Today in History - August 30
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30BC Aug 30,
Cleopatra, the 7th and most famous queen of ancient Egypt, committed
suicide about this time.
(AP, 8/30/97)
526 Aug 30, Theodorik the Great
(72), King of Ostrogoths, died of dysentery. He was succeeded by his
grandson Athalaric (10), who reigned until 534 with his mother
Amalasuntha as regent.
(PC, 1992, p.54)
1146 Aug 30, European leaders
outlawed the crossbow with the intention to end war for all time.
[see 1139]
(MC, 8/30/01)
1334 Aug 30, Pedro, the Cruel,
King of Castilia & Leon, was born.
(MC, 8/30/01)
1481 Aug 30, Two Latvian
monarchs were executed for conspiracy to murder Polish king
Kazimierz IV.
(MC, 8/30/01)
1617 Aug 30, Rosa de Lima of
Peru became the first American saint to be canonized.
(HN, 8/30/98)
1645 Aug 30, Dutch &
Indians signed peace treaty in New Amsterdam (NY).
(MC, 8/30/01)
1682 Aug 30, William Penn left
England to sail to New World. He took along an insurance policy.
(MC, 8/30/01)
1721 Aug 30, The Peace of
Nystad ended the Second Northern War between Sweden and Russia,
giving Russia considerably more power in the Baltic region.
(HN, 8/30/98)
1727 Aug 30, Giandomenico
Tiepolo (d.1804), Venetian painter, was born. His subjects included
troupes of traveling players from northern Italy.
(Econ, 4/10/04, p.72)(www.britannica.com)
1748 Aug 30, Jacques-Louis
David (d.1825), Neoclassical painter (Death of Marat), was born. He
painted “Madame Hamelin.” He also painted a portrait of Napoleon
crossing the St. Bernard Pass on a rearing horse. Jean Ingres began
his career as a pupil of David.
(AAP, 1964)(WUD, 1994, p.369)(WSJ, 5/19/97,
p.A16)(WSJ, 5/28/99, p.W12)(MC, 8/30/01)
1751 Aug 30, Georg Friedrich
Handel completed his last oratorio "Jephtha."
(LGC-HCS, p.41)(MC, 8/30/01)
1780 Aug 30, General Benedict
Arnold betrayed the US when he promised secretly to surrender the
fort at West Point to the British army. Arnold whose name has become
synonymous with traitor fled to England after the botched
conspiracy. His co-conspirator, British spy Major John Andre, was
hanged in an act of spite by Washington ("it's good for the
armies").
(MC, 8/30/01)
1781 Aug 30, The French fleet
of 24 ships under Comte de Grasse arrived in the Chesapeake Bay to
aid the American Revolution. The fleet defeated British under
Admiral Graves at battle of Chesapeake Capes.
(HN, 8/30/00)(MC, 8/30/01)
1797 Aug 30, Mary
Wollstonecraft (Godwin) Shelley (d.1851), the creator of
"Frankenstein," or the Modern Prometheus, was born in London. Her
mother died in childbirth.
(AHD, p.1193)(AP, 8/30/97)(HN, 8/30/98)(Econ,
2/26/05, p.84)
1813 Aug 30, Creek Indians
massacred over 500 whites at Fort Mims Alabama.
(HN, 8/30/98)
1831 Aug 30, Charles Darwin
refused to travel with the HMS Beagle. On Dec 27 he was onboard.
(MC, 8/30/01)(AP, 12/27/97)
1841 Aug 30, Robert Peel
(1788-1850) became PM of Britain for a 2nd time. This was the 1st
occasion in which Britain’s government was brought down by the votes
of the electorate.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Peel)
1854 Aug 30, John Fremont
issued a proclamation freeing the slaves of Missouri rebels.
(MC, 8/30/01)
1860 Aug 30, The first British
tramway was inaugurated at Birkenhead by an American, George Francis
Train.
(HN, 8/30/98)
1861 Aug 30, Union General John
Fremont declared martial law throughout Missouri and made his own
emancipation proclamation to free slaves in the state. However,
Fremont’s order was countermanded days later by President Lincoln.
Fremont was soon relieved of command after refusing Lincoln’s order
to rescind his proclamation and adhere to the terms of the August 6
Confiscation Act.
(HN, 8/30/98)(AP, 8/30/06)(ON, 6/10, p.1)
1862 Aug 30, Union forces were
defeated by the Confederates at the Second Battle of Bull Run in
Manassas, Va. Brig. Gen. Irvin McDowell fought at the Second Battle
of Manassas, which was also a Union defeat (the Union army in this
case was commanded by Maj. Gen. John Pope). McDowell was then
relieved of his command until he was sent to command the Department
of the Pacific in 1864, where he finished the war.
(AP, 8/30/97)(HNQ, 7/30/01)
1862 Aug 30, In the Battle of
Altamont, Tennessee, Confederates beat Union forces.
(MC, 8/30/01)
1867 Aug 30, The first recorded
race of two self powered road vehicles over a prescribed route was
between Ashton-under-Lyne and Old Trafford, a distance of eight
miles. It was won by Isaac Watt Boulton against Daniel Adamson, each
in steam cars of their own manufacture.
(http://tinyurl.com/ycbvsah)(H&DofSteamLonCommonRoads-IWBannotated_178.pdf)
1871 Aug 30, Ernest Rutherford
(d.1937), physicist who discovered and named alpha, beta and gamma
radiation and was the first to achieve a man-made nuclear reaction,
was born in New Zealand.
(HN, 8/30/98)
1879 Aug 30, John Bell Hood
(b.1831), former confederate general, died of yellow fever in a New
Orleans epidemic.
(AH, 10/02,
p.46)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bell_Hood)
1885 Aug 30, Some 13,000
meteors were seen in 1 hour near Andromeda.
(MC, 8/30/01)
1892 Aug 30, The Moravia, a
passenger ship arriving from Germany, brought cholera to the United
States.
(HN, 8/30/98)
1893 Aug 30, Huey P. Long,
Louisiana politician who served as governor and U.S. senator, known
as "The Kingfish,” was born.
(HN, 8/30/98)
1901 Aug 30, Hubert Cecil Booth
patented the vacuum cleaner. [see 1869]
(MC, 8/30/01)
1905 Aug 30, Ty Cobb made his
major league batting debut, playing for the Detroit Tigers, hitting
a double in his first at-bat in a game against the NY Highlanders.
The Tigers won, 5-3.
(AP, 8/30/00)
1907 Aug 30, Shirley Booth
(Thelma Booth Ford) was born in New York City. Booth was best known
from 1950s television as the zany maid Hazel. She won a Tony, an
Oscar, the Cannes Festival award and numerous critics' commendations
for her role as the slovenly Lola Delany in 'Come Back, Little
Sheba'. Booth went on to act in more films including 'The
Matchmaker' which was a precursor to the musical 'Hello
Dolly!'
(MC, 8/30/01)
1908 Aug 30, Actor Fred
MacMurray (d.1991) was born in Kankakee, Ill.
(AP,
8/30/08)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_MacMurray)
1914 Aug 30, The 1st German
plane bombed Paris and 2 people were killed.
(MC, 8/30/01)
1918 Aug 30, Ted Williams
(d.2002), Hall of Fame outfielder for the Boston Red Sox, the last
man to hit .400 in a season, was born.
(HN, 8/30/98)(SFC, 7/6/02, p.A1)
1918 Aug 30, Lenin, the new
leader of Soviet Russia, was shot & wounded after a speech.
(MC, 8/30/01)
1927 Aug 30, Geoffrey Beene,
dress designer (8 Coty Awards), was born in Louisiana.
(MC, 8/30/01)
1928 Aug 30, Jawaharlal Nehru
requested the independence of India.
(MC, 8/30/01)
1932 Aug 30, Nazi leader
Hermann Goering was elected president of the Reichstag.
(HN, 8/30/98)
1933 Aug 30, Portuguese
dictator Salazar formed secret police (PIDE).
(MC, 8/30/01)
1935 Aug 30, The US Revenue Act
increased taxes on inheritances, gifts and higher income
individuals.
(SSFC, 1/18/09,
p.D6)(www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=6038)
1939 Aug 30, Isoroku Yamamoto
was appointed supreme commander of the Japanese fleet.
(MC, 8/30/01)
1940 Aug 30, Senpo Chinne
Sugihara, the Japanese diplomat in Lithuania, received orders from
Japan to stop issuing visas immediately. He disobeyed the order and
continued issuing visas until the end of the month when the
consulate closed. In all Sugihara issued visas to some 3,500 Jewish
refugees.
(SFC, 9/7/96, p.A13)(SFC, 9/9/96, p.A16)
1941 Aug 30, The World War II
siege of Leningrad began as Nazi forces took Mga.
(AP, 8/30/97)
1943 Aug 30, Robert Crumb, US,
cartoonist (Father Time, Fritz Cat), was born.
(MC, 8/30/01)
1943 Aug 30, Jean Claude Killy,
France, skier (Olympic-3 golds-1968), was born.
(MC, 8/30/01)
1944 Aug 30, Ploesti, the
center of the Rumanian oil industry, fell to Soviet troops.
(HN, 8/30/00)
1945 Aug 30, Dmitri
Shostakovitch completed his 9th Symphony.
(MC, 8/30/01)
1945 Aug 30, Gen. Douglas
MacArthur arrived in Japan and set up Allied occupation
headquarters.
(AP, 8/30/97)
1956 Aug 30, In Louisiana the
2-lane Lake Pontchartrain causeway opened. A 2nd span was added in
1969.
(HC, 6/14/05)
1956 Aug 30, A white mob
prevented the enrollment of blacks at Mansfield HS, Texas.
(MC, 8/30/01)
1960 Aug 30, East Germany
imposed a partial blockade on West Berlin.
(MC, 8/30/01)
1961 Aug 30, President John F.
Kennedy appointed General Lucius D. Clay as his personal
representative in Berlin.
(HN, 8/30/98)
1961 Aug 30, A UN Convention on
the Reduction of Statelessness opened for signatures. It entered
into force on Dec 13, 1975. By 2007 only 34 countries had signed it.
(http://tinyurl.com/2tdgb6)(Econ, 12/1/07, p.75)
1963 Aug 30, The hot-line
communications link between Washington, D.C., and Moscow went into
operation.
(AP, 8/30/97)
1963 Aug 30, Guy Burgess
(b.1911), British spy for the USSR, died in Moscow.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Burgess)
1967 Aug 30, The U.S. Senate
confirmed the appointment of Thurgood Marshall as the first black
justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.
(AP, 8/30/97)
1974 Aug 30, The Telluride Film
Festival was started by Bill and Stella Pence, Tom Luddy and Jim
Card in the town of Telluride, Colorado.
(SFC, 9/2/10,
p.E1)(www.telluridefilmfestival.org/photoscroller.html)
1974 Aug 30, In Yugoslavia an
express train, traveling from Belgrade to Germany, ran full speed
into a Zagreb, Croatia, rail yard killing 152.
(www.cmj.hr/2001/42/6/12.htm)(SFC, 6/4/98, p.A15)
1979 Aug 30, Hurricane David
devastated the tiny Caribbean island of Dominica as it began a
rampage through the Caribbean and up the eastern seaboard of the
United States that claimed some 1,100 lives.
(AP, 8/30/97)
1979 Aug 30, The comet SOLWIND
1 first appeared on an image, at which time it was located 5.96
solar radii from the sun. It has been commonly presumed that the
comet either hit the sun, or completely vaporized because of its
near approach.
(http://cometography.com/lcomets/1979q1.html)
1981 Aug 30, Mohammad Javad
Bahonar, prime minister of Iran, was assassinated by a bomb.
(www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-6395.html)
1982 Aug 30, Palestinian
Liberation Organization left Beirut, Lebanon, and moved to Tunis,
Tunisia.
(SFC, 11/11/04, p.A18)
1983 Aug 30, Lieutenant Colonel
Guion S. Bluford Jr. became the first black American astronaut to
travel in space, blasting off aboard the Challenger.
(AP, 8/30/97)(HN, 8/30/98)
1984 Aug 30, In Florida NASA
launched the US space shuttle Discovery on its 1st mission.
(www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/shuttleoperations/orbiters/discovery-info.html)
1986 Aug 30, Soviet authorities
arrested Nicholas Daniloff, the Moscow correspondent for U.S. News
and World Report, after he was handed a package by a Russian
acquaintance. He was later released.
(AP, 8/30/97)
1987 Aug 30, A redesigned space
shuttle booster, created in the wake of the Challenger disaster,
roared into life in its first full-scale test-firing near Brigham
City, Utah.
(AP, 8/30/97)
1988 Aug 30, Top aides to
Republican presidential nominee George Bush and Democrat Michael
Dukakis met in Washington without reaching agreement on a schedule
for fall debates.
(AP, 8/30/98)
1989 Aug 30, A federal jury in
New York found "hotel queen" Leona Helmsley guilty of income tax
evasion but acquitted her of extortion. Helmsley served 18 months
behind bars, a month at a halfway house and two months under house
arrest.
(AP, 8/30/99)
1989 Aug 30, The Cambodian
peace talks in Paris collapsed.
(Hem, 4/96, p.15)(http://tinyurl.com/nz3x5)
1990 Aug 30, President Bush
told a news conference that a “new world order” could emerge from
the Gulf crisis.
(AP, 8/30/00)
1990 Aug 30, Edmund G. Love
(b.1912), Michigan-based writer, died in Flint. His book ''Subways
Are for Sleeping'' (1957) was the basis for the Broadway musical
(1961).
(LSA, Spring, 2009,
p.34)(http://tinyurl.com/c6rqnh)
1990 Aug 30, In Colombia a
series of abductions began with the kidnapping of Diana Turbay, a
Bogota TV news director and daughter of former president Julio Cesar
Turbay. The abductions were by the Medellin drug cartel under Pablo
Escobar. In 1997 Gabriel Garcia Marquez published his documentation
of the events in “News of a Kidnapping.”
(SFEC, 6/1/97, BR p.1,6)
1990 Aug 30, UN
Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar arrived in Jordan to try
to mediate the Persian Gulf crisis.
(AP, 8/30/00)
1990 Aug 30, Tatarstan
proclaimed sovereignty. This was not recognized by Russia. The
declaration on the Republic of Tatarstan state sovereignty was
adopted immediately after the declaration on the sovereignty of the
Russian Federation, which provided the peoples' right "to
self-determination in the national-state and national-cultural forms
they have chosen."
(www.kcn.ru/tat_en/politics/dfa/sover/sover.htm)
1991 Aug 30, At the World Track
and Field Championships in Tokyo, Mike Powell jumped 29 feet, 4 and
1/2 inches for a new world record.
(WSJ, 7/26/96, p.A6)
1991 Aug 30, Azerbaijan
declared its independence, joining the stampede of republics seeking
to secede from the Soviet Union.
(AP, 8/29/01)
1992 Aug 30, The television
series "Northern Exposure" won six Emmy Awards, including best drama
series, while "Murphy Brown" received three Emmys, including best
comedy series, in a ceremony marked by satirical jabs directed at
Vice President Dan Quayle.
(AP, 8/30/97)
1993 Aug 30, "The Late Show
with David Letterman" premiered on CBS-TV.
(AP, 8/30/98)
1993 Aug 30, Richard Jordan, US
actor (Hunt for Red October, Posse), died at 55, shortly after
finishing movie, Gettysburg (Gen Armistead).
(www.imdb.com/name/nm0430151/)
1993 Aug 30, Robert Malval was
installed as prime minister of Haiti during a ceremony at the
Haitian Embassy in Washington.
(AP, 8/30/98)
1993 Aug 30, The 150 millionth
person visited the Eiffel Tower.
(www.vor.ru/century/1993.html)
1993 Aug 30, Israel's Cabinet
approved a framework for Palestinian autonomy in the occupied
territories.
(AP, 8/30/98)
1994 Aug 30, Rosa Parks, who
helped touch off the civil rights movement in 1955 by refusing to
give up her bus seat to a white man in Montgomery, Ala., was robbed
and beaten in her Detroit apartment. Joseph Skipper later pleaded
guilty to assault and robbery and was sentenced to prison.
(AP, 8/30/99)
1994 Aug 30, Randolph Dial, a
sculptor and painter convicted of a 1981 murder, escaped from the
Oklahoma State Reformatory. On the same day Bobbi Parker disappeared
from staff housing at the reformatory, where her husband worked. On
Apr 4, 2005, she was found living with Randolph Dial on a chicken
farm in Texas. In 2011 Bobbi Parker was sentenced to a year in jail
for helping Dial escape.
(SFC, 4/6/05,
p.A2)(www.amw.com/fugitives/capture.cfm?id=23521)(SFC, 11/8/11,
p.A6)
1995 Aug 30, Cable News Network
joined the internet ("This is CNN").
(www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2000/CNN20/story/viewpoint/woelfel.essay/)
1995 Aug 30, Bosnian Serbs gave
Serbian Pres. Slobodan Milosevic authority to negotiate for them.
The West pounded the Bosnian Serbs with artillery and air attacks in
hopes of bludgeoning them into serious peace talks.
(SFC,10/16/97, p.A12)(AP, 8/30/00)
1995 Aug 30, At a lavish
opening ceremony in Beijing, organizers of a major women’s
conference vowed to fight for empowerment and equality.
(AP, 8/30/00)(www.iisd.org/women/beijfact.htm)
1996 Aug 30, President Clinton
and Vice President Gore, fresh from their renominations at the
just-concluded Democratic National Convention in Chicago, set out
with their wives on a bus caravan through America's heartland.
(AP, 8/30/97)
1996 Aug 30, The US State Dept.
sent a diplomatic note to China protesting the sale of equipment for
use in nuclear facilities in Pakistan.
(SFC, 10/10/96, p.A12)
1996 Aug 30, Dick Morris, the
campaign strategist for pres. Bill Clinton, resigned due to exposure
in a sex scandal.
(SFC, 8/30/96, p.A1)
1996 Aug 30, The California
Legislature sent a bill to Gov. Wilson that would mandate chemical
castration of child molesters.
(SFC, 8/31/96, p.A4)
1996 Aug 30, A commercial
expedition to raise part of the sunken British luxury liner Titanic
ended in failure as nylon lines being used to lift a 21-ton section
of the hull snapped, sending the section back to the bottom of the
North Atlantic.
(AP, 8/30/97)
1996 Aug 30, In Columbia the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARQ) guerrillas attacked
the army at the Las Delicias military base in Putumayo province.
They captured 60 soldiers and killed 30 others. The 12,000 FARQ have
gained income by collecting commissions on coca leaf harvests.
(SFC, 6/16/97, p.A9)
1996 Aug 30, In Libya, Louis
Farrakhan said that he could not accept a $250,000 human rights
award until US courts give him permission.
(SFC, 8/31/96, p.A4)
1996 Aug 30, In Sri Lanka
rebels ambushed a police patrol 115 miles east of Colombo.
(WSJ, 8/30/96, p.A1)
1997 Aug 30, Philip Noel
Johnson, an armored car driver believed to have stolen $22 million,
was arrested at the Texas border. Johnson later pleaded guilty to
charges of kidnapping, money laundering and interfering with
interstate commerce. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Johnson
(33) a former armored car driver for Loomis, Fargo & Co., was
accused of raiding the vault of the company's Jacksonville, Fla.,
office on March 29. The heist was one of the biggest in U.S.
history.
(AP, 8/30/02)
1997 Aug 30, Americans and
others in the Western Hemisphere learned of the deaths of Princess
Diana, her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, and their driver, Henri Paul, in a
car crash in Paris. Bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones survived. Because of
the time difference, it was the morning of Aug. 31 in Paris when
Diana was pronounced dead. [see Aug 31]
(AP, 8/30/98)
1998 Aug 30, In Denver the
largest union of US West, the regional telephone service, ended a
15-day strike with a tentative agreement on a three-year contract.
(SFC, 8/31/98, p.A4)(AP, 8/30/99)
1999 Aug 30, In East Timor
UN-sponsored elections were held on autonomy vs. independence. 98.6%
of the 451,000 registered voters cast their ballots. Roughly 78% of
the electorate voted to sever links to Indonesia and establish an
independent state. Pro-Indonesia militiamen reacted by going on a
violent rampage that ended when international forces were sent in.
U.N. peacekeeping forces arrived in the following weeks.
(SFC, 8/30/99, p.A1)(SFC, 8/31/99, p.A12)(AP,
8/30/00)(HN, 11/9/00)
1999 Aug 30 In Israel the
bodies of an Israeli couple were found on the West Bank border near
the Megiddo forest. Palestinian extremists were suspected as
responsible.
(SFC, 8/31/99, p.A12)
1999 Aug 30, In Jordan police
in Amman stormed offices linked to the radical Palestinian Hamas
movement.
(SFC, 8/31/99, p.A13)
1999 Aug 30, Russia reported
four soldiers killed and 5 wounded from fighting in Dagestan.
(WSJ, 8/31/99, p.A1)
1999 Aug 30, In Sudan southern
SPLA rebels rejected an Egyptian-Libyan peace plan. The rebels held
that conditions put forward in negotiations were not included in the
plan.
(SFC, 8/31/99, p.A13)
1999 Aug 30, In Venezuela the
constitutional assembly stripped the opposition-controlled Congress
of its last remaining powers.
(SFC, 8/31/99, p.A13)
2000 Aug 30, Pres. Clinton
stopped in Colombia and pledged that US aid would not lead to
military escalation in the drug war. The recent $1.5 billion
military aid package was part of a broader $7.5 billion Colombian
plan to fight drugs, help refugees and strengthen government
institutions.
(SFC, 8/31/00, p.A1)
2000 Aug 30, In China’s Fujian
province police arrested a Catholic priest, 20 nuns, 2 laymen and a
seminarian in Luoyuan county. Rev. Liu Shaozhang (38) was reported
to have been severely beaten and that parishioners bought the
release of 2 nuns.
(SFC, 9/2/00, p.C16)
2000 Aug 30, It was reported
that many professional and entrepreneurs were leaving Colombia and
Venezuela due to civil war and economic policies.
(WSJ, 8/30/00, p.A1)
2001 Aug 30, US warplanes
bombed an Iraqi radar site near Basra’s airport.
(WSJ, 8/31/01, p.A1)
2001 Aug 30, It was reported
that some 40,000 tax forms were destroyed or concealed at a
Pittsburgh processing center run by Mellon Bank.
(WSJ, 8/30/01, p.A1)
2001 Aug 30, Nikolay Soltys was
captured hiding under a desk in his mother's back yard in Citrus
Heights, Calif., after a ten-day nationwide manhunt for the
Ukrainian immigrant accused of butchering six relatives. Soltys
committed suicide in his jail cell in February. [see Aug 20]
(WSJ, 8/31/01, p.A1)(AP, 8/30/02)
2001 Aug 30, In Iowa Leticia
Aguilar (31) was found dead with her 5 children at her home in Sioux
City. A 7th victim, Ronal Fish (58) was also found. Adam Matthew
Moss (24) was arrested the next day and charged in the murders. Moss
pleaded guilty on Sep 25 and was sentenced to 7 consecutive life
terms.
(SFC, 9/1/01, p.A4)(SFC, 9/26/01, p.C12)
2001 Aug 30, In Sao Paulo,
Brazil, Fernando Dutra Pinto (22) held Silvio Santos, TV tycoon,
hostage for 8 hours and then surrendered to police.
(WSJ, 8/31/01, p.A5)(SFC, 8/31/01, p.D2)
2001 Aug 30, In Iran riots left
2 people dead in Sabzevar after the town failed to win
provincial-capital status.
(WSJ, 8/31/01, p.A1)
2001 Aug 30, In East Timor
elections were held for an 88-member assembly to write a
constitution. Voter turnout was estimated at 93% and the
Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor was expected to
win. Fretilin secured 55 0f 88 seats.
(WSJ, 8/31/01, p.A1)(WSJ, 8/31/01, p.A5)(SFC,
8/31/01, p.A18)(SFC, 9/6/01, p.E4)
2001 Aug 30, Israeli forces
began pulling out of Beit Jala. 3 Palestinians were killed in gun
battles with Israeli troops. One Israeli was killed in a Palestinian
village in a restaurant that he helped a friend establish.
(SFC, 8/30/01, p.A1)(SFC, 8/31/01, p.A14)
2001 Aug 30, In Japan the
Nikkei fell to a 17-year low, 10,938, as the government reported
declines in industrial output and consumer spending.
(WSJ, 8/31/01, p.A5)
2001 Aug 30, In Macedonia NATO
troops suspended arms collections to await a parliamentary vote on
proceeding forward with the peace accord.
(SFC, 9/1/01, p.A7)
2001 Aug 30, In Mexico on the
Int’l. Day of the Disappeared relatives of some of the 500 people
who disappeared from 1970 to 2000 filed a criminal complaint against
the last 5 presidents.
(SFC, 8/31/01, p.D6)
2001 Aug 30, In South Africa
Govan Mbeki, the father of Pres. Thabo Mbeki, died at age 91. He
authored the book “South Africa: The Peasant’s Revolt” while
imprisoned on Robben Island.
(SFC, 8/31/01, p.A24)
2002 Aug 30, Major League
Baseball players reached agreement with team owners on a four-year
labor deal, narrowly averting a strike that threatened to drive away
the sport's already embittered fans. It was the first time since
1970 that players and owners had agreed to a new collective
bargaining agreement without a work stoppage.
(Reuters, 8/30/02)(AP, 8/30/03)
2002 Aug 30, In Washington, DC,
some 35,000 gathered for the 39th annual meeting of the Islamic
Society of North America.
(SFC, 8/31/02, p.A1)
2002 Aug 30, J. Lee Thompson
(88), movie director ("The Guns of Navarone"), died in Sooke,
British Columbia, Canada.
(AP, 8/30/03)
2002 Aug 30, For the 6th time
in a week, coalition aircraft bombed an Iraqi defense facility in
one of the no-fly zones patrolled by U.S. and British pilots.
(AP, 8/30/02)
2002 Aug 30, A twin-engine
plane with 31 people crashed while trying to land in heavy rains
near Rio Branco, a northwestern Brazilian city, killing 23 people.
(AP, 8/31/02)
2002 Aug 30, In Burundi the
army reportedly killed 48 Hutu rebels in clashes outside Bujumbura.
(SFC, 9/5/02, p.A11)
2002 Aug 30, Floodwaters along
the lower stretches of the Mekong have wreaked havoc in Laos,
Cambodia (18), Thailand (12) and Vietnam (25), claiming at least 55
lives and leaving thousands homeless across the region.
(AP, 8/30/02)
2002 Aug 30, In the Netherlands
8 men were detained for providing financial and logistical services
to al Qaeda and for recruiting fighters.
(SFC, 9/3/02, p.A6)
2002 Aug 30, It was reported
that North Korea has made changes in its economic system that
included a phase out of its public distribution system, price
increases and salary increases.
(SFC, 8/30/02, p.A14)
2002 Aug 30, The WTO ruled that
the EU can impose $4 billion in penalties on the US because of an
American tax break that promotes exports. The EU planned to give the
US time to change the law.
(SFC, 8/31/02, p.A7)
2003 Aug 30, Harley-Davidson
celebrated its 100th anniversary in Milwaukee with a parade of
10,000 motorcycles. Some 250,000 bikers packed the roads around
Milwaukee for a 3-day celebration.
(AP, 9/1/03)
2003 Aug 30, A flashflood swept
cars off the Kansas Turnpike in Emporia and at least 4 children were
killed with 2 missing.
(WSJ, 9/2/03, p.A1)
2003 Aug 30, In Gerlach,
Nevada, a woman riding an "art car" at the counterculture Burning
Man festival died when she accidentally fell under the vehicle's
wheels. The weeklong festival, theme name "Beyond Belief," peaked
Saturday night with the torching of a 70-foot-high wooden effigy of
a man.
(AP, 8/31/03)(SFC, 9/1/03, p.A1)
2003 Aug 30, Robert Abplanalp
(81), inventor and confidant of President Nixon, died in Bronxville,
N.Y.
(AP, 8/30/04)
2003 Aug 30, Charles Bronson
(b.1921), coal miner turned tough-guy actor and star of more than 60
films including the "Death Wish" series, died of pneumonia.
(AP, 9/1/03)(SFC, 9/1/03, p.A2)
2003 Aug 23, Marion Hargrove
(83), American writer, died in Long Beach, Calif. She was noted for
the bestselling World War II comedy novel “See Here, Private
Hargrove,” which was made into a 1944 movie with Robert Walker as
Hargrove and Donna Reed as his love interest.
(AP,
8/30/04)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marion_Hargrove)
2003 Aug 30, In Botswana a
former bank manager, draped in a ceremonial leopard skin, was
installed as the first female paramount chief. Mosadi Seboko took
over as the highest-ranking chief of the Balete people.
(AP, 8/30/03)
2003 Aug 30, An Israeli
helicopter gunship fired several missiles at a Palestinian car
driving through a refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, killing
two Hamas militants.
(AP, 8/30/03)
2003 Aug 30, In India 2
suspected Islamic militants were killed in a battle with New Delhi
police. Indian police claimed to have killed Ghazi Baba, the head of
the Jaish-e-Mohammed militant group, during a fierce gun battle in
Srinagar. Baba was said to be the mastermind behind several terror
attacks including the December 2001 attack on India's Parliament.
(AP, 8/30/03)
2003 Aug 30, In northern India
a bus carrying 40 passengers plunged into a river in a remote hilly
area. There was no immediate word on casualties.
(AP, 8/30/03)
2003 Aug 30, A Russian
nuclear-powered submarine, K-159, sank in the Barents Sea as it was
being towed to a scrapyard, killing 9 of the 10 sailors on board.
(AP, 8/31/03)
2003 Aug 30, The World Trade
Organization agreed to let impoverished nations import cheaper
copies of patented medicines needed to fight killer diseases.
(AP, 8/30/04)
2004 Aug 30, Republicans opened
their convention in NYC with speeches by Rudolph Giuliani and Sen.
John McCain. They belittled Democratic Senator John Kerry as a
shift-in-the-wind campaigner unworthy of the White House and
lavished praise on Pres. Bush as a steady, decisive leader. Pres.
Bush ignited a Democratic inferno of criticism by suggesting on
NBC's "Today" show that an all-out victory against terrorism might
not be possible.
(SFC, 8/31/04, p.A1)(AP, 8/30/05)
2004 Aug 30, US warplanes
bombed Weradesh village in eastern Afghanistan, killing 8 people and
destroying the camp of a Danish relief group after assailants
rocketed a nearby government office.
(AP, 8/31/04)
2004 Aug 30, A general strike
to protest a recent grenade attack that killed 20 people at an
opposition political rally brought Bangladesh to a near standstill.
(AP, 8/30/04)
2004 Aug 30, India's top
commercial bank, State Bank of India (SBI), hiked its fixed rates
for home loans in what analysts saw as an indication other interest
rates in Asia's fourth-largest economy are headed higher. The
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said insufficient rainfall and
uncertainty about the price of crude oil, the country's biggest
import item, posed downside risks to growth in Asia's fourth-largest
economy.
(AP, 8/30/04)
2004 Aug 30, Rebel Shiite
cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called for his followers across Iraq to end
fighting against U.S. and Iraqi forces and is considering joining
the political process.
(AP, 8/30/04)
2004 Aug 30, Israeli officials
said PM Ariel Sharon wants all 21 Jewish settlements in the Gaza
Strip evacuated at the same time, instead of in three stages.
(AP, 8/30/04)
2004 Aug 30, Japan's Supreme
Court ruled that troubled bank UFJ Holdings Inc. can pull out of a
deal to sell its trust business to a smaller rival, clearing the way
for a full takeover of UFJ by larger Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial
Group (MTFG).
(AP, 8/30/04)
2004 Aug 30, Typhoon Chaba
plowed into southern Japan, killing at least five people and
injuring 73.
(AP, 8/30/04)
2004 Aug 30, Mexico’s state oil
company said it believes that vast untapped oil reserves lie in the
deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
(WSJ, 8/31/04, p.A10)
2005 Aug 30, A US Congressional
study said the US is the largest supplier of weapons to developing
nations, delivering more than $9.6 billion in arms to Near East and
Asian countries last year.
(AP, 8/30/05)
2005 Aug 30, A US federal court
ordered Palestinian Authority assets in the US frozen in order to
pay a $116 million judgement for the 1996 killing of an American in
Israel.
(WSJ, 8/31/05, p.A1)
2005 Aug 30, The death toll in
Mississippi from Hurricane Katrina passed 100. Flooding reached 11
feet in Mobile, Ala. Breaches in at least 2 levees from Lake
Pontchartrain put parts of New Orleans under 20 feet of water. Mayor
Ray Nagin estimated that 80% of New Orleans was flooded. Tourists
snapped pictures of looters in the French Quarter.
(AP, 8/30/05)(SFC, 8/31/05, p.A10)
2005 Aug 30, Afghan and U.S.
ground troops, backed by attack helicopters, raided a Taliban camp
in the mountains of southern Afghanistan, killing nine suspected
militants.
(AP, 8/31/05)
2005 Aug 30, In Australia
protesters demanding an end to the Iraq war and a cut in Third World
debt broke through a steel fence around the Sydney Opera House at
the start of the Forbes Global CEO Conference.
(AP, 8/30/05)
2005 Aug 30, Australia and New
Zealand lobbied the United Nations Security Council to indict
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and his government in the
International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.
(AP, 8/30/05)
2005 Aug 30, Britain announced
plans, the first by any Western country, to ban the downloading and
possession of violent sexual images.
(AP, 8/30/05)
2005 Aug 30, In China tobacco
smugglers from Shangdeng were intercepted by authorities from nearby
Yantang and 2 smugglers ended up killed. Shangdeng residents sacked
the Yantang City Hall in response.
(SFC, 12/9/05, p.A25)
2005 Aug 30, It was reported
that China's top lender, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, is
selling a 10 percent stake to investment bank Goldman Sachs,
American Express and the German insurer Allianz. ICBC is also
shedding $17.3 billion in bad loans to prepare for an overseas
listing.
(AP, 8/31/05)(Econ, 9/3/05, p.67)
2005 Aug 30, In Germany
Berlin's mayor Klaus Wowereit defended his decision to welcome a
leather and fetish enthusiasts to the German capital and accused his
conservative critics of being "small-minded."
(AP, 8/30/05)
2005 Aug 30, India and Pakistan
agreed to release hundreds of fishermen and other civilians in each
other's jails, a goodwill measure that comes as part of a peace
process between the two countries.
(AP, 8/30/05)
2005 Aug 30, US warplanes
launched strikes in western Iraq which killed an al Qaeda militant
named Abu Islam among other fighters. A hospital source said at
least 47 people were killed.
(Reuters, 8/30/05)
2005 Aug 30, Lebanon's PM Fuad
Saniora said the commander of the Presidential Guards, three former
security chiefs and a former lawmaker are suspects in the Feb 14
assassination of former PM Rafik Hariri.
(AP, 8/30/05)
2005 Aug 30, The UN said it was
alarmed by the rising number of disappearances in Nepal's civil war
and blamed both government troops and Maoist rebels. The state
National Human Rights Commission said since 1996 almost 1,000 people
had disappeared in the conflict. The 2005 UN report said no less
than 136 people had disappeared in 2004.
(AP, 8/30/05)(Econ, 11/19/05, p.45)
2005 Aug 30, Nicaragua's
highest court granted former President Arnoldo Aleman conditional
release from house arrest, overturning the ruling of a previous
court.
(AP, 8/30/05)
2005 Aug 30, In the Philippines
impeachment proceedings against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
fell into chaos, as opposition lawmakers walked out of a committee
hearing and claimed her backers were unjustly trying to quash the
case.
(AP, 8/30/05)
2005 Aug 30, South Africa's
foreign ministry called a halt to its role as peace mediator in
strife-torn Ivory Coast, saying it was in "no mood" to consider new
demands from rebels threatening to boycott October elections.
(AP, 8/30/05)
2005 Aug 30, South Korea rolled
out its first supersonic trainer jet as President Roh Moo-Hyun vowed
to boost the country's aerospace and defense industries.
(AP, 8/30/05)
2005 Aug 30, UN officials said
the 9 UN agencies involved in the oil-for-food program have agreed
to pay Iraq about $40 million in oil proceeds they received in 2003
to finish their work but never spent.
(AP, 8/30/05)
2005 Aug 30, Zimbabwe lawmakers
endorsed a constitutional overhaul that sharply restricts property
rights and allows Zimbabwe's government to deny passports to its
critics.
(AP, 8/30/05)
2006 Aug 30, In California Gov.
Schwarzenegger and Democrats struck a deal to require state
industries to lower greenhouse gas emissions.
(SFC, 8/31/06, p.A1)
2006 Aug 30, Glenn Ford (90),
American actor, died at his home in Beverly Hills, Ca. He played
strong, thoughtful protagonists in films such as "The Blackboard
Jungle," "Gilda" and "The Big Heat."
(AP, 8/31/06)
2006 Aug 30, Brazil’s central
bank cut its key interest rate 0.5% to 14.25%, a quarter point more
than had been expected. Brazil also released weaker-than-expected
data on GDP.
(WSJ, 9/1/06, p.A8)
2006 Aug 30, Canadian miner
Uranium One said it had approved Australia's fourth uranium mine,
the Honeymoon project in the South Australian outback.
(AP, 8/30/06)
2006 Aug 30, Conservationists
said the remains of 100 African elephants killed for their tusks
have been found in Chad not far from Sudan's troubled Darfur region.
(AP, 8/31/06)
2006 Aug 30, Nearly 60 inmates
escaped from an East Timor jail, including scores of people arrested
in recent violence that wracked the tiny nation and militiamen who
opposed the country's break from Indonesian rule.
(AP, 8/30/06)
2006 Aug 30, Naguib Mahfouz
(b.1911), Arab writer, died in Cairo. He became the first Arab
writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature (1988) for his novels
depicting modern Egyptian life. Across the span of 35 novels,
hundreds of short stories and essays, over 20 movie scripts and five
plays, Mahfouz depicted with startling realism the Egyptian
"Everyman" balancing between tradition and the modern world.
(AP, 8/30/06)(Econ, 9/2/06, p.78)
2006 Aug 30, Iran released
Ramin Jahanbegloo, a Canadian-Iranian writer, who was accused of
working with the US to overthrow the government.
(Reuters, 8/30/06)
2006 Aug 30, A roadside bomb
exploded in Baghdad's oldest and largest wholesale market district,
killing at least 24 people and wounding 35. An explosives-rigged
bicycle detonated near an army recruiting center in Hillah killed at
least 12 people and wounded 28. Bloodshed left at least 52 dead. 2
American soldiers and a Marine were killed.
(AP, 8/30/06)(AP, 9/1/06)
2006 Aug 30, Israeli troops
launched airstrikes on the outskirts of Gaza City and exchanged
gunfire with Palestinian militants, killing six people.
(AP, 8/30/06)
2006 Aug 30, Lebanese PM Fuad
Saniora said that he refused to have any direct contact with Israel
and that Lebanon would be the last Arab country to ever sign a peace
deal with the Jewish state. Jan Egeland, the UN humanitarian chief,
accused Israel of "shocking" and "completely immoral" behavior for
dropping large numbers of cluster bombs on Lebanon when a cease-fire
in its war with Hezbollah was in sight.
(AP, 8/30/06)
2006 Aug 30, Hurricane John
lashed tourist resorts with heavy winds and rain as the dangerous
Category 4 storm marched up Mexico's Pacific coast.
(AP, 8/30/07)
2006 Aug 30, Nigerian officials
and the UN refugee agency appealed to some 6,000 recalcitrant
Liberian refugees to go back home, warning that time and hospitality
were fast running out for them.
(AFP, 8/30/06)
2006 Aug 30, In southwestern
Pakistan protesters angry over the killing of a rebel tribal chief
blocked highways in Quetta, preventing workers from reaching the
provincial capital and forcing most shops to close. In northwestern
Pakistan militants decapitated an Islamic cleric and an Afghan
refugee accused of spying for US and Afghan authorities.
(AP, 8/30/06)
2006 Aug 30, Russia released
two Japanese fishermen held since their boat was seized for
allegedly fishing in Russian waters in a confrontation in which a
crewman was killed.
(AP, 8/30/06)
2006 Aug 30, In Sudan riot
police fired teargas and beat a journalist in central Khartoum on as
opposition party supporters gathered to demonstrate against a recent
rise in petrol and sugar prices.
(AP, 8/30/06)
2006 Aug 30, Venezuelan
President Hugo Chavez said in Damascus that he and Syrian President
Bashar Assad shared a "decisive and firm" stance against American
"imperialism" and "domination."
(AP, 8/30/06)
2007 Aug 30, In a serious
breach of nuclear security, a US B-52 bomber armed with six nuclear
warheads flew cross-country unnoticed; the Air Force later punished
70 people.
(AP, 8/30/08)
2007 Aug 30, A draft report by
US congressional auditors said that the Iraqi government has failed
to meet the vast majority of political and military goals laid out
by lawmakers to assess President Bush's Iraq war strategy.
(AP, 8/30/07)
2007 Aug 30, In Michigan the
Legislature approved moving the state’s presidential nomination to
Jan 15, just days after national Democrats vowed to punish states
that vote too early. A suspected serial killer was arrested in the
deaths of 5 women over the last month.
(SFC, 8/31/07, p.A6,16)
2007 Aug 30, Taliban militants
released the last 7 South Korean hostages. Mullah Brother, a wanted
Taliban insurgent leader in Afghanistan, was killed in a US-led raid
in the southern province of Helmand.
(AFP, 8/30/07)(Reuters, 8/30/07)(AP, 8/31/07)
2007 Aug 30, A major new study
said nearly 10 percent of Australians are living in poverty despite
a booming economy, but its findings were disputed by PM John Howard.
(AP, 8/30/07)
2007 Aug 30, A speeding train
carrying hundreds of commuters slammed into an empty train near Rio
de Janeiro, killing eight people and injuring more than 80.
(AP, 8/31/07)
2007 Aug 30, In London a
diamond-encrusted skull by British artist Damien Hirst (41) sold for
100 million dollars (75 million euros), a record price for work sold
by a living artist.
(AFP, 8/30/07)
2007 Aug 30, Michael Jackson
(65), a leading world beer critic, died in London. He praised the
brews of Belgium and his books "The Great Beers of Belgium" and
"World Guide to Beer" introduced them to many export markets,
including the United States.
(AP, 8/31/07)(www.beerhunter.com/)
2007 Aug 30, Canadian police
arrested Adel Arnaout (37), with three home-made bombs in the trunk
of his car. The arrest was connected to an investigation into letter
bombs delivered recently to three homes in and around Toronto.
(Reuters, 8/31/07)
2007 Aug 30, Chilean police
arrested at least 750 people as protesters’ calls for higher wages
and better working conditions led to looting in Santiago.
(WSJ, 8/31/07, p.A1)
2007 Aug 30, China’s government
said it has replaced five Cabinet ministers, including the finance
minister and the head of the secret police, just weeks ahead of a
major Communist Party meeting that will set the country's policies
for the next five years. The official Xinhua News Agency said China
removed four officials accused of corruption from its legislature.
State media said China's top legislature has adopted a measure
allowing the government to seize private homes on state-owned land,
as long as owners are compensated and properly resettled.
(AP, 8/30/07)(AP, 8/31/07)
2007 Aug 30, Hundreds of
Colombian peasants returned home from Ecuador after the government
promised to protect them from leftist rebels trying to sabotage a
coca eradication campaign.
(AP, 8/30/07)
2007 Aug 30, In Croatia six men
were killed and seven badly injured when they were trapped battling
a fierce forest blaze on Kornat Island. 8 men were soon detained on
suspicion of arson. PM Ivo Sanader promised an investigation saying
it was the biggest tragedy in Croatian firefighting.
(AP, 8/31/07)
2007 Aug 30, Addis Ababa city
officials said Ethiopia will try to remove tens of thousands of
beggars from the streets to create a more "conducive" atmosphere for
coming Millennium celebrations. Still using the Julian calendar,
abandoned by the West in the 16th century, Ethiopia enters its new
millennium on September 12 with a huge concert expected to draw
hundreds of thousands of partygoers and international celebrities.
(Reuters, 8/30/07)
2007 Aug 30, Pres. Sarkozy
became the first ruling head of state to address the Medef, France’s
leading business organization. He laid out the second stage of his
economic reforms, including a wholesale review of tax and social
security contributions.
(Econ, 9/1/07, p.59)
2007 Aug 30, Anti-American
cleric Muqtada al-Sadr threatened to rescind the order unless the
Iraqi government stops detaining his followers in Karbala and
elsewhere within the next 48 hours. In the southeastern city of
Nasiriyah about 20 gunmen attacked a Badr headquarters. The attack
caused no injuries, but the building was partially burned.
(AP, 8/30/07)
2007 Aug 30, A cargo ship,
anchored about 2 miles from Israel's coast near the port city of
Haifa, when it was hit by the Salamis Glory, a Cypriot passenger
ship. 11 crew escaped from the sinking cargo ship. The first mate
and engineer, both residents of Slovakia, were missing.
(AP, 8/31/07)
2007 Aug 30, Hundreds of police
raided a small town in southern Italy and arrested more than 30
suspected members of organized crime clans believed to be involved
in a feud that killed six Italians in Germany earlier this month.
(AP, 8/30/07)
2007 Aug 30, The Rome-based
Hands Off Cain, an anti-death penalty group, reported that more
people were put to death in 2006, 5,628, than in either of the
previous two years. China alone accounting for 5,000 executions.
(AP, 8/30/07)
2007 Aug 30, In Kisii, Kenya,
an oil tanker truck rolled down a hill and smashed into four
minibuses, killing 29 people and injuring more than 30. The death
toll was expected to rise.
(AP, 8/31/07)
2007 Aug 30, Kosovo's PM Agim
Ceku vowed to declare independence unilaterally if internationally
brokered talks do not "open a way for us," staking out a tough
position as the latest round of negotiations began in Vienna.
(AP, 8/30/07)
2007 Aug 30, A transport
vehicle hit a land mine in tense northern Mali, killing 10 people.
(AP, 8/31/07)
2007 Aug 30, Pakistan’s
President Pervez Musharraf rejected pressure from former premier
Benazir Bhutto to make a snap decision on a power-sharing deal that
would see him quit as army chief. Pro-Taliban fighters, led by
Pakistani Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud, captured over 200
Pakistani troops in South Waziristan. On Nov 4 they released 211
troops. Baitullah Mehsud had this year cobbled together the
Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which became known as the Pakistani
Taliban.
(AP, 8/30/07)(AP, 11/4/07)(Econ, 8/15/09, p.34)
2007 Aug 30, Dozens of Sri
Lankan journalists took to the streets to condemn censorship and
support a columnist who exposed alleged corruption in the purchase
of second-hand supersonic jets.
(AFP, 8/30/07)
2007 Aug 30, Darfur rebels
accused the Sudanese government of bombing South Darfur, the latest
attack in an aerial campaign that has driven thousands of people
from their homes over the past month.
(Reuters, 8/30/07)
2007 Aug 30, The UN nuclear
agency said that Iran was producing less nuclear fuel than expected
and praised Tehran for "a significant step forward" in explaining
past atomic actions that have raised suspicions.
(AP, 8/30/07)
2008 Aug 30, In Black Rock
City, Nevada, the 40-foot Burning Man was set aflame. This year’s
festival, themed the American Dream, was marked by a 10-story steel
frame tower built by union workers of recycled materials. The annual
guidebook reached 77 pages.
(SSFC, 8/31/08, p.B2)
2008 Aug 30, Raymond L. Danner,
American restaurateur, died at his home in Nashville, Tenn. In 1959
he had acquired his first Shoney’s franchise from founder Alex
Schoenbaum. By his retirement in 1987 he had built Shoney’s Inc.
into 1,600 restaurant outlet.
(WSJ, 9/13/08, p.A9)
2008 Aug 30, Brazilian
officials said Amazon deforestation jumped 69 percent in the past 12
months, the first such increase in three years, as rising demand for
soy and cattle pushes farmers and ranchers to raze trees.
(AP, 8/31/08)
2008 Aug 30, Gustav swelled to
a fearsome Category 3 hurricane with winds of 120 mph (195 kph) as
it shrieked toward the heartland of Cuba's cigar industry on a track
to hit the US Gulf Coast, three years after Hurricane Katrina. 78
people were already left dead in the Caribbean.
(AP, 8/30/08)
2008 Aug 30, China’s tallest
building, the 101-story, 1,614-foot Shanghai World Financial Center,
opened 14 years after Minoru Mori, its Japanese developer, began the
$1.13 billion project. The family owned Mori Building Co. owned 70%
of the project.
(SFC, 8/29/08, p.A1)(WSJ, 9/2/08, p.B2)
2008 Aug 30, A 6.1 earthquake
hit southwest China's Sichuan province, killing least 36 people and
turning tens of thousands of homes into rubble and cracked
reservoirs.
(Reuters, 8/30/08)(AP, 8/31/08)(AP, 9/1/08)
2008 Aug 30, Egypt opened its
Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip, allowing more than 2,500
people to leave the Hamas-controlled territory and about 1,000 to
enter in a goodwill gesture before the holy Muslim month of Ramadan
begins.
(AP, 8/30/08)(Reuters, 8/31/08)
2008 Aug 30, The UN says
Russian soldiers are telling thousands of refugees in Georgia who
want to return to their homes that their security can't be
guaranteed. All hoped to return to villages that are in the
"security zones" that Russia has claimed for itself. Russian PM
Vladimir Putin urged the EU to ignore calls to punish Moscow over
the Georgia conflict as Tbilisi appealed for targeted punishment of
the Russian leadership.
(AP, 8/30/08)(AFP, 8/30/08)
2008 Aug 30, In India,
officials said more than 300,000 people, trapped in India's worst
floods in 50 years, have been rescued but that nearly double that
number remained stranded without food or water. In eastern India 12
policemen were killed in a landmine blast triggered by suspected
Maoist rebels.
(AP, 8/30/08)(AFP, 8/30/08)
2008 Aug 30, The US military
said more than 11,000 Iraqis have been released from American
detention centers this year, leaving some 19,700 still in custody.
(AP, 8/30/08)
2008 Aug 30, Libyan leader
Muammar Gaddafi and Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi met in Libya to
sign a "friendship pact." Italy agreed to pay Libya US$5 billion as
compensation for its 30-year occupation of the country, which ended
in 1943. A provision stated that the parties commit themselves "not
to resort to threatening or using violence."
(Reuters, 8/30/08)(AP, 8/31/08)(AP, 2/27/11)
2008 Aug 30, Hundreds of
thousands of frustrated Mexicans, many carrying pictures of
kidnapped loved ones, marched across the country to demand
government action against a relentless tide of killings, abductions
and shootouts. Hours before the protests, the severed heads of two
women were found near the attorney general's offices in the city of
Durango.
(AP, 8/31/08)(AP, 9/1/08)
2008 Aug 30, Gilberto Rincon
Gallardo (69), a former socialist presidential candidate who gained
respect in Mexico for defending the rights of the disabled, gays and
other marginalized groups, died in Mexico City.
(AP, 8/31/08)
2008 Aug 30, Nigeria's main
militant group claimed that it killed at least 29 military personnel
in three separate attacks across the restive southern oil region.
The group reported that six of its own fighters were also killed in
the clashes.
(AP, 8/30/08)
2008 Aug 30, In Pakistan a
blast ripped through a home in Wana, a main town in the South
Waziristan tribal region, killing at least five militants.
(AP, 8/30/08)
2008 Aug 30, A bomb blast
blamed on separatist Tamil Tigers wounded 45 people in Colombo. A
clash killed three soldiers and a rebel in Anuradhapura district.
Rebels said that a shell fired by government forces hit a shelter
for civilians displaced by fighting in Kilinochchi, killing five
people and wounding three others.
(AP, 8/30/08)
2008 Aug 30, Thai PM Samak
Sundaravej vowed not to quit in the face of intensifying protests
aimed at toppling his seven-month-old government.
(Reuters, 8/30/08)
2009 Aug 30, In Utah a fire,
which already destroyed 3 houses and covered over 15 square miles,
threatened the rural town of New Harmony.
(SFC, 8/31/09, p.A4)
2009 Aug 30, Major allegations
of fraud in Afghanistan's presidential election topped 550, more
than doubling the figure investigators reported just two days
earlier.
(AP, 8/30/09)
2009 Aug 30, British police
estimated that about 220,000 people turned up to dance, drink and
eat jerk chicken for the first of two days of the Notting Hill
Carnival in west London. The Afro-Caribbean carnival began the 1950s
in response to deteriorating race relations, and has been based in
Notting Hill since 1964.
(AFP, 8/31/09)
2009 Aug 30, In Cameroon a
passenger train carrying about 1,000 people crashed in the northwest
of Yaounde. Nine people were killed in the crash and its aftermath.
(AP, 8/30/09)
2009 Aug 30, In eastern China
Yu Xiaochun (37) was going home when she was surrounded by five
Wal-Mart employees, four men and one woman, all in their 20s, who
accused her of shoplifting. They fought and Yu fell to the ground
and was taken to a hospital, where she died on Sept. 2. Two
employees, a man surnamed Liu and a man surnamed Yu, were detained
following her death.
(AP, 9/8/09)
2009 Aug 30, Gabon held free
elections for the first time in more than 41 years. 18 candidates
vied to replace the late President Omar Bongo, who ruled for more
than four decades and ran as the only candidate in many elections.
The leading contender was the dead ruler's son, Ali Bongo Ondimba
(50). He put up posters of himself every 30 feet (9 meters) on the
capital's main highway and crisscrossed the country in a private jet
to campaign. On Sep 3 Ali Bongo Ondimba was declared the winner with
41.7% of the vote.
(AP, 8/30/09)(AP, 9/3/09)
2009 Aug 30, Israeli legal
authorities indicted former PM Ehud Olmert on corruption charges,
the first criminal indictment ever filed against a current or past
Israeli prime minister. Olmert was accused of illegally accepting
funds from an American backer, double-billing for trips abroad and
concealing funds from a government watchdog.
(AP, 8/30/09)
2009 Aug 30, Japan's ruling
party conceded a crushing defeat as voters were poised to hand the
opposition a landslide victory in nationwide elections, driven by
economic anxiety and a powerful desire for change. The
left-of-center Democratic Party of Japan, under Yukio Hatoyama (62),
won 308 of the 480 seats in the lower house of parliament, ousting
the Liberal Democrats, who have governed Japan for all but 11 months
since 1955.
(AP, 8/30/09)(Econ, 9/5/09, p.29)
2009 Aug 30, Libyan leader
Moamer Kadhafi and Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi laid the foundation
stone for an ambitious highway stretching along the entire Libyan
coast.
(AFP, 8/30/09)
2009 Aug 30, The Myanmar junta
ended a news blackout about clashes with ethnic rebels near the
China border, saying three days of fighting killed 26 government
forces and at least eight rebels.
(AP, 8/30/09)
2009 Aug 30, In Pakistan a
suicide bomber killed 17 police recruits in the Swat Valley in the
deadliest attack since the army regained control over the
northwestern valley from the Taliban. After the blast, security
forces pursuing Taliban suspects killed 18 militants in a gunbattle
just outside Mingora.
(AP, 8/30/09)(AP, 8/31/09)
2009 Aug 30, In Zimbabwe
Godknows Dzoro Mtshakazi, a member of PM Morgan Tsvangirai's party,
was killed by soldiers in Shurugwi for playing a song praising
the premier.
(AFP, 9/8/09)
2010 Aug 30, It was reported
that over $5 billion in American aid to Iraq has been wasted on
abandoned or incomplete projects. This was over 10% of US
reconstruction efforts in Iraq.
(SFC, 8/30/10, p.A4)
2010 Aug 30, The
Hewlett-Packard Co. agreed to pay $55 million to settle a Justice
Dept. probe on overcharges in a kickback scheme. The settlement
involved a False Claims Act lawsuit dating back to 2004.
(SFC, 8/31/10, p.D1)
2010 Aug 30, Hurricane Earl
lashed the northeastern Caribbean with heavy rain and strong winds,
causing flooding in low-lying parts of the Leeward Islands as it
rapidly intensified into a major Category 4 storm taking a path
projected to menace the United States. Earl passed just north of the
British Virgin Islands in the afternoon. By nighttime, the hurricane
was pulling away from the Caribbean, but heavy downpours still
threatened to cause flash floods and mudslides in Puerto Rico and
the Virgin Islands by drenching already saturated ground.
(AP, 8/30/10)(AP, 8/31/10)
2010 Aug 30, In Seattle, Wa.,
John Williams, a Native American homeless woodcarver, was shot and
killed by police officer Ian Birk, who had ordered him to drop his
small knife. The shooting was later ruled unjustified, but
prosecutors said they would not file criminal charges.
(SFC, 2/28/11, p.A5)(http://tinyurl.com/4tdpxa3)
2010 Aug 30, In southern
Afghanistan 7 US troops were killed in two Taliban-style bomb
attacks. An 8th soldier, a 20-year-old Estonian, died of his
injuries after insurgents set off an improvised explosive device
(IED) in Nad-e-Ali in Helmand province. A bomb blast in Jalalabad
killed a district chief and wounded up to five others. A French
soldier was killed when the armored vehicle he was travelling in
tumbled into a ravine.
(AFP, 8/30/10)(AP, 8/31/10)
2010 Aug 30, Chinese state
media said North Korea's leader Kim Jong-il wants an early restart
to stalled nuclear disarmament talks, ending official silence about
Kim's secretive five-day trip ahead of a key congress.
(Reuters, 8/30/10)
2010 Aug 30, Libyan leader
Moammar Gadhafi and Premier Silvio Berlusconi marked a friendship
treaty between their two countries amid increasing criticism here
over Gadhafi's exhortation to Italians to convert to Islam.
(AP, 8/30/10)
2010 Aug 30, In Kashmir police
opened fire with live rounds at rock-throwing Kashmiris, sparking
violent street protests by hundreds in India's portion of the
troubled Himalayan region. At least five people were wounded, one
critically.
(AP, 8/30/10)
2010 Aug 30, Mexican police
captured a Texas-born fugitive known as "the Barbie." Edgar Valdez
Villarreal (37) allegedly led a violent smuggling network. He became
the third suspected drug lord to fall in Mexico in the past 10
months in a coup for Pres. Calderon's war on cartels. An anonymous
caller tipped authorities off to the presence of 3 bodies in
Tamaulipas state. Marines found the 3 bodies as well as the bodies
of 2 women, not identified as culprits. A Honduran man who survived
the Aug 24 slaughter identified the three men as having been among
the killers of 72 migrants.
(AP, 8/31/10)(AP, 9/6/10)
2010 Aug 30, In Nigeria unknown
gunmen shot and killed a personal assistant to Bauchi state
Gov. Malam Isa Yuguda, the son-in-law to the late Nigerian President
Umaru Yar'Adua. A police guard for Yuguda was shot and seriously
injured.
(AP, 8/30/10)
2010 Aug 30, Russia's PM
Vladimir Putin hinted he would return to the presidency in 2012 for
six more years and said democracy protesters marching without
permission deserved to be beaten.
(Reuters, 8/30/10)
2010 Aug 30, In Russia a fire
killed nine people at a nursing home in Vishny Volochek, 120 miles
(200 km) north of Moscow, and investigators say it apparently
started when an elderly resident doused himself in gasoline and set
himself on fire.
(AP, 8/30/10)
2010 Aug 30, In Slovakia a
gunman killed 7 people and wounded 14 in an attack at an apartment
building in Bratislava, then committed suicide.
(AP, 8/30/10)(Econ, 9/4/10, p.55)
2010 Aug 30, In Somalia 4
Ugandan peacekeepers were killed in Mogadishu when al Shabaab
Islamist rebels fired mortars at the presidential palace. Clashes
pitting Islamist radicals against government troops backed by
African Union forces killed at least six civilians and wounded 16.
(Reuters, 8/30/10)(AFP, 8/30/10)
2010 Aug 30, The government of
Southern Sudan said it will purge child soldiers from the ranks of
its former rebel army by year's end, a policy change that could see
thousands of young troops pushed out of the military.
(AP, 8/30/10)
2010 Aug 30, In Venezuela
Franklin Brito, a farmer who staged repeated hunger strikes to
protest a government-sanctioned takeover of his farm, died in a
military hospital in Caracas.
(AP, 8/31/10)
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