Today in History - August 13
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662 Aug 13,
Maximus Confessor (b.c580), Greek theologian, died.
(MC, 8/13/02)
1415 Aug 13, King Henry V of
England took his army across the English Channel and laid siege on
the French port of Harfleur.
(ON, 6/08, p.9)
1422 Aug 13, William Caxton
(d.1491), 1st English printer, was born.
(http://en.thinkexist.com/birthday/August_13/)(WSJ, 5/12/05, p.D8)
1521 Aug 13, Spanish conqueror
Hernando Cortez conquered the Mexican city of Tenochtitlan (Mexico
City) after an 85-day battle. Cuauhtemoc fought against Cortes in
Tlatelolco when Moctezuma surrendered. Cortez had an Indian mistress
named La Malinche.
(NG, 6/1988, p.763)(AP, 8/13/97)(TL-MB,
p.12)(WSJ, 8/13/97, p.A12)(WSJ, 4/24/98, p.A15)
1608 Aug 13, John Smith's story
of Jamestown's 1st days was submitted for publication.
(MC, 8/13/02)
1624 Aug 13, French King Louis
XIII named Cardinal Richelieu his first minister.
(HN 8/13/97)
1630 Aug 13, Emperor Frederick
II of Bohemia fired Albrecht von Wallenmanders, his best military
commander.
(HN, 8/13/98)
1642 Aug 13, Christian Huygens
discovered the Martian south polar cap.
(MC, 8/13/02)
1651 Aug 13, Litchfield,
Connecticut, was founded.
(MC, 8/13/02)
1655 Aug 13, Johann Christoph
Denner, inventor of the clarinet, was born.
(HN, 8/13/00)
1680 Aug 13, War started when
the Spanish were expelled from Santa Fe, New Mexico, by Indians
under Chief Pope.
(HN, 8/13/98)
1704 Aug 13, The Battle of
Blenheim, Germany, was fought during the War of the Spanish
Succession, resulting in a victory for English and Austrian forces.
The Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene of Austria defeated the
French Army at the Battle of Blenheim. In 1705 Joseph Addison wrote
the poem "The Campaign" for the Duke of Marlborough to commemorate
the military victory over France and Spain at the Battle of
Blenheim: "Do you not think an angel rides in the whirlwind and
directs this storm."
(AP, 8/13/97)(HN, 8/13/98)(SSFC, 1/21/01, p.A6)
1732 Aug 13, Voltaire's
"Zaire," premiered in Paris.
(MC, 8/13/02)
1787 Aug 13, The Ottoman Empire
declared war on Russia.
(HN, 8/13/98)
1792 Aug 13, Revolutionaries
imprisoned the French royal family, including King Louis XVI and
Marie Antoinette. [see Aug 10]
(MC, 8/13/02)
1802 Aug 13, Nikolaus Lenau,
German poet (Faust, Die Albigenser), was born in Hungary.
(MC, 8/13/02)
1814 Aug 13, Treaty of
London-Netherland was signed to stop the transport of slaves. By
agreement Britain paid the Dutch £6 million in compensation
for the Cape of Good Hope. [see May 30]
(EWH, 4th ed, p.884)(MC, 8/13/02)
1818 Aug 13, Suffragist Lucy
Stone, women's rights activist, founder of Woman's Journal, was born
in West Brookfield, Mass.
(HN 8/13/97)(HN, 8/13/98)
1820 Aug 13, George Grove,
biblical scholar, musicographer (Grove's Dictionary), was born in
London, England.
(MC, 8/13/02)
1826 Aug 13, Major Gordon
Laing, Scottish explorer, became the 1st European to enter Timbuktu
(Mali), where some 12,000 people lived. Laing was killed by a Tuareg
nomad spear on Sep 26 as he headed for Morocco. In 2005 Frank T.
Kryza authored “The Race for Timbuktu: In Search of Africa’s City of
Gold.”
(SSFC, 4/11/04, p.D6)(SSFC, 1/1/06, p.M2)(Econ,
1/7/06, p.75)(ON, 11/06, p.6)
1833 Aug 13, The Bank of the US
under Nicholas Biddle began to contract its loans.
(Panic, p.4)
1840 Aug 13, Giovanni Verga,
Italian writer (Eros), was born.
(MC, 8/13/02)
1846 Aug 13, The American flag
was raised for the first time in Los Angeles.
(HN 8/13/97)
1849 Aug 13, Hungary’s Gen.
Gorgey surrendered to the Russian forces. Russia gave Hungary back
to Austria.
(PC, 1992 ed,
p.448)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lajos_Kossuth)
1851 Aug 13, John Lincoln Clem
(d.1937), drummer (last survivor of Union Volunteers), was born.
(MC, 8/13/02)
1860 Aug 13, Annie Oakley
(d.1926), sharp-shooter and entertainer, was born in Darke County,
Ohio, as Phoebe Anne Oakley Mozee (Mosey). She became a markswoman
and toured with the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show.
(WUD, 1994, p.992)(SFEC, 8/3/97, Z1 p.2)(HN,
8/14/98)
1862 Aug 13, Confederate
General Nathan Bedford Forrest defeated a Union army under Thomas
Crittenden at Murfreesboro, Tennessee. [see Jul 13]
(HN, 8/13/98)
1864 Aug 13, Battle of Deep
Bottom, Va., (Strawberry Plains) and Fussell's Mill, Va.
(MC, 8/13/02)
1865 Aug 13, Ignaz Semmelweis
(b.1818), Hungarian gynecologist, died from an infection in Vienna
after being beaten up by warders in an asylum.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Semmelweis)(Econ, 3/13/10, p.57)
1868 Aug 13, A magnitude 9.0
quake in Arica, Peru (later Chile), generated catastrophic tsunamis;
more than 25,000 people were killed in South America.
(AP, 2/27/10)
1876 Aug 13, Reciprocity Treaty
between US and Hawaii was ratified.
(MC, 8/13/02)
1876 Aug 13, Richard Wagner's
monumental epic, "Ring of the Nibelung" premiered with 4 operas on 4
consecutive nights) at the Festspielhaus in Bayreuth, Bavaria,
Germany.
(Hem., 1/96, p.69)(MC, 8/13/02)
1878 Aug 13, Leonid
Vladimirovich Nikolayev, composer, was born.
(MC, 8/13/02)
1879 Aug 13, John N. Ireland,
English composer, pianist (Mai-Dun), was born.
(MC, 8/13/02)
1881 Aug 13, The first
African-American nursing school opened at Spelman College in
Atlanta, Georgia.
(HN, 8/13/98)
1882 Aug 13, William Jevons
(b.1835), English economist, drowned while bathing near Hastings.
His book “The Theory of Political Economy” (1871) declared that
value depends entirely upon utility.
(Econ, 7/26/08,
p.84)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Stanley_Jevons)
1888 Aug 13, John Logie Baird,
inventor (father of TV), was born in Scotland.
(MC, 8/13/02)
1889 Aug 13, The first
coin-operated telephone was patented by William Gray of Hartford,
Conn. A foreman had refused to let Gray call his sick wife from the
company phone.
(SFEC, 10/22/00, Z1 p.2)(AP, 8/13/08)
1892 Aug 13, The first issue of
the "Afro American" newspaper was published in Baltimore, Maryland.
(HN, 8/13/98)
1898 Aug 13, Manila, the
capital of the Philippines, fell to the U.S. Army under Adm. George
Dewey. It was later reported that Dewey had agreed to sacrifice the
lives of American soldiers in order to give Spanish officers, who
had retained dead soldiers on payroll, a chance to report heavy
fatalities back to Spain.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Manila_(1898))(SSFC,
6/29/08, DB p.58)
1899 Aug 13, Alfred Hitchcock
(d.1980), movie director, was born in London. "A woman, I always
say, should be like a good suspense movie: The more left to the
imagination, the more excitement there is. This should be her aim --
to create suspense, to let a man discover things about her without
her having to tell him."
(AP, 8/13/97)(HN, 8/13/98)(AP, 8/13/99)
1902 Aug 13, Felix Wankel,
inventory of the rotary engine which bears his name, was born in
Germany.
(HN, 8/13/00)(MC, 8/13/02)
1906 Aug 13, At Fort Brown,
Texas, some 10-20 armed men engaged an all-Black Army unit in a
shooting rampage that left one townsperson dead and a police officer
wounded. A 1910 inquiry placed guilt on the soldiers and Pres.
Roosevelt ordered all 167 discharged without honor. In 1970 John
Weaver (d.2002) authored "The Brownsville Raid," an account of the
incident that led the Army to exonerate all 167 men.
(SFC, 12/7/02, p.A25)
1907 Aug 13, Alfred Alwin Felix
Krupp, arms manufacturer, was born in Essen, Germany.
(MC, 8/13/02)
1907 Aug 13, The 1st taxicab
began operating in NYC. [see May 31]
(MC, 8/13/02)
1910 Aug 13, Florence
Nightingale (90), British nurse famous for her care of British
soldiers during the Crimean War, died. In 2004 Gillian Gill authored
“Nightingales: The Extraordinary Upbringing and Curious Life of Miss
Florence Nightingale.” In 2008 Mark Bostridge authored Florence
Nightingale: The Making of an Icon.”
(HN, 8/13/98)(SSFC, 9/5/04, p.M3)(AP,
8/13/07)(WSJ, 10/21/08, p.A17)
1912 Aug 13, Ben Hogan,
American golfer (US Open 1950, 51, 53), was born in Dublin, Tx.
(HN, 8/13/00)(MC, 8/13/02)
1912 Aug 13, Jan Peeters, Dutch
water colors painter, monumental artist, was born.
(MC, 8/13/02)
1912 Aug 13, Jules E.F.
Massenet (70), French opera composer (Werther, Manon), died.
(MC, 8/13/02)
1913 Aug 13, Makarios III,
[Michail Moeskos], archbishop, president Cyprus, was born.
(MC, 8/13/02)
1914 Aug 13, Carl Wickman began
Greyhound, the 1st US bus line, in Minnesota.
(MC, 8/13/02)
1916 Aug 13, Daniel Schorr,
radio and television correspondent, was born.
(HN, 8/13/00)
1919 Aug 13, Rex Humbard,
televangelist, was born.
(MC, 8/13/02)
1920 Aug 13, George Shearing,
blind pianist, composer (Lullaby of Byrdland), was born in
London.
(MC, 8/13/02)
1923 Aug 13, US Steel Corp.
initiated an 8-hour work day.
(MC, 8/13/02)
1923 Aug 13, The Turkish
National Congress selected Mustafa Kemal Pasha (Ataturk) as
president.
(MC, 8/13/02)
1926 Aug 13, Fidel Castro,
revolutionary leader, president, was born in Biran, Cuba.
(USAT, 8/29/97, p.8A)(HN, 8/13/98)(WSJ, 8/5/06,
p.A9)
1928 Aug 13, Fernand de La
Tombelle (b.1854), French composer, died.
(MC, 8/13/02)
1930 Aug 13, Captain Frank M.
Hawks, superintendent of the Aviation Division of Texaco, flew a
red-and-white Travel Air monoplane from Los Angeles to New York in
12 hours, 25 minutes and 3 seconds. According to Hawks' own widely
publicized account, the Travel Air performed flawlessly, with an
average airspeed of 215 mph. Hawks made three 15-minute refueling
stops during the 2,510-mile journey. He battled a rainstorm,
crosswinds, hunger and a thick haze that made "the ground barely
visible at 8,000 feet," but reached New York City in time for
dinner.
(HNPD, 8/20/99)
1932 Aug 13, Adolf Hitler
refused President Hindenburg’s offer to serve as Franz Von Papen's
vice chancellor saying he was prepared to hold out "for all or
nothing."
(AP, 8/13/97)(HN, 8/13/98)
1934 Aug 13, The satirical
comic strip "Li'l Abner," created by Al Capp, made its debut.
(HN 8/13/97)
1934 Aug 13, United Aircraft
was removed from the DJIA. National Distillers and Chemical Corp.
was added.
(WSJ, 5/28/96, p. R-45)(WSJ, 4/8/04, p.C4)
1937 Aug 13, Japanese attacked
Shanghai.
(MC, 8/13/02)
1939 Aug 13, Saul Steinberg,
American artist (The Art of Living, New Yorker Magazine), was born
in Romania.
(MC, 8/13/02)
1940 Aug 13, Der Adler Tag
(Eagle Day) was the name given to the day the German Luftwaffe
launched an all-out offensive against the Royal Air Force and the
British aircraft industry in southern England. With this action,
Adolf Hitler hoped to knock out any aerial resistance to his planned
invasion of the British Isles. RAF fighter pilots successfully held
off the numerically superior Luftwaffe, in spite of the loss of 415
pilots out of a force of 1,500.
(HNPD, 8/13/98)
1941 Aug 13, Red army evacuated
Smolensk.
(MC, 8/13/02)
1942 Aug 13, Walt Disney's
animated feature "Bambi" premiered at Radio City Music Hall in New
York.
(AP, 8/13/99)
1943 Aug 13, Harold E. Stearns
(b.1891), American journalist, died. His books included “Liberalism
in America” (1919). He also edited the influential “Civilization in
the United States An Inquiry by Thirty Americans” (1922), the book
that inspired many dissatisfied young Americans to go abroad.
(www.bookrags.com/biography/harold-edmund-stearns-dlb/)(WSJ, 1/4/08,
p.W5)
1944 Aug 13, In NYC Lucien Carr
stabbed to death David Kammerer following sexual advances by
Kammerer, who had been Carr's Boy Scout Scoutmaster during his
youth. Carr turned himself in and was later sentenced to 20 years,
but served only 2 years in prison at Elmira Correctional Facility in
upstate, NY. Lucien Carr later introduced Allen Ginsberg, Jack
Kerouac and William Burroughs to each other.
(www.rooknet.com/beatpage/info/info_carr.html)
1945 Aug 13, 35 Jews sacrificed
their lives to blow up a Nazi rubber plant in Silesia.
(MC, 8/13/02)
1946 Aug 13, Britain
transferred illegal immigrants bound for Palestine to Cyprus.
(MC, 8/13/02)
1946 Aug 13, H.G. Wells
(b.1866), sci-fi author (Time Machine), died in London.
(AP, 8/13/00)
1948 Aug 13, During the Berlin
Airlift, the weather over Berlin became so stormy that American
planes had their most difficult day landing supplies. They deemed it
‘Black Friday.’
(HN, 8/13/98)
1953 Aug 13, 4-5 million French
went on strike against economizations.
(MC, 8/13/02)
1960 Aug 13, The first two-way
telephone conversation by satellite took place with the help of Echo
1, a balloon satellite.
(HN 8/13/97)
1960 Aug 13, Central African
Republic became independence from France and David Dacko was named
1st president.
(PC, 1992, p.973)(EWH, 1st ed., p.1173)(MC,
8/13/02)
1960 Aug 13, The Soviet Union
withdrew advisors, aid and other support from China.
(SFC, 10/1/99, p.A14)(MC, 8/13/02)
1961 Aug 13, Berlin was divided
as East Germany sealed off the border between the city's eastern and
western sectors in order to halt the flight of refugees. Two days
later, work began on the Berlin Wall.
(HN 8/13/97)
1963 Aug 13, A 17 year-old
Buddhist monk burned himself to death in Saigon, South Vietnam.
(HN, 8/13/98)
1965 Aug 13, In SF the
Jefferson Airplane made its first public performance opening at the
new Matrix club on Fillmore. The band held an ownership interest in
the club.
(SFEC, 5/23/99, Z1 p.4)(SFC, 11/17/08, p.E4)
1967 Aug 13, The movie "Bonnie
and Clyde," starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, had its US
premiere.
(AP, 8/13/07)
1968 Aug 13, In Greece there
was an assassination attempt against Col. George Papadopoulos
(1919-1999), the right-wing military leader, organized by Alexandros
Panagoulis (1939-1976), Greek politician and poet.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandros_Panagoulis)
1971 Aug 13, Britain requested
to exchange US dollars for gold. This prompted Pres. Nixon on August
15 to suspend such conversions.
(Econ, 3/27/10, p.86)
1973 Aug 13, Pres. Nixon
instituted general wage and price controls. Phase IV controls went
into effect for the general economy and lasted until Economic
Stabilization Program (ESP) expired on April 30, 1974.
(WSJ, 11/4/96,
p.C1)(www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/432.html)
1978 Aug 13, In a Palestinian
area of Beirut, Lebanon, a bomb killed 100 people.
(WUD, 1994, p.1691)
1979 Aug 13-1979 Aug 14, A
force 9 gale off the southwest coast of Ireland left 15 yachtsmen of
the 28th Fastnet Race dead.
(Econ, 12/20/08,
p.98)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1979_Fastnet_race)
1981 Aug 13, In a ceremony at
his California ranch, President Reagan signed a historic package of
tax and budget reductions, also known as the Kemp-Roth tax cuts.
Abstinence-only sex education programs were introduced under Pres.
Reagan. Sponsors Rep. Jack Kemp and Sen. William Roth, had hoped for
more significant tax cuts, but settled on this bill after a great
debate in Congress. The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (OBRA) of
1981 included a rider known as the Adolescent Family Life Act
(AFLA), sponsored by Republican Senators Orrin Hatch (Utah) and
Jeremiah Denton (Alabama). AFLA set aside a small but significant
amount of federal money to be used for the promotion of abstinence,
as well as religious instruction in sexual matters within the public
schools.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_Recovery_Tax_Act_of_1981)(AP,
8/13/01)
1987 Aug 13, A rented Piper
Cherokee airplane flew close to President Reagan's helicopter in
restricted airspace over Southern California; the pilot and
passenger of the plane were arrested.
(HN 8/13/97)
1987 Aug 13, On the fifth
anniversary of a bull market, the Dow Jones industrial average
closed at 2,691.49 after briefly surpassing 2,700.
(HN 8/13/97)
1988 Aug 13, Vice President
George Bush contemplated a list of potential running mates as
Republicans gathered in New Orleans for their party's national
convention.
(HN 8/13/98)
1989 Aug 13, The space shuttle
Columbia returned from a secret military mission.
(AP, 8/13/99)
1989 Aug 13, In Australia 2
hot-air balloons crashed at Alice Springs. 13 people were killed.
(www.guinnessworldrecords.com/content_pages/record.asp?recordid=52449)
1989 Aug 13, Searchers in
Ethiopia found the wreckage of a plane which had disappeared almost
a week earlier while carrying Texas Congressman Mickey Leland and 15
other people on a humanitarian mission. There were no survivors.
(AP, 8/13/97)(HN 8/13/97)(HN,
8/13/98)
1990 Aug 13, President Bush
ordered Defense Secretary Dick Cheney to the Persian Gulf for the
second time since Iraq invaded Kuwait. American combat troops in
Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, were told to prepare for a long stay.
(AP, 8/13/00)
1991 Aug 13, VP Dan Quayle made
a speech attacking lawyers.
(http://openweb.tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/1991-8/1991-08-13-CBS-4.html)
1991 Aug 13, Clark Clifford
resigned as chairman of First American Bankshares Incorporated, a
bank holding company the government said had been illegally acquired
by the Bank of Credit and Commerce International. Clifford and law
partner Robert Altman were indicted in 1992 on charges of lying to
regulators and receiving bribes from BCCI; Altman was acquitted at
trial, and remaining charges against both men were dropped.
(AP, 8/13/01)
1991 Aug 13, Jack Ryan
(b.1926), designer and inventor (Barbie Doll, Hot Wheels), died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Ryan_(designer))
1992 Aug 13, "Real Inspector
Hound" opened at Criterion in NYC for 61 performances.
(www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=4691)
1992 Aug 13, President Bush
announced that Secretary of State James A. Baker III was leaving his
diplomatic post to be White House chief of staff in a shake-up
designed to energize Bush's re-election campaign.
(HN 8/13/97)
1992 Aug 13, Comedian, actor
and director Woody Allen began legal action against actress Mia
Farrow to win custody of their three children. A judge later ruled
against Allen.
(AP, 8/13/02)
1993 Aug 13, Negotiators for
the US, Canada and Mexico announced they had resolved side issues
concerning the proposed North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
(AP, 8/12/98)
1993 Aug 13, US Court of
Appeals ruled that congress must save all e-mails.
(www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3691/is_199401/ai_n8732518)
1994 Aug 13, In his weekly
radio address, President Clinton put Congress on notice that he
wouldn't give up an assault weapons ban as the price to revive a
crime bill stalled on Capitol Hill.
(AP, 8/13/99)
1994 Aug 13, NATO
Secretary-General Manfred Woerner died at age 59.
(AP, 8/13/99)
1995 Aug 13, Baseball Hall of
Famer Mickey Mantle died at a Dallas hospital of rapidly spreading
liver cancer at the age of 63.
(HN, 8/13/98)
1995 Aug 13, Hans-Christian
Ostro, a 27-year-old Norwegian who had come to India to study dance
was found dead in the Pahalgam district with his severed head
balanced between his thighs, close to the sight of a previous
kidnapping by Kashmir guerillas.
(SFC, 5/27/96, p.A6)
1996 Aug 13, At their
convention in San Diego, Republicans delivered a blistering critique
of President Clinton's record, portraying the Democratic incumbent
as an unprincipled liberal conning voters with election-year
conservatism.
(HN 8/13/97)
1996 Aug 13, Mary Higgins
Clark, suspense writer, signed a 3-book contract with Simon &
Schuster for $3 mil per book.
(SFC, 8/13/96, p.B2)
1996 Aug 13, Microsoft released
Internet Explorer 3.0.
(http://docs.yahoo.com/docs/pr/release33.html)
1996 Aug 13, In Belgium Marc
Dutroux, on parole following rape charges, was arrested for
kidnapping and the murder of 2 girls. In 2004 he was convicted of
kidnapping and murder. His wife and 2 accomplices were also
convicted.
(AP, 6/17/04)
1996 Aug 13, In Burundi the
last 2 commercial flights left the country as the outside world
tightened sanctions to punish the new military regime.
(SFC, 8/14/96, p.A10)
1996 Aug 13, In South Africa
Nadthmie Edries, leader of a group called People Against
Gangsterism, was charged with sedition in connection with the
vigilante slaying of a drug-gang leader.
(SFC, 8/15/96, p.C1)
1996 Aug 13, In Spain at
Perpignan a gang of masked men stole $800,000 in Spanish pesetas
from the cargo hold of an Air France plane.
(SFC, 8/15/96, p.A1)
1997 Aug 13, U.S. envoy Dennis
Ross wrapped up a four-day mission to the Middle East, during which
he'd persuaded the Palestinians to resume security cooperation with
Israel.
(HN 8/13/98)
1997 Aug 13, In Detroit, Mich.,
Yolanda Bellamy was slain with 2 young sons, a niece and a nephew. A
suspect was later arrested and jumped from a 5th floor police
station window. He was critically injured.
(SFC, 8/15/97, p.A3)
1997 Aug 13, A NYC police
officer of the 70th precinct in Flatbush was arrested for sexually
assaulting a Haitian immigrant who was arrested in a nightclub
fight. Officer Justin Volpe sodomized Abner Louima with a toilet
plunger and then forced the handle into Louima’s mouth. Volpe’s
partner, Thomas Bruder, was ordered off active duty and Mayor
Giuliani ordered a shakeup and investigation. Officer Charles
Schwartz was later arrested for his participation. Two more
officers, Thomas Wiese and Thomas Bruder, were later arrested for
beating Louima after his arrest. In 1998 federal civil rights
charges were filed against the involved officers. Officer Volpe was
jailed in 1999 after he pleaded guilty that he had sodomized Abner
Louima. In 1999 Officer Schwarz was found guilty
of holding Louima down. Officers Bruder, Wiese and Bellomo were
acquitted. In 2000 officers Bruder, Schwartz and Wiese were
convicted of covering up the assault on Louima. Schwartz was
sentenced to 15 years and 8 months in prison and ordered to pay
$277,495 in restitution. Bruder and Wiese were sentenced to 5 years
each. In 2002 a federal appeals court overturned the convictions
against Schwarz, Wiese and Bruder.
(SFC, 8/14/97, p.A5)(SFC, 8/15/97, p.A4)(SFC,
8/16/97, p.A5)(SFC, 8/19/97, p.A3)(SFC, 2/27/98, p.A6)(SFC, 5/26/99,
p.A1)(SFC, 6/9/99, p.A3)(SFC, 3/7/00, p.A3)(SFC, 6/28/00, p.A3)(SFC,
3/1/02, p.A3)
1997 Aug 13, In India the
Supreme Court ordered the government to come up with legislation to
protect women from sexual harassment in the workplace.
(SFC, 8/14/97, p.C3)
1997 Aug 13, In Tehran, Iran,
Ali Reza Khoshruy Kuran Kordiyeh ("the vampire") was flogged and
hung for the rape, murder and burning of 9 women in a crime spree
that began in March.
(SFC, 8/14/97, p.C3)
1997 Aug 13, From Panama it was
reported that Pres. Balladares has given journalist Gustavo Gorriti
until the end of the month to leave Panama. Mr. Gorriti had
published investigative articles detailing the financial dealings of
the president’s election campaign, his allies and gentlemen of
questionable character.
(WSJ, 8/13/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 13, In Russia the book
"Boris Yeltsin: From Dawn to Sunset" by former bodyguard Alexander
Korzhakov went on sale.
(SFC, 8/13/97, p.A12)
1997 Aug 13, From Russia it was
reported that a helicopter accidentally had dropped a 2.3 ton lead
box containing strontium 90 into 66 feet of water off Sakhalin
Island.
(WSJ, 8/13/97, p.A1)
1998 Aug 13, President Clinton
led the nation in mourning 12 Americans killed in a pair of U.S.
embassy bombings in Africa. Standing before black hearses carrying
10 of the bodies, the president pledged to seek justice "for these
evil acts."
(AP, 8/13/99)
1998 Aug 13, Oakland, Ca.,
declared a medical marijuana club a city agency.
(SFC, 8/14/98, p.A1)
1998 Aug 13, US border agents
found 7 people dead in the Anza-Borrego Desert. They were believed
to be illegal immigrants abandoned by their smuggler.
(SFC, 8/14/98, p.A3)
1998 Aug 13, Julien Green (97),
the first American to be elected to the Academie Francaise, died in
Paris. The Catholic and homosexual writer produced 18 novels that
included "Moira" and "Each in his Darkness." He also published 14
volumes of journals and 5 volumes of memoirs.
(SFC, 8/18/98, p.A18)
1998 Aug 13, In Bangladesh more
rain left 11 more people dead and the death toll grew to 326.
(SFC, 8/14/98, p.D3)
1998 Aug 13, In Congo rebels
seized a hydroelectric dam and cut off power to Kinshasa. Kabila
fired his army chief in response.
(WSJ, 8/14/98, p.A1)
1998 Aug 13, In Berlin,
Germany, a monument to the Berlin Wall and the 255 people who died
crossing it was dedicated at the corner of Ackerstrasse and Bernauer
Strasse.
(WSJ, 9/10/98, p.A20)
1998 Aug 13, The president of
South Korea ordered an amnesty for 7,007 prisoners to mark the Aug.
15 50th anniversary of the Republic.
(WSJ, 8/14/98, p.A1)
1998 Aug 13, Puerto Rico
approved a Dec. 13 referendum for statehood.
(SFC, 8/14/98, p.A3)
1998 Aug 13, George Soros, in a
letter to the Financial Times, called for the government of Russia
to devalue its currency by 15-25%. The government insisted that it
would not devalue and the ruble continued to drop.
(SFC, 8/14/98, p.A10)
1998 Aug 13, Three Russian
cosmonauts lifted off for the second-to-last Mir mission.
(SFC, 8/14/98, p.D3)
1998 Aug 13, In Kosovo, Serbia,
Ibrahim Rugova formed a delegation to begin talks with Pres.
Milosevic.
(SFC, 8/15/98, p.A16)
1999 Aug 13, Tennis player
Steffi Graf retired from the sport she had dominated for two
decades.
(AP, 8/13/00)
1999 Aug 13, In Argentina
protests and riots raged out of control in Neuquen province where
unemployment was 40%. Skirmishes were also reported from Tucuman,
Cordoba, Corrientes, and Tierra del Fuego.
(SFC, 8/14/99, p.C1)
1999 Aug 13, In Bogota,
Colombia, motorcycle gunmen shot to death humorist and radio
co-host, Jaime Garzon (39), in a killing that authorities later
blamed on the leader of the country’s right-wing paramilitary.
(SFC, 8/14/99, p.A11)(AP, 8/13/00)
1999 Aug 13, Iran agreed under
pressure to join Turkey for simultaneous military operations against
the PKK.
(SFC, 8/14/99, p.A10)
1999 Aug 13, In Liberia 7
abducted aid workers were freed and some 90 other UN and foreign
workers fled into Guinea to avoid fighting.
(SFC, 8/14/99, p.C1)
1999 Aug 13, Izvestia confirmed
that 4 Russian helicopters were destroyed in Dagestan and that an
SU-24 fighter plane was damaged.
(SFC, 8/14/99, p.A10)
1999 Aug 13, In Turkey the
parliament made constitutional changes to overhaul the economy and
bring in foreign investment.
(WSJ, 8/16/99, p.A10)
1999 Aug 13, In Uganda troops
were sent across the northeast to quell ethnic unrest following 155
killings in the past month. A clan of ethnic Karamajongs was
attacked 2 weeks earlier by rival Karamajongs and Turkanans from
northern Kenya and at least 140 people were killed.
(SFC, 8/14/99, p.C1)
2000 Aug 13, On the eve of the
Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, 3500 protesters
demonstrated against police brutality and in support of Mumia
Abu-Jamal, on death row for killing a Philadelphia police officer.
(AP, 8/13/01)
2000 Aug 13, It was reported
that physicist Humphrey Maris of Brown Univ. had reported findings
in June to the Quantum Fluids and Solids Conference that challenged
the indivisibility of electrons.
(SFEC, 8/13/00, p.A1)
2000 Aug 13, In Kashmir 16
people were killed and dozens injured in explosions and gun battles
across the province. 2 land mines killed 6 soldiers and 10 rebels
died in battles with government troops.
(SFC, 8/14/00, p.A13)(SFC, 8/15/00, p.A14)
2000 Aug 13, Over 2,000 Somali
leaders gathered in Djibouti to form a central government with a new
225-member parliament.
(SFC, 8/14/00, p.A1)
2000 Aug 13, Pres. Chavez of
Venezuela held talks in Libya with Moammar Khadafy and proceeded to
Nigeria to meet Pres. Obasanjo.
(SFC, 8/14/00, p.A14)
2001 Aug 13, It was reported
that the US state-prison population had declined in 2000 for the 1st
time since 1972.
(WSJ, 8/13/01, p.A1)
2001 Aug 13, Elizabeth Cavanna
Harrison (aka Betsy Allen or Elizabeth Headley), American romance
writer, died in France at age 92. Her over 80 romances included
"Going on Sixteen" (1945), and "Spice Island Mystery" 1970.
(SFC, 8/14/01, p.A18)
2001 Aug 13, In southeast
Chechnya rebels seized the village of Benoi-Yurt. Pro-Moscow
administrators were reported killed.
(SFC, 8/14/01, p.A7)
2001 Aug 13, Japanese PM
Junichiro Koizumi tried to ease the anger of Asian neighbors by
visiting a controversial war shrine two days before the actual
anniversary of Japan's World War II surrender.
(SFC, 8/14/01, p.A1)(AP, 8/13/02)
2001 Aug 13, In Macedonia a
peace deal was signed by rival leaders of the 2 main ethnic groups
and paved the way for NATO troops to arrive and disarm ethnic
Albanian rebels. Representatives of the EU, USA and NATO helped
Macedonian politicians produce a plan for peace at Lake Ohrid called
the Ohrid agreement.
(http://tinyurl.com/y8j2yh)(AP, 8/13/02)(Econ,
10/21/06, p.62)
2002 Aug 13, President Bush
hosted a half-day economic forum at Baylor University in Waco,
Texas, where he assured Americans that his administration had a
steady hand on the economy.
(AP, 8/13/03)
2002 Aug 13, American Airlines
said it would eliminate 7,000 and cut flights.
(AP, 8/13/03)
2002 Aug 13, Angola reported
the capture of Augustin Bizimungu, a key figure in the 1994
Rwandan genocide.
(SFC, 8/14/02, p.A13)
2002 Aug 13, Deaths from
flooding in Bangladesh (157), India (265) and Nepal (422) and
reached at least 874.
(SFC, 8/13/02, p.A15)
2002 Aug 13, In Chechnya
explosions rocked a bus in Grozny and Shali, killing at least five
people and wounding several others.
(AP, 8/13/02)
2002 Aug 13, Vltava River
floodwaters poured into a historic part of Prague, despite the
frantic efforts of rescue workers to save the ancient Czech capital
from rising river levels, which have forced tens of thousands to
flee.
(Reuters, 8/13/02)(AP, 8/13/02)
2002 Aug 13, In India
separatist guerrillas ambushed a truck in Meghalaya state and killed
at least 15 people.
(SFC, 8/13/02, p.A13)
2002 Aug 13, In Nigeria the
lower house called for the resignation of Pres. Obasanjo.
(WSJ, 8/14/02, p.A10)
2002 Aug 13, Turkmenistan's
Pres. Saparmurat Niyazov issued a decree that extends adolescence
until age 25 and postpones old age until 85. His edict divides life
into 12-year cycles. Childhood lasts until age 12. Next comes
adolescence which will now last to age 25. Turkmen aged between 25
and 37 are considered youthful, while those aged between 27 and 49
years are mature. The next 12-year cycles are divided into periods
labeled as prophetic, inspirational and wise.
(AP, 8/13/02)
2003 Aug 13, Arnold
Schwarzenegger, candidate for governor of California, named Warren
Buffet as his economic adviser. 135 candidates were certified.
(WSJ, 8/14/03, p.A1)
2003 Aug 13, Florida's
legislature approved a bill that capped most medical malpractice
damage awards at $500,000.
(WSJ, 8/14/03, p.A1)
2003 Aug 13, In southern
Afghanistan a bomb ripped through a bus in Lashkargah, killing 15
people, including six children. Officials blamed al-Qaida and
remnants of the Taliban militia for the bombing, the deadliest in
nearly a year. Heavy fighting erupted between government soldiers
and Taliban remnants. 43 deaths were reported in the fighting.
(AP, 8/13/03)(AP, 8/14/03)
2003 Aug 13, Ontario health
officials reported that a family doctor had become the 44th person
to die from SARS in Toronto.
(AP, 8/14/03)
2003 Aug 13, Chinese
researchers reported that they had created hybrid embryos of human
and rabbit DNA as a source for stem cells.
(SFC, 8/14/03, p.A3)
2003 Aug 13, Iraq began pumping
crude oil from its northern oil fields for the first time since the
start of the war.
(AP, 8/13/04)
2003 Aug 13, In Iraq British
Private Jason Smith (32) died of heat stroke as the local
temperature passed the limits of available thermometers. An inquest
in 2007 ruled that troops were not adequately advised on how to cope
with high temperatures. In 2009 the British Ministry of Defense
upheld an earlier judgment that the had breached Smith’s right to
life.
(Econ, 5/23/09,
p.58)(www.operations.mod.uk/telic/smith.htm)
2003 Aug 13, Libya agreed to
set up a $2.7 billion fund for families of 270 people killed in the
1988 Pan Am bombing.
(AP, 8/13/04)
2003 Aug 13, Scientists are
blaming global warming for falling fish harvests in Africa's Lake
Tanganyika, threatening the diets of several poor nations.
(AP, 8/13/03)
2004 Aug 13, Hurricane Charley
roared across Cuba, ripping apart roofs, downing power lines and
yanking up huge palm trees on its way to Florida. Charley hit
Florida with winds at 145mph. It flattened oceanfront homes, killed
23 people and left thousands more homeless.
(AP, 8/13/04)(AP, 8/14/04)(AP, 8/14/04)(AP,
8/16/04)(WSJ, 8/20/04, p.A1)
2004 Aug 13, Julia Child (91),
the grande dame of US television cooking shows and books, died in
Santa Barbara, Ca. During WWII she spent 3 years working for the
Office of Strategic Services (OSS). In 2006 Her memoir “My Life in
France,” co-written with Alex Prud’homme, was published. In 1997
Noel Riley Fitch authored “”Appetite for Life: The Biography of
Julia Child.”
(Reuters, 8/13/04)(Econ, 8/28/04, p.78)(SSFC,
4/2/06, p.M1)(WSJ, 8/19/08, p.D7)
2004 Aug 13, Australia's
parliament approved a free trade pact with the United States.
(AP, 8/13/04)
2004 Aug 13, The FNL, a
Burundian Hutu rebel faction, raided Gatumba camp, a UN refugee camp
in western Burundi, shooting and hacking to death 160 people. The
camp sheltered Congolese ethnic Tutsi refugees, known as the
Banyamulenge.
(AP, 8/14/04)(Econ, 8/21/04, p.37)(Econ, 9/11/04,
p.44)
2004 Aug 13, In Colombia 3
outlawed paramilitary factions agreed to disarm immediately.
(AP, 8/13/04)
2004 Aug 13, Typhoon Rananim
weakened to a tropical storm. The death toll from Rananim rose to
115, after it slammed into the China's southeastern coast.
(AP, 8/13/04)
2004 Aug 13, The Olympics
opened In Athens. A sea of athletes under 202 flags parted to let a
Greek windsurfing champion jog across the stadium and climb to the
Olympic cauldron, which dipped on its slender 102-foot arm to
receive the spark from his torch. Women’s wrestling debuted as an
Olympic sport.
(AP, 8/14/04)(NG, 8/04, Geographica)
2004 Aug 13, In Calcutta a man
convicted of raping and killing a schoolgirl was executed, becoming
the first person hanged for their crimes in India in nearly a
decade. Apartment guard Dhananjoy Chatterjee (42) was executed for
the 1990 rape and murder of a teenage schoolgirl.
(AP, 8/14/04)
2004 Aug 13, Iraqi officials
and aides to a radical Shiite cleric negotiated to end fighting that
has raged in the holy city of Najaf for 9 days, after American
forces suspended an offensive against Muqtada al-Sadr's militia.
(AP, 8/13/04)
2004 Aug 13, An Islamic Web
site posted still pictures that purportedly show Iraqi militants
beheading an Egyptian man they claim was spying for the U.S.
military.
(AP, 8/13/04)
2004 Aug 13, Lebanon criticized
French efforts to ban the militant group Hezbollah's television
station, saying the channel may be anti-Israeli but it is not
anti-Semitic.
(AP, 8/14/04)
2004 Aug 13, In the Maldives
3,000 people gathered outside the police headquarters Friday
demanding the release of prisoners. The government arrested 185
people, including a former minister and a one-time attorney general.
(AP, 8/15/04)
2004 Aug 13, A Palestinian
gunman killed an Israeli security guard near a Jewish West Bank
settlement before being slain himself.
(AP, 8/13/04)
2004 Aug 13, A southern
Philippines court sentenced 17 members of the al-Qaida-linked Abu
Sayyaf militant group to death for kidnapping nurses from a hospital
there three years ago.
(AP, 8/13/04)
2004 Aug 13, The first elements
of a 300-strong African Union protection force left Kigali, Rwanda,
for Sudan's troubled region of Darfur, Sudan.
(AP, 8/14/04)
2005 Aug 13, The Pentagon said
for the second time since the Iraq war began, it was replacing body
armor for US troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, citing a need for
better protection.
(AP, 8/13/06)
2005 Aug 13, Khosraw Basheri
(23) claimed a historic title of Mr. Afghanistan in the country’s
first-ever national competition to select a top bodybuilder.
(AP, 8/14/05)
2005 Aug 13, US Marines and
Afghan troops launched an offensive to take a remote mountain valley
from insurgents tied to the deadliest blow on American forces since
the Taliban regime was ousted nearly four years ago.
(AP, 8/14/05)
2005 Aug 13, James Petersen
(51), a Univ. of Vermont anthropology professor on a research trip
to Brazil, was killed while he was being robbed in Iranduba near the
Amazon River. Three suspects were taken into custody.
(AP, 8/14/05)
2005 Aug 13, Britain's
tax-funded National Health Service is unsustainable and should be
scrapped, the country's most senior doctor said, but the country's
largest health union warned that any change to the NHS' founding
principles would lead to a "public outcry".
(AP, 8/13/05)
2005 Aug 13, A chunk of ice
bigger than the area of Manhattan broke from the Ayles Ice Shelf at
Ellesmere Island in Canada's far north. Scientists later said that
it could wreak havoc if it starts to float westward toward
oil-drilling regions and shipping lanes in 2007.
(AP, 12/29/06)
2005 Aug 13, It was reported
that Delhi’s water board (DJB) planned a $246 million water project
with $140 million financed by the World Bank. As in many Indian
cities 16 million people in Delhi suffered chronic water shortages.
(Econ, 8/13/05, p.53)
2005 Aug 13, The death toll in
India from water-borne diseases following floods in Bombay and
surrounding areas two weeks ago rose to at least 125.
(AP, 8/13/05)
2005 Aug 13, In Indian Kashmir
9 people died in fresh fighting. Troops intensified search
operations ahead of India's Aug 15 Independence Day, which
separatists observe as a "black day".
(AFP, 8/14/05)
2005 Aug 13, In Iran at least
17 people were reported killed over the last 3 weeks and many more
wounded during anti-government protests in the western province of
Kurdistan.
(AP, 8/13/05)(SSFC, 8/14/05, p.A15)
2005 Aug 13, In Iraq 3 soldiers
were killed and one other wounded in a roadside bombing near Tuz
Khormato, 95 miles north of Baghdad. Another soldier was killed at
another roadside bombing.
(AP, 8/14/05)
2005 Aug 13, An Italian
newspaper reported that more than 100 Italian troops whose tours in
southern Iraq have ended are not being replaced, apparently marking
the beginning of the country's withdrawal from Iraq ahead of
schedule.
(AP, 8/14/05)
2005 Aug 13, A small plane
carrying tourists crashed in southern Italy, killing at least two
people.
(AP, 8/14/05)
2005 Aug 13, For the first time
in a decade, the founders and top political leaders of Hamas
gathered on the same stage, vowing to go on fighting Israel and
claiming victory for its impending withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
(AP, 8/13/05)
2005 Aug 13, David Lange
(b.1942), former New Zealand prime minister (1984-1989), died in
Auckland. He was the architect of new Zealand’s anti-nuclear policy.
(WSJ, 8/15/05, p.A1)(http://tinyurl.com/bsgp2)
2005 Aug 13, Fernando Olivera,
Peru's new foreign minister, said he was resigning his post, just
two days after the uproar from his appointment sparked a major
shake-up of President Alejandro Toledo's Cabinet.
(AP, 8/14/05)
2005 Aug 13, Fires at a rate of
400 per day began breaking out in Portugal.
(Econ, 8/27/05, p.42)
2005 Aug 13, Rival militias in
arid southwestern Somalia battled for control over a village with
pastures and wells. Twelve combatants died, and hundreds of
residents fled.
(AP, 8/13/05)
2005 Aug 13, Sri Lanka declared
a state of emergency and deployed troops to search for suspects
Saturday after the assassination of the foreign minister.
(AP, 8/13/05)
2006 Aug 13, In Michigan City,
Indiana, fire swept through a two-story house, killing at least six
people. An unknown number of others were missing. It was not clear
whether they had left the scene or were still inside the home.
(AP, 8/13/06)
2006 Aug 13, In Afghanistan at
least 5 Afghan troops and 25 militants were killed.
(WSJ, 8/14/06, p.A1)
2006 Aug 13, The 16th
International AIDS conference opened in Toronto with some 24,000
people in attendance.
(SSFC, 8/13/06, p.A15)(Econ, 8/19/06, p.65)
2006 Aug 13, The death toll
from Typhoon Saomai, the strongest storm to hit China in 50 years,
rose to 114 as more evacuees died when buildings used as shelters
collapsed. China’s state media reported About 17 million people in
southwest China don't have access to clean drinking water due to
sustained drought.
(AP, 8/13/06)(Reuters, 8/13/06)
2006 Aug 13, On his 80th
birthday, Fidel Castro cautioned Cubans that he faced a long
recovery from surgery and advised them to prepare for "adverse
news," but he urged them to stay optimistic.
(AP, 8/13/06)
2006 Aug 13, Iraq's health
minister, who is aligned to a powerful Shiite militia, claimed that
US forces arrested seven of his personal guards in a surprise
pre-dawn raid on his office. 4 vehicle bombs killed 63 Iraqis and
wounded 140 in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad.
(AP, 8/13/06)(AP, 8/14/06)(SFC, 8/16/06, p.A6)
2006 Aug 13, After a stormy
debate, Israel's Cabinet approved a Mideast cease-fire, agreeing to
silence the army's guns on Aug 14 at 8AM. The Israeli military
embarked on a last-minute push to devastate Hezbollah guerrillas,
rocketing south Beirut with at least 20 missiles. Israeli warplanes
fired missiles into gasoline stations in the southern port city of
Tyre, killing at least 12 people in those and other attacks.
Hezbollah fired more than 150 rockets at northern Israel, killing an
Israeli man. Two Israeli air raids on a village in Lebanon's eastern
Bekaa Valley killed at least seven people and wounded nearly two
dozen.
(AP, 8/13/06)
2006 Aug 13, In Mexico a
recount confirmed Calderon as the next president. Lopez Obrador
vowed to mount new legal challenges.
(WSJ, 8/14/06, p.A1)
2006 Aug 13, Sri Lankan troops
and Tamil Tiger rebels fought ground battles and artillery duels as
the weekend death toll rose to 186. The rebels denied they were
ready to talk peace. At least 15 people died in fighting around the
St. Philip Neri Church in Allaiiddy, a predominantly Tamil village
located on an island just west of the Jaffna Peninsula. The island,
like the peninsula, is held by the government.
(AFP, 8/13/06)(AP, 8/14/06)
2006 Aug 13, In Turkey the PKK
killed 2 policemen in a bomb attack near Tunceli.
(Econ, 9/2/06, p.48)
2006 Aug 13, In Venezuela
prison officials discovered that Carlos Ortega, an anti-Chavez union
leader, had slipped out of the Ramo Verde prison west of Caracas,
where he was serving a 16-year sentence for civil rebellion. Three
convicted military officers also escaped.
(AP, 8/14/06)
2007 Aug 13, Karl Rove, the
White House deputy chief of staff, announced his retirement
effective at the end of the month.
(WSJ, 8/14/07, p.A1)
2007 Aug 13, Brooke Astor
(b.1902), philanthropist, died at her Holy Hill estate in NY.
(SFC, 8/13/07, p.B5)(Econ, 8/25/07, p.79)
2007 Aug 13, Phil Rizzuto (89),
Hall of Fame Yankees shortstop and broadcaster died in West Orange,
N.J.
(AP, 8/13/08)
2007 Aug 13, In Afghanistan 2
women among the 23 South Koreans kidnapped by the Taliban in
mid-July were freed on a rural roadside and then driven to a US
base. A German held hostage said in a telephone conversation
orchestrated by his captors that he was in ill health and the
Taliban had threatened him with death. In southern Afghanistan 6
civilians were killed when a rocket-propelled grenade blew up their
vehicle when Taliban militia attacked a military convoy. A separate
clash between troops and insurgents in Ghazni province, further
north, left four Taliban dead.
(AP, 8/13/07)(AP, 8/14/07)
2007 Aug 13, According to new
data China's inflation rate accelerated to the highest monthly rate
in a decade, driven by a 15.4% surge in food prices over the
year-earlier period. Officials said China is still freeing people,
including children, forced to work as slaves in illegal brick
factories, two months after the scandal involving the brick yards
was exposed. A bridge under construction in the central Hunan city
of Fenghuang collapsed as workers removed scaffolding from its
facade, killing 64 people.
(AP, 8/13/07)(AP, 8/14/07)(AP, 8/13/08)
2007 Aug 13, A boat carrying
illegal immigrants capsized off France's Indian Ocean island of
Mayotte, killing at least 17 people, eight of them children. The
boat carrying 38 people was en route from the Comoros Islands about
125 miles to the northwest when it overturned while trying to evade
the French coast guard.
(AP, 8/14/07)
2007 Aug 13, US troops in Iraq
launched a major assault against Al-Qaeda-linked militants and
alleged Iranian-aided extremist groups as a Sunni leader accused
Iran of plotting genocide against his people. The US military also
said it had arrested a top "financier" of Iraqi extremist groups
believed to be supported by Tehran’s Quds Force in a Baghdad raid. 3
US soldiers were killed in an explosion near their vehicle in
northwestern Ninevah province. Another died of wounds sustained
during combat operations in western Baghdad.
(AFP, 8/13/07)(AP, 8/14/07)
2007 Aug 13, In Malaysia 20
people died after an express bus overturned on the main highway,
tearing off the vehicle's roof and flinging seats into the air in
what officials said was the country's worst traffic disaster. The
toll rose to 22 after 2 injured people died later.
(AP, 8/13/07)(AP, 8/20/07)
2007 Aug 13, Armed pirates
attacked a Malaysian barge in the Malacca Strait and kidnapped 2
Indonesian crew, in the first high sea abduction in the busy
waterway in more than 2 years.
(AP, 8/14/07)
2007 Aug 13, AkzoNobel, a Dutch
chemicals group under Hans Wijers, made a cash offer for the British
firm ICI (Imperial Chemical Industries) under John McAdam for $16
billion. The deal turned Akzo into the world’s biggest maker of
paints.
(Econ, 10/04/08,
p.72)(www.ici.com/main/cms/cmRender.asp?i=2162)
2007 Aug 13, A monsoon storm
unleashed landslides and collapsed houses in a village in Pakistan's
mountainous northwest, killing 22 people.
(AP, 8/13/07)
2007 Aug 13, Hamas militiamen
beat protesters with clubs and rifle butts to try to stop a
demonstration by political opponents in the Gaza Strip, but hundreds
chanting "We want freedom" defied the ban.
(AP, 8/13/07)
2007 Aug 13, Poland's fractious
governing coalition came to an end when the country's president
dismissed four Cabinet ministers from two junior partners, clearing
the way for an early election expected this fall.
(AP, 8/13/07)
2007 Aug 13, A bomb explosion
threw the Neva Express train, which was en route from Moscow to St.
Petersburg, off the tracks and injuring 60 people. Suspicion fell on
representatives of extremist nationalist organizations.
(AP, 8/14/07)(AP, 8/15/07)
2007 Aug 13, In South Korea a
family of five fell to their deaths from a Ferris wheel after two
cars collided at an amusement park in the southern city of Busan.
(AP, 8/13/07)
2007 Aug 13, In central Vietnam
the death toll from a tropical storm that caused widespread flooding
hit 70 after five more bodies were recovered, while six people were
still missing and feared dead.
(AP, 8/13/07)
2008 Aug 13, In California
prison receiver Clark Kelso asked a federal judge to seize $8
billion from the state’s treasury over the next 5 years to build 7
medical facilities for inmates throughout the state.
(SFC, 8/14/08, p.A1)
2008 Aug 13, In Little Rock,
Ark., Timothy Dale Johnson (50), described as a loner, drove more
than 30 miles to Arkansas' Democratic Party headquarters and fatally
shot its chairman, Bill Gwatney, hours after losing his job. Johnson
was later shot dead by officers.
(AP, 8/14/08)
2008 Aug 13, Michael Phelps
swam into history as the winningest Olympic athlete ever with his
10th and 11th career gold medals, and 5 world records in 5 events at
the Beijing Games.
(AP, 8/13/08)
2008 Aug 13, It was reported
that at least 150 fuel tanks, managed by the US Federal Emergency
management Agency (FEMA), needed inspection for leaks. It was
estimated that some 500,000 fuel storage tanks, both private and
publicly owned, were leaking.
(SFC, 8/13/08, p.A4)
2008 Aug 13, It was reported
that the red lionfish, a tropical native of the Indian and Pacific
oceans, was rapidly multiplying in the Caribbean. The maroon-striped
marauder with venomous spikes was swallowing native species,
stinging divers and generally wreaking havoc on the ecologically
delicate region.
(SFC, 8/14/08,
p.A6)(www.sanluisobispo.com/health/story/438289.html)
2008 Aug 13, Jack Weil (107),
patriarch of western clothing, died. He created the western style
shirt which sold after 1946 through his Denver-based company
Rockmount Ranch Wear.
(Econ, 8/30/08, p.82)
2008 Aug 13, Stuart Cary Welch
(b.1928), American teacher and collector of Indian and Islamic art,
died while traveling in Japan.
(Econ, 4/9/11,
p.94)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuart_Cary_Welch)
2008 Aug 13, In Afghanistan
militants brandishing assault rifles ambushed a US relief
organization's vehicle, killing three aid workers and their Afghan
driver and leaving their white SUV riddled with hundreds of bullets.
The three women killed in Logar province worked for the New
York-based International Rescue Committee (IRC). In southern
Afghanistan militants began launching attacks on a coalition patrol.
Over 3 dozen militants were killed in the fighting.
(AP, 8/13/08)(SFC, 8/16/08, p.A6)
2008 Aug 13, Argentine senators
approved a bill declaring obesity and other eating disorders
diseases covered by the nation's public and private health care
programs.
(AP, 8/13/08)
2008 Aug 13, Bolivia and Libya
agreed to establish diplomatic relations and join efforts to develop
the nations' energy resources.
(AP, 8/13/08)
2008 Aug 13, Scientists from
Britain’s University of Reading unveiled Gordon, a neuron-powered
machine, whose grey matter was stitched together from cultured rat
neurons.
(AFP, 8/13/08)
2008 Aug 13, A Chinese team
beat the United States and clinched China's first women's team
Olympic gold in gymnastics, amid allegations that at least one
member, He Kexin, of the Chinese team was under age.
(AP, 8/14/08)
2008 Aug 13, Henri Cartan
(b.1904), French mathematician, died in Paris. In 1956 he and Samuel
Eilenberg wrote a fundamental textbook on homological algebra.
(SFC, 8/25/08, p.B3)
2008 Aug 13, Russian tanks
rolled into the crossroads city of Gori then thrust deep into
Georgian territory, violating the truce designed to end the six-day
war. Georgia said that 175 Georgians had died in five days of air
and ground attacks that left homes in smoldering ruins. EU foreign
ministers agreed in principle to send monitors to supervise a
French-brokered ceasefire between Russia and Georgia in the
breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia. Finance Minister Alexei
Kudrin said Russia will spend at least $400 million in 2008 on
restoring South Ossetia's battered capital Tskhinvali.
(AP, 8/13/08)(Reuters, 8/13/08)
2008 Aug 13, The Indian army
said that it was investigating UN allegations its troops had engaged
in sexual abuse while on peacekeeping duties in the Democratic
Republic of Congo. A five-story building in a crowded residential
neighborhood of Mumbai, India's main financial city, collapsed after
monsoon rains, killing at least 20 people.
(AP, 8/13/08)
2008 Aug 13, In northwest Iran
three Kurdish separatists and one Iranian soldier were killed in a
shootout.
(AP, 8/14/08)
2008 Aug 13, A suicide truck
bomber targeted the mayor of a town near the oil-rich city of
Kirkuk, while another car bomb struck civilians elsewhere in
northern Iraq. A bomb in a parked car struck a local market in the
Qayara area south of the northern city of Mosul, killing at least
two people and wounding five.
(AP, 8/13/08)
2008 Aug 13, Riots erupted
across Indian-controlled Kashmir as Muslims mourned 15 people killed
in a day of bloody violence, as the protests spread to other parts
of India. Indian police say they have issued orders to shoot
protesters defying a curfew in the town of Kishtwar in
Indian-controlled Kashmir.
(AP, 8/13/08)
2008 Aug 13, In northern
Lebanese city a bomb ripped through a bus during morning rush hour
in Tripoli, killing 18 soldiers and civilians, raising fears that an
al-Qaida-inspired militant group is stepping up revenge attacks
against the military.
(AP, 8/13/08)
2008 Aug 13, In Mexico a
spokesman for the Attorney General's Office said 6 federal agents
have been arrested on suspicion of passing information to a group of
powerful drug lords.
(AP, 8/14/08)
2008 Aug 13, Nigerian officials
said flocks of quelea birds have invaded farmlands in northern Borno
state, destroying crops that were due for harvest in two months'
time.
(AFP, 8/13/08)
2008 Aug 13, In Lahore,
Pakistan, a bomber struck outside a mosque just before midnight as
Pakistanis poured into the streets to celebrate the nation's 61st
anniversary of its independence from Britain. 8 people were killed
and 18 wounded.
(AP, 8/14/08)
2008 Aug 13, South African
President Thabo Mbeki left Zimbabwe after failing to secure a
power-sharing deal between its main rivals during marathon talks,
adding to doubts over chances of an agreement.
(Reuters, 8/13/08)
2008 Aug 13, In Sri Lanka a
wave of battles across the front lines in the 25-year-old civil war
killed 14 ethnic Tamil rebels and two government soldiers.
(AP, 8/14/08)
2009 Aug 13, Legendary
guitarist and inventor Les Paul (94), who pioneered the design of
solid body Gibson electric guitars that bore his name, died at a New
York hospital of complications from pneumonia. Paul was born as
Lester William Polsfuss in Waukesha, Wisconsin, on June 9, 1915. He
created one of the first solid-body electric guitars in 1941, but it
took nearly 10 years before he, working with Gibson Guitar Corp.,
perfected it.
(Reuters, 8/13/09)
2009 Aug 13, Australian police
said a 20-year-old Australian man has been charged with infecting
more than 3,000 computers around the world with a virus designed to
capture banking and credit card data.
(AP, 8/13/09)
2009 Aug 13, It was reported
that millions of sockeye salmon have disappeared mysteriously from
the Fraser river on Canada's Pacific Coast. It was once known as the
world's most fertile spawning ground for sockeye. Up to 10.6 million
bright-red sockeye salmon were expected to return to spawn this
summer. The latest estimates say fewer than 1 million have returned.
The Canadian government has closed the river to commercial and
recreational sockeye fishing for the third straight year, hitting
the livelihood of nearby Indian reserves.
(Reuters, 8/13/09)
2009 Aug 13, In Chechnya a gun
battle between police an 2 suspected militants left the 2 militants
dead as well as 4 police officers.
(SFC, 8/15/09, p.A3)
2009 Aug 13, Chinese officials
retreated from a plan to install anti-pornography software on every
computer sold, but said Internet cafes, schools and other public
places must use the program.
(SFC, 8/14/09, p.A2)
2009 Aug 13, In Dagestan some
10 men opened fire on a police post in Buinaksk, killing 4 officers.
The gunmen then entered a sauna complex nearby and killed 7 women
working there.
(SFC, 8/15/09, p.A3)
2009 Aug 13, Ecuador’s Citizen
Participation Minister Doris Soliz called for the creation of local
citizen committees to defend the government and its "revolution,"
sparking criticism that the president aims to control opponents in a
system reminiscent of Cuba or Venezuela.
(AP, 8/13/09)
2009 Aug 13, The EU said it was
extending its sanctions on Myanmar to cover members of the judiciary
responsible for the verdict in the trial of opposition leader Aung
San Suu Kyi.
(Reuters, 8/13/09)
2009 Aug 13, In India thousands
of schools, colleges and cinemas shut down in Mumbai to combat the
spread of swine flu as the government struggled to contain public
anxiety.
(AFP, 8/13/09)
2009 Aug 13, In Iran a group of
former reformist lawmakers appealed to a powerful clerical body to
investigate Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's qualification to
rule in an unprecedented challenge to the country's most powerful
man over the postelection crackdown.
(AP, 8/14/09)
2009 Aug 13, In Iraq a gunfight
erupted during an attempted bank heist in Baghdad, as a court
official announced that five members of Iraq's presidential guard
will go on trial later this month for their alleged roles in the
deadly July 28 robbery of Baghdad’s Rafidain Bank. In the northwest
city of Sinjar 2 suicide bombers blew themselves up at a popular
cafe killing 21 people and wounding 30 others.
(AP, 8/13/09)(SFC, 8/14/09, p.A2)
2009 Aug 13, In Japan a woman
(23) crashed her moped when it hit a rope that was stretched across
the road. She suffered a fractured skull after being thrown from her
bike near western Tokyo's US Yokota Air Base. Police later arrested
four children, three boys and one girl aged between 15 and 18, of US
military personnel on suspicion of attempted murder.
(AFP, 12/5/09)
2009 Aug 13, In Liberia US
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hailed the country’s post-war
transition to democracy and threw support behind President Ellen
Johnson Sirleaf, who has faced calls to resign because she helped
fund a warlord.
(AFP, 8/13/09)
2009 Aug 13, In Mexico state
security officials banned police from setting up sobriety
checkpoints in the northern city of Monterrey because they say the
officers routinely use them to extort motorists. Bishop Eduardo
Patino Leal was detained in the town of Huatusco, Veracruz state,
lost control of his vehicle and ran over 6 Indian street vendors,
killing one.
(AP, 8/14/09)
2009 Aug 13, North Korea freed
Yu Seong-Jin (44), a South Korean worker it had detained since
March, raising hopes of better cross-border relations after 18
months of bitter hostility from the communist state.
(AFP, 8/13/09)
2009 Aug 13, In northwest
Pakistan helicopter gunships pummeled the bases of Taliban commander
Hakimullah Mehsud, killing at least 12 insurgents as government
forces ratcheted up pressure on the militants following their top
leader's reported death. 2 intelligence officials said a suicide
bomber killed pro-government lashkar leader Malik Khadeen, who was
instrumental in fighting Uzbek militants operating with the Taliban
in South Waziristan. In the Bajur tribal area authorities found the
bodies of two anti-Taliban lashkar leaders near a security
checkpoint. The two lashkar commanders, Malik Sehar Gul and Malik
Jalindhar, had been kidnapped the night before.
(AP, 8/13/09)
2009 Aug 13, Scottish officials
said they were considering early release for the Lockerbie bomber,
leading to sharp debate among victims' relatives in the US and
Britain over whether he should be allowed to return home to Libya.
British media said Abdel Baset Ali al-Megrahi could soon be freed on
compassionate grounds because he is terminally ill with cancer.
(AP, 8/13/09)
2009 Aug 13, The crew of two
Egyptian fishing vessels overpowered Somali pirates after being held
hostage for four months and, with machetes and tools, killed at
least two pirates before sailing to freedom. The fight took place
near the coastal town of Las Qorey off the Gulf of Aden. The pirates
had demanded a ransom of $1.5 million.
(AP, 8/14/09)
2009 Aug 13, Taiwan deployed
thousands of extra troops as it faced growing public anger and
pressure to rescue people trapped by landslides. The confirmed death
toll from the destruction wreaked by the typhoon rose to at least
116.
(AFP, 8/13/09)
2009 Aug 13, In Venezuela
attackers injured 12 of the journalists as they passed out leaflets
warning against a new education law that critics fear could lead to
indoctrination in schools. Their fliers warned against a provision
for sanctions against reports that "produce terror" among children
or incite hate. The government condemned the violence and ordered an
investigation.
(AP, 8/15/09)
2009 Aug 13, Yemeni warplanes
bombed a northern province bordering Saudi Arabia for a second
straight day, in an ongoing offensive that has brought casualties
and pushed the area close to an all-out war.
(AP, 8/13/09)
2010 Aug 13, President Barack
Obama signed a $600 million bill to put more agents and equipment
along the Mexican border. The new law nearly doubled fees on visas
for skilled workers brought in by companies whose employees are more
than 50 percent foreign, a move that largely affects India's IT and
outsourcing industries.
(AP, 8/13/10)(AFP, 8/14/10)
2010 Aug 13, Pres. Obama
forcefully endorsed building a mosque near ground zero, saying the
country’s founding principles demand no less.
(SFC, 8/14/10, p.A4)
2010 Aug 13, The US Federal
Deposit Insurance Corp. took over the Palos Bank and Trust Co. based
in Palos Heights, Illinois. It was the 110th US bank to go under
this year.
(SSFC, 8/15/10, p.D3)
2010 Aug 13, Geral Rosen (71),
American novelist, died in SF. His 7 books included “Blues for a
Dying Nation” (1972) and his autobiography “Cold Eye, Warm Heart”
(2009).
(SFC, 8/25/10, p.C8)
2010 Aug 13, In southern
Afghanistan a member of the international coalition died after an
insurgent attack. A British soldier was also killed by small-arms
fire in the Sangin district of Helmand province. Three small
children were killed and their mother was wounded when a civilian
house was hit by an insurgent rocket in Khost city. Two private
security guards and two militants were killed in a gunbattle in the
Karukh district of Herat province, 12 other guards were wounded in
the skirmish. 3 Afghan civilians were killed and another was wounded
by insurgents in three separate incidents in Kandahar province.
(AP, 8/13/10)(AP, 8/14/10)
2010 Aug 13, In Australia 2 men
were gunned down in a popular Melbourne bar area, shortly after the
killing of a known crime figure sparked fears of a new gang war in
the city's notorious underworld.
(AFP, 8/13/10)
2010 Aug 13, A Belgian man died
from a drug-resistant "superbug" originating in South Asia, the
first reported death from the bacteria. The superbug -- a bacterial
gene called New Delhi metallo-lactamase-1 (NDM-1) -- was first
identified last year in a Swedish patient admitted to hospital in
India.
(AFP, 8/13/10)
2010 Aug 13, The Bosnia's war
crimes court confirmed charges of genocide for 4 former Bosnian Serb
army soldiers over the killing of at least 800 Bosnian Muslims from
Srebrenica in July, 1995. Franc Kos, Stanko Kojic, Vlastimir Golijan
and Zoran Goronja all served with the Bosnian Serb army's 10th
commando unit.
(Reuters, 8/13/10)(AP, 8/13/10)
2010 Aug 13, In western Canada
at least 450 Sri Lankan asylum seekers, on board the MV Sun Sea
cargo ship, arrived at a naval base escorted by a naval frigate and
police helicopters.
(Reuters, 8/13/10)(AP, 8/15/10)
2010 Aug 13, In northwest China
new landslides killed 24 people and left 24 missing in Gansu
province as downpours threatened more devastation and made rescue
work nearly impossible in a region where more than 1,100 people have
died.
(AP, 8/13/10)
2010 Aug 13, In Egypt a
gunbattle between Eritrean migrants and Bedouin traffickers
demanding more money to take them to Israel left at least four
people in the Sinai Desert. 2 others were shot dead by Egyptian
police barring them from illegally crossing the border. A woman died
of her injuries on Aug 15. Police later said as many as 10 migrants
were killed and that dozens more could be lost in the desert.
(AP, 8/14/10)(Reuters, 8/15/10)(AP, 8/15/10)
2010 Aug 13, Guatemalan police
arrested the former head of the national prison system, accusing him
of orchestrating the executions of seven prisoners during a 2006
government raid on an infamous jail. Alejandro Giammattei, in charge
of penitentiaries during the previous administration of President
Oscar Berger, turned himself over to authorities after trying to
seek asylum in the Honduran Embassy this week.
(Reuters, 8/14/10)
2010 Aug 13, In Iran PJAK
Kurdish rebels killed a commander of the elite Revolutionary Guards
and two Islamist militiamen in clashes near northwestern Orumieh
city.
(AP, 8/14/10)
2010 Aug 13, In Kashmir tens of
thousands staged angry street demonstrations after government forces
killed four people and injured 31 others during the latest unrest
against Indian rule in the disputed Himalayan region.
(AP, 8/13/10)
2010 Aug 13, In Sri Lanka a
military court convicted former Sri Lankan army chief and
presidential candidate Gen. Sarath Fonseka of involvement in
politics while in service and stripped him of his rank and military
honors.
(AP, 8/13/10)
2010 Aug 13, Turkish officials
said police have raided a house used by people suspected of digging
illegally for antiquities and discovered two tunnels leading to an
underground tomb that housed an ancient marble coffin and frescoes.
The tomb was believed to be that of Hecatomnus, satrap of Caria
(391BC-377BC).
(AP,
8/13/10)(www.livius.org/he-hg/hecatomnids/hecatomnus.html)
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