Today in History - August 20
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573 Aug 20,
Gregory of Tours was selected as the bishop of Tours.
(MC, 8/20/02)
917 Aug 20, A Byzantine
counter-offensive was routed by Syeon at Anchialus, Bulgaria.
(HN, 8/20/98)
1153 Aug 20, Bernard de
Clairvaux, French saint, died.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1191 Aug 20, Crusader King
Richard I (1157-1199), Coeur de Lion (the "Lionheart"), executed
some 2,700-3,000 Muslim prisoners in Acre (Akko).
(MC, 8/20/02)
1462 Aug 20, Castilian forces
captured Gibraltar (Eighth Siege of Gibraltar).
(SSFC, 5/30/10,
p.M4)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Gibraltar)
1494 Aug 20, Columbus returned
to Hispaniola. He had confirmed that Jamaica was an island and
failed to find a mainland.
(http://www1.minn.net/~keithp/v2.htm)
1534 Aug 20, Turkish admiral
Chaireddin (Khair ad-Din) "Barbarossa" occupied Tunis.
(MC, 8/20/02)(PC, 1992, p.178)
1619 Aug 20, The 1st African
slaves arrived to North America aboard a Dutch privateer. It docked
in Jamestown, Virginia, with twenty human captives among its cargo.
(SFC, 12/18/96, p.A25)(HN, 8/20/98)(PC, 1992,
p.224)
1625 Aug 20, Thomas Corneille,
French playwright, was born.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1667 Aug 20, John Milton
published Paradise Lost, an epic poem about the fall of Adam and
Eve.
(HN, 8/20/98)
1672 Aug 20, Jan de Witt, Dutch
politician and mathematician, was assassinated by a carefully
organized lynch "mob" after visiting his brother Cornelis de Witt in
prison. He was killed by a shot in the neck; his naked body was
hanged and mutilated and the heart was carved out to be exhibited.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johan_de_Witt)
1745 Aug 20, Bonnie Prince
Charlie reached Blair Castle, Scotland.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1778 Aug 20, Bernardo O'Higgins
was born in Chile. He later won independence for Chile.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1781 Aug 20, George Washington
began to move his troops south to fight Cornwallis.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1785 Aug 20, Oliver Hazard
Perry, US Naval hero ("We have met the enemy"), was born in Rhode
Island.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1794 Aug 20, American General
"Mad Anthony" Wayne defeated the Ohio Indians at the Battle of
Fallen Timbers in the Northwest territory, ending Indian resistance
in the area.
(HN, 8/20/98)
1795 Aug 20, Joseph Haydn
returned to Vienna from England.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1804 Aug 20, Charles Floyd
died, the only fatality of the Lewis & Clark Expedition. In 1901
a memorial was erected at his gravesite in Sioux City, Iowa.
(MC, 8/20/02)(Internet)
1812 Aug 20, Czar Alexander
gave Gen. Mikhail Ilarionovich Kutuzov (1745-1813) command of the
Russian army.
(www.climate4you.com/Text/Climate4you%20August%202009.pdf)
1833 Aug 20, Benjamin Harrison,
the 23rd president of the United States (1889-1893) and grandson of
President William Henry Harrison, was born in North Bend, Ohio.
(HN 8/20/97)(AP, 8/20/99)(MC, 8/20/02)
1847 Aug 20, General Winfield
Scott won the battle of Churubusco on his drive to Mexico City. The
Mexican War gave future civil war generals their first taste of
combat.
(HN, 8/20/98)
1852 Aug 20, The steamer
"Atlantic" collided on Lake Erie with the fishing boat Ogdensburg,
and sank. An estimated 150-250 people were drowned.
(MC, 8/20/02)(Internet)
1864 Aug 20, The 8th and last
day of battle at Deep Bottom Run, Va., left about 3900 casualties.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1865 Aug 20, Pres. Johnson
proclaimed an end to the "insurrection" in Texas.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1866 Aug 20, President Andrew
Johnson formally declared the Civil War over, even though the
fighting had stopped months earlier.
(AP, 8/20/97)
1881 Aug 20, Nikolay
Yakovlevich Myaskovsky, composer, was born in Poland of Russian
military parentage.
(MC, 8/20/02)(Internet)
1886 Aug 20, Paul Tillich,
German-US theologian and philosopher who wrote "Systematic
Theology," was born.
(HN, 8/20/98)(MC, 8/20/02)
1890 Aug 20, H.P. Lovecraft
(d.1937), author of horror tales, was born in Providence, RI.
(HN, 8/20/98)(SSFC, 2/27/05, p.B1)
1893 Aug 20, Shechita (ritual
slaughtering) was prohibited in Switzerland.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1895 Aug 20, Start of Sherlock
Holmes "Adventure of Norwood Builder."
(MC, 8/20/02)
1896 Aug 20, Dial telephone was
patented.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1901 Aug 20, Fawcett committee
visited Mafeking concentration camp in Cape Colony.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1904 Aug 20, Dublin’s Abbey
Theatre was founded, an outgrowth of the Irish Literary Theatre
founded in 1899 by William Butler Yeats and Lady Gregory.
(HN, 8/20/00)
1905 Aug 20, Jack Teagarden,
jazz trombonist, was born.
(HN, 8/20/00)
1908 Aug 20, The American Great
White Fleet arrived in Sydney, Australia, to a warm welcome.
(HN, 8/20/98)
1910 Aug 20, Eero Saarinen
(d.1961), Finnish-US architect (IBM Building, MIT Chapel), was born
in Rantasalmi, Finland.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1910 Aug 20, The 1st shot fired
from an airplane was during a test flight over Brooklyn's Sheepshead
Bay.
(WSJ, 5/20/03, p.D5)
1910 Aug 20-1910 Aug 21, The
Great Idaho Fire killed 86 people and destroyed some 3 million acres
of timber in Idaho and Montana. In 2009 Timothy Egan authored “The
Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire That Save America.”
(http://www.idahoforests.org/fires.htm)(SFC,
12/1/09, p.E8)
1912 Aug 20, The US Plant
Quarantine Act went into effect.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1912 Aug 20, William Booth,
English minister, founder (Salvation Army), died.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1913 Aug 20, 700 feet above
Buc, France, parachutist Adolphe Pegoud becomes the first person to
jump from an airplane and land safely.
(HN, 8/20/00)(MC, 8/20/02)
1914 Aug 20, Battle at
Morhange: German troops chased French, killing 1000s.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1914 Aug 20, German forces
occupied Brussels, Belgium, during World War I.
(AP, 8/20/07)
1914 Aug 20, Russia won an
early victory over Germany at Gumbinnen.
(HN, 8/20/98)
1914 Aug 20-24, Battle of
Boundaries: Lorraine, Ardennen, Sambre & Meuse, Mons.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1915 Aug 20, Paul Ehrlich (61),
German genealogist (Chemotherapy, Nobel 1908), died.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1918 Aug 20, Britain opened its
offensive on the Western front during World War I.
(AP, 8/20/97)
1920 Aug 20, Pioneering
American radio station 8MK in Detroit (later WWJ) began daily
broadcasting.
(AP, 8/20/97)
1920 Aug 20, A preliminary
meeting was held in Akron, Ohio, to form the American Pro Football
League.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1921 Aug 20, Jacqueline Susann,
author (Valley of the Dolls), was born in Phila., Pa.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1926 Aug 20, There was an
uprising against Reza Shah Pahlavi in Persia.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1931 Aug 20, Donald King,
American promoter of boxing, was born.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1934 Aug 20, Gangster Al Capone
and 42 other prisoners traveled in steel barred railroad coaches to
Alcatraz after being transferred the federal penitentiary in
Atlanta, Ga.
(SSFC, 8/9/09, DB p.46)
1939 Aug 20, Russian offensive
under Gen. Zhukov against Jap invasion in Mongolia.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1939 Aug 20, Soviet and German
trade agreements were signed.
(DrEE, 10/26/96, p.4)
1940 Aug 20, Radar was used for
the first time, by the British during the Battle of Britain.
(HN, 8/20/00)
1940 Aug 20, British Prime
Minister Winston Churchill paid tribute to the Royal Air Force,
saying, "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so
many to so few."
(AP, 8/20/97)
1940 Aug 20, Ramon Mercador
(Mercader) del Rio, a Spanish Communist, posed as a Canadian
businessman (aka Frank Jackson) and fatally wounded Leon Trotsky
with an alpine ax to the back of the head in Mexico City. Trotsky
died the next day.
(WSJ, 3/29/96, p.A-14)(TMC, 1994, p.1940)(SFC,
7/19/96, p.B1)(HN, 8/20/01)
1941 Aug 20, Slobodan
Milosevic, premier of Serbia, was born.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1941 Aug 20, Police raided the
11th district of Paris and took over 4,000 Jewish males.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1941 Aug 20, Adolf Hitler
authorized the development of the V-2 missile.
(HN, 8/20/98)
1942 Aug 20, Isaac Hayes,
composer (Shaft), was born in Covington, TN.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1942 Aug 20, Plutonium was
first weighed. Glenn T. Seaborg was a co-discoverer of Plutonium.
(HFA, ‘96, p.36)(SFC, 8/26/97, p.A17)
1944 Aug 20, Rajiv Gandhi,
Prime Minster of India (1984-89), was born.
(HN, 8/20/98)(MC, 8/20/02)
1944 Aug 20, "Anna Lucasta,"
opened on Broadway.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1944 Aug 20, United States and
British forces closed the pincers on the German 7th Army in the
Falaise-Argentan pocket in France.
(HN, 8/20/98)(MC, 8/20/02)
1944 Aug 20, The US liberty
ship SS Richard Montgomery was wrecked off the Nore in the Thames
Estuary, with some 1500 tons of explosives. As of 2008 it continued
to be a hazard to the area.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Richard_Montgomery)
1944 Aug 20, Gen. de Gaulle
returned to France.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1946 Aug 20, Connie Chung
(Yu-Hwa) journalist: CBS Evening News, was born in Washington, DC.
(Internet)
1948 Aug 20, Robert Plant
(Honeydrippers: Rockin' at Midnight; Led Zeppelin: Stairway to
Heaven, etc.), was born.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1948 Aug 20, The United States
ordered the expulsion of the Soviet Consul General in New York,
Jacob Lomakin, accusing him of attempting to return two consular
employees to the Soviet Union against their will.
(AP, 8/20/08)
1950 Aug 20, South Korean
police and soldiers killed 210 people on the southern island of
Cheju.
(SFC, 4/21/00, p.A19)
1952 Aug 20, Russia's Stalin
met China's Chou Enlai.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1953 Aug 20, The Soviet Union
publicly acknowledged it had tested a hydrogen bomb.
(AP, 8/20/97)
1955 Aug 20, Hundreds of people
were killed in anti-French rioting in Morocco and Algeria.
(AP, 8/20/97)
1956 Aug 20, The Republican
Convention opened at the Cow Palace in Daly City, Ca.
(SFEC, 5/16/99, Z1 p.4)
1956 Aug 20, The US state
department reaffirmed its ban on travel to China.
(EWH, 1968, p.1280)
1960 Aug 20, Senegal broke from
Mali federation and declared independence.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1961 Aug 20, East Germany began
erecting a 5' high wall along the border with the west to replace
the barbed wire put up Aug 13.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1964 Aug 20, President Johnson
signed the Economic Opportunity Act, a nearly $1 billion
anti-poverty measure.
(AP, 8/20/07)
1966 Aug 20, The Beatles were
pelted with rotten fruit during a Memphis concert.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1968 Aug 20, Some 650,000
Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact troops began invading
Czechoslovakia to crush the "Prague Spring" liberalization drive of
Alexander Dubcek's regime.
(AP, 8/20/97)(SFC, 8/25/04, p.B7)
1969 Aug 20, Arlo Guthrie
released "Alice's Restaurant."
(www.imdb.com/title/tt0064002/)
1969 Aug 20, In San Francisco
Perry Butler and his wife Katharine opened Perry’s, a well-lit New
York style saloon, on Union Street. In 2009 they celebrated 40 years
in business.
(SFC, 8/17/99, p.A13)(SSFC, 8/8/04, p.F1)(SFC,
8/20/09, p.E1)
1971 Aug 20, FBI began a covert
investigation of CBS journalist Daniel Schorr.
(www.theatlantic.com/politics/polibig/wisepres.htm)
1971 Aug 20, The Cambodian
military launched a series of operations against the Khmer Rouge.
(HN, 8/20/98)
1971 Aug 20-1971 Aug 21, In
Vietnam heavy rains flooded the Red River delta and some 100,000
people were killed.
(www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001440.html)
1974 Aug 20, Pres. Gerald Ford
selected Nelson Rockefeller as VP.
(http://archive.rockefeller.edu/collections/family/nar/narvp.php)
1975 Aug 20, Viking 1, the
first of 2 unmanned Viking landers, was launched from Cape
Canaveral, Florida, on a mission to Mars. It reached Mars in the
summer of 1976.
(SFEC, 9/28/97, p.A14)
1977 Aug 20, The song "Best of
My Love", by the Emotions, topped the US pop charts.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best_of_My_Love_(The_Emotions_song))
1977 Aug 20, The United States
launched Voyager 2, an unmanned spacecraft carrying a 12-inch copper
phonograph record containing greetings in dozens of languages,
samples of music and sounds of nature.
(V.D.-H.K.p.388)(MofE, 1978, p.41)(AP, 8/20/97)
1978 Aug 20, In New Jersey 5
teenage boys disappeared. In 2010 Lee Evans (56) and Philander
Hampton (53) were arrested and charged with their murder.
Prosecutors said the boys were herded into an abandoned building and
burned to death in a dispute over some missing marijuana. On Aug 20,
2010, Evans was freed from jail after relatives put up $950,000 in
bail. His cousin remained in jail. On Oct 3, 2011, Hampton (54) was
sentenced to 10 years in prison. Under sentencing guidelines he was
only required to serve 20% of the sentence. In 2011 a jury found Lee
Evans not guilty of 10-murder related counts in the deaths of the
teens.
(SFC, 3/24/10, p.A7)(SSFC, 8/22/10, p.A10)(SFC,
10/4/11, p.A5)(SFC, 11/24/11, p.A11)
1978 Aug 20, In London gunmen
opened fire on an Israeli El Al Airline bus. 2 people died and 9
were injured.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/20/newsid_2546000/2546593.stm)
1979 Aug 20, Bob Dylan
proclaimed his new born-again Christianity with his album "Slow
Train Coming." The album won a Grammy award.
(SFEC, 9/28/97,
p.A3)(www.bobdylan.com/albums/slowtrain.html)
1979 Aug 20, Diana Nyad
succeeded in her 3rd attempt to swim from the Bahamas to Florida.
(AP,
8/20/99)(http://andrejkoymasky.com/liv/fam/bion1/nyad1.html)
1980 Aug 20, Reinhold Messner
of Italy became the 1st to solo ascent Mt. Everest.
(www.britannica.com/ebc/article-9052253)
1980 Aug 20, UN Security
Council condemned (14-0, US abstains) Israeli declaration that all
of Jerusalem is it's capital.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council_Resolution_478)
1981 Aug 20, In Northern
Ireland Pat McGeown (1956-1996) lapsed into a coma during the Maze
Prison hunger strike. About 25 men went on strike and a 10th died
when McGeown’s family agreed to medical intervention. This was the
background for the 1996 film “Some Mother’s Son.”
(http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/events/hstrike/chronology.htm)(SFC, 10/5/96,
p.A21)
1982 Aug 20, In Washington, DC,
Mexican Secretary of Finance, Jesus Silva Herzog, declared that
“Mexico did not have means to pay its due foreign debt and thus his
Country was assuming a moratorium.” US Fed Chairman Paul Volcker
immediately established a severe control upon money flow and
practically the immobilization of domestic or external credits. The
crisis lasted 1,717 days. Volcker lent money to Mexico and arranged
a moratorium on repayment of bank loans.
(http://tinyurl.com/37xdmy)(WSJ, 8/30/07, p.A3)
1986 Aug 20, Postal employee
Patrick Henry Sherrill (44) went on a deadly rampage at a post
office in Edmond, Okla., shooting 14 fellow workers to death before
killing himself. This incident is credited with inspiring the
American phrase "going postal".
(WSJ, 8/7/97, p.A12)(AP,
8/20/06)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Sherrill)
1987 Aug 20, A federal appeals
court in Washington, D.C., rejected Lt. Col. Oliver North's argument
that the independent counsel investigating the Iran-Contra affair
was operating under an invalid Justice Department regulation.
(HN 8/20/97)
1988 Aug 20, Eight British
soldiers were killed by an Irish Republican Army land mine that
destroyed a military bus near Omagh, County Tyrone, in Northern
Ireland.
(HN 8/20/98)
1988 Aug 20, A cease fire
between Iran and Iraq took effect after 8 years of war.
(www.un.org/Depts/dpko/dpko/co_mission/uniimogbackgr.html)
1989 Aug 20, Entertainment
executive Jose Menendez and his wife, Kitty, were murdered in their
Beverly Hills, Calif., mansion. Eric and Lyle Menendez stood accused
of murdering their parents. In their first trial the jury
deadlocked, but in 1996 they were convicted of first-degree murder.
They based their defense on a history of parental abuse.
(SFC, 4/18/96, p.a-15)(WSJ, 3/21/96, p.A-1)
1989 Aug 20, British
conservationist George Adamson, 83, was shot and killed by bandits
in Kenya.
(AP, 8/20/99)
1989 Aug 20, Fifty-one people
died when a pleasure boat sank in the Thames River in London.
(AP, 8/20/99)
1990 Aug 20, George
Steinbrenner stepped down as NY Yankee owner.
(http://tinyurl.com/bjbgt)
1990 Aug 20, For the first time
since Iraq began detaining foreigners, President Bush publicly
referred to the detainees as hostages, and demanded their release.
Iraq moved Western hostages to military installations (human
shields).
(AP, 8/20/00)
1990 Aug 20, Three former
Northwest Airlines pilots were convicted in Minneapolis of flying
while intoxicated.
(AP, 8/20/00)
1991 Aug 20, More than 100,000
people rallied outside the Russian Parliament building as protests
against the Soviet coup increased. President Bush said he would
never deal with the coup leaders.
(AP, 8/20/01)
1992 Aug 20, In the early hours
of Aug. 20, the Republican National Convention in Houston
renominated President Bush and Vice President Quayle. On the evening
of the 20th, Bush delivered a hard-hitting speech in which he
attacked the Democrats and promised to seek across-the-board tax
cuts if re-elected.
(HN 8/20/97)
1993 Aug 20, Conjoined twins
Angela and Amy Lakeberg were separated at The Children's Hospital of
Philadelphia in an operation that scarified Amy, since the sisters
shared a common heart and liver tissue. Angela died in June 1994.
(HN 8/20/98)
1994 Aug 20, President Clinton
slapped new sanctions on Cuba that included prohibiting payments by
Cuban-Americans to their relatives in Cuba.
(AP, 8/21/04)
1994 Aug 20, Benjamin Chavis
Junior was fired as head of the NAACP after a turbulent 16-month
tenure.
(AP, 8/20/99)
1994 Aug 20, Buenos Aires
Archbishop Quarracino called for a zone of exclusion for all
homosexuals in Argentina.
(http://tinyurl.com/b87et)
1995 Aug 20, The remnants of an
American peace delegation headed home from Bosnia-Herzegovina with
the bodies of three diplomats killed in an accident.
(AP, 8/20/00)
1995 Aug 20, The Algerian
government planned presidential elections for Nov. 16, but Muslim
militants vowed to derail the plans. Some 40,000 people have been
killed since the government cancelled elections in 1992.
(WSJ, 8/21/95, p.A-1)
1995 Aug 20, In Firozabad,
India, a speeding passenger train crashed into a train that had
stalled after hitting a cow and some 358 people were killed.
(SFC, 6/4/98, p.A15)(SFC, 8/3/99, p.A8)(AP,
8/20/00)
1995 Aug 20, Liberian warlords
agreed to end hostilities in six-year old civil war, which had
killed 150,000 people.
(WSJ, 8/21/95, p.A-1)
1995 Aug 20, A plebiscite
declared the independence of Seborga (in Northern Italy) by a vote
of 304 to 4. Giorgio Carbone was elected as Georgio I,
Prince-for-Life.
(SFEC, 3/30/97, p.T6)
1996 Aug 20, Pres. Clinton
signed the federal minimum wage bill for an increase of .90 cents
per hour in two steps to $5.15 per hour over 13 months. It was the
first minimum-wage increase in five years. The bill included a
$5,000 tax credit for the cost of adopting a child. He also signed a
new retirement savings program for small-business workers.
(WSJ, 8/21/96, p.A1)(SFC, 8/21/96, p.A3)(AP,
8/20/97)
1996 Aug 20, Susan McDougal was
sentenced in Little Rock, Ark., to two years in prison in a
Whitewater fraud case. She served three months of that sentence, but
also 18 months for contempt for refusing to answer questions about
President Clinton.
(AP, 8/20/06)
1996 Aug 20, In Germany
officials arrested 2 businessmen suspected of smuggling computer
technology to Libya that could be used to make lethal nerve gas.
(WSJ, 8/20/96, p.A1)
1996 Aug 20, In Burundi Pierre
Buyoya sacked his army chief, Jean Bikomagu, who was implicated in
the 1993 assassination of the first Hutu president Melchior Ndadaye.
He also fired 2 more powerful military officers.
(WSJ, 8/21/96, p.A1)(SFC, 8/21/96, p.A9)(SFC,
8/22/96, p.E5)
1996 Aug 20, In Haiti two
conservative politicians were killed in drive-by shootings.
(SFC, 8/21/96, p.A9)
1997 Aug 20, United Parcel
Service drivers put away picket signs, put on brown shirts and
shorts, and called on customers again as the delivery giant began to
sluggishly recover from its costly strike.
(AP, 8/20/07)
1997 Aug 20, NATO troops in
Bosnia seized truckloads of weapons from police stations in Banja
Luka. They moved to force out officers loyal to Karadzic.
(WSJ, 8/21/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 20, Israeli jets
struck deep in Lebanon and bombed a guerrilla base and a power plant
supplying electricity to Sidon.
(WSJ, 8/21/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 20, In Jamaica prison
guards walked off their jobs after a commissioner suggested that
guards and prisoners use condoms to prevent AIDS. Anti-gay violence
broke out and within a week 16 inmates were killed and 20 injured at
Kingston’s Gen’l. Penitentiary and St. Catherine District Prison.
(SFC, 8/26/97, p.A4)
1997 Aug 20, In Kenya police
arrested 2 KANU politicians for instigating violence along the
coastal region. Karisa Maitha and Omar Masumbuko lent credence that
KANU officials were attempting to divert attention from the
reformist movement.
(SFC, 8/21/97, p.A12)
1997 Aug 20, Palestinian Pres.
Arafat met with Islamic militant groups including Hamas and called
for Palestinian unity against Israeli demands.
(WSJ, 8/21/97, p.A1)
1998 Aug 20, The German
heavy-metal band Rammstein was reported to be making a hit in the US
with their "Sehnsucht" (yearning) album.
(WSJ, 8/21/98, p.B1)
1998 Aug 20, Monica Lewinsky
went before a grand jury for a second round of explicit testimony
about her White House trysts with President Clinton.
(AP, 8/20/99)
1998 Aug 20, Pres. Clinton
ordered cruise missile attacks on Sudan and Afghanistan13 days after
the deadly embassy bombings in East Africa. About 50 missiles were
fired at the camp of Osama Bin Laden and some 25 missiles against a
suspected chemical plant in Khartoum. The plant in Sudan was
suspected of producing the chemical EMPTA, one of the ingredients in
VX nerve gas, but also an ingredient in fungicides and
anti-microbial agents.
(WSJ, 8/21/98, p.A1)(SFC, 8/27/98, p.A10)(AP,
8/20/99)
1998 Aug 20, It was reported
that a $1 million reward was given by the Justice Dept. to David
Kaczynski for providing information that led to the arrest of his
brother Theodore, the Unabomber.
(WSJ, 8/21/98, p.A1)
1998 Aug 20, In Southampton,
N.Y., townspeople met to express their concerns over the
construction of a 110,000 square foot home by Ira Rennert, a
businessman who bought troubled companies and leveraged them for the
next purchase. The spread was to be the largest home in America.
(SFEC, 8/23/98, p.A7)
1998 Aug 20, It was reported
that new CMOS light sensors were giving competition to CCDs
(charge-coupled devices) as the eye of digital cameras.
(WSJ, 8/21/98, p.B1)
1998 The Univ. of Calif. at
Berkeley tied with the Univ. of Virginia as the best public
university in the country according to a US News & World Report.
(SFC, 8/21/98, p.A24)
1998 Aug 20, In Canada the
Supreme Court ruled that Quebec can’t secede unilaterally, but that
if the province votes for secession, it must negotiate with
the rest of Canada.
(WSJ, 8/21/98, p.A12)
1998 Aug 20, In India 30,000
people were evacuated from 2 river valleys in Uttar Pradesh as
landslides continued and the number of dead increased to about 300.
(WSJ, 8/21/98, p.A1)
1998 Aug 20, In Hebron, Israel,
settler Rabbi Shlomo Raanan (63) was killed by a suspected
Palestinian assailant.
(SFC, 8/24/98, p.A10)
1998 Aug 20, In Sudan the US
missile attack destroyed the Sugar Sweet and Candy factory of
Mustafa S. Ismaeil and killed a guard there. The owner planned to
sue the US for damages.
(SFC, 8/24/98, p.A8)
1998 Aug 20, In Venezuela the
market plunged 9.5% on fears that the Bolivar would be devalued.
(WSJ, 8/21/98, p.C12)
1999 Aug 20, In a highly
unusual move, the CIA pulled the security clearances for former
Director John Deutch for keeping secret files on an unsecured home
computer.
(AP, 8/20/00)
1999 Aug 20, The Peregrine
falcon was removed from the list of endangered species.
(SFC, 8/20/99, p.A2)
1999 Aug 20, In Britain Tony
Martin (54), a Norfolk farmer, killed burglar Fred Barras (16), who
had broken into his home, nicknamed Bleak House. Martin was
convicted of murder, but in 2001 this was reduced to manslaughter.
In 2003 Martin was released from custody.
(Econ, 2/13/10,
p.62)(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/norfolk/3087003.stm)
1999 Aug 20, Three Japanese
banks announced a broad alliance plan that would create the world’s
largest banking group with assets of well over one trillion dollars.
(AP, 8/20/00)
1999 Aug 20, In Manila,
Philippines, some 150,000 people protested economic changes in the
constitution proposed by Pres. Estrada.
(SFC, 8/21/99, p.A11)
1999 Aug 20, In Russia Sergei
Stepashin planned to speak as the leader of a new coalition to
succeed Pres. Yeltsin that was to include Viktor Chernomyrdin and
Sergei Kiriyenko, all former prime ministers. Stepashin announced
the next day that the coalition failed and that he would run for a
seat in Parliament.
(SFC, 8/21/99, p.A10)(SFEC, 8/22/99, p.A18)
1999 Aug 20, In Serbia leaders
of the Alliance for Change announced that they would give Pres.
Milosevic one month to resign and vowed to shut down the country
with demonstrations if he does not.
(SFC, 8/21/99, p.A1)
1999 Aug 20, It was reported
that tens thousands of refugees from Sierra Leone had fled to
northern Liberia and that many were robbed and killed by retreating
rebels.
(SFC, 8/20/99, p.D3)
1999 Aug 20, It was reported
that government controlled banks forced Daewoo Group, South Korea’s
2nd largest conglomerate (chaebol), to sell all but 6 auto-related
units among its 25 affiliates. Kim Woo Choong, the man who built the
group into a global powerhouse, fled South Korea as the conglomerate
collapsed. He returned in 2005 and was arrested. In May 2006 he was
sentenced to 10 years in jail after being found guilty of charges
including embezzlement and accounting fraud. 21 trillion won ($22bn)
of his fortune was seized and he was fined an additional 10m won. On
December 30, 2007, he was granted amnesty by Pres. Roh Moo-hyun.
(SFC, 8/20/99, p.D4)(WSJ, 6/14/05,
p.A11)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Woo-jung)
1999 Aug 20, In Turkey
officials reported that over 10,000 bodies had been recovered from
the quake and the injured list had risen to 34,000. Prime Minister
Ecevit ordered that the dead be buried as soon as found.
(SFC, 8/21/99, p.A1)
2000 Aug 20, Tiger Woods won
the PGA Championship in a playoff over Bob May, becoming the first
player since Ben Hogan in 1953 to win three majors in one year.
Woods, winner of four of the last five majors, won his first in a
playoff. He became the first player to repeat as PGA champion since
Denny Shute in 1937. Woods, with an 18-under 270, holds the scoring
record in relation to par in every major championship.
(AP, 8/20/01)
2000 Aug 20, Verizon
Communications and unions representing 50,000 workers reached a
tentative agreement on a new three-year-contract as a two-week
strike neared an end.
(AP, 8/20/05)
2000 Aug 20, In Kenya 16 people
were killed after 9 runaway train cars carrying liquefied gas
derailed and exploded at the Athi River station. 9 of 37 injured
died soon after.
(SFC, 8/21/00, p.A10)(SFC, 8/22/00, p.A12)
2000 Aug 20, Norwegian divers
examined the Russian submarine Kursk as the British LR5
mini-submarine prepared for a rescue attempt. 118 Russian sailors
were believed dead. In 2001 it was reported that the Kursk carried
nuclear weapons when it sank, but Russia denied this. The ship was
raised Oct 8, 2001. The severed bow was left for later recovery.
(SFEC, 8/20/00, p.A1)(WSJ, 4/5/01, p.A1)(WSJ,
4/6/01, p.A1)(SFC, 10/8/01, p.B2)
2000 Aug 20, In Spain a bomb
killed 2 Spanish Civil Guard officers in Sallent de Gallego. The ETA
was blamed.
(SFC, 8/21/00, p.A8)
2000 Aug 20, At the Vatican
some 2 million young people closed the 6-day World Youth festival
dubbed the Catholic Woodstock.
(SFC, 8/21/00, p.A9)
2001 Aug 20, The US consumer
group Public Citizen petitioned the government to give warning
brochures to users of statins for reducing cholesterol due to some
associated deaths from muscle cell destruction, arhabdomyolysis.
(SFC, 8/21/01, p.A5)
2001 Aug 20, Four oil companies
(Chevron, Shell, Texaco and Unocal) agreed to clean up MTBE
contamination in California caused by leaking storage tanks. 4
others (ARCO, Exxon, Mobil and Tosco) declined to settle the suit.
(SFC, 8/21/01, p.A3)
2001 Aug 20, Near Sacramento,
Ca., Nikolay Soltys (27), a Ukrainian immigrant, stabbed to death
his pregnant wife and 4 other relatives including 2 young cousins.
He fled the area with his 3-year-old son. The body of Sergey Soltys
(3) was found the next day in a blood-soaked carton in Placer
County. Soltys was caught in his mother’s backyard near Sacramento
Aug 30. Soltys committed suicide Feb 13, 2002.
(SFC, 8/21/01, p.A1)(SFC, 8/22/01, p.A1)(SFC,
8/31/01, p.A1)(SFC, 2/14/02, p.A17)
2001 Aug 20, Actress Kim
Stanley (76) died in Santa Fe, N.M.
(AP, 8/20/02)
2001 Aug 20, Fred Hoyle (86),
astro-physicist, died in Bournemouth, England. He was a proponent of
the cosmological theory (1948) which holds that the universe has no
beginning and has always existed in a steady state. He coined the
term "Big Bang" but never accepted that theory for the origin of the
universe His science fiction books included "The Black Cloud" (1957)
and "Ossian’s Ride" (1958).
(SFC, 8/23/01, p.C2)(SSFC, 8/26/01, p.C4)(AP,
8/20/02)
2001 Aug 20, In China Wu
Liangjie, an arrested Falun Gong member, died after falling from the
window of a police office in Baicheng, Jilin province.
(SFC, 9/1/01, p.A10)
2001 Aug 20, In Congo Pres.
Kabila met with his main rival leaders for the 1st time to establish
a transitional government and end 3 years of war.
(SFC, 8/21/01, p.A7)
2001 Aug 20, European monitors
in Hebron (TIPH) announced they would no longer patrol the city’s
Jewish enclave due to attacks by settlers.
(SFC, 8/21/01, p.A7)
2001 Aug 20, It was reported
that Vojvodina, a northern province of Serbia, was actively seeking
autonomy. The area is home to 2 million people representing 20
ethnic groups.
(SFC, 8/20/01, p.A8)
2002 Aug 20, In Bangladesh the
swollen Jamuna River broke through its mud embankments, flooding a
dozen villages and cutting off thousands of residents.
(AP, 8/20/02)
2002 Aug 20, In Germany 5
members of the Iraqi Opposition of Germany took over the Iraqi
embassy. German police commandos freed two senior diplomats from
armed men who had stormed the Iraqi embassy, bringing a bloodless
end to a five-hour hostage drama by a previously unknown group
opposed to Saddam Hussein.
(SFC, 8/20/02, p.A7)(AP, 8/20/03)
2002 Aug 20, Indian troops
killed 14 Muslim rebels trying to sneak into Kashmir from Pakistan.
(WSJ, 8/21/02, p.A1)
2002 Aug 20, Indonesian police
have arrested Ramli, a former soldier, and accused him of
masterminding a series of deadly bombings in the capital over the
past few years.
(Reuters, 8/21/02)
2002 Aug 20, An Israeli soldier
was killed by a Hamas sniper. Hamas vowed to undermine the new
security agreement.
(WSJ, 8/21/02, p.A1)
2002 Aug 20, Choking smoke from
forest fires shrouded Indonesia's side of Borneo island, grounding
planes and pushing air quality way above hazardous levels in parts
of the vast region.
(Reuters, 8/20/02)
2002 Aug 20, In Nepal army
soldiers reportedly killed at least 30 Maoist rebels at a remote
training camp.
(SFC, 8/22/02, p.A10)
2002 Aug 20, Palestinian police
were back on the streets of Bethlehem after Israeli forces left the
town as part of a trial that could lead to further Israeli
withdrawals in the West Bank.
(AP, 8/20/02)
2002 Aug 20, In Russia an
explosion tore through a residential building in Moscow, blowing
open a 50-foot-wide section and collapsing five stories of
apartments. At least 7 people were killed, and as many as 5 others
were feared trapped in the rubble. A natural gas leak was suspected.
(AP, 8/21/02)
2002 Aug 20, The Swiss
government returned to Peru about $77.5 million linked to former
Peruvian spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos, saying the money came from
corrupt arms deals. The money includes assets of Gen. Nicolas de
Bari Hermoza Rios, Peru's former armed forces chief, who also faces
corruption charges. $33 million linked to Montesinos remained
blocked in Swiss banks.
(AP, 8/21/02)
2003 Aug 20, The US won the
women's overall team gold medal at the World Gymnastics
Championships in Anaheim, Calif.; Romania took the silver medal and
Australia, the bronze.
(AP, 8/21/04)
2003 Aug 20, In Australia
Pauline Hanson, the right-wing firebrand known for her
anti-immigration rhetoric, was sentenced to three years in jail for
fraudulently setting up her One Nation political party and illegally
using electoral funds.
(AP, 8/20/03)
2003 Aug 20, In Chechnya
fighting left 8 Russian soldiers and 12 rebels dead.
(SFC, 8/22/03, p.A9)
2003 Aug 20, In the Dominican
Republic police clashed with rioters who were protesting rising
prices and electrical blackouts, leaving one man dead and a dozen
arrested.
(AP, 8/21/03)
2003 Aug 20, The G-20 (G20) was
formed with Brazil as one of its leading member nations. The group
emerged at the 5th Ministerial WTO conference, held in Cancun,
Mexico from 10 September to 14 September 2003. The other members are
Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, China, Cuba, Egypt, the Philippines,
Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Paraguay,
South Africa, Thailand, Tanzania, Uruguay, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.
(AP,
9/10/06)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G20_developing_nations)
2003 Aug 20, Authorities in the
Russian Far East lost contact with a helicopter carrying a regional
governor and 16 other people over the volcanoes of the Kamchatka
peninsula.
(AP, 8/20/03)
2003 Aug 20, Opposition leaders
turned in 2.7 million signatures to demand a referendum on ending
Hugo Chavez's tumultuous four-year presidency in Venezuela.
(AP, 8/20/03)
2004 Aug 20, Democrats labored
to deflect attacks on John Kerry's war record with fresh television
ads touting his fitness for national command.
(AP, 8/20/05)
2004 Aug 20, A bioethicist
charged in The Lancet medical journal charged that doctors working
for the U.S. military in Iraq collaborated with interrogators in the
abuse of detainees at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison, profoundly
breaching medical ethics and human rights.
(AP, 8/21/04)
2004 Aug 20, In Brazil 4
homeless men were bludgeoned to death and six were in critical
condition following early morning attacks by unknown assailants in
downtown streets of Sao Paulo.
(AP, 8/20/04)
2004 Aug 20, China said it
would offer 10-year residency permits to “high-level” foreigners,
who bring in important investments or business skills.
(WSJ, 8/23/04, p.A1)
2004 Aug 20, In Athens, Michael
Phelps matched Mark Spitz's record of four individual gold medals in
the Olympic pool with a stirring comeback in the 100-meter
butterfly, then removed himself from further competition.
(AP, 8/20/05)
2004 Aug 20, Freelance French
journalists Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot were kidnapped
in an area south of Baghdad known as the "triangle of death." They
were eventually released by the Islamic Army and returned home to
Paris in December that same year.
(AFP, 9/22/10)
2004 Aug 20, Tropical storm
Megi swept out to sea beyond northern Japan, leaving behind an arc
of destruction that killed 13 people.
(AP, 8/21/04)
2004 Aug 20, Thailand’s PM
Thaksin said he would overturn the country’s current ban on
commercial production and trade in genetically modified food (GMOs).
(WSJ, 10/29/04, p.A13)
2005 Aug 20, Northwest Airlines
mechanics went on strike rather than accept pay cuts and layoffs;
Northwest hired replacement workers.
(AP, 8/20/06)
2005 Aug 20, With a deafening
boom, the ashes of gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson were blown
into the sky above Woody Creek, Colo.
(AP, 8/20/06)
2005 Aug 20, Thomas Herrion
(b.1981), San Francisco offensive lineman, collapsed in the locker
room and died in Denver, shortly after the 49ers played the Denver
Broncos in a preseason game. Herrion's was the NFL's first
football-related death since Vikings tackle Korey Stringer died of
heatstroke in 2001.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Herrion)(AP,
8/20/06)
2005 Aug 20, In southern
Afghanistan at least 20 people were killed and 28 others injured
when two buses collided on a highway.
(AFP, 8/20/05)
2005 Aug 20, Bangladesh was hit
by a nationwide strike called by the opposition to protest at a wave
of bombings earlier in the week linked to an Islamic extremist
group.
(AFP, 8/20/05)
2005 Aug 20, Bangladeshi and
Indian border guards negotiated a ceasefire, halting a gunbattle
that flared over disputed construction work along the frontier.
(Reuters, 8/20/05)
2005 Aug 20, Protesters
demanding the closure of an eastern China battery factory they say
is spewing lead into the environment clashed with police, and dozens
of people were injured.
(AP, 8/21/05)
2005 Aug 20, In Colombia a
leftist rebel group acknowledged that its fighters killed two
Catholic priests earlier this week, but said the killing was a
mistake and promised to punish those responsible.
(AP, 8/21/05)
2005 Aug 20, Cuba and Panama
restored diplomatic ties, one year after they were broken off in a
dispute sparked by the decision by Panama's previous president to
pardon four Cuban exiles accused of trying to assassinate Cuban
President Fidel Castro.
(AP, 8/20/05)
2005 Aug 20, In Cuba the Latin
American School of Medical Science, created as a regional initiative
in 1998 after two hurricanes devastated Caribbean and Central
American nations, graduated its first class of 1,500 students.
(AP, 8/21/05)(Econ, 1/27/07, p.35)
2005 Aug 20, A bomb detonated
by remote control killed at least three police officers in the
troubled southern Russian region of Dagestan and wounded several
more.
(AP, 8/20/05)
2005 Aug 20, Hundreds of German
far right extremists marched through Berlin and gathered for a rally
in former Nazi hotbed Nuremberg after a meeting to honor Adolf
Hitler's deputy Rudolf Hess was banned.
(Reuters, 8/20/05)
2005 Aug 20, In Haiti
black-uniformed riot police ordered all participants to lie down and
allowed hooded attackers to hack to death as many as 20 people
during a soccer tournament in the slum of Martissant.
(Econ, 9/3/05, p.36)
2005 Aug 20, Indian troops shot
dead a Hindu fighting for the biggest Islamic separatist rebel group
in Indian Kashmir.
(AFP, 8/20/05)
2005 Aug 20, In Iraq a US
soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad.
(AP, 8/20/05)
2005 Aug 20, General Mathias
Doue, former head of the Ivory Coast armed forces, said that the
departure of Pres. Laurent Gbagbo is the condition for a return to
peace.
(Econ, 8/27/05, p.40)
2005 Aug 20, Libya will free
131 political prisoners, including members of the Muslim
Brotherhood, said Saif al-Islam, son of Libyan leader Muammar
Gaddafi, who heads a foundation dedicated to improving the country's
image.
(AP, 8/21/05)
2005 Aug 20, Palestinian leader
Mahmoud Abbas signed a decree appropriating Jewish settlement land
and scheduled elections for Jan 25. In a challenge to Abbas, dozens
of masked Hamas gunmen took over Gaza City's central square and
announced they would not stop attacks on Israel, despite Israel's
ongoing withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
(AP, 8/20/05)(SSFC, 8/21/05, p.A13)
2005 Aug 20, Interfax reported
that health officials in the western Siberian region of Omsk may
have found the virus on a farm with up to 142,000 birds. Outbreaks
were already confirmed in 40 Russian villages across western
Siberia, while 78 other small settlements had suspected cases.
(Reuters, 8/20/05)
2005 Aug 20, The 184-pound
"Unspunnenstein," named after the site of Switzerland's most revered
stone-throwing contest, was stolen from a hotel in the central Swiss
city of Interlaken where it was on display before the competition
scheduled for Sept. 3-4.
(AP, 8/20/05)
2005 Aug 20, Paul Wolfowitz on
his first visit to India as World Bank president said the World Bank
would lend up to $3 billion a year over the next three years to
India for various development programs. The Bank lent $2.9 billion
to India in the financial year to June 2005, more than double $1.4
billion lent the year before, making Asia's third-largest economy
the multilateral lending institution's largest borrower.
(AP, 8/20/05)
2006 Aug 20, Robert K. Hoffman
(59), one of the 3 founders of the National Lampoon magazine, died
in Dallas, Texas. Hoffman, Henry Beard and Doug Kenney sold their
interests in 1975.
(AP, 8/23/06)
2006 Aug 20, Joe Rosenthal
(94), former Associated Press photographer, who had taken the iconic
Iwo Jima flag-raising picture (2/23/1945) during World War II, died
in Novato, Calif.
(AP, 8/20/07)
2006 Aug 20, In Afghanistan
militants ambushed a police patrol in western Farah province,
sparking a gunbattle that left one officer and 2 attackers dead. In
Helmand province a clash with insurgents left one British soldier
dead and three others wounded. A NATO airstrike killed nine
militants including a local insurgent leader in Helmand province. A
roadside bomb killed three Afghan policemen traveling on the main
highway linking Murja and Lashkar Gah districts. Two roadside bombs
targeting border police in southeastern Khost province killed two
officers and wounded five others. Tens of thousands of health
workers fanned out across Afghanistan in a polio vaccination
campaign to immunize more than 7 million children under age 5.
(AP, 8/20/06)(AP, 8/21/06)(AP, 8/22/06)
2006 Aug 20, President Joseph
Kabila failed to win an outright majority in Congo's first elections
in more than four decades. Kabila won 45% of the 16.9 million votes
cast in the July 30 ballot; Bemba had 20%. Former rebel leader
Jean-Pierre Bemba will face Kabila in a second round of voting.
Security-forces loyal to Kabila and Bemba fought gunbattles that
killed at least two people.
(AP, 8/21/06)
2006 Aug 20, Arab League
foreign ministers convened in Egypt for an emergency meeting to
discuss how to fund reconstruction in war-ravaged Lebanon and defuse
Mideast tensions amid rising discord between moderate Arabs and
Syria, a main backer of Hezbollah.
(AP, 8/20/06)
2006 Aug 20, In northern France
a fire broke out in a run-down apartment building that mainly housed
immigrants, killing five people and injuring 10.
(AP, 8/20/06)
2006 Aug 20, In India a
Canadian was arrested with illegal drugs worth five million dollars
in New Delhi in what was billed as a major effort to stop narcotics
being shipped to the West. About 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of
ephedrine, hashish and other illegal drugs were seized overnight
from Girdish Singh Toor while he was leading a convoy of vehicles.
(AFP, 8/20/06)
2006 Aug 20, Snipers firing
from rooftops and a cemetery killed 20 people and wounded dozens in
a series of attacks on a Shiite religious procession that drew
hundreds of thousands of pilgrims to Baghdad. The "terrorist
assaults" took place when the pilgrims were walking through Sunni
areas on their way to the shrine of Imam Moussa Kadhim. 2 US Marines
and a sailor were killed in the western province of Anbar.
(AP, 8/20/06)(AP, 8/21/06)(Reuters, 8/21/06)
2006 Aug 20, Israeli troops
detained Mahmoud al-Ramahi, secretary-general of the Hamas
parliament, pushing forward with a crackdown on the Islamic militant
group.
(AP, 8/20/06)
2006 Aug 20, Lebanese PM Fuad
Saniora called the Israeli bombing campaign "a crime against
humanity," and Lebanon's defense minister warned any group that
breaks the Middle East cease-fire will be dealt with harshly.
(AP, 8/20/06)
2006 Aug 20, Nepal’s government
withdrew hikes in gasoline, diesel and cooking fuel prices after
thousands of protesters clashed with police, blocked traffic and
vandalized government vehicles.
(AP, 8/20/06)
2006 Aug 20, In New Zealand
Tuheitia Paki (51), eldest son of the late Queen Te Arikinui Dame Te
Atairangikaahu, wore his mother's feather cloak as he was named the
new Maori king in the village of Ngaruawahia.
(AP, 8/20/06)
2006 Aug 20, At least 11 people
were killed when militants engaged Nigerian troops in a fierce gun
battle in the restive Niger Delta. Local press reports said 12
people, 10 militants, a Shell worker and a soldier, were killed
during the shootout.
(AFP, 8/22/06)
2007 Aug 20, The lawyer for
Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick said Vick will plead guilty
to federal dogfighting conspiracy charges. Vick could spend the next
few American football seasons behind bars.
(AFP, 8/20/07)(WSJ, 8/21/07, p.A1)
2007 Aug 20, In Minnesota
divers discovered the body of Gregory Jolstad, a 45-year-old
construction worker who was part of the crew resurfacing the
Interstate 35W bridge when it fell Aug. 1 during the evening rush
hour. The discovery brought the official death toll to 13. Gov. Tim
Pawlenty said the emergency response costs alone would be more than
$8 million.
(AP, 8/21/07)
2007 Aug 20, The Nasdaq Stock
Market, facing a challenge to its bid for a Nordic exchange,
abandoned hopes to acquire the London Stock Exchange and said it
will offload its 31% stake in the exchange.
(AP, 8/20/07)(SFC, 8/21/07, p.C3)
2007 Aug 20, Leona Helmsley
(87), the NYC hotelier who went to prison as a tax cheat and was
reviled as the "queen of mean," died at her home in Greenwich, Conn.
(AP, 8/20/07)(Econ, 8/25/07, p.79)
2007 Aug 20, In Kabul 4
suspected kidnappers were captured as Afghan police freed Christina
Meier, a German aid worker who had been snatched from a restaurant
while she ate with her husband.
(AP, 8/20/07)
2007 Aug 20, Britain eased
restrictions on the movement of cattle and sheep to following the
outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in southern England.
(AP, 8/20/07)
2007 Aug 20, In Canada Mexican
President Felipe Calderon, Canadian PM Stephen Harper and President
Bush worked to craft a plan to secure their borders in the event of
a terrorist strike or other emergency without creating traffic
tie-ups that slowed commerce at crossings after the Sept. 11
attacks. Protesters and riot police clashed outside the posh
Canadian resort where the leaders were meeting.
(AP, 8/20/07)(Reuters, 8/21/07)
2007 Aug 20, In China Jia
Youling, chief veterinary officer, said that the Porcine
Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS), aka as blue-ear pig
disease, head been brought under control. He said 257,000 pigs in 26
provinces had been infected. 68,000 had died from the disease and
175,000 were destroyed.
(Econ, 8/25/07, p.41)
2007 Aug 20, South African
President Thabo Mbeki arrived in Kinshasa for a working visit aimed
at boosting relations with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
(AFP, 8/20/07)
2007 Aug 20, In Egypt 4 terror
suspects were convicted by a security court and sentenced to life in
prison for their involvement in 3 attacks that killed two French
tourists and an American in April, 2005. Five other suspects,
including two women, received jail sentences that ranged from one to
10 years in prison.
(AP, 8/21/07)
2007 Aug 20, Iraq's embattled
PM Nouri al-Maliki came to Syria on his first visit here as prime
minister amid efforts to garner neighbors' support for curbing
violence at home. Syria said Iraq should set a timetable for the
withdrawal of foreign troops. A roadside bomb killed Mohammed Ali
al-Hassani (52), the governor of the predominantly Shiite Muthanna
province, along with his driver and guard. Two bombings struck the
Shiite district of Sadr City and a busy market district elsewhere in
Baghdad, killing at least 7 people and wounding more than 20.
Thousands rallied against the US in Sadr City, waving Iraqi flags
and shouting "No, no to America."
(AP, 8/20/07)
2007 Aug 20, In Okinawa, Japan,
passengers used emergency slides to evacuate a China Airlines Boeing
737-800 just minutes before the plane burst into a fireball on the
tarmac. All 165 people aboard escaped unhurt, including the pilot,
who jumped from the cockpit at the last second.
(AP, 8/20/07)(AP, 8/20/08)
2007 Aug 20, A report showed
tiny fish farms have helped 1,200 poor families hit by AIDS in
Malawi to raise their incomes and improve their diets in a scheme
being expanded to other African nations.
(AP, 8/20/07)
2007 Aug 20, Tens of thousands
of tourists fled the beaches of the Mayan Riviera as Hurricane Dean
roared toward Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.
(AP, 8/20/08)
2007 Aug 20, A crowded bus
veered off a mountainous road in western Nepal, killing at least 19
people.
(AP, 8/20/07)
2007 Aug 20, In northwestern
Pakistan a suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden car at a
roadside security post, killing at least three troops and wounding
at least eight others. A passenger bus plunged off a mountain road
into a river bank in northern Pakistan, killing 25 people and
injuring eight.
(AP, 8/20/07)
2007 Aug 20, In Turkey Foreign
Minister Abdullah Gul won most votes in the first round of a
presidential election, but did not secure the two-thirds majority
needed in parliament for an outright win.
(Reuters, 8/20/07)
2007 Aug 20, In Turkey Festus
Okey (21), a Nigerian immigrant, was shot and killed while in police
custody.
(AP, 12/13/11)(http://www.hyd.org.tr/?pid=515)
2007 Aug 20, The UN Security
Council authorized an African Union force in chaotic Somalia for
another six months and asked the secretary-general to develop plans
for a possible UN troop replacement.
(Reuters, 8/20/07)
2008 Aug 20, Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice and her Polish counterpart signed a deal to build a
US missile defense base in Poland, an agreement that prompted an
infuriated Russia to warn of a possible attack against the former
Soviet satellite. The deal included an American Patriot
anti-aircraft and anti-missile battery in Poland.
(AP, 8/20/08)(Econ, 8/23/08, p.44)
2008 Aug 20, In Alabama five
men were found killed, execution style in Shelby County. The
killings were soon identified as a retaliation hit over drug money
with ties to Mexico's notorious Gulf Cartel.
(AP, 4/19/09)
2008 Aug 20, Stephanie Tubbs
Jones (b.1949), Ohio’s first black congresswoman, died in Cleveland
following a brain hemorrhage. She was first elected in 1998.
(SFC, 8/21/08, p.A3)
2008 Aug 20, Gene Upshaw
(b.1945), former NFL Hall of Famer and union leader, died near lake
Tahoe.
(SFC, 8/22/08, p.A1)
2008 Aug 20, In eastern
Afghanistan the US-led coalition killed more than 30 insurgents in a
battle whose fighters were said to be responsible for an attack that
killed 10 French troops earlier this week. 3 Polish soldiers were
killed when a roadside bomb exploded in the central province of
Ghazni. 3 Canadian soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in
southern Afghanistan.
(AP, 8/21/08)(Reuters, 8/21/08)
2008 Aug 20, In eastern Algeria
2 car bomb attacks killed at least 11 people in Bouira with at least
31 people wounded. This followed a suicide bomber who killed 43
people a day earlier.
(AFP, 8/20/08)
2008 Aug 20, Bangladesh
prosecutors formally lodged new charges against ex-premier Sheikh
Hasina Wajed over her alleged role in a 130-million-dollar defense
deal with Russia.
(AP, 8/20/08)
2008 Aug 20, In Beijing
Rohullah Nikpai of Afghanistan won a bronze medal in taekwondo. This
was Afghanistan’s first Olympic medal ever.
(http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/summer08/news/story?id=3544339)
2008 Aug 20, Hua Guofeng
(b.1921), who succeeded Mao Zedong as chairman of China's ruling
Communist Party and briefly ruled the country (1976), died in
Beijing.
(AP, 8/20/08)
2008 Aug 20, The Red Cross
revised its emergency appeal for Ethiopia to five million euros (7.9
million dollars) as the situation in the drought-hit south of the
country got worse.
(AFP, 8/20/08)
2008 Aug 20, International and
domestic flights were disrupted across India as thousands of airport
employees went on strike to protest plans to privatize airports.
(AP, 8/20/08)
2008 Aug 20, Nigerian President
Umaru Musa Yar'Adua named new military chiefs dropping nearly all
appointees he inherited from his predecessor. MEND, the most
prominent armed group in Nigeria's volatile oil-rich Niger Delta,
accused the military of carrying out extra-judicial executions of 22
captured insurgents in the region. The insurgents had been captured
the previous day.
(AFP, 8/21/08)(AFP, 8/20/08)
2008 Aug 20, Pakistan’s
security officials said missiles fired from Afghanistan hit a
militant hideout in Pakistan's tribal belt, killing at least eight
people including some foreign extremists.
(AFP, 8/20/08)
2008 Aug 20, Panama’s President
Martin Torrijos signed an executive order creating a new
intelligence agency and a border police force to combat growing drug
crimes. This prompted concerns of a return to its militarized past.
(AP, 8/21/08)
2008 Aug 20, Abdurahman
Macapaar (aka Commander Bravo) of the Moro Islamic Liberation
Front (MILF), the Muslim rebel commander behind deadly raids in the
southern Philippines, declared an "all-out war" against the
government, saying his fighters were willing to die in battle.
(AFP, 8/20/08)
2008 Aug 20, Five people were
killed as Typhoon Nuri slammed into the northern Philippines,
triggering heavy rain and warnings of possible storm surges.
(AFP, 8/20/08)
2008 Aug 20, A top Russian
general said 64 of the country's soldiers were killed and 323
wounded in this month's fighting with Georgia. Russia informed
Norway that it plans to suspend all military ties with NATO, a day
after the military alliance urged Moscow to withdraw its forces from
Georgia. Georgia later reported that 170 of its soldiers were killed
in the war.
(AP, 8/20/08)(AP, 8/21/08)(SSFC, 8/24/08, p.A10)
2008 Aug 20, Serbian publisher
BeoBook said it has withdrawn a controversial book by American
writer Sherry Jones because of protests from the local Islamic
community. The book "Jewel of Medina" is about Aisha, one of the
Prophet Muhammad's wives.
(AP, 8/20/08)
2008 Aug 20, A Spanair MD-82
bound for the Canary Islands caught fire while trying to make an
emergency landing just after departing from Madrid airport leaving
153 people dead. This was the nation's worst air disaster in nearly
25 years. The toll rose to 154 on Aug 23 leaving 18 survivors. In
2010 authorities investigating the crash of Spanair flight 5022
discovered a central computer system used to monitor technical
problems in the aircraft was infected with malware.
(AP, 8/20/08)(AP, 8/21/08)(Reuters,
8/23/08)(http://tinyurl.com/2azr8zj)
2008 Aug 20, Swedish wireless
equipment maker LM Ericsson AB and Swiss chip-maker
STMicroelectronics NV unveiled plans to create a 50-50 joint venture
that will make a key component known as chipsets for mobile phones.
(AP, 8/20/08)
2008 Aug 20, In Turkey Sudan's
indicted president denied that his regime is orchestrating genocide
in the troubled western region of Darfur, and offered hope for an
end to the violence and the dawn of reconciliation by promising free
and fair elections next year.
(AP, 8/20/08)
2009 Aug 20, In Colorado a
Black Hawk helicopter crashed during training on Mount Massive, the
state’s 2nd highest mountain. 4 soldiers were killed in the crash.
(SFC, 8/21/09, p.A8)
2009 Aug 20, Afghans voted to
elect a president for only the second time in history as fears
emerged of poor turnout. Some $300 million was spent in
organizational costs alone. Top security officials said 26 civilians
and security forces have died in election-day militant attacks.
Insurgents launched scattered rocket, suicide and bomb attacks that
closed some polling sites. In northern Baghlan province, insurgent
attacks closed 14 polling sites, and several police were reported
killed. In southern Helmand province more than 20 rockets landed in
the capital of Lashkar Gah, including one near a line of voters that
killed a child. Initial election results weren't expected until Aug
22. Taliban militants cut off the nose and both ears of an Afghan
father of 8 he tried to vote. The attack became the third confirmed
report of the Taliban mutilating people who sought to cast ballots
in the electoral contest. Some 400 insurgent incidents took place
during the poll.
(AP, 8/20/09)(AP, 8/31/09)(Econ, 8/29/09,
p.35)(Econ, 11/7/09, p.40)
2009 Aug 20, Angola and South
Africa signed a number of trade agreements including cooperation in
the oil sector, following major bilateral talks aimed at
strengthening economic relations.
(AFP, 8/20/09)
2009 Aug 20, Australia passed a
clean energy law requiring the country to produce 20 percent of its
power from renewable sources by 2020 in move that could draw
billions of dollars of green investment.
(AFP, 8/20/09)
2009 Aug 20, A French
government-sponsored report was released saying that decomposing
algae covering some beaches in Brittany represent a serious health
risk and gases that can kill within minutes were detected on a beach
where a horse died last month.
(AP, 8/20/09)
2009 Aug 20, Usain Bolt of
Jamaica set a world record of 19.19 seconds in the 200 meters at the
world championships in Berlin, adding to the gold he won in the 100.
(AP, 8/20/09)
2009 Aug 20, Diplomats said
Iran has lifted a year-long ban and allowed UN nuclear inspectors to
visit a nearly completed nuclear reactor as well as granting greater
monitoring rights at another atomic site.
(SFC, 8/21/09, p.A2)
2009 Aug 20, The Iraqi
government announced the detention of 11 army and police commanders,
accusing them of negligence in the previous day’s bombings. The
government also decided to keep concrete blast barriers around
potential targets. A bicycle bomb exploded near a restaurant in
Baghdad killing two people. There were three bombings in Babil
province, a region once so notorious for violence it was called the
Triangle of Death. A bomb attached to a minibus killed three and
wounded eight in Hillah, while two bombs at a market in Musayyib
wounded 45.
(AP, 8/20/09)(AP, 8/21/09)(SFC, 8/21/09, p.A4)
2009 Aug 20, Drug developer
Warner Chilcott, which focuses on women's healthcare and
dermatology, completed its move to Ireland from Bermuda.
(AP, 8/21/09)
2009 Aug 20, Italian customs
found a boat with five Eritrean survivors of what it called a
"shocking tragedy. Around 75 African migrants died in the
Mediterranean after their stranded boat ran out of food and water.
(Reuters, 8/21/09)
2009 Aug 20, The Association of
Parents of Disappeared People (APDP) said their workers have
discovered several unmarked graves containing about 1,500
unidentified bodies in Indian Kashmir, and alleged that some of
corpses were likely innocent people killed by government forces.
APDP said at least eight of the graves held more than one body.
(AP, 8/20/09)
2009 Aug 20, In Mexico the body
of leftist congressman Armando Chavarria was found in the passenger
seat of a vehicle in Guerrero’s state capital of Chilpancingo. State
police said three human heads were found in ice boxes in the
municipality of Coyuca de Catalan. The mutilated bodies were in bags
nearby. A message from alleged drug traffickers was also found.
(AP, 8/21/09)
2009 Aug 20, Pakistan's
military said that about 60 militants had surrendered to authorities
in northwest Swat valley, where the government claims to have
eliminated Taliban extremists. Baluchistan authorities found the
bodies of 10 policemen in a remote mountain pass. Earlier this week,
the separatist Baluch Republican Army called local media
organizations and said it had killed the remaining 10 of 25 police
officers kidnapped last month.
(AP, 8/20/09)(AP, 8/21/09)
2009 Aug 20, Russia’s PM
Vladimir Putin ordered that key parts of Russia's aging
infrastructure be checked and upgraded after a power plant accident
in Siberia left scores feared dead and strained the vast region's
power supply. The confirmed death toll in the power plant accident
rose to 17 after three more bodies were found. 57 were still
missing.
(AP, 8/20/09)
2009 Aug 20, Russian
authorities flew the suspected hijackers of the cargo vessel Arctic
Sea to Moscow and took off them for interrogation, dismissing
suggestions that the ship may have been carrying weapons.
(Reuters, 8/20/09)
2009 Aug 20, Kenny MacAskill,
Scotland’s justice secretary, freed Abdel Baset al-Megrahi (57),
former Libyan intelligence agent and alleged Lockerbie bomber (Dec
21, 1988), on compassionate grounds after eight years in jail
allowing him to go home to Libya to die. Al-Megrahi has terminal
prostate cancer and has been given less than three months to live.
In 2010 Professor Karol Sikora, who assessed for the Libyan
authorities, told The Sunday Times it was "embarrassing" that he had
outlived his three-month prognosis and that al-Megrahi could survive
for 10 years or longer. It was later reported that BP had promoted
the deal in order to protect a $900 million oil and gas exploration
deal off the Libyan Mediterranean coast.
(AP, 8/20/09)(Econ, 8/29/09, p.48)(AP,
7/03/10)(SFC, 7/16/10, p.A2)
2009 Aug 20, In central Somalia
fighting between government soldiers and Islamic insurgents killed
at least 40 people as the warring sides tried to gain ground in
strategic towns.
(AP, 8/20/09)(SFC, 8/21/09, p.A2)
2009 Aug 20, Swiss President
Hans-Rudolf Merz and Libyan PM al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi signed an
accord pledging to restore relations between the two countries and
to have Hannibal Gadhafi July 15, 2008, arrest examined by a joint
arbitration tribunal in London. The next day Merz defended his
apology to Libya for the arrest of Moammar Gadhafi's son, saying it
was the only way to secure the release of two Swiss citizens
detained by Tripoli.
(AP, 8/21/09)
2009 Aug 20, Taiwan's Cabinet
approved a NT$100 billion ($3 billion) reconstruction budget after
the island's worst typhoon in more than 50 years killed hundreds of
people and wiped out roads and bridges in the mountainous south.
(AP, 8/20/09)
2010 Aug 20, US regulators shut
down 8 more banks including 4 in California, one in Chicago, one in
Virginia and two in Florida. This brought the total number of failed
US banks to 118 for the year thus far.
(SFC, 8/23/10, p.D2)
2010 Aug 20, In Afghanistan 2
NATO soldiers died in a roadside bombing. A woman and two
children died in an operation against Al-Qaeda-linked insurgents in
western Farah province. 6 insurgents were killed and several
suspected insurgents were detained. 6 police officers were killed by
men who approached their post posing as guests and then opened fire
in Nahri Sarraj district of Helmand province. 3 Afghan police were
apparently killed as a result of a NATO airstrike in Jowzjan
province.
(AP, 8/20/10)(AP, 8/21/10)(SSFC, 8/22/10, p.A6)
2010 Aug 20, Police in
southeastern Brazil said Raimundo Gregorio da Silva, a school
janitor, has confessed to killing two female students and dumping
their bodies in an abandoned cesspool. Silva was arrested last week
after the remains were found, and has confessed to killing Dimitria
Vieira (16) in 2008 and another student, Iara Pacheco (19), reported
missing since February.
(AP, 8/21/10)
2010 Aug 20, BHP Billiton Group
announced commencement of all cash-offer to acquire Potash Corp. for
$130 per share. On Nov 3 Canada blocked the Anglo-Australian mining
giant’s $39 billion bid. The deal would have cost Saskatchewan an
estimated C$200m a year in tax revenues.
(Reuters, 8/20/10)(Reuters, 11/3/10)(Econ,
11/6/10, p.50)
2010 Aug 20, Charles Haddon,
the lead singer of the British electro-pop group Ou Est Le Swimming
Pool, committed suicide after performing at a rock festival in
Belgium.
(AFP, 8/21/10)
2010 Aug 19, Venezuelan Walid
Makled Garcia (43), a prominent drug trafficking suspect who has
been branded a major kingpin by the US government, was arrested in
Colombia. He was implicated in Venezuela in two killings.
(AP, 8/20/10)
2010 Aug 20, The European
Union's high court temporarily exempted Inuit hunters in Canada and
Greenland from the bloc's new trade ban on seal products, while
asking European Parliament and EU governments to justify the ban.
(AP, 8/20/10)
2010 Aug 20, France put about
100 Gypsies, or Roma, on a charter flight headed to their native
Romania, the second day in a row that it has expelled Roma in a much
criticized government crackdown.
(AP, 8/20/10)
2010 Aug 20, Singer Wyclef
Jean's high-profile bid for Haiti's presidency ended after election
officials on the earthquake-ravaged Caribbean nation disqualified
his candidacy. The singer has not lived in Haiti for the past five
years as required.
(AP, 8/21/10)
2010 Aug 20, India's Cabinet
cleared a nuclear liability bill, a crucial step on the path to
bringing foreign companies into its potentially vast nuclear energy
market. The bill caps the liability of foreign firms at $320 million
in the case of an industrial accident.
(AP, 8/20/10)
2010 Aug 20, Iran’s Defense
Minister Ahmad Vahidi announced that Iran has test fired a
surface-to-surface missile, Qiam, a day before it is due to launch
its Russian-built first nuclear power plant.
(AFP, 8/20/10)
2010 Aug 20, In Indian Kashmir
a teenager was shot dead by paramilitary forces in northern Sopore
town. The death sparked further street protests in which a second
man died in southern Bijbehara town.
(AP, 8/21/10)
2010 Aug 20, Kyrgyzstan's
interim government suffered a humiliating blow as Osh Mayor Melis
Myrzakmatov, a powerful opponent, refused to step down as mayor of
the southern city devastated by deadly ethnic violence two months
ago.
(AP, 8/20/10)
2010 Aug 20, In Mexico 6 city
police officers were arrested in the killing of Santiago Mayor
Edelmiro Cavazos. The suspects included the officer who guarded the
house where Cavazos was kidnapped on Aug 15. A shootout in Santa
Catalina, a suburb of Monterrey, left 3 security guards wounded. 2
slain guards were found the next day in the trunk of a car.
(AP, 8/20/10)(AP, 8/22/10)
2010 Aug 20, Mexican
prosecutors added tax evasion charges to drug counts pending against
for Zhenli Ye Gon, a Chinese-Mexican businessman who is fighting
extradition from the United States. Ye Gon was jailed in the US more
than two years ago on charges of smuggling methamphetamines from
Mexico to the US.
(AP, 8/20/10)
2010 Aug 20, Mexican police
detained six suspects on the southern Pacific coast with 3,756
illegally harvested eggs from protected sea turtles.
(AP, 8/20/10)
2010 Aug 20, Conny Mus (59), a
veteran Dutch correspondent in the Middle East who covered conflicts
from Romania's revolution to the wars in Iraq, died while on
vacation in his home country.
(AP, 8/20/10)
2010 Aug 20, In northern New
Zealand 47 pilot whales died after they washed onto an isolated
beach. Rescue volunteers' initial efforts to refloat some survivors
failed. The next day rescuers refloated 11 beached pilot whales.
Some of the survivors still appeared to be in trouble.
(AP, 8/20/10)(AP, 8/21/10)
2010 Aug 20, Russia secured a
long-term foothold in the energy-rich and unstable Caucasus region
by signing a deal with Armenia that allows a Russian military base
to operate until 2044 in exchange for a promise of new weaponry and
fresh security guarantees.
(AP, 8/20/10)
2010 Aug 20, South African
unions representing more than 1 million striking civil servants
began talks with the government to end a stoppage that could damage
Africa's largest economy if it drags on into next month.
(AP, 8/20/10)
2010 Aug 20, South Korean
authorities arrested Rev. Han Sang-ryol, a religious activist, as he
returned home across the heavily fortified border after an illegal
trip to North Korea. South Korea’s government prohibits its citizens
from joining pro-North Korean organizations or having unauthorized
contact with the communist country. They also ban citizens from
supporting or praising the North.
(AP, 8/20/10)
2010 Aug 20, In Sweden a
prosecutor in Stockholm issued an arrest warrant for WikiLeaks
founder Julian Assange (39) on suspicion of rape. The move means
police are ordered to seek his arrest as part of an investigation
but doesn't necessarily mean that criminal charges will be filed.
Authorities the next day revoked the arrest warrant saying a rape
accusation against him lacked substance.
(AP, 8/21/10)
2010 Aug 20, A Thai appeals
court ordered the extradition of suspected Russian arms smuggler
Viktor Bout to the United States, angering Moscow but paving the way
to put the man dubbed the "Merchant of Death" on trial.
(AP, 8/20/10)
2010 Aug 20, Ukraine President
Viktor Yanukovych said he is taking control of the case of Vasyl
Klymentyev, an investigative reporter who has been missing for a
week. Klymentyev reportedly was threatened after refusing to accept
a bribe to halt publication of a story about a regional prosecutor
accused of accepting bribes to close criminal cases.
(AP, 8/20/10)
2010 Aug 20, UN agencies
stepped up calls for donors to cash up pledges for Pakistan in order
to prevent what UN chief Ban Ki-moon called a "slow-motion tsunami"
from wrecking further catastrophe.
(AFP, 8/20/10)
2010 Aug 20, In southern Yemen
clashes began between troops and “terrorist elements” at a market in
Loder. 19 people were killed, including 11 soldiers, 3 civilians and
5 Al-Qaeda members. Authorities said Adel Saleh Hardaba (27), whom
they described as the Al-Qaeda second-in-command in Loder, was among
the dead.
(AFP, 8/20/10)(AP, 8/24/10)
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