal surgery.
(AP, 8/1/06)(AP, 8/1/07)
2006 Aug 1, In northern India a
school bus carrying about 50 children plunged into a canal, killing
at least six children.
(AP, 8/1/06)
2006 Aug 1, Iran's President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rejected the UN Security Council resolution
giving Iran until Aug. 31 to suspend uranium enrichment. Ahmadinejad
added that Tehran will pursue its nuclear program.
(AP, 8/1/06)
2006 Aug 1, Bombings and
shootings across Iraq killed over 70 people, including 24 people in
a bus destroyed by a roadside bomb in Beiji. In the Karradah
neighborhood of Baghdad, a car bomb exploded during morning rush
hour near a bank, killing at least 14 people and injuring 37. A US
report said graft in Iraq reconstruction is running at $4 billion a
year and growing.
(AP, 8/1/06)(AP, 8/2/06)(WSJ, 8/2/06, p.A1)
2006 Aug 1, Israel's air force
fired missiles into northern Gaza, killing a 14-year-old boy and
wounding four others near Beit Hanoun.
(AP, 8/1/06)
2006 Aug 1, In Indian Kashmir 4
security personnel were killed in a shooting at a popular tourist
spot.
(AP, 8/1/06)
2006 Aug 1, Heavy fighting
raged in the Lebanese border village of Aita al-Shaab, and Hezbollah
television said 35 Israeli soldiers had been killed or wounded in
the fighting. Israeli warplanes pounded Shiite Lebanese villages in
many areas along the border and struck Hezbollah strongholds deep
inside the country.
(AP, 8/1/06)
2006 Aug 1, The Papua New
Guinea government declared a state of emergency in the resource-rich
Southern Highlands province. PM Somare said security forces had been
sent to the graft-ridden province and government controllers
appointed to try to restore good governance.
(AFP, 8/1/06)
2006 Aug 1, A Moscow judge
declared the Yukos oil company bankrupt, paving the way for the
liquidation of what was once Russia's biggest oil producer.
(AP, 8/1/06)
2006 Aug 1, Dutch Cardinal
Johannes Willebrands (96), a key figure in the Roman Catholic
Church's efforts to improve relations with other Christians and
Jews, died.
(AP, 8/2/06)
2006 Aug 1, Officials said
incumbent Seychelles President James Michel of the People's
Progressive Front won nearly 54% of the vote over the weekend, while
opposition leader Wavel Ramkalawan got 46%.
(AP, 8/1/06)
2006 Aug 1, A pro-rebel Web
site reported said Tamil Tiger rebels destroyed a Sri Lanka navy
boat in a battle near an eastern port killing 8 sailors. Navy
spokesman Commander D.K.P Dassanayake denied the report and said
sailors destroyed three rebel attack boats.
(AP, 8/1/06)
2006 Aug 1, Assailants carried
out at least 40 bomb and arson attacks in Thailand's three
Muslim-dominated southernmost provinces. At least three people were
reported hurt.
(AP, 8/1/06)
2007 Aug 1, A major bridge on
I-35W over the Mississippi River collapsed in Minneapolis, Minn., at
rush hour. Initial reports said at least 5 people were killed. The
bridge dated to 1967. On Aug 9 Navy divers recovered two more
bodies, including one identified as a former missionary who had been
reported missing. Divers recovered an 8th victim on Aug 10 and a 9th
on Aug 12. Two more victims were found on Aug 16. A 12th victim was
found Aug 19. The 13th and last victim was found Aug 20. In 2008
Gov. Tim Pawlenty signed a $38 million package to compensate victims
of the collapse. In 2010 URS Corp., which had a contract to evaluate
the bridge’s structural integrity, reached $5 million settlement
with Minnesota. In August URS later agreed to pay over $52 million
to settle claims by victims.
(AP, 8/2/07)(SFC, 8/1/07, p.A5)(AP, 8/10/07)(SFC,
8/11/07, p.A5)(SFC, 8/13/07, p.A5)(WSJ, 8/17/07, p.A1)(SFC, 8/20/07,
p.A3)(AP, 8/21/07)(WSJ, 5/9/08, p.A1)(SFC, 3/20/10, p.A5)(SFC,
8/24/10, p.D1)
2007 Aug 1, SF police and
homeless outreach workers rousted people sleeping in Golden Gate
Park and other parks and encampments.
(SFC, 8/2/07, p.A1)
2007 Aug 1, Tommy Maken (74),
Irish-American folk musician who performed for years with the Clancy
Brothers, died in Dover, NH.
(SFC, 8/4/07, p.B5)
2007 Aug 1, The bodies of 4
Afghan judges, kidnapped 11 days ago, were found in Ghazni province,
the same province where 21 South Korean hostages were held.
Afghanistan dropped leaflets in the area to warn of military action.
(SFC, 8/2/07, p.A10)(WSJ, 8/2/07, p.A1)
2007 Aug 1, The ASEAN summit
got underway in Manila. Diplomats held dozens of meetings in the
Philippine capital, using the annual gathering of nearly 30 nations
to confer on everything from the North Korean crisis to the conflict
in Darfur.
(AP, 8/1/07)
2007 Aug 1, The South
Australian Supreme Court ordered its own state government to pay
Bruce Trevorrow $448,000 for damages caused when he was taken from
his parents without their knowledge 50 years ago.
(AP, 8/2/07)
2007 Aug 1, Bangladesh
officials said monsoon floods had misplaced or marooned 5 million
people and left 40 dead.
(SFC, 8/2/07, p.A3)
2007 Aug 1, A financial
watchdog said British Airways has been fined a record 121.5 million
pounds (180 million euros, $246 million) after admitting collusion
with Virgin Atlantic over fuel surcharges on tickets. British
Airways and Korean Air (for collusion with Lufthansa) agreed to pay
$300 million each in fines and plead guilty to federal charges that
they colluded with other airlines to set ticket prices.
(AFP, 8/1/07)(SFC, 8/2/07, p.C2)(Econ, 8/4/07,
p.48)
2007 Aug 1, In China 69 men
trapped in a flooded Chinese coal mine for more than three days were
pulled out alive, ending a terrifying ordeal in which they survived
on milk and pumped-in oxygen.
(AP, 8/1/07)
2007 Aug 1, A passenger train
derailed in central Congo and eight cars tumbled off the tracks,
killing about 100 people and trapping some passengers in the
wreckage. People in the southeastern town of Moba attacked the UN
office after a local radio station aired false rumors that the
United Nations was to resettle Congolese ethnic Tutsis in the
region. 4 UN military observers were wounded and 21 staff were
evacuated.
(AP, 8/2/07)(AP, 8/4/07)
2007 Aug 1, Denmark, France and
Indonesia offered to contribute to a joint UN-African Union mission
for Darfur, a 26,000-strong force expected to be made up mostly of
peacekeepers from Africa with backup from Asian troops. Sudan
accepted a UN resolution approving a joint African Union-UN
peacekeeping force in Darfur.
(AP, 8/1/07)(AFP, 8/1/07)
2007 Aug 1, A French court
ruled that indictments for Wenceslas Munyeshyaka and another man,
Laurent Bucyibaruta, violated the presumption of innocence. Rwanda
had sought the extradition of the 2 men for their roles in the
country's 1994 genocide.
(Reuters, 8/2/07)
2007 Aug 1, Guatemala's
Congress voted to create a commission of foreign experts to
investigate organized crime and police corruption.
(AP, 8/1/07)
2007 Aug 1, An overcrowded boat
evacuating people from a flooded village capsized in a rain-swollen
river in northern India, killing at least 28 people. Dozens of
people were killed across South Asia as surging flood waters caused
by heavy monsoon rains forced millions from their homes.
(AFP, 8/1/07)
2007 Aug 1, Iran publicly
hanged seven men in the second round of collective executions in 10
days. The Web site of the state's broadcasting company said they
were hanged on charges of rape, kidnapping and robbery in Mashad.
Iran arrested more than 200 music fans at an underground rock
concert that one official called a "satanic" gathering and
authorities accused the youths of breaking Islamic law.
(AP, 8/1/07)(AP, 8/5/07)
2007 Aug 1, Iraq's largest
Sunni Arab political bloc announced its withdrawal from the
government, undermining efforts to seek reconciliation among the
country's rival factions. Two bombing attacks in Baghdad killed at
least 67 people. In one attack, 50 people were killed and 60 wounded
when a suicide attacker exploded a fuel truck near a gas station in
western Baghdad. Another 17 died in a separate car bomb attack in
central Baghdad. A parked car bomb killed 3 people and wounded 5 in
southern Baghdad in a mostly Christian area. Altogether at least 142
Iraqis were killed or found dead, including 70 who died in three
separate bombings in Baghdad. One US soldiers was killed by a
roadside bomb.
(AP, 8/1/07)(AP, 8/2/07)
2007 Aug 1, Norihiko Akagi,
Japan's scandal-embroiled agriculture minister, stepped down, taking
responsibility for a shattering election defeat for the ruling
party. Akagi had been hit by an embarrassing accounting scandal,
which was widely viewed as a major reason behind the ruling election
loss.
(AP, 8/1/07)
2007 Aug 1, Two Lebanese
soldiers were killed in heavy fighting with al-Qaida-inspired
militants holed up in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern
Lebanon.
(AP, 8/2/07)
2007 Aug 1, Russian explorers
readied for a historic descent to the bottom of the Arctic Ocean
under the North Pole as part of an expedition to claim the area for
Russia.
(AP, 8/1/07)
2007 Aug 1, Russia's
state-controlled gas monopoly said that it will reduce natural gas
supplies to Belarus by 45 percent as of Aug 3 after Minsk failed to
pay in full for previous gas shipments.
(AP, 8/1/07)
2007 Aug 1, It was reported
that more than 100 Serbian Gypsies have crossed the border illegally
into neighboring Romania in recent days and filed applications for
asylum claiming they were subject to abuse and attacks in Serbia.
(AP, 8/1/07)
2007 Aug 1, South Korea’s
Agriculture Ministry halted quarantine inspections of American beef
shipments after finding a banned vertebral column in a recent
shipment. Without such inspections, the beef cannot be brought to
market.
(AP, 8/2/07)
2007 Aug 1, Rebels captured the
town of Adila, where Sudanese troops were stationed to protect the
only railway linking Darfur to the capital of Khartoum. Some 100
(Sudanese) soldiers or janjaweed were killed in the fighting.
(AP, 8/10/07)
2007 Aug 1, In southern
Thailand a rebel ambush and bombs left 11 people dead.
(SFC, 8/2/07, p.A3)
2007 Aug 1, An
opposition-aligned television channel (RCTV), already booted from
the airwaves, faced a deadline to agree to carry speeches by
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez or be yanked from the cable lineup.
(AP, 8/1/07)
2008 Aug 1, US Federal and
state regulators closed First Priority Bank of Bradenton, Florida,
the 8th US bank to fail this year. It would be acquired by
SunTrustBanks Inc.
(WSJ, 8/4/08, p.A3)(www.fpbank.com/)
2008 Aug 1, In eastern
Afghanistan 4 NATO soldiers were killed in a bomb blast in Kunar
province. Another soldier was killed in a separate explosion in
Khost province. More than a dozen" rebels were killed in ground
fighting and air strikes after attacking an Afghan and US-led
coalition patrol in the southern province of Uruzgan. Several more
were killed in the southwestern province of Farah after their
hideout was discovered. Three other militants linked to Taliban, one
of them a doctor, were killed when a bomb they were planting
exploded in eastern Khost province. Islamic rebels captured six
policemen following a brief firefight in Khost province.
(AFP, 8/1/08)(AFP, 8/2/08)
2008 Aug 1, Anglo-Australian
mining giant Rio Tinto said it received correspondence from Guinea
President Lansana Conte "purporting to rescind the Simandou Mining
Concession."
(AFP, 8/3/08)
2008 Aug 1, China’s broad
anti-monopoly law, promulgated in August, 2007, went into effect. It
became informally referred to as its economic consitution.
(www.iflr.com/Article/2017768/Anti-Monopoly-Law.html)(Econ, 3/21/09,
p.68)
2008 Aug 1, In southern Egypt
12 people were killed and 16 others wounded when two speeding
passenger buses rammed into a truck.
(AFP, 8/1/08)
2008 Aug 1, A German farmer who
lost both his arms in an accident was successfully fitted with two
new limbs in what is believed to be the first complete double arm
transplant.
(AP, 8/1/08)
2008 Aug 1, In southern India
at least 32 people have died after several coaches of the Gautami
Express train caught fire.
(AP, 8/1/08)
2008 Aug 1, In Iraq a roadside
bomb attack has killed two Iraqi soldiers and wounded two others in
northern city of Kirkuk.
(AP, 8/1/08)
2008 Aug 1, The body of
Fernando Marti, the 14-year-old son of a prominent businessman, was
found in the trunk of a car in Mexico City. He had been kidnapped in
June. The kidnap and murder prompted a wave of anti-crime protests
across the nation. In September police detained five suspects
including Sergio Ortiz, a former agent of a now-disbanded city
detective force, who led the "Flower Gang" responsible for
kidnapping Marti in June. In July, 2009, Jose Montiel (34) and Noe
Robles (31) were arrested for the kidnapping. They were believed to
be members of a Mexico City gang responsible for at least 23
abductions.
(AP, 9/8/08)(AP, 7/18/09)
2008 Aug 1, In northwestern
Pakistan about 35 militants kidnapped 2 policemen on the outskirts
of Khar.
(AP, 8/1/08)
2008 Aug 1, Hamas forces seized
about 15 leaders of Fatah in Gaza, upping the stakes in a week of
tit-for-tat arrests between the bitter Palestinian rivals. Fatah
said more than 200 of its men have been seized over the past week.
Five Palestinians died and 18 were wounded in a smuggling tunnel
under the Gaza-Egypt border after Egyptian troops blew up the
entrance.
(AP, 8/1/08)(AP, 8/2/08)
2008 Aug 1, Leonid Nevzlin, a
top manager of the now defunct YUKOS business empire, was sentenced
by a Russian court to life in prison for ordering a series of high
profile murders, a verdict he dismissed as the result of a show
trial organized by the Kremlin.
(Reuters, 8/1/08)
2008 Aug 1, In Sri Lanka new
fighting between government forces and the rebels across the
country's embattled northern region killed 38 rebels and 14
soldiers.
(AP, 8/2/08)
2008 Aug 1, A sniper
assassinated Brig. Gen. Mohammed Suleiman, a senior Syrian general
close to President Bashar Assad, at a beach resort in the northern
port city of Tartous.
(AP, 8/4/08)
2008 Aug 1, An African Union
(AU) peacekeeper from Uganda was killed when a roadside bomb struck
his convoy in the capital Mogadishu.
(AFP, 8/1/08)
2008 Aug 1, King George Tupou V
was crowned King of Tonga.
(Econ, 8/9/08, p.42)
2008 Aug 1, In central Turkey a
three-story girls dormitory collapsed, killing at least 18 students
and setting off a search for a half dozen people believed to be
under the rubble in Balcilar. A gas leak from kitchen pipes caused
the powerful explosion, leaving another 27 people injured. 3
dormitory administrators were charged on August 3 with "causing
death through negligence."
(AP, 8/1/08)(AP, 8/2/08)(AP, 8/4/08)
2008 Aug 1, The UN atomic
watchdog's board of governors unanimously approved an inspections
agreement with India that is key to finalizing a US-India nuclear
deal.
(AP, 8/1/08)
2009 Aug 1, The new US
Post-9/11 GI Bill took effect to reimburse veterans for their full
undergraduate tuition at public colleges. An amount equivalent to
that tuition would go to veterans who choose private schools or
graduate programs.
(SFC, 8/1/09, p.A1)
2009 Aug 1, In San Francisco
David Wehrer (26) shot and killed himself when police caught up with
him 4 days after his partner, Robert Christopher (56), was found
dead in their Castro Street apartment.
(SFC, 8/17/09, p.C1)
2009 Aug 1, In Detroit a woman
(24) was shot killed during a street robbery by a boy (12).
(SFC, 8/20/09, p.A4)
2009 Aug 1, In Afghanistan 3 US
troops were killed by improvised explosives in Kandahar province and
a French soldier was killed in an insurgent attack in Kapisa
province. Two more ISAF troops were killed when two bomb blasts
struck their patrol in the south. A dozen rebels were killed in a
gunfight with police in the southwestern province of Nimroz. 4
Afghan soldiers were killed when their vehicle struck a roadside
bomb planted by "terrorists" in southern Helmand province. 3
policemen including a senior officer were killed when their vehicle
struck a roadside bomb in the northern province of Baghlan.
(AFP, 8/1/09)(AFP, 8/2/09)
2009 Aug 1, Australia's
centre-left ruling party voted for national recognition of same-sex
unions but stopped short of lifting a ban on gay marriage.
(AFP, 8/1/09)
2009 Aug 1, Brazilian police
said they have busted a ring that allegedly sent some 200 women in
the last year to the United States, Europe and elsewhere to work as
prostitutes. Most of the women were recruited through the Internet
or Brazilian brothels and then sent to Las Vegas, the Dominican
Republic and France.
(AP, 8/1/09)
2009 Aug 1, Burundi said it has
deployed a third battalion of 850 soldiers to Mogadishu to reinforce
the African Union peacekeeping mission there. With the new troops,
more than 5,000 soldiers from Burundi and Uganda are now taking part
in the AU Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), which began in March 2007 and
has cost the lives of 17 Burundian soldiers.
(AFP, 8/2/09)
2009 Aug 1, In Canada a fierce
thunderstorm caused an outdoor stage to collapse at the Big Valley
Jamboree in Camrose, a country music festival in central Alberta.
One person was killed and up to 40 others injured.
(AP, 8/2/09)
2009 Aug 1, Humanitarian groups
said members of the Lord's Resistance Army, a Ugandan rebel group,
have launched attacks against towns in the Central African Republic
that have left at least 10 people dead in the last two weeks. The
attacks by the LRA, launched from its rear bases in the Democratic
Republic of Congo, have also forced hundreds of people to flee their
villages.
(AFP, 8/2/09)
2009 Aug 1, It was reported
that output from Chile’s fish farms was expected to be down 40% this
year due to infectious salmon anemia (ISA). The virus also led to
premature harvesting for fear other fish would catch the disease,
which apparently turned up in imported salmon eggs.
(Econ, 8/1/09, p.34)
2009 Aug 1, China’s Ziketan
town in Qinghai province was put under collective quarantine when
laboratory tests showed it had been struck by the highly virulent
disease. 2 of its residents had recently died from pneumonic plague,
which spreads through the air, making it easier to contract than
bubonic plague, which requires that a person is bitten by an
infected flea. Its fatality rate was up to 100% if left untreated,
compared with 60% for bubonic plague. The outbreak was first
detected on July 30.
(AFP, 8/2/09)(AP, 8/4/09)
2009 Aug 1, Chinese police
detained the head of the Xianghe Chemical Factory and the government
suspended the chief and deputy chief of the city's environment
protection bureau.
(AP, 8/2/09)
2009 Aug 1, The war in Iraq
became an American-only effort after Britain and Australia, the last
of its international partners, pulled out. In Iraq a bomb hidden
inside a toilet struck a Sunni mosque south of Baghdad, injuring two
people, the latest in a wave of attacks against Islamic sites of
worship. Al-Jazeera television broadcast an audio clip purportedly
from Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, a former top deputy of Saddam Hussein,
calling on Sunni insurgents to unite under one political umbrella.
(AP, 8/1/09)
2009 Aug 1, In Tel Aviv,
Israel, a gunman shot and killed two people at a youth club in the
worst ever attack on homosexuals in Israel. The dead were identified
as a man (26) who was a counselor at the center and a girl (17).
Eleven people were wounded, four of them seriously.
(AP, 8/2/09)
2009 Aug 1, Kyrgyzstan allowed
Russia to open a second military base on its territory, expanding
Moscow's military reach to balance against the US presence.
(Reuters, 8/1/09)
2009 Aug 1, Police broke up
Malaysia's biggest street protest in nearly two years, firing tear
gas and chemical-laced water at thousands of opposition supporters
demanding an end to a law that allows detention without trial.
(AP, 8/1/09)
2009 Aug 1, Two Moroccan
magazines were taken off news stands after they published an opinion
poll on the 10 years under the reign of King Mohammed VI. The poll
revealed that 91% of Moroccans who were interviewed say that the
performance of the reign of King Mohammed VI is positive or very
positive.
(AFP, 8/1/09)
2009 Aug 1, Mozambique’s Pres.
Armando Guebuza inaugurated an 80-million-euro (113-million-dollar)
bridge over the Zambezi River, a major link for a country long
divided between north and south. Work on the bridge had begun in
1977.
(AFP, 8/2/09)
2009 Aug 1, In Nigeria robbers
hijacked the bus on Sagamu-Benin expressway in Ogun State and forced
passengers to lie on a road at gunpoint as they ransacked their bus.
20 people were crushed to death as a truck ran into them.
(AFP, 8/2/09)
2009 Aug 1, The Sydney Morning
Herald reported that North Korea is helping Myanmar build a secret
nuclear reactor and plutonium extraction plant to build an atomic
bomb within five years, citing the evidence of defectors. "In the
event that the testimony of the defectors is proved, the alleged
secret reactor could be capable of being operational and producing
one bomb a year, every year, after 2014."
(AFP, 8/1/09)
2009 Aug 1, In Pakistan an
angry mob of Muslims killed six Christians and wounded dozens after
burning 40 houses and a church over the alleged desecration of the
Koran in Gojra village, Punjab province. Two men wounded by gunfire
died in the hospital overnight. A building collapsed in Karachi
killing at least 21 people.
(AFP, 8/1/09)(AP, 8/2/09)(SSFC, 8/2/09, p.A6)
2009 Aug 1, In the Philippines
former President Corazon Aquino (b.1933) died. The "people power"
uprising she led in 1986 brought down the repressive 20-year regime
of Ferdinand Marcos and served as an inspiration to nonviolent
resistance across the globe. Due to the time difference her death
was reported in the US on July 31.
(Reuters, 8/1/09)
2009 Aug 1, Authorities in the
separatist Georgian region of South Ossetia said two mortar shells
were fired into the territory from Georgia proper. Georgia denied
the claim and suggested it was a provocation ahead of the
anniversary of last year's war with Russia.
(AP, 8/1/09)
2010 Aug 1, In Alaska a
Fairchild C-123 registered to All West Freight of Delta Junction
crashed in Denali National Park killing all 3 people on board.
(http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100802/ap_on_re_us/us_alaska_plane_crash)
2010 Aug 1, Robert Boyle
(b.1909), art director for Alfred Hitchcock, died.
(Econ, 8/21/10, p.72)
2010 Aug 1, In southern
Afghanistan a minibus full of civilians struck a roadside bomb in
Kandahar, and six of those on board were killed. A NATO service
member died after an insurgent attack in south.
(AP, 8/1/10)
2010 Aug 1, British Chancellor
of the Exchequer George Osborne told the country's banks they must
use their first-half profits to start lending to businesses again.
(AFP, 8/1/10)
2010 Aug 1, In Chechnya, three
unknown men armed with Kalashnikovs ambushed a police patrol in
Grozny, the capital, and killed two officers.
(AP, 8/1/10)
2010 Aug 1, In China a drunken
Li Xianliang was finally subdued after he pulled an earthmover into
the coal depot where he worked in Yuanshi county, Hebei province.
The depot had been the place where Li had begun his murderous spree
by killing his employer and 16 others. Li was taken into custody and
faced the death penalty for murder.
(AP, 8/3/10)
2010 Aug 1, President Raul
Castro said more Cubans will be allowed to work for themselves and
hire their own workers as the government tries to create more
productive employment.
(Reuters, 8/1/10)
2010 Aug 1, In Dagestan 3
militants broke into the home of Lt. Col. Yunus Khulatayev, a senior
investigator, and shot him dead after binding his wife and son with
tape in the next room.
(AP, 8/1/10)(SFC, 8/2/10, p.A2)
2010 Aug 1, In Greece an 8-day
truck drivers' strike was called off as protesters agreed to enter
talks with the government. The strike wreaked havoc, stranding
thousands of tourists, destroying lucrative fruit exports and drying
up fuel supplies nationwide.
(Econ, 8/7/10, p.53)(http://tinyurl.com/2wrybtk)
2010 Aug 1, In northern India a
truck carrying Hindu pilgrims plunged into a gorge in a mountainous
region in Uttarakhand state, killing at least 20 people as rescuers
searched for another seven who were missing.
(AP, 8/1/10)
2010 Aug 1, In Indian Kashmir
two men and a girl were killed after security forces opened fire at
thousands of protesters who defied a curfew, as pro-independence
protests spread across the region.
(AFP, 8/1/10)
2010 Aug 1, Israel approved new
residency criteria that could result in the deportations of hundreds
of children of migrant workers.
(AP, 8/1/10)
2010 Aug 1, Dutch troops ended
their mission in Afghanistan after four "proud" years, in a
departure experts say signals the beginning of a drawdown of foreign
forces that will leave a worrying void. Troops held a "change of
command" ceremony at the main military base in central Uruzgan
province where most of the country's 1,950 soldiers have been
deployed. About 150 Dutch fighting forces were left in country, and
they are set to leave next week.
(AFP, 8/1/10)(AP, 8/1/10)
2010 Aug 1, In Pakistan a
roadside bomb exploded as army troops were clearing a road in the
northwestern tribal region, killing two soldiers.
(AP, 8/1/10)
2010 Aug 1, In northwestern
Pakistan the death toll from massive floods rose to 1,100 as rescue
workers struggled to save more than 27,000 people still trapped by
the raging water.
(AP, 8/1/10)
2010 Aug 1, In Russia hundreds
of new fires broke out in forests and fields that have been dried to
a crisp by drought and record heat.
(AP, 8/1/10)
2010 Aug 1, In South Africa 22
elderly people died when a fire swept through their old age and
frail care center outside of Johannesburg.
(AP, 8/2/10)(AP, 8/3/10)
2010 Aug 1, In Thailand several
hundred Red Shirt protesters defied a state of emergency in Bangkok
to stage a symbolic protest, with hundreds of people sprawling on
the ground and chanting, "People died here!"
(AP, 8/1/10)
2010 Aug 1, Turkish media
reported that 4 civilians died when their vehicle hit a landmine
that Kurdish rebels are suspected of planting in southeastern
Turkey.
(AP, 8/1/10)
2010 Aug 1, UNESCO added five
cultural sites to its World Heritage List, including the Imperial
Citadel of Thang Long-Hanoi in Vietnam. The other new sites include
the historic monuments of Dengfeng in China, the archaeological site
Sarazm in Tajikistan, the Episcopal city of Albi in France and a
17th-century canal ring in Amsterdam.
(AP, 8/1/10)
2010 Aug 1, The United Arab
Emirates said it plans to block some messaging and Web services on
BlackBerry smart phones, days after it warned the device could pose
a potential threat to national security and social values.
(AP, 8/1/10)
2010 Aug 1, Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe lashed out at Western powers over sanctions
imposed on his ZANU-PF party, saying the European Union and United
States were simply bent on driving him out of power. Mugabe said
Zimbabwe's diamonds should benefit the entire country, as he urged
greedy politicians to blunt their appetite for individual wealth.
(Reuters, 8/1/10)(AFP, 8/1/10)
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