Today in History - August 17
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682 Aug 17,
Leo II, later St. Leo, began his reign as Catholic Pope.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1498 Aug 17, French King Louis
XII made Cesare Borgia (1475-1507) the Duke of Valentinois. Borgia
resigned his position as cardinal, which had been bestowed on him at
age 18 by his father, Pope Alexander VI.
(Econ, 8/16/08,
p.16)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cesare_Borgia)
1590 Aug 17, John White, the
leader of 117 colonists sent in 1587 to Roanoke Island (North
Carolina) to establish a colony, returned from a trip to England to
find the settlement deserted. No trace of the settlers was ever
found.
(HN, 8/18/02)
1601 Aug 17, Pierre de Fermat
(d.1665), French mathematician, was born. [There is some dispute as
to his exact birthdate.]
(WSJ, 11/25/96, p.A16)(SFEC,12/797, BR p.5)(SC,
8/17/02)
1743 Aug 17, By the Treaty of
Abo, Sweden ceded southeast Finland to Russia, ending Sweden's
failed war with Russia.
(HN, 8/17/98)
1786 Aug 17, Davy Crockett,
American frontiersman and politician who died in the defense of the
Alamo, was born.
(HN, 8/17/98)
1787 Aug 17, Jews were granted
permission in Budapest, Hungary, to pray in groups.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1807 Aug 17, Robert Fulton’s
"North River Steam Boat" (popularly, if erroneously, known to this
day as the Clermont) began heading up New York’s Hudson River on its
successful round-trip to Albany. It was 125 feet (142-feet) long and
20 feet wide with side paddle wheels and a sheet iron boiler. He
averaged 5 mph for the 300-mile round trip.
(SFC, 6/20/98, p.F4)(WSJ, 9/21/01, p.A22)(AP,
8/17/07)
1812 Aug 17, Napoleon
Bonaparte's army defeated the Russians at the Battle of Smolensk
during the Russian retreat to Moscow.
(HN, 8/17/98)
1833 Aug 17, The first steam
ship to cross the Atlantic entirely on its own power, the Canadian
ship Royal William, began her journey from Nova Scotia to The Isle
of Wight.
(HN, 8/17/98)
1840 Aug 17, Wilfrid Scawen,
writer (Irish Land League), was born in Blunt, England.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1844 cAug 17, Menelik II, King
of Ethiopia (1896-1913), was born.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1846 Aug 17, US took Los
Angeles. [see Aug 13]
(SC, 8/17/02)
1850 Aug 17, Jose Francisco de
San Martin (b.1778), Argentine-born South American revolutionary
hero, died in France. In 2009 John Lynch authored “San Martin:
Argentine Soldier, American Hero.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_de_San_Mart%C3%ADn)(Econ,
4/25/09, p.87)
1858 Aug 17, The 1st bank in
Hawaii opened.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1859 Aug 17, Harry Colcord
crossed over the Niagara Falls while strapped to the back of French
tightrope walker Blondin.
(www.simpenguin.com/genealogy/blondin/charlesblondinbio.html)
1863 Aug 17, Federal batteries
and ships bombarded South Carolina’s Fort Sumter in Charleston
harbor during the Civil War, but the Confederates managed to hold on
despite several days of pounding.
(HN, 8/17/98)(AP, 8/17/08)
1869 Aug 17, Oxford beat
Harvard on the Thames River in the 1st international boat race.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1870 Aug 17, Frederick Russell,
developer of the 1st successful typhoid fever vaccine, was born.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1870 Aug 17, The 1st ascent of
Mt. Rainier in Washington state.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1870 Aug 17, Esther Morris was
named a justice of the peace in South Pass City, the first woman to
hold public office in the US.
(SFC, 8/18/98, p.A8)(SC, 8/17/02)
1876 Aug 17, Eric Drummond, 1st
Sec.-General of League of Nations (1919-33), was born.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1876 Aug 17, The opera
"Gotterdammerung" was produced at Bayreuth. [see Aug 13]
(SC, 8/17/02)
1877 Aug 17, Asaph Hall
discovered the Mars moon Phobos. Hall of the US Naval Observatory
discovered the moons around Mars and named them Deimos (anxiety) and
Phobos (fear), Homer’s names for the attendant’s of the god of war.
(SFC, 11/29/96, p.A16)(SFEC, 4/30/00, Z1 p.6)(SC,
8/17/02)
1877 Sep 17, Henry Fox Talbot,
English inventor of photography, died. In 1980 Gail Buckland
authored "Fox Talbot and the Invention of Photography."
(ON, 4/00, p.11)
1882 Aug 17, Samuel Goldwyn,
American movie mogul who helped start MGM (Metro Goldwyn Mayer), was
born as Schmuel Gelbfisz in Warsaw, Poland.
(HN, 8/17/00)
1887 Aug 17, Marcus Garvy
(d.1940), Black Nationalist and Jamaican leader who promoted the
departure of African-Americans back Africa, was born. He was active
in the US from 1916-1925 and advocated racial separation and
emigration of American Negroes to Africa. He was deported in 1925.
He was the founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association.
He also founded the Black Star Line, a steamship company owned and
operated by blacks to link black communities around the world.
(AHD, p.544)(Civilization, July-Aug, 1995, p.
36)(WSJ, 2/7/96, p.A-12)(HN, 8/17/98)
1888 Aug 17, Monty Wooley,
actor (Pied Piper, Man Who Came to Dinner), was born in NYC.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1890 Aug 17, Harry Hopkins,
organized the Works Projects Administration (WPA) under President
Roosevelt, was born.
(HN, 8/17/98)
1892 Aug 17, Mae West (d.1980),
American actress in burlesque, vaudeville, Broadway, and movies, was
born in Brooklyn. "Marriage is a great institution, but I’m not
ready for an institution, yet."
(HN, 8/17/98)(AP, 8/31/00)(SC, 8/17/02)
1900 Aug 17, Quincy Howe,
newscaster (CBS Weekend News), was born in Boston, Mass.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1901 Aug 17, Henri Tomasi,
composer (Don Juan de Manara), was born in Marseilles, France.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1905 Aug 17, John Hay Whitney,
publisher (NY Herald Tribune 1961-67), was born.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1908 Aug 17, The San Francisco
Bank of Italy opened new HQ at Clay and Montgomery.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1914 Aug 17, Franklin D.
Roosevelt Jr., son of FDR, (Rep-D-NY, 1949-55), was born.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1915 Aug 17, Leo Frank, a
Jewish factory manager, was lynched by a mob of anti-Semites in Cob
County, Georgia. He had been convicted in the killing of Mary
Phagan, a 13-year-old girl who worked at his pencil factory. The
governor believed him innocent and commuted his death sentence in
June. The state of Georgia pardoned Frank in 1986. In 2000 Stephen
Goldfarb posted the names of some 2 dozen men believed to have
participated in the murder.
(WSJ, 6/9/00, p.A1)(AP, 8/17/02)(AP, 3/11/06)
1918 Aug 17, Mort Marshall,
actor (Cully-Dumplings), was born in NYC.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1920 Aug 17, Georgia Gibbs,
singer (Ballin the Jack, Kiss of Fire), was born in Worcester, Mass.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1920 Aug 17, Ray Chapman died
after he was hit in the head by Yanks' pitcher Carl Mays.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1921 Aug 17, Maureen O'Hara,
actress (Miracle on 34th St), was born in Dublin, Ireland.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1922 Aug 17, Ralph Roberts,
actor (Tradition, Gone are the Days), was born in NC.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1923 Aug 17, Larry Rivers
(d.2002), painter and sculptor, was born in Bronx, NY, as Yitzroch
Grossberg.
(HN, 8/17/00)(SC, 8/12/02)(NW, 8/26/02, p.9)
1927 Aug 17, Robert Moore,
actor (Marshall-Diana), was born in Detroit, Mich.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1929 Aug 17, Francis Gary
Powers, US spy (USSR captured him in 1959 U-2 incident), was born.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1929 Aug 17, James Horace
Alderman, convicted of murdering 2 Coast Guardsmen and a Secret
Service agent in 1927, was hanged at 5:00 a.m. at Coast Guard Base 6
in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It was reported in the media that
Alderman's neck was broken and he died a painless death. In fact,
Alderman kicked and strangled for a full twelve minutes before being
pronounced dead by a local doctor. He was the only person ever
executed on Coast Guard property.
(www.jacksjoint.com/hanging.htm)
1932 Aug 17, Chet Allen, actor
(Jerry-Bonino, Slats-Troubleshooter), was born in Chickasha, Okla.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1932 Aug 17, John (Red) Kerr,
basketball coach, was born.
(HN, 8/17/00)
1932 Aug 17, V.S, Naipaul
(b.1932), English novelist (Middle Passage), was born in Chaguana,
Trinidad. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2001.
(SFC, 10/12/01, p.C1)(SC, 8/17/02)
1939 Aug 17, Luther Allison,
guitarist (Bad News is Coming), was born in Arkansas.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1939 Aug 17, The film "Wizard
of Oz" opened at Loew's Capitol Theater in NYC.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1940 Aug 17, President
Roosevelt and Canadian Prime Minister William Mackenzie King met in
Ogdensburg, N.Y., where they agreed to set up a joint defense
commission.
(AP, 8/17/97)
1940 Aug 17, Wendell Willkie, a
former Democrat, delivered his formal acceptance speech as the
Republican nominee for president from his home in Elwood, Indiana.
(WSJ, 7/22/96, p.A12)(SFEC, 7/30/00,
p.C17)(http://tinyurl.com/e3xrw)
1942 Aug 17, U.S. Eighth Air
Force bombers attacked Rouen, France.
(AP, 8/17/02)
1942 Aug 17, Marine Raiders
attacked Makin Island (Kiribati) in the Gilbert Islands from two
submarines. [see Aug 18]
(HN, 8/17/98)
1943 Aug 17, Robert DeNiro,
American actor, was born. He won Oscars for his roles in "The
Godfather Part II" and "Raging Bull."
(HN, 8/17/00)
1943 Aug 17, The Allied
conquest of Sicily was completed as U.S. and British forces entered
Messina.
(AP, 8/17/97)(HN, 8/17/98)
1944 Aug 17, The mayor of
Paris, Pierre Charles Tattinger, met with the German commander
Dietrich von Choltitz to protest the explosives being deployed
throughout the city. Adolf Hitler had decreed that Paris should be
left a smoking ruin, but Dietrich von Choltitz thought better of his
Fuhrer's order.
(HN, 8/17/98)
1944 Aug 17, Japanese and Swiss
officials agreed to divert 40% of millions of dollars, paid by the
US and Britain for the care of prisoners of war held by the
Japanese, to pay off Japan’s debts to Swiss businesses. The other
60% was for the free disposal by the Japanese government.
(SFC, 12/1/97, p.A10)
1945 Aug 17, Indonesian
nationalists declared independence from the Netherlands. Upon
hearing confirmation that Japan has surrendered, Sukarno proclaims
Indonesia’s indepen¬dence. Sukarno helped lead Indonesia to
independence from the Dutch. President Sukarno, an ardent
nationalist, became president at the time of Indonesian independence
and helped the Communists become the leading party in the country.
The Dutch resisted and 4 years of fighting followed.
(SFC, 10/12/96, p.A13)(SFC, 6/22/96, p.A12)(SFEC,
4/27/97, p.T7)(HNQ, 5/21/98)(AP, 8/17/99)(SFC, 9/8/99, p.A17)(HN,
8/17/00)
1948 Aug 17, Former State
Department official Alger Hiss faced his chief accuser, Whittaker
Chambers, during a closed-door meeting in New York of the House
Un-American Activities Committee, and repeated his denial that he'd
ever been a Communist agent.
(AP, 8/17/08)
1951 Aug 17, Hurricane winds
drove 6 ships ashore at Kingston, Jamaica.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1952 Aug 17, Kathryn C.
Thornton, PhD, astronaut, was born in Montgomery, Alabama.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1953 Aug 17, Kevin Rowlands,
rocker (Dexy's Midnight Runners-Come on Eileen), was born.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1955 Aug 17, Hurricane Diane
followed hurricane Connie and flooded the Connecticut River killing
190 and doing $1.8 billion in damage.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1958 Aug 17, Belinda Carlisle,
(GoGos lead singer, Heaven on Earth), was born in Hollywood.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1958 Aug 17, World's 1st Moon
probe, US's Thor-Able, exploded at T +77 sec.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1959 Aug 17, A 7.1 quake struck
at Yellowstone National Park.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1960 Aug 17, Sean Penn, actor
(Fast Times at Ridgemont High), was born.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1960 Aug 17, American Francis
Gary Powers pleaded guilty at his Moscow trial for spying over the
Soviet Union in a U-2 plane.
(HN, 8/17/98)
1960 Aug 17, Gabon became
independence from France. Leon M'Ba, head of the Gabon Democratic
Block, became the 1st president.
(PC, 1992, p.973)(WSJ, 1/24/97, p.A14)(EWH, 1st
ed., p.1173)
1961 Aug 17, The Kennedy
administration established the Alliance for Progress.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1962 Aug 17, Beatles replaced
Pete Best with Ringo Starr.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1962 Aug 17, East German border
guards shot and mortally wounded Peter Fechter (18), who had
attempted to cross over the Berlin Wall into the western sector.
(AP, 8/17/97)
1965 Aug 17, Glen Goldsmith,
rocker (What You See is What You Get), was born.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1966 Aug 17, Pioneer 7 launched
into solar orbit.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1969 Aug 17, Donald E. Wahlberg
Jr., rocker (New Kids-Hangin' Tough), was born in Boston.
(www.donniewahlberg.com/bio.htm)
1969 Aug 17, Hurricane Camille
hit the Gulf Coast at Pass Christian, Miss., leaving 256 people
killed in Louisiana and Mississippi. Damage was later estimated at
$3.8 billion.
(AP, 8/17/97)(SFEC, 6/6/99, p.A17)(AP, 8/30/05)
1969 Aug 17, Mies van der Rohe
(b.1886), German-born American architect, died. He founded the
Int’l. Style and designed early steel-framed and glass-jacketed
buildings. He coined the phrase: "Less is more."
(SFC, 1/17/98,
p.C5)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Mies_van_der_Rohe)
1970 Aug 17, Venera 7 was
launched by USSR for a soft landing on Venus.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venera_7)
1971 Aug 17, Horace McMahon
(b.1906), film, theater and TV actor, died.
(www.imdb.com/name/nm0573024/bio)
1972 Aug 17, The International
Tribunal in The Hague pronounced that the Icelanders did not have
sovereignty over the areas between 12 and 50 miles. The Icelandic
government protested and decided to take no notice of this decree.
(www.nat.is/travelguideeng/50_miles_limit_and_the_cod_war_1.htm)
1973 Aug 17, Conrad Aiken
(b.1889), American Pulitzer winning poet and novelist, died.
(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/caiken.htm)
1975 Aug 17, Sig Arno (b.1895),
German film actor (My Friend Irma), died in Hamburg, Germany.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sig_Arno)
1976 Aug 17, William Redfield
(b.1927), film and TV actor, died.
(www.imdb.com/name/nm0714835/)
1978 Aug 17, The helium-filled
balloon, Double Eagle II, crossed the Atlantic in 6 days. The first
successful trans-Atlantic balloon flight ended as Americans Maxie
Anderson, Ben Abruzzo and Larry Newman landed outside Paris.
(AP, 8/17/97)(HN, 8/17/98)
1978 Aug 17, Afghanistan
announced that defense minister Gen. Abdul Qadir, one of the Apr 27
coup leaders, has been arrested after the discovery of an alleged
plot to overthrow the government. Qadir also belonged to the Parcham
faction.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1978_in_Afghanistan)
1979 Aug 17, Vivian Vance
(b.1909), TV and theater actress, died. She played Ethel Mertz in
the “I Love Lucy” show.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivian_Vance)
1980 Aug 17, In Australia Lindy
Chamberlain’s 9-week baby, Azaria, was allegedly dragged away from a
family campsite at Uluru, or Ayers Rock, by a dingo. The body was
never found and Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton and ex-husband Michael
Chamberlain were both convicted for the death but later exonerated
in a case which made global headlines. She was released after 4
years and the Meryl Streep film "A Cry in the Dark" was based on her
story.
(SFC, 4/10/98, p.A14)(AFP, 10/6/04)(AFP,
10/11/10)
1980 Aug 17, The Viking 1 Mars
Orbiter was powered down after over 1400 orbits.
(http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/viking.html)
1981 Aug 17, In Florida James
Dvorak was found bludgeoned to death at Indian Harbor Beach in what
was described as a robbery gone wrong. In 1981 William Dillon was
convicted and sentenced to prison. In 2008 Dillon (49) faced a
retrial after DNA evidence called into question his conviction.
(SFC, 11/19/08,
p.A4)(http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_28824.shtml)
1982 Aug 17, A jury in South
Bend, Ind., acquitted self-avowed racist Joseph Paul Franklin, for
the 1980 attempted assassination of Vernon Jordan Jr, National Urban
League president.
(http://tinyurl.com/2nzrco)
1982 Aug 17, Barney Phillips
(68), American actor (Dragnet, Felony Squad), died.
(www.imdb.com/name/nm0680237/)
1982 Aug 17, Ruth First, an
exiled anti-apartheid activist, was killed in Mozambique from a
letter bomb sent by agents of the Nationalist South African
government. In 1997 her daughter, Gillian Slovo, published
"Every Secret Thing: My Family, My Country."
(SFEC, 5/11/97, BR p.5)(SSFC, 2/10/02,
p.M6)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_First)
1983 Aug 17, Ira Gershwin
(b.1896), lyricist, died in Beverly Hills, Ca. Later a room at the
Library of Congress’ Jefferson Building was dedicated to him and his
brother George.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ira_Gershwin)(SFC,
12/4/96, p.E3)(SFC, 4/14/98, p.E5)
1985 Aug 17, More than 1,400
meatpackers walked off the job at the Geo. A. Hormel and Co.'s main
plant in Austin, Minn., in a bitter strike that lasted just over a
year.
(AP, 8/17/05)
1985 Aug 17, Rajiv Gandhi
announced Punjab state elections in India.
(http://tinyurl.com/yru62e)
1986 Aug 17, A bronze pig
statue was unveiled at Seattle's Pike Place Market.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1987 Aug 17, The DJIA closed
above 2,700 for 1st time (2,700.57).
(www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/longterm/blackm/fund.htm)
1987 Aug 17, Rudolf Hess, the
last member of Adolf Hitler's inner circle, died at a Berlin
hospital near Spandau Prison at age 93, having apparently committed
suicide by strangling himself with an electrical cord. His family
claims that he was murdered [see May 10, 1941].
(AP, 8/17/97)(SFEC, 8/17/97, p.A4)
1988 Aug 17, Vice President
George Bush was nominated for president at the Republican National
Convention in New Orleans.
(AP, 8/17/98)
1988 Aug 17, The US FDA
approved Minoxidil as a hair loss treatment.
(http://openweb.tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/1988-8/1988-08-17-ABC-10.html)
1988 Aug 17, Franklin D.
Roosevelt Jr. (Rep-D-NY, 1949-55), died on his 74th birthday in
Poughkeepsie, NY.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Delano_Roosevelt,_Jr.)
1988 Aug 17, Pakistani
President Mohammad Zia ul-Haq (63) and US Ambassador Arnold Raphel
were killed in a mysterious plane crash. Zia, president from
1977-1988, was responsible for the 1977 overthrow and 1979 death of
Premier Bhutto. Zia did much to turn Pakistan towards Islamic
fundamentalism. Bhutto’s daughter, Benazir Bhutto, became prime
minister in November.
(WSJ, 12/14/95, p.A-1)(AP, 8/17/98)(Econ,
6/14/08, p.103)
1989 Aug 17, The Commerce
Department reported the U.S. trade deficit had shrunk to $8.7
billion in June.
(AP, 8/17/99)
1990 Aug 17, The film "The
Exorcist 3" premiered.
(www.imdb.com/title/tt0099528/)
1990 Aug 17, The Commerce
Department reported the US trade deficit shrank to $8.17 billion
in June.
(AP, 8/17/00)
1990 Aug, 17, Phyllis Polaner,
former aide to his ex-wife Robin Givens, sued Mike Tyson (b.1966)
for sexual harassment. A New York City civil jury found Tyson
committed battery but that his behavior was "not outrageous."
(www.canoe.ca/BoxingTysonHolyfield/tyson_chronology.html)(http://tinyurl.com/hfqx9)
1990 Aug 17, Pearl Bailey
(b.1918), Broadway actress, singer, died in Philadelphia from a
heart attack at age 72.
(www.blackpressusa.com/history/Archive.asp?week=33)
1991 Aug 17, Iraq said it would
"play host" to all foreign citizens in the country who were from
"aggressive nations," and place them in military and civilian
targets until the threat of war was over.
(AP, 8/17/01)
1992 Aug 17, Actor-director
Woody Allen admitted being romantically involved with Soon-Yi
Previn, the adopted daughter of Allen's longtime companion, actress
Mia Farrow.
(AP, 8/17/97)
1992 Aug 17, President Bush
arrived in Houston for the opening of the Republican National
Convention, which featured an address by former President Reagan.
(AP, 8/17/97)
1993 Aug 17, A prosecutor in
Wayne County, Mich., charged Dr. Jack Kevorkian under Michigan's ban
on assisted suicide for aiding in the death of Thomas Hyde, who
suffered from Lou Gehrig's disease. A jury later acquitted
Kevorkian. Kevorkian provided patients means and assistance in dying
and Michigan’s legislature moved to outlaw his work.
(TMC, 1994, p.1993)(AP, 8/17/98)
1994 Aug 17, Deputy Treasury
Secretary Roger Altman resigned under pressure, the latest Clinton
administration official felled by the Whitewater controversy.
(AP, 8/17/99)
1995 Aug 17, James B. McDougal,
McDougal’s ex-wife, Susan H. McDougal, and Arkansas Governor Jim Guy
Tucker were indicted by the Whitewater grand jury. James McDougal
was convicted on 18 of 19 counts of fraud and conspiracy; Tucker was
found guilty on one count of fraud and one count of conspiracy;
Susan McDougal was convicted on four fraud-related charges. James B.
McDougal’s sentencing was delayed when the court suggested he
testify against the Clintons. He died of a heart attack in federal
prison in Fort Worth, Texas, on March 8, 1998. Susan H. McDougal was
sentenced to two years in prison, probation, community service and
$305,000 in fines and restitution. She received a full Presidential
pardon from outgoing President Bill Clinton in the final hours of
his presidency on January 20, 2001. Jim Guy Tucker was convicted of
three counts of felony; due to his poor health, he was sentenced to
four years probation and 18 months of house detention and $325,000
in fines and restitution.
(AP,
8/17/01)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_McDougal)
1996 Aug 17, The Reform Party
in Valley Forge, Pa., announced Ross Perot had won its nomination to
be its first-ever presidential candidate.
(SFC, 8/18/96, p.A10)(AP, 8/17/97)
1996 Aug 17, An Air Force C-130
cargo plane carrying gear for President Clinton crashed and exploded
shortly after takeoff from Jackson Hole Airport in Wyoming; eight
crew members and a Secret Service employee were killed.
(SFC, 8/19/96, p.A1)(AP, 8/17/97)
1996 Aug 17, In Algeria more
than 100 militants shot, stabbed and hacked to death some 63 people
when they attacked 2 busses after setting a fake barricade. The
government denied the report.
(SFC, 8/20/96, p.A9)
1996 Aug 17, In Brussels,
Belgium, police led by Marc Dutroux unearthed the remains of two
8-year-old girls kidnapped in June of 1995.
(SFC, 8/19/96, p.A8)(SFC, 4/24/98, p.A14)
1996 Aug 17, The first French
woman in space, Claudie Andre-Deshays, took off from the Baikonur
cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in a Soyuz-U rocket.
(SFC, 8/18/96, p.A2)
1996 Aug 17, It was reported
that 900 million South African bees died this year. The Cape bees
were introduced in the north and threw off the breeding patterns of
the native bees. They were unable to endure the harsher climate and
died. Fruit farmers and native plants were put into severe jeopardy.
(SFC, 8/17/96, p.A4)
1996 Aug 17, It was reported
that tens of thousands of dead rats were caught in fisherman’s nets
in India’s northeast Assam state. It was speculated that a rare
poisonous bamboo flower was the cause.
(SFC, 8/17/96, p.A4)
1996 Aug 17, In Mexico federal
prosecutor, Jesus Romero Magana (48), was killed. He was the first
prosecutor to interrogate the gunman who killed Luis Colosio, the
pres. candidate in 1994.
(SFC, 8/19/96, p.A9)(WSJ, 8/20/96, p.A1)(SFC,
9/16/96, p.A9)
1997 Aug 17, President Clinton
urged both sides in the United Parcel Service strike to "redouble
their efforts" to reach a deal, but hours later, negotiators
recessed their intensive talks.
(AP, 8/17/98)
1998 Aug 17, Pres. Clinton
testified via video via closed-circuit TV from the White House
before a grand jury concerning his relations with Monica Lewinsky.
He then delivered a TV address in which he denied previously
committing perjury, admitted his relationship with Lewinsky was
"wrong," and criticized Kenneth Starr's investigation. "I did have a
relationship with Miss Lewinsky that was not appropriate... It was
wrong."
(WSJ, 8/17/98, p.A1)(SFC, 8/18/98, p.A1)(AP,
8/17/99)
1998 Aug 17, The Federal
Reserve Board approved the megamerger of NationsBank and
BankAmerica.
(AP, 8/17/99)
1998 Aug 17, In China flooding
of the Nen River at Daqing closed 1,391 wells and halted production
at another 280. Daqing has 25,000 wells that produced 17.9 billion
gallons of oil last year.
(SFC, 8/18/98, p.A7)
1998 Aug 17, India outlawed the
use of quinacrine to sterilize women due to its suspected effects as
a carcinogen.
(WSJ, 8/18/98, p.A1)
1998 Aug 17, The foreign debt
of Nicaragua was reported to be $6 billion.
(SFC, 8/17/98, p.A8)
1998 Aug 17, NATO forces began
a 5-day exercise in Albania as a threat to Serbia.
(WSJ, 8/18/98, p.A1)
1998 Aug 17, It was reported
that spy satellites had detected a secret underground complex in
North Korea that was suspected of being involved in a nuclear
weapons program.
(SFC, 8/17/98, p.A8)
1998 Aug 17, Russia devalued
its ruble and allowed the ruble's value to drop by up to 34 percent.
It also imposed delays in the repayment of billions of dollars in
debt. The government defaulted on $40 million in debt and provoked a
stampede of capital from emerging markets. In 2010 Martin Gilman
authored “No Precedent, No Plan: Inside Russia’s 1998 Default.”
(WSJ, 8/18/98, p.A1)(AP, 8/17/99)(WSJ, 10/4/00,
p.A10)(Econ, 11/27/10, p.95)
1999 Aug 17, In Bosnia the
Office of the High Representative, an int'l. agency for carrying out
aspects of the Dayton peace agreement, reported that as much as a
billion dollars disappeared from public funds from int'l. aid
projects. Losses were triggered when USAID called in loans from the
Bosnia and Herzegovina Bank that could not be covered.
(SFC, 8/17/99, p.A1)(SFC, 8/18/99, p.A12)
1999 Aug 17, In Colombia
suspected rightist gunmen shot and killed at least 13 villagers in
Zambrano including a girl age 13.
(SFC, 8/18/99, p.C2)
1999 Aug 17, In Iraq US and
British warplanes bombed missile sites in the north and south and
Iraqi military reported 19 people killed and 11 injured. 12 people
were killed in Jesan by the bombing, 3 brothers, their wives, 4
children and another couple.
(SFC, 8/18/99, p.C2)(SFC, 8/19/99, p.A10)
1999 Aug 17, In southern
Lebanon Hezbollah guerrillas killed 2 Israeli soldiers and wounded 4
others in a revenge clash that left 1 guerrilla dead.
(SFC, 8/18/99, p.A12)
1999 Aug 17, In Peru officials
reported that Carlos Audel Nunez, a Shining Path rebel leader aka
"Comrade Manuel," was killed along with his wife in a clash with
military forces.
(SFC, 8/18/99, p.C2)
1999 Aug 17, Pakistan said 6
soldiers and 2 civilians were killed in shelling by India.
(WSJ, 8/18/99, p.A1)
1999 Aug 17, In Russia Yevgeny
Primakov agreed to lead the Fatherland-All Russia Movement.
(SFC, 8/18/99, p.A10)
1999 Aug 17, Russia allowed the
ruble to drop in value by up to 34 percent.
(AP, 8/17/00)
1999 Aug 17, Rwanda and Uganda
agreed to an immediate truce to 4 days of fighting in Kisangani,
Congo.
(SFC, 8/18/99, p.A12)
1999 Aug 17, A 7.4 earthquake
hit western Turkey with many killed and thousands injured. Over
17,000 were later reported killed. The quake was centered under the
Sea of Armara on the North Anatolian fault. It was later reported to
have pushed Turkey 4 feet closer to Europe.
(SFC, 8/17/99, p.A1)(SFC, 8/18/99, p.A1,13)(WSJ,
8/18/99, p.A1)(SFC, 8/20/99, p.A1)(SFEC, 8/29/99, p.A17)(AP,
8/17/03)
2000 Aug 17, Al Gore accepted
the Democratic nomination for president, pledging a "better, fairer,
more prosperous America" at the party's convention in Los Angeles.
Shortly before Gore spoke, his running mate, Joseph Lieberman, was
nominated by acclamation.
(SFC, 8/18/00, p.A1)(AP, 8/17/05)
2000 Aug 17, Word leaked out
that Independent Counsel Robert Ray was assembling a new grand jury
to investigate President Clinton's conduct in the Monica Lewinsky
scandal. Democrats charged Republicans were behind the release of
information, but a federal judge said he was inadvertently
responsible for the disclosure.
(AP, 8/17/05)
2000 Aug 17, It was reported
that researchers had cloned pigs for the 1st time.
(WSJ, 8/17/00, p.A1)
2000 Aug 17, It was reported
that a soybean aphid from China threatened the $13.5 billion US
soybean market.
(WSJ, 8/17/00, p.A2)
2000 Aug 17, In Afghanistan the
Taliban reversed its decision against women working in bakeries.
(SFC, 8/18/00, p.D6)
2000 Aug 17, A bomb, planted by
the Revolutionary Armed Forces Colombia, exploded in the village of
Carmen de Bolivar and 2 children were killed.
(SFC, 8/19/00, p.A10)
2000 Aug 17, India opened its
first fashion show in Mumbai, Lakme India Fashion Week.
(http://lifestyle.indianetzone.com/fashion/1/lakme_india_fashion_week_(lifw).htm)
2000 Aug 17, In Latvia a bomb
exploded in Riga and 21 people were injured.
(SFC, 8/18/00, p.D6)
2001 Aug 17, US CIA Director
George Tenet briefed Pres. Bush in Texas on day-to-day threats
facing the US.
(SSFC, 3/5/06, p.A18)
2001 Aug 17, Balloonist Steve
Fossett was forced down by bad weather in Brazil after traveling
12,695 miles.
(SFC, 8/18/01, p.A8)
2001 Aug 17, Henrietta
Milstein, founder of the Burlington Coat Factory chain stores, died
at age 72.
(WSJ, 8/20/01, p.B8)
2001 Aug 17, It was reported
that some 11,000 Afghanistan refugees had returned home from
Pakistan.
(SFC, 8/18/01, p.E1)
2001 cAug 17, The Brazilian
Congress approved a legal civil code that made women equal to men.
(SSFC, 8/19/01, p.A10)
2001 Aug 17, Britain revealed
plans for overhauling Northern Ireland’s police department. Both
Catholic and Protestant groups opposed the changes.
(SFC, 8/18/01, p.A10)
2001 Aug 17, It was reported
that police and private security forces in Honduras had killed at
least 66 children this year.
(SFC, 8/17/01, p.A14)
2001 Aug 17, In Macedonia
NATO’s 1st advance troops of Operation Essential Harvest arrived in
Skopje.
(SFC, 8/18/01, p.A10)
2001 Aug 17, In South Korea
Bang Sang-hoon, president and publisher of Chosun Ilbo, was arrested
with 2 other prominent newspaper owners on charges of tax evasion
and embezzlement. Pres. Dae-jun was accused of using tax
investigation to stifle his critics.
(SFC, 8/23/01, p.A13)
2002 Aug 17, The new $ 1
billion Navy destroyer McCampbell, completed in July at the Bath
Iron Works in Maine, was commissioned in SF.
(SSFC, 8/18/02, p.A2)
2002 Aug 17, In China 3 days of
floods and landslides caused by mountain torrents swept through
southeastern Zhejiang province, killing at least 21 people.
(Reuters, 8/17/02)
2002 Aug 17, In Indonesia a
home-made bomb wounded 13 people, including two children, as they
gathered to mark Independence Day in Aceh province.
(Reuters, 8/17/02)
2002 Aug 17, In Mexico 8 men
and a woman were lined up against a wall and gunned down with
assault rifles and pistols at a ranch in the western state of
Michoacan in what reports said may have been a drug-related
massacre.
(AP, 8/18/02)
2002 Aug 17, In Krakow, Poland,
tens of thousands of adoring Poles gave the ailing Pope John Paul II
a joyous welcome home as began his 9th papal visit to his native
country.
(AP, 8/17/03)
2002 Aug 17, Russia troops
battled with Chechen rebels who attacked a number of villages in
southern Chechnya in fighting that has left nine soldiers and five
civilians dead.
(AP, 8/17/02)
2003 Aug 17, US Federal
investigators joined industry teams in the search for clues into
what triggered the country's worst power blackout in the Midwest and
Northeast as the Bush administration promised to get answers and
address whatever problem was found.
(AP, 8/17/04)
2003 Aug 17, In southeastern
Afghanistan insurgents attacked a police headquarters sparking a
battle that killed at least 15 fighters and seven Afghan police.
(AP, 8/17/03)
2003 Aug 17, Iceland launched
its first whale hunt in more than a decade in the name of scientific
research. The US, Britain and several other governments opposed to
whaling labeled the hunt unnecessary.
(AP, 8/18/03)
2003 cAug 17, Iranians in
Semirom clashed with police over consolidation of the central city
with less-affluent Shahreza. 8 people were left dead.
(WSJ, 8/18/03, p.A1)
2003 Aug 17, Saboteurs blew a
hole in a giant Baghdad water main, forcing engineers to cut off
water to the capital. Two ferocious blazes raged out of control
along the pipeline that exports Iraq's oil to the north.
(AP, 8/17/03)
2003 Aug 17, Mazen Dana (43),
a Palestinian cameraman for Reuters, was shot dead by US troops in
Iraq while he filmed outside Abu Ghraib prison in western Baghdad.
Soldiers mistook his camera for a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.
The official judgment of the US Military, given five weeks later,
was that The Rules of Engagement required no warning and the tank
crew were justified in shooting Mazen Dana, seeing his TV camera as
a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, or RPG. No disciplinary action
was taken against any US serviceman. Mazen was the 18th foreign
journalist to be killed in Iraq since the occupation by the U.S.
Military on March 20, 2003 and the second Reuters cameraman to be
killed.
(Reuters,
8/18/03)(www.truthout.org/docs_2005/030605A.shtml)(http://tinyurl.com/lxu5b)
2003 Aug 17, Indonesian
investigators reported the arrest of 9 people in the Aug. 5 attack
on the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta that killed 12 people and wounded
nearly 150.
(AP, 8/17/03)
2003 Aug 17, Nepal’s government
forces detained and then shot dead 21 suspected Maoists in the
village of Doramba. In 2005 the major responsible was cashiered and
sentenced to 2 years in prison.
(Econ, 4/16/05,
p.23)(http://hrw.org/reports/2005/nepal0205/2.htm)
2004 Aug 17, Britain brought
terrorism charges against 8 al Qaeda suspects tied to recent alerts
about US financial sites. They were charged with conspiring to
commit murder and use radioactive materials, toxic gases, chemicals
or explosives to cause "fear or injury."
(WSJ, 8/18/04, p.A1)(AP, 8/17/05)
2004 Aug 17, Georgian President
Mikhail Saakashvili appealed to world leaders to convene an
international conference on the conflict in breakaway South Ossetia,
where daily exchanges of gunfire threaten to spark a war. The
province operated as a conduit for smuggling between Georgia and
Russia.
(AP, 8/17/04)(Econ, 8/21/04, p.40)
2004 Aug 17, In Haiti a jury
acquitted Louis-Jodel Chamblain, the leader of a paramilitary group
blamed for killing some 3,000 people, after a 14-hour murder trial.
(AP, 8/17/04)
2004 Aug 17, A US research
institute said India is projected to outpace China and become the
world's most populous country by 2050, growing by 50 percent in the
next 46 years to reach more than 1.6 billion people.
(AP, 8/17/04)
2004 Aug 17, At the Athens
games, Romania won its second straight Olympic gold medal in women's
gymnastics; the United States took silver while Russia won the
bronze.
(AP, 8/17/05)
2004 Aug 17, Iran said it would
destroy Israel's Dimona nuclear reactor if the Jewish state were to
attack Iran's nuclear facilities.
(AP, 8/17/04)
2004 Aug 17, Israeli Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon approved the construction of 1,000 more homes
in Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
(AP, 8/17/04)
2004 Aug 17, Israeli soldiers
shot and killed a 9-year-old Palestinian boy in Nablus as he sat on
the front steps of his home eating a sandwich.
(AP, 8/17/04)
2005 Aug 17, Hundreds of
anti-war vigils were held nationwide, part of an effort spurred by
Cindy Sheehan's protest near President Bush's Texas ranch in memory
of her son Casey, who was killed in Iraq.
(AP, 8/17/06)
2005 Aug 17, Researchers from
Greenpeace Int’l reported that toxic waste from electronic devices
discarded in the US and dismantled in China and India was posing a
sever problem around Guiyu, China, and New Delhi, India.
(SFC, 8/17/05, p.C3)
2005 Aug 17, John Bahcall (70),
astrophysicist and force behind the Hubble telescope, died.
(WSJ, 8/22/05, p.A1)
2005 Aug 17, Australian
scientists said that cyclone Ingrid, which lashed northeastern
Australia in March, inflicted damage on 10 per cent of the Great
Barrier Reef.
(AP, 8/17/05)
2005 Aug 17, Nearly 500
homemade bombs planted by suspected Islamic militants exploded
nearly simultaneously across Bangladesh, killing 2 people, including
a young boy, and wounding at least 73. The attacks were later
attributed to Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen (JMB). 7 leaders of JMB were
later arrested and 6 were to be hanged in 2007. In 2008 a court in
northwestern Bangladesh sentenced seven Islamic militants to life in
prison after finding them guilty of carrying the bombings.
(AP, 8/17/05)(Econ, 8/27/05, p.35)(Econ, 2/10/07,
p.40)(AP, 1/31/08)
2005 Aug 17, China announced a
broad crackdown on all media harmful to young people.
(Econ, 8/20/05, p.33)
2005 Aug 17, India’s Andhra
Pradesh state banned a violent Maoist rebel group, two days after
rebels killed 10 people, including a lawmaker and bureaucrat.
(AP, 8/17/05)
2005 Aug 17, In Iraq 3 car
bombs exploded near a bus station and hospital in Baghdad, killing
at least 43 people and wounding 89 in the deadliest attacks in the
capital in weeks. A series of insurgent attacks also killed 11
Iraqis, including six soldiers assigned to protect oil pipelines in
northern Iraq.
(AFP, 8/17/05)
2005 Aug 17, Israeli troops
entered Gaza's largest synagogue to remove hundreds of worshippers,
who had formed long lines and swayed in prayer. A right-wing West
Bank settler opposed to Israel's pullout from the Gaza Strip set
herself on fire in southern Israel, suffering life-threatening burns
on 70% of her body.
(AP, 8/17/05)
2005 Aug 17, Libya called on
the Bulgarian government to negotiate a payment to win amnesty for
five Bulgarian medics and a Palestinian sentenced to death for
allegedly infecting 400 children with the AIDS virus.
(AP, 8/18/05)
2005 Aug 17, Norwegian
officials said 3 unarmed Polish researchers stranded on a remote
Arctic island were rescued by helicopter as polar bears were closing
in on them. The escape took place on an island in Norway's Svalbard
archipelago, about 650 miles from the North Pole.
(AP, 8/17/05)
2005 Aug 17, In Paraguay US
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld met with President Nicanor Duarte
Frutos and was meeting with Minister of Defense Roberto Gonzalez
Segovia, in part, to gauge their views on the escalating involvement
of Cuban President Fidel Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez.
(AP, 8/17/05)
2005 Aug 17, Top Republic of
Congo officials were acquitted of genocide and war crimes charges
stemming from the disappearance of 350 refugees who had returned
home during a cease-fire in the country's civil war.
(AP, 8/17/05)
2005 Aug 17, Officials said
Russia is investigating bird deaths in a region west of the Ural
mountains in what could become the 1st case of the deadly bird flu
virus spreading to Europe.
(AP, 8/17/05)
2006 Aug 17, President Bush
signed new rules to prod companies into shoring up their pension
plans.
(AP, 8/17/07)
2006 Aug 17, A federal judge in
Detroit ruled that President Bush's warrantless surveillance program
violated the rights to free speech and privacy, as well as the
separation of powers enshrined in the Constitution. The
administration said it would appeal.
(AP, 8/18/07)
2006 Aug 17, Several large
California auto insurers said they will set premiums based on
driving records rather than ZIP codes and reduce rates for most
motorists.
(SFC, 8/18/06, p.A1)
2006 Aug 17, In New Orleans
Merck & Co. lost a second federal trial over its withdrawn
painkiller Vioxx and must pay $51 million to a retired FBI agent who
had a heart attack after taking the drug for more than two years.
(AP, 8/17/06)
2006 Aug 17, Scientists believe
they have found a key gene that helped the human brain evolve from
our chimp-like ancestors. In just a few million years, one area of
the human genome seems to have evolved about 70 times faster than
the rest of our genetic code. It appears to have a role in a rapid
tripling of the size of the brain's crucial cerebral cortex,
according to an article published in the journal Nature.
(AP, 8/17/06)
2006 Aug 17, In the Arctic ice
Lt. Jessica Hill (31) and Boatswain's Mate Steven Duque (22), divers
on the US Coast Guard cutter Healy, died during a practice dive.
(AP, 9/24/06)
2006 Aug 17, In eastern
Afghanistan a bomb mistakenly dropped by a US-led coalition aircraft
killed 10 Afghan police officers in Paktika province. 16 more
people, including a US soldier, died in violence across the country.
(AP, 8/17/06)(WSJ, 8/18/06, p.A1)
2006 Aug 17, An overnight
volcanic eruption in Ecuador's Andes mountains killed at least one
person and left more than 60 others missing. It was the first
fatality reported from a Tungurahua eruption since the volcano
rumbled back to life in 1999 after staying dormant for eight
decades.
(AP, 8/17/06)
2006 Aug 17, Dominican Republic
President Leonel Fernandez named four generals and a former law
partner to the Cabinet, a day after his party took control of the
Caribbean country's Congress for the first time.
(AP, 8/18/06)
2006 Aug 17, President Jacques
Chirac announced that France will immediately double to 400 troops
its contingent in the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon.
(AP, 8/17/06)
2006 Aug 17, In Indonesia an
Islamic militant convicted in the 2002 Bali bombings was released
from prison and 11 others jailed for minor roles had their sentences
reduced to mark independence day.
(AP, 8/17/06)
2006 Aug 17, In Indonesia a
woman died of bird flu in a village where authorities were
investigating a possible cluster of human cases of the H5N1 virus.
(AP, 8/20/06)
2006 Aug 17, In central Baghdad
2 car bombs killed 13 people and injured 55, hours after another
bomb killed 8 laborers. One US soldier killed when a roadside bomb
exploded near a foot patrol south of Baghdad. A gallon of gasoline
on the black market in Baghdad sold for about $4.92, although the
official price was 64 cents a gallon. Iraq said it had doubled the
money allocated for importing oil products in August and September
to tackle the country's worst fuel shortage since Saddam Hussein's
2003 ouster.
(AP, 8/17/06)(SFC, 8/18/06, p.A7)
2006 Aug 17, Jordanian envoy
Ahmed al-Lozi has presented his credentials to the Iraqi government,
becoming the first fully accredited Arab ambassador in the country
since the fall of Saddam Hussein.
(AP, 8/18/06)
2006 Aug 17, Lebanese troops,
tanks and armored vehicles deployed south of the Litani River, a key
provision of the UN cease-fire plan that ended fighting between
Israel and Hezbollah. The deployment marks a first step toward
extending government control in a region Lebanese troops have
largely avoided for four decades. A Middle East Airlines passenger
jet flew into Beirut airport from Jordan as officials partially
lifted a 36-day Israeli air blockade.
(AP, 8/17/06)
2006 Aug 17, An outbreak of
strain of bluetongue, a disease transmitted to sheep by insects but
which is not contagious nor known to affect humans, was detected in
the southern Netherlands. Belgium and Germany soon reported cases.
(AFP, 8/28/06)
2006 Aug 17, Sri Lankan troops
beat back a fresh attempt by Tamil Tigers to overrun the main
defenses of the northern peninsula of Jaffna and killed at least 98
guerrillas. At least six soldiers were killed and 60 wounded in the
intense battle.
(AFP, 8/17/06)
2007 Aug 17, The US Federal
Reserve cut the primary discount rate, a dramatic move aimed at
easing worries about tightening credit and calming global financial
markets.
(AP, 8/17/07)
2007 Aug 17, New Mexico’s Gov.
Bill Richardson ordered the state Health Department to resume
planning of a medical marijuana program despite the agency's worries
about possible federal prosecution.
(AP, 8/18/07)
2007 Aug 17, In southern
Afghanistan a suicide bomber killed a district chief and 3 of his
children. 5 civilians were reported killed in fighting between NATO
soldiers and Taliban in the east. Insurgents holed up in buildings
and trenches attacked Afghan police and coalition forces near Fire
Base Robinson. Nearly a dozen suspected militants were killed in the
ensuing battle.
(AP, 8/17/07)(AP, 8/18/07)
2007 Aug 17, Bill Deedes
(b.1913), British journalist and politician, died in Kent, England.
He is the only person in Britain to have been both a member of the
British cabinet and the editor of a major daily newspaper.
(Econ, 8/25/07,
p.14)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Deedes)
2007 Aug 17, The Criminal
Intelligence Service Canada annual report estimated that there are
950 organized crime groups operating in the country.
(Reuters, 8/17/07)
2007 Aug 17, Hurricane Dean
tore through the eastern Caribbean islands of St. Lucia and
Martinique, ripping roofs from buildings, downing trees and knocking
out power. 100 mph winds ruined the entire banana harvest on St.
Lucia and Martinique and battered the banana industry in Dominica.
(AP, 8/17/07)(AP, 8/18/07)
2007 Aug 17, In eastern China a
dike on the Wen river in Shandong province broke, sending water
gushing into 2 mines run by the Huayuan Mining Co. in the city of
Xintai. 181 miners were killed. In 2008 two managers were sentenced
to 7 years in prison for their roles in the accident.
(Econ, 8/25/07, p.58)(AP, 4/17/08)(AP, 8/17/08)
2007 Aug 17, Borse Dubai made a
$3.95 billion takeover bid for OMX AB, challenging US-based Nasdaq
Stock Market Inc. for ownership of the Stockholm-based Nordic stock
exchange operator.
(AP, 8/17/07)
2007 Aug 17, PM Nouri al-Maliki
told Sunni tribal chieftains in Tikrit that all Iraqis must join to
crush al-Qaida in Iraq and extremist Shiite militias "to save our
coming generations." The Ansar al-Sunna group posted a video showing
the execution of Alaa Abboud Fartous Diab, a Defense Ministry
official accused of working with US forces.
(AP, 8/17/07)(AP, 8/18/07)
2007 Aug 17, Nigerian
authorities imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew in Port Harcourt after
security forces and gang members clashed in battles that left dozens
dead.
(AP, 8/17/07)
2007 Aug 17, In Peru six strong
aftershocks struck as the death toll from the Aug 15 8.0
earthquake passed 500.
(AP, 8/17/07)
2007 Aug 17, Romania and the US
started military training exercises to test installations that will
become the first US facilities in the former Soviet bloc, a plan
opposed by Russia.
(Reuters, 8/30/07)
2007 Aug 17, Russia’s President
Vladimir Putin said that he had ordered the military to resume
regular long-range flights of strategic bombers.
(AP, 8/17/07)
2007 Aug 17, The six members of
the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) held their first joint
maneuvers on Russian land in a demonstration of their growing
military ties and a shared desire to counter US global clout. The
presidents of Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and
Uzbekistan attended the unprecedented joint military exercises in
Chelyabinsk near the Kazakh border.
(AFP, 8/17/07)
2007 Aug 17, Serbia said it was
time to return its security forces to Kosovo, a move that could
derail last-ditch talks on the fate of the Albanian-majority
territory before they begin.
(Reuters, 8/17/07)
2007 Aug 17, Saudi King
Abdullah ordered two aid packages worth 20 million dollars each be
dispatched to Sudan and Mauritania to help the impoverished African
countries hit by severe floods.
(AFP, 8/17/07)
2007 Aug 17, In the first trial
of a minister from South Africa’s white racist government, former
law and order Minister Adriaan Vlok and his police chief Johannes
Van der Merwe were both sentenced to 10 years. However, they will
not have to spend any time in prison if they commit no crimes for
five years. Three other former top security officials were given
five-year suspended sentences for their role in the 1989 plot to
assassinate Frank Chikane.
(AP, 8/17/07)
2007 Aug 17, The UN announced
that the Netherlands has agreed to host the tribunal that will
prosecute suspects in the assassination of former Lebanese PM Rafik
Hariri.
(AP, 8/17/07)
2007 Aug 17, Zambian President
Levy Mwanawasa officially launched a peacekeeping brigade as part of
a planned SADC standby force to be deployed on peace missions and to
tackle disarmament and humanitarian crises on the continent.
(Reuters,
8/17/07)(www.dfa.gov.za/docs/2007/sadc0820.htm)
2008 Aug 17, In San Mateo, Ca.,
the final race was held at Bay Meadows after nearly 74 years of
horse racing.
(SFC, 8/18/08, p.B1)
2008 Aug 17, Dave Freeman (47),
co-author of "100 Things to Do Before You Die" (1999), a travel
guide and ode to odd adventures that inspired readers and imitators,
died after hitting his head in a fall at his home in Venice, Ca.
(AP, 8/26/08)
2008 Aug 17, In Afghanistan 32
Taliban fighters died during a four-hour battle in Zabul province. 9
private security guards also died in the attack on a NATO convoy.
About 7,000 police launched a massive security operation in Kabul as
the country prepared to celebrate independence day.
(AP, 8/17/08)
2008 Aug 17, In eastern Algeria
rebels linked to al Qaeda had killed eight policemen, three soldiers
and a civilian in successive ambushes. 4 Islamist militants were
killed in the attack.
(AFP, 8/19/08)
2008 Aug 17, Two small planes
collided in midair and crashed near Coventry in central England,
killing five people.
(AP, 8/17/08)
2008 Aug 17, In Beijing Michael
Phelps won his 8th gold medal as team mate Jason Lezak brought it
home for a world record in the 400-meter medley relay.
(AP, 8/17/08)
2008 Aug 17, In Iraq Farooq
al-Obeidi, deputy head of a group of US-allied Sunni fighters, was
killed by a suicide bomber, dressed in a woman’s robe, along with at
least 9 other people in the Azamiyah neighborhood of northern
Baghdad.
(SFC, 8/18/08, p.A6)(AP, 8/18/08)
2008 Aug 17, Israel's Cabinet
approved the release of some 200 Palestinian prisoners as a goodwill
gesture to the government of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
(AP, 8/17/08)
2008 Aug 17, In the southern
Philippines Muslim guerrillas killed four soldiers and four
militiamen in an ambush of a military convoy.
(AP, 8/17/08)
2008 Aug 17, The Kremlin
promised to start withdrawing combat troops from Georgia on August
18, as Western pressure mounted on Russia to quit the ex-Soviet
republic.
(AFP, 8/17/08)
2008 Aug 17, Southern African
countries launched a regional trade zone at a Johannesburg summit
that aims to eliminate import tariffs, with plans for a common
currency by 2018. Eleven of the 14 countries that are part of the
Southern African Development Community (SADC) will participate in
the free trade area, including Zimbabwe. Angola, the Democratic
Republic of Congo and Malawi planned to join at a later date due to
weak economies.
(AFP, 8/17/08)
2008 Aug 17, A Sudanese court
sentenced to death a top Darfur rebel and seven others, bringing to
38 the number condemned to hang over an unprecedented attack on
Khartoum that killed more than 222 people.
(AP, 8/17/08)
2009 Aug 17, Albert Gonzalez
(28) of Miami, a former informant for the US Secret Service who
helped the agency hunt hackers, was indicted in New Jersey and
charged with conspiring with two other unnamed suspects to steal the
private information. He allegedly stole information from 130 million
credit and debit card accounts in what federal prosecutors called
the largest case of identity theft yet. He was already in jail
awaiting trial in a hacking case. On Aug 28 Gonzalez agreed to plead
guilty and serve up to 25 years in federal prison.
(AP, 8/18/09)(SFC, 8/29/09, p.A4)
2009 Aug 17, In Afghanistan
former Uzbek militia chief General Abdul Rashid Dostum threw his
support behind President Hamid Karzai one day after returning from
exile in Turkey. Four minor candidates announced they were
withdrawing and throwing their support behind Karzai. A roadside
bomb in southern Afghanistan killed a US service member, while an
American civilian working for the military died after insurgents
attacked a patrol in the east.
(AP, 8/17/09)
2009 Aug 17, The Central
African Republic’s Communications Minister Cyriaque Gonda said on
state radio that the government has set a three-year timetable to
disarm, demobilize and reintegrate former rebels.
(AFP, 8/17/09)
2009 Aug 17, Czech media
reported that two Russians have been ordered out of Prague,
including a deputy military attache. Prague has previously
complained about an increase in Russian spying that it linked to the
US plans. Russia responded by ordering two Czech diplomats out of
Russia.
(Reuters, 8/18/09)
2009 Aug 17, In Ingushetia a
suicide bomber attacked a police station in Nazran city in Russia's
North Caucasus with an explosives-laden truck, killing at least 21
people and wounding more than 100 others. 9 officers were still
missing.
(AP, 8/17/09)(AP, 8/18/09)
2009 Aug 17, The new head of
Iran's judiciary suggested that he would prosecute security agents
accused of torture in the postelection crackdown, a nod from the
country's conservative leadership to widespread anger to reports
that jailed protesters were abused.
(AP, 8/17/09)
2009 Aug 17, Human Rights Watch
said Iraqi militiamen are torturing and killing gay men with
impunity in a systematic campaign that has spread from Baghdad to
several other cities.
(AP, 8/17/09)
2009 Aug 17, Israeli soldiers
mistakenly shot and wounded an Egyptian policeman near Eilat along
the border between the two countries.
(AP, 8/17/09)
2009 Aug 17, In Mexico at least
8 people were killed early in the day when gunmen opened fire in a
bar in drug-plagued Ciudad Juarez on the Texas border. Gunmen killed
a father and his 4-year-old son and wounded the mother as the family
drove on a highway near Ciudad Juarez. 2 girls, ages 12 and 14, died
after being struck by lightning on a soccer field during a religious
service in the city of Tuxtla Gutierrez in Chiapas state. In
Monterrey four gunmen died in a shootout with soldiers and three
other suspects were detained. Three soldiers suffered light injuries
in the clash.
(AP,
8/17/09)(www.wtop.com/?nid=105&sid=1646540)(AP, 8/18/09)
2009 Aug 17, North Korea said
it would restart tours to a scenic mountain resort and allow
reunions for families separated since the Korean War, a surprise
move that could help ease months of tensions with South Korea over
Pyongyang's missile and nuclear tests.
(AP, 8/17/09)
2009 Aug 17, In northwest
Pakistan a bomb blast claimed by Taliban militants killed seven
people including children, as 31 insurgents were reported dead in a
fresh wave of unrest. Overnight in Swat's main town Mingora, a
suicide bomber blew himself up, wounding four soldiers as they tried
to arrest him. Security forces captured Maulvi Umar, the Pakistani
Taliban's top spokesman, and he acknowledged the death of the
group's leader in a recent US missile strike.
(AFP, 8/17/09)(AP, 8/18/09)
2009 Aug 17, Russian media
reported that the Arctic Sea has been found near Cape Verde and that
the ship's 15-man Russian crew has been taken aboard a Russian naval
vessel.
(AP, 8/17/09)
2009 Aug 17, In Russia powerful
explosion took place during repair work at the Sayano-Shushinskaya
hydroelectric plant in southern Siberia. The death toll soon reached
69 with 6 still missing and feared dead after an engine room was
suddenly flooded. The accident produced an oil spill and the slick
that floated down the Yenisei River.
(AP, 8/17/09)(AP, 8/18/09)(AP, 8/21/09)(AP,
8/23/09)
2009 Aug 17, It was reported
that 200,000 Russian military officers faced early retirement, as
the government conducts a sweeping reform that will eliminate the
jobs of six out of every 10 members of its top-heavy officer corps.
(AP, 8/17/09)
2009 Aug 17, In Somalia gunmen
stormed a UN aid compound in Wajid overnight, sparking a gunbattle
that killed three of the attackers and wounded one. Hundreds of
pro-government militiamen rolled into Bula Hawa town near the Kenyan
border after al-Shabab fighters abandoned it.
(AP, 8/17/09)
2009 Aug 17, In Sweden the
Aftonbladet tabloid published an incendiary article claiming that
Israeli soldiers had harvested the organs of some Palestinians whom
they had shot. Israel quickly denounced the article, while Sweden
defended its freedom of expression.
(Econ, 8/29/09, p.44)
2009 Aug 17, In Thailand
thousands of supporters of deposed PM Thaksin Shinawatra rallied in
central Bangkok and then marched to the royal palace, seeking a
pardon for the fugitive leader.
(AP, 8/17/09)
2009 Aug 17, Former Zambian
President Frederick Chiluba (1991-2001) was cleared of corruption
charges following a six-year trial after a magistrate ruled that
$500,000 of allegedly embezzled funds could not be traced to
government money.
(AP, 8/17/09)(Econ, 8/22/09, p.43)(Econ,
11/21/09, p.51)
2010 Aug 17, A federal jury in
Chicago deadlocked on all but one of 24 charges against former
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. He was convicted of lying to federal
agents. Prosecutors pledged to retry the case as soon as possible.
(SFC, 8/18/10, p.A4)
2010 Aug 17, In Los Angeles an
abandoned trunk was found by two women clearing out an apartment
building basement that was filled with items that accumulated during
years of remodels. Two leather doctor bags contained the mummified
remains of two infants. The trunk also contained ticket stubs from
the 1932 KA Olympic games. DNA testing later linked the infants to
Janet M. Barrie (1897-1995), an Irish immigrant who worked as a
private live-in nurse for Mary Knapp, the wife of dentist George
Knapp.
(SFC, 11/19/10, p.C5)
2010 Aug 17, American oil
company Anadarko said it has discovered offshore oil deposits in
northern Mozambique, but it is unclear if the find will prove
commercially viable.
(AFP, 8/17/10)
2010 Aug 17, In Texas Patrick
Gray Sharp (29) was killed in a shootout with police after he towed
a trailer full of explosives in front of suburban Dallas police
station and opened fire in an apparent attempt to lure people out to
kill them.
(AP, 8/18/10)
2010 Aug 17, Texas executed
Peter Anthony Cantu (35), a former gang member, for taking part in
the rape and murder of 2 teenage girls in 1993.
(SFC, 8/18/10, p.A4)
2010 Aug 17, Afghan President
Hamid Karzai issued a decree ordering that all private security
firms in the country should be disbanded within four months.
(AFP, 8/17/10)
2010 Aug 17, Bahraini lawyer
Mohammed al-Tajir said a total of 10 activists, including eight
leading members of the opposition, have been detained since Aug 14.
(AP, 8/17/10)
2010 Aug 17, In Brazil police
officers repeated shot a 14-year-old boy just outside his house in
Manaus. The boy survived, but was seriously injured. On March 24,
2011, five police officers were detained after Brazilian television
released amateur video that showed the shooting. A prosecutor said
the officers allegedly involved in the shooting told him they were
asking the minor about a gun used in a crime in the neighborhood.
(AP, 3/24/11)
2010 Aug 17, British retiree
Christopher Tappin (63) insisted he is the innocent victim of
entrapment by US customs agents. American authorities accuse him of
plotting to sell missile components to Iran in a deal exposed in an
undercover sting. Tappin told reporters at a news conference in
London he had been duped by the customs agents, had no contacts with
Iran and had stood to make only $500 from his role in the deal.
(AP, 8/17/10)
2010 Aug 17, A new British
report said police detected more than 6,800 cannabis farms and
factories in the UK in the last 12 months, more than double the
number found in 2007-2008.
(AFP, 8/17/10)
2010 Aug 17, Canadian officials
said a nuclear reactor responsible for production of about a third
of the world's medical isotopes has resumed operation after more
than a year-long shutdown. Atomic Energy of Canada said that after
low-power testing on the Chalk River reactor in Ontario proved
successful, the 53-year-old facility returned to full power for the
first time since a heavy water leak forced it offline in May 2009.
(Reuters, 8/17/10)
2010 Aug 17, At least 4
Tibetans were fatally shot and 30 others wounded when Chinese police
opened fire on demonstrators protesting the expansion of a gold mine
they blamed for causing environmental damage in southwestern China's
Sichuan province not far from the border with Tibet. On Aug 30 the
official Xinhua News Agency reported that a 47-year-old Tibetan
named Babo died after being hit "by a stray bullet when police fired
warning shots with an anti-riot shotgun."
(AP, 8/28/10)(AP, 8/30/10)
2010 Aug 17, Colombia’s
Constitutional Court ruled that last year's agreement giving the US
military access to more Colombian bases is unconstitutional because
it wasn't approved by legislators.
(AP, 8/17/10)
2010 Aug 17, An Iranian fighter
jet crashed in southern Iran near the country's nuclear power plant
that is to start up over the weekend. The two pilots ejected safely.
(AP, 8/17/10)
2010 Aug 17, In Iraq a suicide
bomber sat for hours among hundreds of army recruits before
detonating nail-packed explosives strapped to his body, killing 61
people and casting new doubt on the ability of Iraqi forces as US
troops head home.
(AP, 8/17/10)
2010 Aug 17, In Israel a
Palestinian who broke into the Turkish Embassy trying to take
hostages and demanding asylum was turned over to Israeli
authorities. The next day his lawyer claimed that Nadim Injaz was a
former Israeli informer who was seeking political asylum. 2 Israeli
soldiers were lightly wounded by a mortar shell fired from Gaza.
Later in the day Israeli warplanes struck targets including Hamas
training facilities in five locations in Gaza. No one was hurt.
(AP, 8/17/10)(AP, 8/18/10)(AFP, 8/18/10)
2010 Aug 17, Francesco Cossiga
(1928-2010), former Italian premier (1979-1980) and president
(1985-1992), died. He led Italy's fight against domestic
terrorism in the 1970s and 1980s but resigned after failing to save
the life of a politician kidnapped by the Red Brigades.
(AP,
8/17/10)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesco_Cossiga)
2010 Aug 17, Lebanon's
Parliament passed a law that for the first time grants the country's
Palestinian refugees the right to work in any profession.
(AP, 8/17/10)
2010 Aug 17, Amsterdam police
found 7,000 kg of marijuana and hashish in a warehouse near Schiphol
Airport in the Netherlands, after arresting a 35-year-old man on
suspicion of selling narcotics. The estimated street value was 40
million euros (32.8 million pounds).
(Reuters, 8/24/10)
2010 Aug 17, A Human Rights
Watch report said Nigerian police corruption has led officers to
regularly detain innocent people to extort cash, with some tortured
or allegedly killed in the process. The report was based on
interviews with more than 145 victims of or witnesses to police
corruption.
(AFP, 8/17/10)
2010 Aug 17, North Korea
rejected a new unification proposal from South Korea, calling it a
"ridiculous" plan aimed at weakening the North in preparation for a
US-assisted invasion.
(AP, 8/17/10)
2010 Aug 17, A North Korean
military plane, what appeared to be a MiG-21 fighter jet, crashed in
northeastern in Liaoning province. China’s official Xinhua News
Agency later said it went down because of mechanical failure. The
pilot reportedly died on the spot.
(AP, 8/19/10)
2010 Aug 17, The World Bank
said it will redirect $900 million of its existing loans to Pakistan
to help in flood recovery, as the UN warned that many of the 20
million people affected by the disaster have yet to receive any
emergency aid.
(AP, 8/17/10)
2010 Aug 17, In southern Russia
a vehicle exploded outside a cafe, injuring at least 15 people in
downtown Pyatigorsk, a city in Russia's North Caucasus. A suicide
bomb attack earlier in the day in North Ossetia killed one police
officer.
(AP, 8/17/10)(Reuters, 8/17/10)
2010 Aug 17, A Russian
scientist said several thousand Muscovites are thought to have died
in July alone from this year's unprecedented heatwave and August
could add more fatalities to the grim statistics.
(Reuters, 8/17/10)
2010 Aug 17, In South Africa
media watchdogs slammed proposed media regulations as a "draconian"
ploy to muzzle the press and protect corrupt officials.
(AP, 8/17/10)
2010 Aug 17, Taiwan's
parliament approved a historic but controversial trade deal with
China which is expected to bring the two former rivals closer than
ever before. Taiwan's Defense Ministry urged the US to sell the
island advanced weapons systems, after a Pentagon report concluded
that China's arms buildup is giving it a wider military advantage
over Taiwan.
(AFP, 8/17/10)
2010 Aug 17, Venezuelan
President Hugo Chavez signed a new law into effect that formalizes
the exclusion of private brokerages from trading the local bolivar
currency or public sector dollar-denominated debt.
(AP, 8/18/10)
2010 Aug 17, A Venezuelan court
ordered one of the country’s leading newspapers to stop publishing
photographs depicting blood, guns and other violent images and
warned it could face a hefty fine for having published a photo of
bodies in a morgue.
(AP, 8/17/10)
2010 Aug 17, Vietnamese and US
officials held their first defense talks as the two countries
celebrated the 15th anniversary of normalizing relations.
(SFC, 8/18/10, p.A2)
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