Timeline 1997 D: July-August
Return to home
1997 Jul 1,
Nevada Athletic Commission suspended Mike Tyson for biting Holyfield.
(www.lasvegassun.com/sports/boxing/htfight/)
1997 Jul 1, Film star Robert
Mitchum died at 79 (b.1917) in Santa Barbara County, Calif.
(SFC, 7/2/97, p.A1)(AP, 7/1/98)
1997 Jul 1, Hong Kong reverted to
Chinese rule after 156 years as a British colony. Britain relinquished
Hong Kong as a colonial territory, and China became master. Many rights
were guaranteed for 50 years under a Sino-British treaty.
(WSJ, 11/14/94, p.A9)(SFC, 5/30/96, p.A9)(AP, 7/1/98)
1997 Jul 1, Two Israeli soldiers
were injured by a pipe bomb and 15 Palestinians were wounded by rubber
bullets in Hebron in disturbances after an Israeli women, Tatiana
Susskin (25), distributed leaflets with the Prophet Mohammed depicted
as a pig stomping on the Koran.
(SFC, 7/2/97, p.A8)(SFC, 7/5/97, p.A10)
1997 Jul 1, In the UK a new
handgun law took effect as a result of the 1996 massacre at the school
in Dunblane, Scotland.
(SFEC, 6/29/97, p.A13)
1997 Jul 1, In Russia the grave
site of 9,000 victims in the Karelia Forest at Medvezhyegorsk was
opened. In Oct-Nov, 1937, a 3-man panel under Stalin, the "Osobaya
Troika," signed death sentences that were sent to thousands of gulags
across Russia and led to the massacre. A monument was planned.
(SFC, 7/17/97, p.A10)
1997 Jul 1, Thailand let its
currency, the baht, float and it devalued about 20%. This event marked
the beginning of the Asian economic crises. In 1999 Thailand sought to
extradite Rakesh Saxena, a currency trader, from Canada for his role in
an alleged fraud that drained over $2 billion from the Bangkok Bank of
Commerce, which led to the devaluation of the baht. Pin Chakkaphak was
blamed for the collapse of the currency and fled Asia. He was ordered
back from Britain in 2001 to face accounting and theft charges.
(SFC, 7/3/97, p.D4)(WSJ, 7/21/97, p.A1)(SFEC,
5/31/98, p.D1)(WSJ, 5/7/99, p.A1)(SFC, 3/9/01, p.A16)(Econ, 3/25/06,
p.80)
1997 Jul 2, The US began a round
of underground nuclear weapons-related tests in Nevada.
(SFC, 7/3/97, p.A9)
1997 Jul 2, A federal judge in New
York ruled that the military policy, "don’t ask, don’t tell," is
unconstitutional and only serves to cater to the biases of many
heterosexuals.
(SFC, 7/3/97, p.A1)
1997 Jul 2, A Montana court voided
a 24-year-old ban on homosexual sex, concluding that the government has
no business meddling in the sexual activity of consenting adults.
(SFC, 7/3/97, p.A3)
1997 Jul 2, Two Union Pacific
trains collided 5 miles north of Rossville, Kan., when an engineer
overshot a siding a struck an oncoming train 6 cars behind the
locomotive; the engineer died in the wreck.
(SFC, 7/3/97, p.A3)
1997 Jul 2, Severe thunder storms
tore through Michigan’s lower peninsula and killed at least 7 people.
(SFC, 7/3/97, p.A3)
1997 Jul 2, Actor James Stewart
(b.1908), died in Beverly Hills, Calif., at age 89.
(SFC, 7/3/97, p.A1)(AP, 7/2/98)
1997 Jul 2, US Aid to Honduras had
dropped this year to $28 million from a high of $229 million in 1985.
The country had the highest AIDS rate in Central America.
(WSJ, 7/2/97, p.A1)
1997 Jul 2, In Japan the
Panamanian registered Diamond Grace oil tanker ran aground in Tokyo Bay
and spilled nearly 2 million gallons of oil. The amount spilled was
revised to 390,000 gallons.
(SFC, 7/2/97, p.A9)(SFC, 7/3/97, p.A1)
1997 Jul 2, A Canadian commission
established to review the actions of peace-keeping troops in Somalia
between 1992-93 concluded that the troops were unprepared and
victimized by commanders who ignored problems that escalated to torture
and the killing of a Somali teenager.
(SFC, 7/3/97, p.C2)
1997 Jul 2, In Russia Pres.
Yeltsin fired justice minister Valentin Kovalyov due to the sex scandal
of Jun 22.
(SFC, 7/3/97, p.C3)
1997 Jul 3, In his first formal
response to Paula Jones' charges of sexual harassment, President
Clinton denied all allegations in her lawsuit and asked a judge to
dismiss the case.
(AP, 7/3/02)
1997 Jul 3, Mississippi became the
1st state to settle its tobacco suit, less than one week before the 1st
scheduled trial.
(http://tinyurl.com/amlhg)
1997 Jul 3, Lockheed Martin Corp.,
the nation's biggest defense contractor, announced its purchase of
Northrop Grumman Corp. for $11.2 billion [$7.9 billion]. However, the
merger fell apart over antitrust concerns.
(SFC, 7/4/97, p.A1)(AP, 7/3/02)
1997 Jul 3, The Rainbow Family,
founded in 1971, began their 25th gathering in Ochoco National Forest
in Oregon. 20-30,000 were expected to participate.
(SFC, 7/4/97, p.A10)
1997 Jul 3, Daisy Mascada (18) cut
off the penis of Julio Luna with a 10-inch knife in Seaside, Ca. She
was sentenced to 7 years in prison and later pleaded that she had been
kidnapped, battered and abused.
(SFC, 10/14/99, p.A22)
1997 Jul 3, Blues guitarist Johnny
Copeland (b.1937), the "Texas Twister," died. His 1985 "Showdown" album
with Albert Collins (d.1993) and Robert Cray won a Grammy for best
traditional blues recording.
(SFC, 7/5/97, p.C3)
1997 Jul 4, Ritt Goldstein, a
businessman from Danbury, Conn., arrived in Sweden and sought political
asylum. He claimed to be persecuted in the US for his crusade for
civilian oversight of the police.
(SFC, 10/14/98, p.A10)
1997 Jul 4, Bikers returned to
Hollister, Ca., for a 50-year anniversary and began an annual
motorcycle tradition. [see Jul 4, 1947]
(SFC, 7/4/02, p.A18)
1997 Jul 4, The Mars Pathfinder
landed and began to broadcast pictures of the red rocky landscape. The
landing site was later named the Carl Sagan Memorial Station.
(SFC, 7/5/97, p.A1)
1997 Jul 4, TV journalist and "On
the Road" reporter Charles Kuralt (b.1934) died at 62 from lupus. His
mistress of 29 years later sought to inherit his 90 acre Montana
fishing retreat.
(SFC, 7/5/97, p.A5)(SFC, 2/18/00, p.A2)
1997 Jul 4, It was reported that
Australia had sold 167 tons of gold over the last 6 months in order to
put the money into more productive assets.
(SFC, 7/4/97, p.C1)
1997 Jul 4, In Cambodia troops of
prince Ranariddh laid down their arms and some 140 were taken prisoner
by troops of 2nd Prime Minister Hun Sen. Ranariddh was on a trip to
France and Hun Sen claimed that illegal negotiations were taking place
with Khmer Rouge guerrillas.
(SFC, 7/5/97, p.A10)
1997 Jul 4, In Guatemala Pres.
Alvaro Arzu fired 2 top military officials, after they had helped
negotiate a peace treaty. They were known as moderates and the
hard-liner Gen’l. Hector Barrios took over as the new defense chief.
(SFC, 7/5/97, p.A10)
1997 Jul 4, The Hong Kong
Philharmonic premiered of the "Symphony 1997 (Heaven Earth Mankind)" by
the composer Tan Dun. The piece was commissioned by China to mark the
reunification of Hong Kong and China.
(WSJ, 6/25/97, p.A20)
1997 Jul 4, In Mexico it was
reported that Amado Carillo Fuentes (41), Mexico’s reputed top drug
trafficker, died following extensive plastic surgery. His operations
were centered in Juarez, across the border from El Paso. He was called
"Lord of the Skies" for using passenger jets to bring in cocaine from
Colombia. It was later reported that his death was an inside job
arranged because a massive manhunt for him had become a liability to
his cartel’s business.
(SFEC, 7/6/97, p.B4)(SFC, 7/7/97, p.A10)(SFC,
2/14/98, p.A9)
1997 Jul 4, In Russia the
parliament passed a law to reassert state control over weapons exports.
(SFC, 7/5/97, p.C2)
1997 Jul 5, It was reported that
as many as 100 paintings and drawings by Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh
(1853-1890) may be fakes.
(SFC, 7/5/97, p.A8)
1997 Jul 5, From Columbus, Ohio,
The United Church of Christ decided to unite with 3 other protestant
denominations that include the Presbyterian Church, the Reformed Church
of America, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America.
(SFEC, 7/6/97, p.B10)
1997 Jul 5, Sixteen-year-old
Martina Hingis became the youngest Wimbledon singles champion this
century as she beat Jana Novotna in the women's finals. (Charlotte
"Lottie" Dod won in 1887 at age 15.)
(AP, 7/5/98)
1997 Jul 5, NASA scientists
brainstormed to fix problems that left Mars Pathfinder's robot rover
stuck aboard the lander.
(AP, 7/5/98)
1997 Jul 5, An editorial stated
that Governor Fob James had declared Alabama to be a rights-free zone.
In a letter to a federal judge Gov. James stated that the
Constitution’s Bill of Rights does not apply to the states.
(SFC, 7/5/97, p.A16)
1997 Jul 5, Cambodia's Second
Prime Minister Hun Sen launched a bloody coup that toppled First Prime
Minister Norodom Ranariddh. The heavy fighting in Phnom Penh indicated
the collapse of the fragile coalition.
(SFEC, 7/6/97, p.A3)(AP, 7/5/98)
1997 Jul 5, From Taiwan it was
reported that the ruling party and the opposition pro-independence
party had joined behind a plan to change the constitution and scrap the
provincial government, a vestige of an old arrangement that considered
Taiwan a part of China.
(SFC, 7/5/97, p.C2)
1997 Jul 5, In Tokyo top
electronics manufacturers agreed on standards for a new computer disk.
The new magneto-optical disk will battle against the DVD-RAM disks as
the preferred data storage format. Both disks will feature read and
rewrite capabilities.
(SFC, 7/5/97, p.D6)
1997 Jul 6, Pete Sampras won his
fourth Wimbledon title as he defeated Cedric Pioline of France.
(AP, 7/6/98)
1997 Jul 6, The rover Sojourner
rolled down a ramp from the Mars Pathfinder lander and began mankind’s
first mobile exploration of Mars. The first rock targeted for
examination was named "Barnacle Bill."
(SFC, 7/7/97, p.A1) (AP, 7/6/98)
1997 Jul 6, In Washington DC Mary
Mahoney (25), Emory Evans (25) and Aaron Goodrich (18) were murdered in
an apparent botched robbery at Starbucks coffee shop in the Georgetown
neighborhood. In 1999 Carl Derek Havord Cooper (29) was charged with
the murders.
(SFC, 3/6/99, p.A3)
1997 Jul 6, In Albania three
people died as the 2nd round of elections were completed. The Socialist
gained 12 more seats versus 5 more for the Democrats.
(SFC, 7/7/97, p.A10)
1997 Jul 6, In Cambodia Hun Sen
declared victory while Prince Ranariddh planned from France to carry
out a resistance effort.
(SFC, 7/7/97, p.A8)
1997 Jul 6, In Mexico City
Cuauhtemoc Cardenas Solorzano, leader of the opposition Party of the
Democratic Revolution, declared victory in the race for mayor. The PRI
lost its majority in the lower house of Congress. The four opposition
parties banded together in a coalition to inaugurate the new Congress
on Aug 30.
(SFC, 7/7/97, p.A1)(SFC, 9/1/97, p.A14)(AP, 7/6/98)
1997 Jul 6, In Portadown, Northern
Ireland, British troops cleared the streets to allow the Orange Order
to march through the Catholic enclave along Garvaghy Road amidst
scattered violence.
(SFC, 7/7/97, p.A8)
1997 Jul 7, Montgomery Wards, the
nation’s largest privately owned retailer, filed for Chapter 11
bankruptcy protection.
(SFC, 7/8/97, p.A1)
1997 Jul 7, It was reported that
toxic waste was being used across the country in fertilizers with no
regulation. Substances being recycled in fertilizer included low level
radioactive waste from a uranium processing plant in Gore, Okla.;
lead-laced waste from a pulp mill in Camas, Wash.; and toxic byproducts
from steel-making in Moxee City, Wash.
(SFC, 7/7/97, p.A2)
1997 Jul 7, In California it was
reported that the state’s million plus cows were churning out $3
billion worth of milk and leaking harmful nitrates into the ground
water of the Central Valley. Years ago the Chino basin was forced to
write off vast quantities of tainted ground water due to dairies.
(SFC, 7/7/97, p.A8)
1997 Jul 7, Three days after
landing on Mars, the Pathfinder spacecraft yielded what scientists said
was unmistakable photographic evidence that colossal floods scoured the
Red Planet's now-barren landscape more than a billion years ago.
(AP, 7/7/98)
1997 Jul 7, In Chile the
government agreed to back the 670,000 acre nature preserve of Doug
Tompkins, founder of the Esprit clothing chain.
(SFC, 7/8/97, p.A7)
1997 Jul 7, In Kenya 9 people died
during protests for constitutional reform.
(SFC, 7/8/97, p.A8)(SFC, 7/12/97, p.A10)
1997 Jul 8, The Senate
Governmental Affairs Committee opened politically charged hearings into
fund-raising abuses, with chairman Fred Thompson accusing China of
trying to influence the 1996 U.S. elections.
(AP, 7/8/98)
1997 Jul 8, The Mayo Clinic and
the government warned the diet-drug combination known as "fen-phen"
could cause serious heart and lung damage. The drugs were withdrawn in
September. In 2000 a federal judge approved a $3.75 billion national
settlement of health claims due to use of the drugs.
(AP, 7/8/98)(SFC, 8/29/00, p.A4)
1997 Jul 8, A US Army Black Hawk
helicopter crashed at Fort Bragg, NC, and killed 8 soldiers.
(SFC, 7/9/97, p.A3)
1997 Jul 8, NATO issued formal
membership invitations to Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary.
(SFC, 7/9/97, p.A1)(AP, 7/8/98)
1997 Jul 8, In Cambodia Interior
Minister Ho Sok was seized and executed by forces loyal to Hun Sen.
Some 30 soldiers loyal to Ranariddh were captured and tortured by
Regiment 911 at Kambol.
(SFC, 7/9/97, p.A6)(SFC, 7/21/97, p.A8)
1997 Jul 8, In Dagestan a bomb
blew up on a bus carrying Russian border police and 9 officers were
killed. Sporadic violence continued along with kidnappings.
(SFC, 7/9/97, p.A8)
1997 Jul 8, In India a bomb
exploded on a passenger train in the Punjab at Bhatinda and killed 36
people and wounded 70.
(SFC, 7/9/97, p.A8)
1997 Jul 8, In Northern Ireland
masked members of the IRA boarded, cleared and set fire to a Dublin to
Belfast train.
(SFC, 7/9/97, p.A6)
1997 Jul 8, A report on
Transdniestria, between Moldova and the Ukraine, described it as a
haven for arms smugglers, money launderers and outlaws on the lam.
(WSJ, 7/8/97, p.A1,8)
1997 Jul 9, Boxer Mike Tyson was
banned from the ring and fined $3 million for biting opponent Evander
Holyfield's ears.
(AP, 7/9/98)
1992 Jul 9, Poet Adrienne Rich
rejected the US government National Medal for the Arts award due to
radical disparities of wealth and power in America.
(SFC, 7/10/97, p.A10)
1997 Jul 9, Louise Woodward failed
to respond to a wrongful death suit filed by the parents of Matthew
Eappen, the baby she was convicted of killing, and this allowed a
federal court to automatically rule against her.
(www.courttv.com/trials/woodward/070998.html)
1997 Jul 9, In Hawaii medical,
insurance and pension benefits began to be allowed to any 2 adults who
could not legally marry under a law enacted to ward off homosexual
marriages.
(SFC, 7/9/97, p.A3)
1997 Jul 9, Leaders of 16 NATO
nations met with 25 other countries in an unprecedented security summit
in Madrid, Spain.
(AP, 7/9/98)
1997 Jul 9, In Algeria Adbelkader
Hachani, Muslim fundamentalist leader, was freed hours after a court
sentenced him to 5 years in prison. He had been held without trial
since 1991 when the military voided a vote that his group was set to
win.
(WSJ, 7/10/97, p.A1)
1997 Jul 9, In Cambodia some 30
opposition officials were arrested in Pray Veng Province, 13 in
Battambang, and 20 in Kompong Speu. Prince Ranariddh was in
consultation with the United Nations for support.
(SFC, 7/10/97, p.E3)
1997 Jul 9, Cypriot Pres. Glafcos
Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash were scheduled to
meet in a 4-day session in New York to resolve their disputes.
(SFC, 6/12/97, p.A14)
1997 Jul 9, In India half of the
Asian elephant population of 60,000 lived in an area of just 168,000
sq. miles.
(SFC, 7/9/97, p.A7)
1997 Jul 9, In Kenya armed police
shut down the Univ. of Nairobi and clubbed students who demanded free
and fair elections.
(SFC, 7/10/97, p.C2)
1997 Jul 9, From Thailand it was
reported that elephants were dying around pineapple orchards, possibly
from chemical poisoning. Only some 500 elephants remained in the
country.
(SFC, 7/9/97, p.A7)
1997 Jul 9, In Venezuela a 6.7
earthquake hit the northeast coastal region and killed at least 59
people including 27 students trapped inside a collapsed school building.
(SFC, 7/10/97, p.E3)(SFC, 7/11/97, p.A11)
1997 Jul 10, President Clinton,
visiting Poland, told a Warsaw square filled with cheering Poles that
"never again will your fate be decided by others." He announced a
successful drive to bring Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic into
NATO by 1999.
(AP, 7/10/98)
1997 Jul 10, RJR Nabisco Holdings
said it would phase out the Joe Camel cartoon character used for
advertising their cigarettes.
(WSJ, 7/11/97, p.B1)
1997 Jul 10, The DNA from the arm
bone of Neanderthal man found in 1856 was found to represent a separate
human species. Scientists in London said DNA from a Neanderthal
skeleton supported a theory that all humanity descended from an
"African Eve" 100,000 to 200,000 years ago.
(SFC, 7/11/97, p.A1)(AP, 7/10/98)
1997 Jul 10, Walter Korn (b.1908),
Czech-born chess authority, died. His books included "The Art of Chess
Competition."
(SFC, 7/29/97, p.A18)
1997 Jul 10, In Operation Tango
NATO forces captured Milan Kovacevic, a physician who was the 2nd
ranking officer in the Prijedor City Hall during the war. An attempt to
capture Simo Drljaca, a leader of local "ethnic cleansing" led to a
shootout and his death. Kovacevic died in 1998 while jailed in the
Hague.
(SFC, 7/11/97, p.A17)(WSJ, 8/3/98, p.A1)
1997 Jul 10, In Britain thousands
of rural people showed up at Hyde Park to defend the sport of fox and
deer hunting. A bill to ban the hunting of foxes, deer, hares and mink
with dogs was being considered.
(SFC, 7/11/97, p.A10)
1997 Jul 10, ASEAN foreign
ministers voted to suspend Cambodia’s membership. The US announced a
3/4 reduction of staff and some aid. More than 50 people were dead
after 2 days of fighting.
(SFC, 7/11/97, p.A12)
1997 Jul 10, In the Central
African Republic Pres. Patasse reconciled with 300 mutinous soldiers.
(WSJ, 7/11/97, p.A1)
1997 Jul 10, Paramilitary police
suppressed protests in Mianyang city in Sichuan province where more
than 100,000 unemployed textile workers demanded government assistance
and accused local officials of stealing their unemployment funds.
(SFC, 7/18/97, p.A12)
1997 Jul 10, In Northern Ireland
the Orange Order canceled plans to march through Catholic neighborhoods
in 2 main cities over the weekend.
(SFC, 7/11/97, p.A10)
1997 Jul 10, A mudslide in Izumi
on Kyushu island, Japan, killed 21 people and injured 14.
(SFC, 7/12/97, p.C1)
1997 Jul 10, In Papua New Guinea
Gen’l. Jerry Singirok, leader of the March revolt against prime
minister Chan, was decommissioned. Elections were completed and a new
government was to be announced at the end of the month.
(SFC, 7/11/97, p.A11)
1997 Jul 10, Torrential rains in
Poland and the Czech Republic killed at least 39 people and forced
thousands from their homes.
(SFC, 7/11/97, p.A11)
1997 Jul 10, In Switzerland a 3
year pilot heroin distribution program was declared a success.
(SFC, 7/11/97, p.A14)
1997 Jul 11, President Clinton was
cheered by tens of thousands of people in Bucharest, Romania, where he
raised hopes for NATO membership.
(AP, 7/11/98)
1997 Jul 11, Uwatec Corp. was sold
to Johnson Worldwide Assoc. (later Johnson Outdoors Inc.) for $33.5
million. A defect in the Aladin Air X Nitrox, an underwater diving
computer, was not disclosed. Injuries and lawsuits followed and the
product was pulled Feb 5, 2003.
(SSFC, 5/25/03, p.A18)
1997 Jul 11, A Cuban An-24
passenger plane with 44 people plunged into the sea after take-off from
Santiago de Cuba enroute to Havana.
(SFC, 7/12/97, p.A14)
1997 Jul 11, In India a riot broke
out in Bombay after a garland of shoes - a grave insult - was draped
over a bust of Babasaheb Ambedkar, a political leader from Hinduism’s
lowest caste. Police killed ten people including two children on their
way to school.
(SFC, 7/12/97, p.C1)
1997 Jul 11, In Thailand a kitchen
fire went out of control at the 450-room Royal Jomtien Hotel in Pattaya
and killed 91 people with 64 injured.
(SFC, 7/12/97, p.A10)(WSJ, 7/11/97, p.A12)(AP,
7/11/07)
1997 Jul 12, In Copenhagen, the
last stop of an eight-day European tour, President Clinton said
political divisions in Europe were closing.
(AP, 7/12/98)
1997 Jul 12, In Berlin, Germany,
several hundreds of thousands gathered for the annual Love Parade, a
big party for fans of the electronic dance music known as techno.
(SFEC, 7/13/97, p.D8)
1997 Jul 12, ETA kidnapped small
town politician Miguel Angel Blanco and demanded that the group's
prisoners be brought to Basque jails. Blanco was found mortally dead
shortly after a deadline. His slaying triggered widespread
demonstrations in Spain.
(AP, 7/12/98)(AP, 3/22/06)
1997 Jul 13, Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright returned to her Jewish roots in the Czech Republic,
finding names of family members killed by the Nazis inscribed on a
Prague synagogue wall. News reports the previous February revealed that
Albright, who'd been raised a Roman Catholic, had Jewish relatives,
many of whom died in the Holocaust.
(AP, 7/13/98)
1997 Jul 13-1997 Jul 17, In
Colombia a right-wing death squad under Carlos Castano killed some 30
people in Mapiripan in Meta province. In 1998 2 army sergeants, Juan
Carlos Gamarra and Jose Miller Urena, were linked to the massacre. In
2001 Gen. Jaime Humberto Uscategui was given a 40-month sentence for
failing to defend the town.
(SFC, 2/14/98, p.A8)(SFC, 7/11/98, p.A11)(SFC,
2/14/01, p.A16)(http://tinyurl.com/coyuh)
1997 Jul 13, In Poland floods
threatened the isle of Ostrow Tumski on the Oder River in the heart of
Wroclaw, whose buildings date back to the 13th century. A 100-year
flood swept through the Sudety Mountains.
(SFC, 7/14/97, p.A15)(SFEC, 8/2/98, p.T8)
1997 Jul 13, In San Sebastian,
Spain, Miguel Angel Blanco (29), a Basque town councilor and
low-ranking member of the Popular Party of Prime Minister Jose Maria
Aznar, died of head wounds from the ETA, Basque Homeland and Freedom, a
Basque separatist group. Almost 800 people have died since the ETA
began fighting in 1968.
(SFEC, 7/13/97, p.A11)
1997 Jul 14, O.J. Simpson's
California mansion was auctioned off for $2.6 million.
(AP, 7/14/98)
1997 Jul 14, The international war
crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia sentenced Dusan Tadic, a
Bosnian Serb, to 20 years in prison for turning on his Muslim and Croat
neighbors in a deadly campaign of terror and torture.
(AP, 7/14/98)
1997 Jul 14, In Algeria a bomb
exploded in an Algiers market filled with women and children and killed
21 people and wounded 40. Weekend massacres left 40 villagers dead.
(SFC, 7/15/97, p.A10)
1997 Jul 14, In Bangladesh monsoon
flooding killed at least 64 people in the last week.
(WSJ, 7/14/97, p.A1)
1997 Jul 14, In El Salvador
regulators seized Financiera Insepro which collapsed and left more than
1000 account holders demanding justice. The $15 million bank failure
led to a call for US investigators and 5 prominent business leaders
were jailed.
(SFEC, 7/20/97, p.A18)
1997 Jul 14, A footbridge over the
Yarkon River collapsed while being crossed by the Australian delegation
to the 15th Maccabiah games. Two died immediately in the accident and 2
died later from complications possibly caused by the pollution in the
river. The games are held every 4 years for Jewish athletes. The bridge
was thrown up in less than a month with no blueprint or foundation. 5
Israelis were convicted in 2000 for criminal negligence. 4 officials
were sentenced to prison terms from 6-21 months.
(SFC, 8/11/97, p.A6)(SFC, 4/18/00, p.A10)(SFC,
6/6/00, p.A16)
1997 Jul 14, In Kenya thousands of
students fought riot police in Nairobi and demanded constitutional
reforms. Nairobi Univ. and Jomo Kenyatta Univ. were closed indefinitely.
(SFC, 7/15/97, p.A10)
1997 Jul 14, In Rwanda weekend
clashes between the army and Hutu rebels left more than 170 people dead.
(SFC, 7/18/97, p.A11)
1997 Jul 14, In Spain more than 2
million people took to the streets across Spain to mourn the death of
Miguel Angel Blanco and to condemn the Basque separatist guerrillas who
killed him.
(SFC, 7/15/97, p.A10)
1997 Jul 15, Marine biologists
diving from the Johnson Sea Link in the Gulf of Mexico discovered what
appeared to be a new species of worm of the family polychaetes. The
worms lived on top of frozen mounds of gas hydrates.
(SFC, 7/30/97, p.A11)
1997 Jul 15, Gianni Versace,
Italian fashion designer, was shot to death outside his home in Miami
Beach, Fla. Police searched for Andrew Philip Cunanan, 27, of San Diego
as the primary suspect. Suspected serial killer Andrew Phillip Cunanan,
was found dead eight days later. In 1999 Maureen Orth authored "Vulgar
Favors: Andrew Cunanan, Gianni Versace and the Largest Failed Manhunt
in US History."
(SFC, 7/17/97, p.A1)(AP, 7/15/98)(SFEC, 3/28/99,
p.D9)
1997 Jul 15, In Algeria Abassi
Madani, former leader of the Islamic Salvation Front, was released
after serving 5 years of a 12 year sentence.
(SFC, 7/16/97, p.C12)
1997 Jul 15, In Algeria a court
condemned 24 Muslim militants to death for their involvement in
guerrilla activities.
(SFC, 7/16/97, p.A10)
1997 Jul 15, The Czech trade
deficit was labeled as the largest in the world relative to its economy.
(SFC, 7/16/97, p.A1)
1997 Jul 15, In Liberia pres.
candidate Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (58), a banker and UN official, led a
women’s solidarity march. She had recently emerged as the leading rival
of warlord Charles Taylor.
(SFC, 7/16/97, p.A9)(SFC, 7/19/97, p.A9)
1997 Jul 15, In Northern Ireland
pro-British militants shot and killed Bernadette Martin while she slept
beside her Protestant boyfriend.
(SFEC,10/26/97, p.A20)
1997 Jul 15, In Serbia Slobodan
Milosevic was elected president of the Yugoslav federation in a vote
that opposition parties said was illegal.
(SFC, 7/16/97, p.C12)
1997 Jul 15, Eastern Slavonia was
scheduled to be handed over to Croatian authorities. It had been seized
by the Serbs in 1991. [see Jan 15, 1998]
(SFC, 1/22/96, p.C1)
1997 Jul 16, Hundreds of FBI
agents, some handing out photos in gay bars and hotels, blanketed south
Florida in the continuing hunt for alleged prostitute-turned-serial
killer Andrew Phillip Cunanan, who was suspected of killing designer
Gianni Versace.
(AP, 7/16/98)
1997 Jul 16, Jerold Mackenzie was
awarded $26.6M for being fired from Miller Brewing in 1993 for sexual
harassment for relaying a Seinfeld episode to a co-worker. Higher
courts later threw the entire award out. In 2003 Mackenzie accepted an
out-of-court settlement for $625,000.
(MC,
7/16/02)(http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/jun03/146469.asp)
1997 Jul 16, In Recife, Brazil,
the 18,000 man police force went on strike. The crime and murder rate
immediately surged and some 3,000 soldiers were called to try to
maintain order.
(SFC, 7/23/97, p.A10)
1997 Jul 16, In Cambodia Hun Sen
named a new co-premier, Ung Huot, the foreign minister and a member of
Ranariddh’s Funcinpec Party. Exiled legislators said was the
appointment was illegal.
(SFC, 7/17/97, p.A8)(WSJ, 7/17/97, p.A1)
1997 Jul 16, In Cuba Vladimiro
Roca, Martha Beatriz Roque, Felix Bonne, and Rene Gomez Manzano were
detained for issuing a document "La Patria es de Todos," criticizing
the political system. They were scheduled for a trial on charges of
sedition in 1999. The Prosecution recommended a 6 year sentence for
Roca and 5 year sentences for the others after the 4 rejected a
government offer to go into exile. Roca was sentenced to 5 years,
Manzano and Bonne to 4 years, and Roque to 3 ½ years.
(USAT, 10/9/98, p.13A)(SFC, 2/27/99, p.A17)(SFC,
3/3/99, p.A10)(SFC, 3/16/99, p.A8)
1997 Jul 16, In Mexico Benjamin
Flores Gonzalez (29), a newspaper editor of La Prensa, was gunned down
in San Luis Colorado across the border from Yuma, Ariz.
(SFC, 7/17/97, p.A9)
1997 Jul 17, President Clinton
nominated Army Gen. Henry Shelton to be the next chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff.
(AP, 7/17/98)
1997 Jul 17, Woolworth Corp.
announced that it would close more than 400 of its five-and-dime retail
stores, ending 117 years in business.
(WSJ, 7/17/97, p.A1)(AP, 7/17/98)
1997 Jul 17, The Columbia space
shuttle and it crew of 7 returned after a 16-day mission. On the Mir
space station, the 3-man crew struggled to stabilize a free-spin after
a cable to a key computer system was mistakenly pulled.
(SFC, 7/18/97, p.A1,9)(AP, 7/17/98)
1997 Jul 17, Disney sub-contractor
H.H. Cutler announced that it would terminate its business in Haiti due
to slumping sales of children’s clothes. Some 2,300 jobs would be lost.
Int’l. activists had criticized the operations for wages as low as $.28
per hour. The unemployment rate was at 80%.
(SFC, 7/18/97, p.A12)
1997 Jul 17, Dr. Robert C. Weaver
(b.1907), the first African American to serve on a president’s cabinet,
died in NYC. He was the administrator of the federal Housing and Home
Finance Agency, the predecessor to HUD, under President John F.
Kennedy. He was named national chairman of the NAACP in 1960 and in
1962 he was awarded the NAACP Spingarn Medal. Weaver wrote more than
175 articles and four books on housing and urban issues. [see Jan
18,1966]
(http://search.eb.com/Blackhistory/article.do?nKeyValue=76375)
1997 Jul 17, In India K.R.
Narayannan, a member of the Dalits, was elected president by the
national and state legislatures. The Dalits, or "oppressed people,"
were according to Hinduism the lowest class of people, a fifth class
below the 4 main castes. He will replace Pres. Shanker Dayal Sharma
whose 5-year term expires Jul 25.
(SFC, 7/18/97, p.A10)
1997 Jul 17, In Peru thousands of
demonstrators protested against Pres. Fujimori chanting "Down with the
dictatorship." Three cabinet ministers had also resigned in the last 24
hours. Pres. Fujimori named 5 new ministers including 2 generals and
sparked concern that he was moving even closer to the armed forces.
(SFC, 7/18/97, p.A10)(SFC, 7/19/97, p.A11)
1997 Jul 17, In Russia Boris
Yeltsin signed decrees to cut the size of the armed forces by one-third
and installed plans to boost tax collection.
(WSJ, 7/17/97, p.A1)
1997 Jul 17, In the Ukraine the
parliament confirmed Valery Pustovitenko as prime minister. He was an
ally of Pres. Kuchma and vowed to work with lawmakers.
(WSJ, 7/17/97, p.A1)
1997 Jul 18, Representative George
Miller of Martinez, Ca., demanded a full accounting by the federal EPA
concerning inspections of the Central Valley dairies, where dairy waste
was threatening underground water supplies.
(SFC, 7/19/97, p.A1,13)
1997 Jul 18, Federal agents in
California arrested eight seafood importers accused of smuggling
contaminated seafood by bribing customs brokers and FDA inspectors.
(SFC, 7/19/97, p.A15,18)
1997 Jul 18, German businessman
Thomas Kramer was slapped with a record $323,000 penalty by the Federal
Election Commission for making illegal U.S. political contributions.
(HN, 7/18/98)
1997 Jul 18, All key systems on
the Russian space station Mir returned to near-normal, about 24 hours
after the already disabled spacecraft had lost power.
(HN, 7/18/98)
1997 Jul 18, Sir James Goldsmith
(b.2/26/33), British-French financier and corporate raider, died in
Spain at age 64.
(SFEC, 7/20/97, p.B6)
1997 Jul 18, In Cambodia Prince
Ranariddh called off armed resistance and proposed a caretaker
government and new elections.
(SFC, 7/19/97, p.A8)
1997 Jul 18, In Mexico police
arrested Rolando Arroyo Palacios, aka "Long Hair," in San Luis Rio
Colorado for the murder of journalist Flores Gonzalez. He had been
supposedly hired by Ismael Guttierrez, brother of Jaime Gonzalez
Guttierrez, who was arrested last month.
(SFC, 7/19/97, p.A11)
1997 Jul 18, In Northern Ireland
the Sinn Fein party urged its allies in the IRA to call a cease fire.
(SFC, 7/19/97, p.A8)
1997 Jul 18, In the Philippines
the government signed a general cease-fire with the Moro Islamic
Liberation Front, the country's 2nd largest Muslim rebel group.
(SFC, 7/19/97, p.A11)
1997 Jul 18, In Sierra Leone
leaders of the ruling junta pledged to implement an immediate cease
fire and to restore constitutional government.
(SFC, 7/19/97, p.A11)
1997 Jul 19, Eleven armored
carriers from NATO gathered in a show of force near the home of ousted
Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, Bosnia's No. 1 war crimes suspect.
(HN, 7/19/98)
1997 Jul 19, In Bosnia the Serb
Democratic Party expelled Pres. Biljana Plavsic after she threatened to
arrest Karadzic and his allies for rampant corruption.
(SFC, 7/21/97, p.A8)
1997 Jul 19, In Cambodia Hun Sen
rejected a peace plan proposed by the 7-nation ASEAN group.
(SFEC, 7/20/97, p.A19)
1997 Jul 19, In Indonesia a court
sentenced 16 people to jail terms of 2-7 months for the May rioting
that left 123 dead on Borneo.
(WSJ, 7/21/97, p.A1)
1997 Jul 19, The Irish Republican
Army declared a new cease-fire and opened the way for supporters to
join peace talks with Northern Ireland's pro-British Protestants.
(HN, 7/19/98)
1997 Jul 19, From Slovakia it was
reported that Bratislava had become a narcotics depot and crossroad of
the Balkan drug route from Turkey and Central Asia.
(SFC, 7/19/97, p.A8)
1997 Jul 20, Seven people were
arrested after New York City police found scores of deaf Mexicans kept
in slave-like conditions and forced to peddle trinkets for the
smugglers who had brought them to the United States.
(AP, 7/20/98)
1997 Jul 20, From Qatar it was
reported that as many as 30% of Qatari women work. Some 6,000 graduated
each year from the Univ. of Qatar.
(SFEC, 7/20/97, p.A20)
1997 Jul 20, Palestinian security
forces arrested 4 Palestinian police officers who were accused of
planning to attack Jewish settlers. Israel had arrested 4 Palestinian
policemen a week earlier for planned attacks at the settlement of Har
Bracha.
(SFC, 7/21/97, p.A8)
1997 Jul 20, Turkish troops killed
50 Kurdish guerrillas in the southeast. That raised the weekly total to
84.
(SFC, 7/21/97, p.A9)
1997 Jul 21, The General
Convention of the Episcopal Church in Philadelphia voted to require all
Episcopal dioceses to ordain women.
(SFC, 7/22/97, p.A2)
1997 Jul 21, The U.S.S.
Constitution, aka Old Ironsides, which defended the United States
during the War of 1812, set sail with 216 crew members under its own
power for first time in 116 years, leaving its temporary anchorage at
Marblehead, Mass., for a one-hour voyage marking its 200th anniversary.
The actual anniversary was the following October. It was built in 1797
and was never defeated in 42 battles.
(HT, 3/97, p.34)(SFC, 7/22/97, p.A1)(AP, 7/21/98)
1997 Jul 21, In Canada fishermen
released the Malaspina ferry, a blocked Alaska-bound ship at Prince
Rupert. They were protesting US fishing of sockeye salmon heading for
spawning in British Columbia.
(SFC, 7/22/97, p.A10)
1997 Jul 22, In Michigan some
2,800 UAW workers went on strike at a GM plant in Warren.
(SFC, 7/23/97, p.A3)
1997 Jul 22, Algerian troops
killed 140 of 180 radical Islamist guerrillas in the Attatba area of
Blida province in an offensive that began 10 days ago.
(SFC, 7/23/97, p.A9)
1997 Jul 22, In Austria a campaign
was started to rename all public places named after poet Ottokar
Kernstock, the man who wrote the words of the "Swastika Song," the
election theme of Adolph Hitler’s Nazis.
(SFC, 7/23/97, p.A11)
1997 Jul 22, In Britain the labor
party proposed a somewhat independent assembly for Wales.
(SFC, 7/25/97, p.A10)
1997 Jul 22, From Colombia it was
reported that 30,000 violent deaths per year occurred and marked the
country as the world’s most violent.
(SFC, 7/22/97, p.A8)
1997 Jul 22, In Egypt six police
officers were killed in an ambush by militants near Minya.
(SFC, 7/26/97, p.A13)
1997 Jul 22, More than 2,000
people gathered in Milan, Italy, for a memorial Mass for slain fashion
designer Gianni Versace; the mourners included Princess Diana and
singer-songwriter Elton John.
(AP, 7/22/98)
1997 Jul 22, In Liberia results
from the election showed Charles Taylor in the lead with about 75 of
the vote.
(SFC, 7/23/97, p.A8)
1997 Jul 22, In South Africa 5
killings in Magoda, Kwa Zulu / Natal Province, were suspected of being
caused an unknown "third force," a presumed right-wing group dedicated
to fomenting black-on-black violence.
(SFC, 8/11/97, p.A7)
1997 Jul 23, The US and Venezuela
signed an agreement to allow authorities of both countries to board
boats of each others flags if suspected of carrying drugs.
(SFC, 7/24/97, p.A11)
1997 Jul 23, The search for Andrew
Cunanan, the suspected killer of designer Gianni Versace and others,
ended as police found his body on a houseboat in Miami Beach, Fla., an
apparent suicide.
(SFC, 7/24/97, p.A1)(AP, 7/23/98)
1997 Jul 23, The ASEAN trade bloc
admitted Laos and Burma but barred Cambodia.
(SFC, 7/24/97, p.A12)
1997 Jul 23, In Britain the
government announced that tuition fees would be imposed for the first
time on all college students.
(SFC, 7/24/97, p.A11)
1997 Jul 23, In Cuba Elio Reve
Matos, salsa musician, died in a road accident. He developed the rhythm
known as "charangon," a combination of salsa styles that included
"changui" and "son."
(SFC, 7/26/97, p.A24)
1997 Jul 23, In Serbia Slobodan
Milosevic was sworn in as president of Yugoslavia and crowds reacted by
throwing shoes at his motorcade, symbolizing the young people who have
left Serbia due to his regime.
(SFC, 7/24/97, p.A10)
1997 Jul 23, Swiss banks published
a list of 2,000 WW II-era dormant accounts that included assets of
holocaust victims.
(SFC, 7/23/97, p.A8)
1997 Jul 24, Pres. Clinton held a
White House symposium on global warming.
(WSJ, 7/25/97, p.A1)
1997 Jul 24, A Dallas jury awarded
$120 million in damages against the local Roman Catholic diocese that
ignored evidence that the priest, Rudolph Kos, sexually abused a number
of altar boys from 1977-1992. Kos was suspended in 1992. Kos pleaded
guilty to 3 sex abuse charges in 1998.
(SFC, 7/25/97, p.A1)(SFC, 3/25/98, p.A3)
1997 Jul 24, William J. Brennan
(91), retired Supreme Court Justice (1956-1990), died in Arlington, Va.
(AP,
7/24/98)(www.oyez.org/oyez/resource/legal_entity/90/)
1997 Jul 24, In Albania a 5-month
long curfew was lifted and Rexhep Mejdani, the secretary-general of the
Socialist Party and former physics professor, was elected President by
the Parliament. Since Jan. some 1,800 killings had occurred.
(SFC, 7/25/97, p.A11)
1997 Jul 24, From Algeria it was
reported that security forces killed Antar Zouabri (26), the chief of
the Armed Islamic Group.
(SFC, 7/25/97, p.A11)
1997 Jul 24, Britain proposed to
the Scots the power to legislate, tax and speak for themselves in the
European Union.
(SFC, 7/25/97, p.A10)
1997 Jul 25, US immigration agents
rounded up 17 deaf Mexicans in Sanford, North Carolina. This followed
the revelation of 50 deaf Mexicans held in servitude in NYC and forced
to sell trinkets on the streets. In Dec. Adriana Paoletti Lemus (29),
also deaf and one of two alleged ringleaders, pleaded guilty.
(SFC, 7/26/97, p.A5)
1997 Jul 25, Autumn Jackson, the
young woman who claimed to be Bill Cosby's out-of-wedlock daughter, was
convicted by a federal jury in New York of trying to extort $40 million
from the entertainer.
(SFC, 7/26/97, p.A1)(AP, 7/25/98)
1997 Jul 25, In San Francisco some
5,000 bikers defied the city-approved route for the Critical Mass bike
ride and struck out on their own. Some 250 were arrested for traffic
violations. Numerous incidents of confrontations between bikers, police
and commuters were reported.
(SFC, 7/26/97, p.A1)
1997 Jul 25, An FDA drug panel
endorsed Rituximab, a drug designed to treat B-cell lymphoma. It was
made by Genentech and IDEC Pharmaceuticals.
(SFC, 7/26/97, p.A1)
1997 Jul 25, In Elk Creek,
Virginia, Louis Ceparano and Emmett Cressell Jr. doused Garnett Paul
"G.P." Johnson with gasoline, set him on fire and cut off his head.
They were both indicted for murder and robbery. Ceparano pleaded guilty
to murder and was sentenced to life in prison in 1998. Cressell (38)
was convicted of 1st degree murder in 1998 and sentenced to life in
prison in 1999.
(SFC, 8/14/97, p.A3)(SFC,10/24/97, p.A4)(SFC,
5/30/98, p.A3)(SFC, 11/6/98, p.A2)(SFC, 1/30/99, p.A4)
1997 Jul 25, Ben Hogan (b.1912 in
Dublin, Tx.), golf legend, died in Fort Worth, Texas, at 84. A 1996
biography by Curt Sampson was titled: "Hogan."
(SFC, 7/26/97, p.B1)(AP, 7/25/98)
1997 Jul 25, In Afghanistan police
units of the Pashtun ethnic group raided minority neighborhoods as
opposition forces gathered 12 miles outside Kabul.
(SFC, 7/26/97, p.A14)
1997 Jul 25, In Albania the new
Socialist led government was sworn in while a gang battle in Berat left
10 people dead.
(SFC, 7/26/97, p.A14)
1997 Jul 25, In the Congo soldiers
fired into a crowd of protestors in Kinshasa and killed at least 3
people. The protest was against Kabila’s ban on political activity.
(SFC, 7/26/97, p.A14)
1997 Jul 25, In India Kocheril
Raman Narayannan (1920-2005) was sworn in as president, becoming the
first member of the "untouchable" Dalits caste to do so.
(AP, 7/25/98)(SFC, 11/10/05, p.B8)
1997 Jul 25, In Ireland Rev.
Brendan Smyth (71) was sentenced to 12 years in prison for 74 instances
of sexual abuse of 20 young people over 36 years.
(SFC, 7/26/97, p.A14)
1997 Jul 25, Thousands of German
soldiers fought to contain the rain-gorged Oder River.
(SFC, 7/26/97, p.A12)
1997 Jul 26, Pres. Clinton visited
Lake Tahoe and announced that the Forest Service would allot 350 acres
to the Washoe Indian tribe for a cultural center and give tribal
members access to the edge of Lake Tahoe. He also made an executive
order for $50 million over 2 years and 25 initiatives to improve the
water quality of Lake Tahoe. He brought with him $26 million worth of
natural gas postal trucks and sewage pipes to help preserve the lake.
(SFEC, 7/27/97, p.A1,14)(AP, 7/26/98)
1997 Jul 26, In Belgium at the
Ostend Air Show a Jordanian aerobatics airplane crashed and killed 9
people.
(WSJ, 7/28/97, p.A1)
1997 Jul 26, In Cambodia Communist
guerrillas announced that Pol Pot was sentenced to life imprisonment
and Nate Thayer, a US reporter for the Far Eastern Economic Review,
claimed to have seen Pol Pot and prepared a report for the Review.
(WSJ, 7/28/97, p.A12)
1997 Jul 26, From Egypt it was
reported that a cease-fire had been proclaimed by 6 imprisoned leaders
of the Gamaa al Islamiya. The government dismissed the cease-fire as
empty talk.
(SFC, 7/26/97, p.A13)
1997 Jul 27, United Auto Workers
approved a deal to end a six-day strike at a General Motors parts plant
that forced four assembly plant shutdowns and threatened GM's entire
North American production.
(SFC, 7/28/97, p.A3)(AP, 7/27/98)
1997 Jul 27, In Belarus some 5-7
thousand marchers rallied to condemn Pres. Lukashenko. within hours
activists were detained by the government.
(SFC, 7/28/97, p.A3)
1997 Jul 27, In San Sebastian,
Spain, some 30,000 marched in support of the ETA separatist movement.
(SFC, 7/28/97, p.A11)
1997 Jul 27, Mohammed Mahdi
al-Jawahri, classical Arab poet, died in Syria. He was the most famous
poet of Iraq from whence he fled in 1979. His work included "Between
Passion and Feeling" (1928) and "Al Jawahri’s Divan" (1935).
(SFC, 8/2/97, p.A21)
1997 Jul 28, The Clinton
administration and congressional leaders reached a tentative agreement
on balancing the budget by 2002 while slashing taxes for millions of
families, students and investors.
1997 Jul 28, A flash flood hit
Fort Collins, Colo., following torrential rains. At least 5 people were
killed and 40 or more injured.
(SFC, 7/30/97, p.A6)(AP, 7/28/98)
1997 Jul 28, In Santiago, Chile,
nearly a million children stayed home when the government closed
schools for 2 days due to high smog levels.
(SFC, 7/29/97, p.A10)
1997 Jul 29, Members of US
Congress from both parties embraced compromise legislation designed to
balance the budget while cutting taxes.
(AP, 7/29/98)
1997 Jul 29, Once a worldwide
symbol of industrial pollution, Minamata Bay, Japan, was declared free
of mercury 40 years after contaminated food fish were blamed for birth
defects and deaths.
(AP, 7/29/98)
1997 Jul 29, In Russia the deputy
head of a construction firm in Moscow and the head of a shipping firm
in St. Petersburg were killed as well as 2 aides in apparent contract
shootings.
(WSJ, 7/29/97, p.A12)
1997 Jul 29, In Ankara, Turkey,
some 15,000 people protested government plans to curb Muslim schools.
At least 13 protestors were injured and 3 officers were suspended by
Prime Minister Yilmaz.
(WSJ, 7/30/97, p.A1)
1997 Jul 30, The US lifted a
12-year ban on US citizens visits to Lebanon.
(G&M, 7/31/97, p.A8)
1997 Jul 30, Eighteen people,
including two Americans, were killed in a landslide that swept one ski
lodge onto another at the Thredbo Alpine Village in southeast
Australia.
(AP, 7/30/98)
1997 Jul 30, In Algeria it was
reported that Muslim militants massacred over 80 villagers in recent
attacks in apparent retaliation to a government offensive. 40 villagers
were killed at Metmata village in Ain Defla province.
(WSJ, 7/29/97, p.A12)(SFEC, 8/3/97, p.A15)
1997 Jul 30, Two men bombed
Jerusalem's most crowded outdoor market, killing themselves and 16
others. Following the suicide bombing in Israel that killed 15 people,
79 Palestinians were arrested.
(SFC, 8/2/97, p.A8)(AP, 7/30/98)
1997 Jul 30, In Sierra Leone Major
Johnny Komora announced that elections for civilian rule would be held
in Nov of 2001.
(SFC, 8/1/97, p.A16)
1997 Jul 31, In New York City,
police seized five bombs believed bound for terrorist attacks on city
subways. 2 potential suicide bombers were shot and wounded in an
explosives laden Brooklyn apartment. Gazi Ibrahim Abu Mezer (23) and
Lafi Khalil (22) were recovering from wounds. In 1998 Khalil was
acquitted and Gazi Ibrahim Abu Mezer was convicted of plotting to bomb
a subway station. Mezer was sentenced to life in prison in 1999.
(SFC, 8/1/97, p.A1)(SFC, 8/4/97, p.A3)(WSJ, 7/24/98,
p.A1)(HN, 7/31/98)(SFC, 3/2/99, p.A3)
1997 Jul 31, Bao Dai (85), former
emperor of Annam [now Vietnam] and chief of state of French Indochina,
died in France.
(SFC, 8/2/97, p.A21)(MC, 7/31/02)
1997 Jul 31, Nigeria was named the
most corrupt country in the world by business people in a report
released by the German-based Transparency Int’l. Denmark was named the
least corrupt.
(SFC, 8/1/97, p.B3)
1997 Jul, A coalition of Catholic
bishops, Southern Baptist leaders and other conservative evangelicals
issued a statement entitled: "We Hold These Truths: A Statement of
Christian Conscience and Citizenship." The coalition condemned
legalized abortion and agreed that women should be barred from serving
as Catholic priests or evangelical pastors.
(SFC, 7/21/97, p.A11)
1997 Jul, In Massachusetts
AT&T agreed to pay Wellesley Congregational Church $2,500 per month
for a decade for the right to install wireless transmission equipment
in the church steeple. An annual $6,000 bonus was included plus costs
for rebuilding the steeple. Rev. Lee Woofenden of the New Jerusalem
Church in Bridgewater also made a deal and stated: "Doing business in
this world is part of religion."
(WSJ, 12/23/97, p.A1)
1997 Jul, Tyco Corp. under CEO
Dennis Kozlowski merged with ADT Ltd., a Bermuda corporation, and began
relocating employees to headquarters in Boca Raton, Flo.
(WSJ, 4/5/04, p.A8)
1997 Jul, The "phen-fen" diet
drugs (e.g. Redux) were linked to heart valve disease. Redux, marketed
by Wyeth, was withdrawn in Sep. Wyeth was a division of American Home
Products. AHP also made Pondimin, a version of fenfluramine, the fen of
the combination. In 2001 A Texas woman was awarded a $56.6 million
settlement against AHP.
(WSJ, 8/28/97, p.B1)(WSJ, 9/30/98, p.A1)(WSJ,
4/9/01, p.B7)
1997 Jul, The FDA allowed Duract,
an analgesic made by Wyeth, to hit the market. The drug was pulled
after 11 months following 4 deaths and 8 cases requiring liver
transplants.
(WSJ, 9/30/98, p.A1)
1997 Jul, Vincent "Chin" Gigante
(69), boss of the Genovese crime family, was convicted of murder
conspiracy and racketeering in New York City. In Dec. he was sentenced
to 12 years in prison.
(SFC,12/19/97, p.A3)
1997 Jul, Apple released its
newest Mac operating system, OS 8.
(SFC, 1/24/04, p.A12)
1997 Jul, In Chechnya Camilla Carr
and Jon James, British charity workers for a Quaker relief
organization, were taken hostage. The were released Sep 20, 1998.
(SFC, 9/21/98, p.A13)
1997 Jul, In Colombia
paramilitaries threatened a delegation of UN and Colombian judicial
officials investigating the exodus of peasants from Riosucio.
(SFC, 1/5/98, p.A14)
1997 Jul, The Colombian government
passed a law that made it illegal to sell more than $170,000 worth of
contraband. The annual contraband trade was estimated to be $3 billion.
(SFC, 1/24/98, p.A9)
1997 Jul, In Macedonia three
ethnic Albanians were shot to death during riots after police removed
an Albanian flag from the town hall.
(SFC, 9/18/97, p.A11)
1997 Jul, In Namibia armed police
were sent to break up a meeting between elders of the Himba tribe and
their lawyers. They were discussing a challenge a government proposed
dam proposal.
(SFC,11/19/97, p.C3)
1997 Jul, In the Philippines a
$1.1 billion bailout package was arranged. The government was obliged
to raise interest rates and run a budget surplus.
(SFC, 1/8/98, p.A7)
1997 Jul, In Russia Pres. Yeltsin
formally reinstated the Don Cossack regiments into Russia’s armed
forces.
(SFC,10/28/97, p.A8)
1997 Jul, In South Africa Max, a
400-pound gorilla, beat up a fleeing armed robber, a former police
officer, who tried to hide in his cage at the Johannesburg Zoo. Max
survived 3 gunshots.
(SFC,10/31/97, p.D2)
1997 Jul, In South Korea the book
"18 Reasons Why South Korea Will Die Before It Catches Up With Japan"
by Japanese writer Tadashi Momose became an instant best seller.
(SFEC,10/26/97, p.A19)
1997 Jul, In South Korea the Kia
Group, a conglomerate with 28 subsidiaries, went bankrupt with $10.7
billion in debts. A government rescue plan in October put 30% into
government hands.
(SFC,11/15/97, p.A12)
1997 Jul, In Taiwan the prime
minister launched a 5-year plan to crack down on betel-nut chewing.
(WSJ, 8/22/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 1, Pres. Clinton
announced that the 1978 ban on sales of high-performance aircraft and
other advanced weapons to Latin America would be lifted.
(SFC, 8/2/97, p.A8)(AP, 8/1/98)
1997 Aug 1, The National Cancer
Institute reported that fallout from 1950s nuclear bomb tests had
exposed millions of children across the country to radioactive iodine.
(AP, 8/1/98)
1997 Aug 1, In Algeria 38
villagers at Sidi el Madani in Blida province were killed.
(SFEC, 8/3/97, p.A19)
1997 Aug 1, In Bangladesh at least
150 fishermen were missing in the Bay of Bengal after a storm sank
their boats.
(SFC, 8/1/97, p.A16)
1997 Aug 1, Israel withheld $25
million in tax revenues from the Palestinian Authority, which made the
Authority unable to meet its payroll.
(SFC, 8/4/97, p.A8)
1997 Aug 1, In Palestine 16 of
Arafat’s 18 Cabinet members offered their resignations in response to
allegations of widespread corruption.
(SFC, 8/2/97, p.A12)
1997 Aug 1, In Russia Svyatoslav
Richter, concert pianist, died at 82 in Moscow. He was known for his
brilliant technique in numerous styles.
(SFC, 8/2/97, p.A21)
1997 Aug 1, A UN report from this
day was made public in 2000 and cited Tutsi informants claiming that
they helped to shoot down the airplane carrying Rwandan Pres. Juvanal
Habyarimana on Apr 6, 1994.
(SFC, 3/2/00, p.A14)
1997 Aug 2, Two fires in San Diego
burned out of control and destroyed 11 homes, 30 cars, 15 other
structures and caused the crash of an air tanker dousing the flames.
(SFEC, 8/3/97, p.B5)
1997 Aug 2, William Burroughs
(1914-1997), writer, the godfather of the beat generation, died of a
heart attack at his home in Lawrence, Ka. His work included "Naked
Lunch" (1959), which was originally banned and published in the US in
1962. He also wrote the books "Junkie" and "Queer."
(SFC, 8/4/97, p.E5)(AP, 8/2/98)(SFC, 8/31/04, p.E7)
1997 Aug 2, Typhoon Victor struck
Hong Kong and one person was killed. The typhoon battered the
surrounding Guangdong province and at least 65 people were killed.
(SFEC, 8/3/97, p.A18)(SFC, 8/9/97, p.A12)
1997 Aug 2, In Nigeria Fela
Anikulapo-Kuti (b.1938), pop superstar, died of AIDS. He was a
saxophone player who fused rock with African rhythms into a blend known
as "Afrobeat." His albums included: "Zombie," "Army Arrangement," and
"Vagabond in Power." He recorded more than 50 albums in the 1970s and
1980s and his 27 wives mourned his death. In 2003 Michael Veal authored
"Fela: the Life and Times of an African Lion."
(SFC, 8/4/97, p.A16)(SFC, 4/27/04, p.E6)
1997 Aug 3, The US Court of
Appeals issued a reprieve for Thomas Thompson, accused of the 1981
murder of Ginger Fleischli, less than 36 hours before his scheduled
death. California filed an appeal with the US Supreme Court. He was
executed Jul 14, 1998.
(SFC, 8/4/97, p.A1)(http://tinyurl.com/db9ve)
1997 Aug 3, UPS went out on strike.
(SFC, 8/4/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 3, Anjouan Island
unilaterally declared independence from Comoros. It complained that it
was not receiving a fair share of export revenues mainly from the sale
of ylang-ylang flowers, used to make perfume.
(SFC, 8/10/01,
p.A18)(www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107423.html)
1997 Aug 3, Iran's new president,
moderate Muslim cleric Mohammad Khatami, took office with a message of
peace to the world. In a reference to the United States, he said his
country opposed the "high-handedness of certain big countries."
(AP, 8/3/98)
1997 Aug 4, From Bosnia it was
reported that Croats near Jajce had driven out hundreds of Muslims who
had recently returned to their homes.
(WSJ, 8/4/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 4, In Cuba a small
explosion damaged a lobby in a Havana hotel. US-based groups were
blamed for this and a pair of bombings from 3 weeks ago. Otto Rene
Rodriguez Lerena confessed to the explosion at the Melia Cohiba Hotel,
which caused no injuries and little damage. He was sentenced to death
in 1999.
(WSJ, 8/5/97, p.A1)(SFC, 4/2/99, p.D2)
1997 Aug 4, In France the world’s
oldest person, Jeanne Calment (122), died. The title was passed on to
Christien Mortensen of San Rafael, Ca., (115). It was later found that
Marie-Louise Febronie Meilleur of Ontario was to turn 117 in August.
(SFC, 8/5/97, p.A18)(SFC, 8/15/97, p.A20)
1997 Aug 4, From Mexico it was
reported that the Lacandon Jungle rain forest was 40% destroyed from
its original 4 million acres. Poor peasants were clearing the jungle by
fire to provide for agricultural needs.
(SFC, 8/4/97, p.A8)
1997 Aug 4, In Mexico gunmen
killed 6 people in the Max Fim restaurant in Ciudad Juarez.
(SFC, 8/5/97, p.A9)
1997 Aug 4, In Montserrat
superheated rock from the Soufriere Hills volcano flowed into the
abandoned capital of Plymouth.
(SFC, 8/5/97, p.A9)
1997 Aug 4, Russia announced that
it would redenominate the ruble at the beginning of 1998. Three zeroes
would be taken off the bills with current inflation at about 12%.
(WSJ, 8/5/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 4, In Sri Lanka weekend
fighting reportedly left 200 Tamil Tigers and 67 government troops
dead. The rebel bodies were severely disfigured.
(SFC, 8/5/97, p.A9)
1997 Aug 4, In Turkey 76 military
officers and nco’s were dismissed in a continuing effort to root out
Islamic activism in the ranks.
(WSJ, 8/5/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 5, President Clinton
signed the budget-balancing and tax-cutting bills into law, calling the
legislation "a true milestone for our nation."
(AP, 8/5/98)
1997 Aug 5, Ramzi Yousef,
mastermind of world trade center bombing, went on trial.
(www.fas.org/irp/news/1997/#aug)
1997 Aug 5, It was reported that a
Yale Univ. research team led by Sidney Altman discovered a way to turn
off genes that make bacteria resistant to antibiotic drugs. Human
testing was thought to be 5 years away.
(SFC, 8/5/97, p.A3)(WSJ, 8/5/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 5, In Bolivia the
Congress elected former dictator Hugo Banzer as president. He pledged
economic reforms and steps to cut poverty.
(WSJ, 8/6/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 5, In Croatia Pres.
Tudjman took an oath of office for his 2nd 5-year term.
(WSJ, 8/6/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 5, North Korea agreed to
hold talks with South Korea in New York beginning on this day.
(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A8)
1997 Aug 5, From Russia’s
cosmodrome in Kazakstan a Mir repair mission was launched with a 2-man
replacement crew. The smooth launch was upstaged by another breakdown
aboard the aging space station, this time involving oxygen generators.
(WSJ, 8/6/97, p.A1)(AP, 8/5/98)
1997 Aug 6, The Dow Jones reached
an all-time high at 8,259.31.
(SFC, 8/16/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 6, Ending years of
impassioned rivalry, Apple Computer and Microsoft agreed to share
technology in a deal giving Microsoft a stake in Apple's survival.
Microsoft announced that it would buy $150 million in non-voting Apple
stock.
(SFC, 8/7/97, p.A1)(AP, 8/6/98)
1997 Aug 6, The tobacco industry
was forced to release documents that indicated efforts to quash safety
research and revealed steps taken for protection against lawsuits.
(SFC, 8/7/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 6, It was reported that
residents of 47 states faced warnings not to eat certain types of
freshwater fish due to pollution. The EPA said that some 2,200 fish
consumption advisories were in effect in the US and that 15% of the
nation’s lakes and 5% of the rivers were covered by the advisory.
(SFC, 8/7/97, p.A3)
1997 Aug 6, It was reported that
MWC480 is a young star in the constellation Taurus, 450 Light years
distant, with a gas-rich disk that looked like a "construction zone"
for new planets.
(SFC, 8/7/97, p.A11)
1997 Aug 6, It was reported that
scientists had created the genetic blueprint for Helicobacter pylori, a
bacterium responsible for stomach ulcers.
(SFC, 8/7/97, p.A11)
1997 Aug 6, Korean Air Flight 801
from Seoul, a Boeing 747-300 jumbo jet, crashed into a hillside a short
distance from Guam’s Agana International Airport killing 228 with 26
survivors. A programming glitch in the ground radar system was later
identified as a contributing factor but not the cause.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Air_Flight_801)(WSJ, 4/8/99,
p.A1)(AP, 8/6/98)(WSJ, 11/13/01, p.A14)
1997 Aug 7, It was reported that
US retail space and semiconductor manufacturing capacity far exceeded
demand. A downturn in the economy was said to have already begun.
(WSJ, 8/7/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 7, The space shuttle
Discovery was launched with a crew of six. A satellite was dropped off
to study the Earth’s ozone layer.
(SFC, 8/8/97, p.A3)
1997 Aug 7, A Russian capsule on a
fix-it mission docked gingerly with the crippled Mir space station,
bringing a new crew to salvage the orbiting outpost.
(AP, 8/7/98)
1997 Aug 7, A DC-8 cargo plane
crashed on take-off at Miami Int’l. Airport. Four people were killed on
the denim filled 29-year-old plane bound for the Dominican Republic.
(SFC, 8/8/97, p.A3)
1997 Aug 7, The US State Dept.
expressed concern over reports of Chinese nuclear-capable M-11
missiles sold to Pakistan.
(SFC, 8/8/97, p.E3)
1997 Aug 7, In Argentina Pres.
Eduardo Frei of Chile and Argentine Pres. Carlos Menem opened a $325
million pipeline for natural gas from Argentina to Santiago.
(SFC, 8/8/97, p.E3)
1997 Aug 7, From China it was
reported that Zhu Qihua planned to move the Big Green Mountain by
Lanzhou, a railroad hub, in order to clear the air of heavy smog.
(WSJ, 8/7/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 7, In Mexico Jose
Paoletti Moreda and his son Renato were arrested on charges of leading
an operation that smuggled deaf people into the US and forced them to
work under virtual slavery conditions. Another couple was arrested with
ten deaf smuggled immigrants in Dallas on Aug 15.
(SFC, 8/8/97, p.A3)(SFC, 8/16/97, p.A2)
1997 Aug 7, In Romania Prime
Minister Victor Ciorbea announced the closure of 17 factories at the
urging of the IMF. 30,000 jobs would be lost and the following day
thousands protested the closing of the essentially bankrupt companies.
(SFC, 8/9/97, p.C1)
1997 Aug 7, In Switzerland the
measures to freeze the assets of deposed Zairean Pres. Mobuto Sese Seko
were declared legal.
(SFC, 8/8/97, p.E3)
1997 Aug 8, US Sec. of State
Madeleine Albright announced that the bulk of US aid to Cambodia would
be suspended.
(SFC, 8/9/97, p.A9)
1997 Aug 8, The Teamsters and
United Parcel Service completed a second day of federally mediated
talks, with neither side reporting progress toward ending a strike.
(AP, 8/8/98)
1997 Aug 8, It was reported that
researchers have discovered how the defective gene in Huntington’s
disease causes the disorder. A genetic "stutter" inserts from 30 to 150
copies of the amino acid glutamine into key proteins and alters their
properties.
(SFC, 8/8/97, p.A3)
1997 Aug 8, In Ddjelfa, Algeria, a
bomb in a baby bassinet killed 9 people. In the village of Zeboudja
insurgents slit the throats of 21 people and 20 others were shot and
wounded.
(SFC, 8/11/97, p.A8)
1997 Aug 8, Gen’l. Eric Shinseki,
the American in charge of NATO forces in Bosnia, announced a plan to
force all paramilitary troops to disband or face arrest.
(SFC, 8/9/97, p.A9)
1997 Aug 8, In Colombia Senator
Jorge Cristo and a bodyguard were killed in Cucuta. Police said leftist
guerrillas were responsible.
(SFC, 8/9/97, p.C1)
1997 Aug 8, The resumption of
limited oil sales by Iraq was cleared by the UN Security Council. The
UN plan allows the sale of $2 billion in crude oil every 6 months.
(SFC, 8/9/97, p.C1)
1997 Aug 8, Fighting broke out on
the Israel-Lebanon border when guerrillas fired rockets into northern
Israel and Israeli warplanes struck back. 13 people have died since Aug
4 when Israeli commandos set off bombs behind the front line killing 3
guerrilla field commanders and 2 fighters.
(SFC, 8/9/97, p.A8)
1997 Aug 8, In Kenya a nationwide
strike was called and declared illegal by the government. In Nairobi a
crowd of some 2,000 gathered and killed Gilbert Simiyu, a plainclothes
police officer. The strike turned into a riot with looting.
(SFC, 8/9/97, p.C1)
1997 Aug 8, The largest int’l.
military exercise in Latvia’s history took place over 5 days at the
Adazi training center organized by the Northwest Europe Command. Troops
from 15 countries were to participate.
(BN, 6/97)
1997 Aug 8, In Peru at least 20
bus passengers were killed in a crash in the province of Cuzco. Some 80
people have died in 4 bus crashes in the last week.
(SFC, 8/9/97, p.C1)
1997 Aug 8, On St. Vincent James
and Penny Fletcher were acquitted of the murder of Jerome Joseph after
9 months of incarceration.
(SFC, 8/9/97, p.A8)
1997 Aug 9, In NYC police officer
Justin Volpe sodomized Abner Louima in the bathroom of the 70th
precinct in Brooklyn. [see Aug 13] In 1999 Volpe was sentenced to 30
years in prison and ordered to pay $277,495 in restitution. In 2001 a
tentative settlement awarded Abner Louima $9 million.
(SFC, 5/26/99, p.A1)(SFC, 12/14/99, p.A3)(SFC,
3/23/01, p.A4)
1997 Aug 9, An Amtrak train
derailed on a bridge near Kingman, Arizona, and 183 of 350 passengers
were injured. A flash flood had undermined supports for a small bridge.
(WSJ, 8/11/97, p.A1)(AP, 8/9/07)
1997 Aug 9, In Brazil Herbert Jose
de Souza, sociologist, died at age 60 of AIDS that he acquired as a
hemophiliac from contaminated blood. He spent his life fighting
inequality, hunger and police brutality.
(SFC, 8/11/97, p.A15)
1997 Aug 9, It was reported that
800,000 children of North Korea were in immediate danger of dying from
malnutrition. UNICEF was appealing for a $14.3 million emergency fund
for supplies such as high-energy milk.
(SFC, 8/9/97, p.A9)
1997 Aug 10, U.S. envoy Dennis
Ross met separately with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in an attempt to restart the Mideast
peace process.
(AP, 8/10/98)
1997 Aug 10, In Nashville a riot
erupted when a police officer killed a black murder suspect.
(WSJ, 8/11/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 10, It was reported that
the gasoline additive MTBE, methyl tert-butyl ether, was leaking into
ground water in California and elsewhere in the US. Some 1,000 wells in
California tested above the state’s action level. The additive leaks
from gasoline stations and dissolves in water and seeps into aquifers.
In 1995 the EPA reported that it caused cancer in laboratory animals.
(SFEC, 8/10/97, p.A1,14)
1997 Aug 10, Peter Braestrup,
founder of the Wilson Quarterly, died in Maine at age 68.
(SFC, 8/12/97, p.A17)
1997 Aug 10, In Colombia police
arrested drug trafficker Waldo Simeon Vargas, alias "The Minister." He
was a former associate of Pablo Escobar and created his own
organization after the Cali chiefs were arrested in 1995.
(SFC, 8/11/97, p.A8)
1997 Aug 10, In Peru a snowstorm
trapped some 40 vehicles on the Andes highway between Abancay and
Puquio and left 6 people dead in their vehicles.
(SFC, 8/11/97, p.A8)
1997 Aug 10, In Uganda the
state-owned Sunday Vision reported that its Chinese-built arms factory
would stop producing land mines and grenades. The Ugandan army would be
supplied but the products would not be exported. Dry-cells would be
produced to replace the land mines and grenades.
(SFC, 8/11/97, p.A8)
1997 Aug 10, In Taiwan a 19-seat
Formosa Airlines Dornier 228 crashed on the island of Matsu and killed
all 16 onboard.
(SFC, 8/11/97, p.A8)(WSJ, 8/11/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 11, Pres. Clinton made
the first use of the historic line-item veto approved by Congress. He
removed 3 narrow provisions in the new budget legislation in spending
and tax bills. The Supreme Court later struck down the line-item veto
as unconstitutional.
(SFC, 8/12/97, p.A1)(AP, 8/11/05)
1997 Aug 11, US federal officials
arrested 29 people in a drug sweep in New York, Michigan and New
Mexico. The arrests were linked to Mexico’s Juarez cartel.
(SFC, 8/12/97, p.A3)
1997 Aug 11, It was reported that
the US Energy Dept. was short of tritium for nuclear weapons and would
borrow space from a civilian power plant for its production.
(SFC, 8/11/97, p.A3)
1997 Aug 11, Steelhead trout of
the west coast was added to the federal list of imperiled species.
(SFC, 8/12/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 11, The Environmental
Working Group claimed that high levels of the weed killer atrazine were
found in 245 Midwest communities. The chemical is used to spray corn
and kill weeds.
(SFC, 8/12/97, p.A3)
1997 Aug 11, In Hawaii lava from
Kilauea Volcano began to flow over the walls of a 700-year-old temple
believed to have been used for human sacrifice.
(SFC, 8/12/97, p.A3)
1997 Aug 11, In Colombia leftist
guerrillas killed at least 9 people in 2 separate incident.
(SFC, 8/12/97, p.A9)
1997 Aug 11, In Honduras some 700
inmates escaped from prisons at Santa Barbara and Trujillo after
rioting prisoners set fire to facilities and burned them to the ground.
(SFC, 8/12/97, p.A9)
1997 Aug 11, From Israel it was
reported that mobsters were in control of gambling, prostitution and
money laundering rings in the resort city of Netanya. Seven gang
killings in the last 18 months were reported and protection money was
demanded from stall holders and shop owners.
(SFC, 8/11/97, p.A6)
1997 Aug 11, It was reported that
Sri Lanka was getting desperate for recruits and that more than 12,000
soldiers had deserted the army in recent months. Women were being
recruited and it was noted that half of the Tamil rebel attack forces
were composed of women. The government military service was comprised
of some 114,000 vs. about 5,000 Tamil fighters.
(SFC, 8/11/97, p.A7)
1997 Aug 11, Int’l. donors offered
Thailand a $16-17 bil loan package.
(SFC, 8/12/97, p.A8)(SFC, 1/8/98, p.A7)
1997 Aug 12, Steel workers in West
Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania ended a 10-month strike at
Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp. with a new contract. It was the longest
strike by a major steel company.
(SFC, 8/13/97, p.A3)(AP, 8/12/98)
1997 Aug 12, Two New York City
police officers were placed in desk jobs as authorities investigated
the charges of Abner Louima, a Haitian immigrant who accused police of
sodomizing him after his arrest in a nightclub fight.
(AP, 8/12/98)
1997 Aug 12, A hamburger recall
issued to cover some 1.2 million pounds. The Hudson Foods Inc., of
Rogers, Ark., issued the recall due to E. coli poisonings in Colorado.
[see 8/21]
(SFC, 8/22/97, p.A3)
1997 Aug 12, In Arizona a flash
flood from a storm 15 miles away killed ten hikers in the Lower
Antelope Canyon near Lake Powell. The group leader of the Trek-America
outfit, that catered mostly to Europeans, was the only survivor.
(SFC, 8/14/97, p.A3)(SFC, 8/15/97, p.A2)(AP, 8/12/98)
1997 Aug 12, It was reported that
the World Bank joined the IMF in withholding credit from Kenya due to
government corruption.
(SFC, 8/12/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 12, It was reported that
Laos was promoting the development of the $1.44 billion Nam Theun Two
Dam. It would alter 2 major tributaries of the Mekong River and flood
an area the size of Singapore. The World Bank contributed $130 million
to the project, which was expected to begin generating power in 2009.
Environmentalists feared severe impact to the Nakai Plateau and some
120,000 people downstream as one river dries up and another swells.
(WSJ, 8/12/97, p.A1)(SFC, 12/17/07, p.A15)
1997 Aug 12, From Lithuania it was
reported that the country has become a favorite transit point for
smugglers. Cigarettes, alcohol, home appliances, oil, amber, gas, cars
and illegal narcotics were crossing the borders.
(SFC, 8/12/97, p.A10)
1997 Aug 13, U.S. envoy Dennis
Ross wrapped up a four-day mission to the Middle East, during which
he'd persuaded the Palestinians to resume security cooperation with
Israel.
(AP, 8/13/98)
1997 Aug 13, In Detroit, Mich.,
Yolanda Bellamy was slain with 2 young sons, a niece and a nephew. A
suspect was later arrested and jumped from a 5th floor police station
window. He was critically injured.
(SFC, 8/15/97, p.A3)
1997 Aug 13, A NYC police officer
of the 70th precinct in Flatbush was arrested for sexually assaulting a
Haitian immigrant who was arrested in a nightclub fight. Officer Justin
Volpe sodomized Abner Louima with a toilet plunger and then forced the
handle into Louima’s mouth. Volpe’s partner, Thomas Bruder, was ordered
off active duty and Mayor Giuliani ordered a shakeup and investigation.
Officer Charles Schwartz was later arrested for his participation. Two
more officers, Thomas Wiese and Thomas Bruder, were later arrested for
beating Louima after his arrest. In 1998 federal civil rights
charges were filed against the involved officers. Officer Volpe was
jailed in 1999 after he pleaded guilty that he had sodomized Abner
Louima. In 1999 Officer Schwarz was found guilty of holding Louima
down. Officers Bruder, Wiese and Bellomo were acquitted. In 2000
officers Bruder, Schwartz and Wiese were convicted of covering up the
assault on Louima. Schwartz was sentenced to 15 years and 8 months in
prison and ordered to pay $277,495 in restitution. Bruder and Wiese
were sentenced to 5 years each. In 2002 a federal appeals court
overturned the convictions against Schwarz, Wiese and Bruder.
(SFC, 8/14/97, p.A5)(SFC, 8/15/97, p.A4)(SFC,
8/16/97, p.A5)(SFC, 8/19/97, p.A3)(SFC, 2/27/98, p.A6)(SFC, 5/26/99,
p.A1)(SFC, 6/9/99, p.A3)(SFC, 3/7/00, p.A3)(SFC, 6/28/00, p.A3)(SFC,
3/1/02, p.A3)
1997 Aug 13, In India the Supreme
Court ordered the government to come with legislation to protect women
from sexual harassment in the workplace.
(SFC, 8/14/97, p.C3)
1997 Aug 13, In Tehran, Iran, Ali
Reza Khoshruy Kuran Kordiyeh ("the vampire") was flogged and hung for
the rape, murder and burning of 9 women in a crime spree that began in
March.
(SFC, 8/14/97, p.C3)
1997 Aug 13, From Panama it was
reported that Pres. Balladares has given journalist Gustavo Gorriti
until the end of the month to leave Panama. Mr. Gorriti had published
investigative articles detailing the financial dealings of the
president’s election campaign, his allies and gentlemen of questionable
character.
(WSJ, 8/13/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 13, In Russia the book
"Boris Yeltsin: From Dawn to Sunset" by former bodyguard Alexander
Korzhakov went on sale.
(SFC, 8/13/97, p.A12)
1997 Aug 13, From Russia it was
reported that a helicopter accidentally had dropped a 2.3 ton lead box
containing strontium 90 into 66 feet of water off Sakhalin Island.
(WSJ, 8/13/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 14, An unrepentant
Timothy McVeigh was formally sentenced to death for the Oklahoma City
bombing.
(AP, 8/14/98)
1997 Aug 14, In Argentina public
sector and opposition unions called for a 24-hour strike to protest the
nation’s 16.1% unemployment rate and proposed labor reforms.
(SFC, 8/15/97, p.A15)
1997 Aug 14, From Canada it was
reported that Ontario planned to close down 7 of 19 nuclear power
plants for repairs. Inadequate maintenance practices and management
problems were charged in an internal document and, Allan Kupcis, the
CEO had resigned.
(SFC, 8/14/97, p.C3)
1997 Aug 14, Congo announced
a $2.5 billion project to build roads and that it would seek EU
financing.
(WSJ, 8/14/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 14, In Kenya 6 officers
and 7 civilians were killed in Mombasa when assailants burned down a
police station.
(SFC, 8/15/97, p.A17)
1997 Aug 14, Russian cosmonauts
Vasily Tsibliyev and Alexander Lazutkin made it safely home to Earth
after a luckless six-month mission aboard the Mir space station.
(AP, 8/14/98)
1997 Aug 14, In Turkey the
parliament approved an amnesty program for some 89 journalists
imprisoned for their news coverage. Pres. Demirel signed the measure.
(SFC, 8/15/97, p.A15)
1997 Aug 14, In Yemen ten Italian
tourists were reported kidnapped in 2 separate incidents.
(SFC, 8/15/97, p.A17)
1997 Aug 15, The US government
expanded its recall of ground beef sold under the Hudson brand name to
1.1 million pounds because of new evidence of possible contamination by
E. coli bacteria.
(AP, 8/15/98)
1997 Aug 15, The US Justice
Department decided not to prosecute senior FBI officials in connection
with an alleged cover-up that followed the deadly 1992 Ruby Ridge siege
in Idaho.
(AP, 8/15/98)
1997 Aug 15, In Louisiana a
self-defense law, passed in June, that permits motorists to use deadly
force in a car-jacking incident took effect.
(SFC, 8/14/97, p.A3)
1997 Aug 15, Beginning today
couples seeking marriage in Louisiana were given the choice between a
traditional or a covenant marriage. The covenant marriage, designed to
make divorce much more difficult, required counseling and a 2-year
cooling off period.
(SFC, 8/15/97, p.A6)(Econ, 2/12/05, p.31)
1997 Aug 15, The Dow Jones dropped
247 points in its 2nd biggest point loss session ending at 7,694.66.
(SFC, 8/16/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 15, Researchers from the
Univ. of New Hampshire reported that the spanking of children causes
long-term behavioral problems.
(SFC, 8/15/97, p.A3)
1997 Aug 15, Scientists at Geron
corp. reported that an "immortality gene" had been cloned. The key gene
carries the code for a key section of the enzyme telomerase, that
rebuilds the telomere of DNA. It could lead to new cancer-prevention
drugs and even be used to slow the process of aging.
(SFC, 8/15/97, p.A1,17)(SFC, 8/16/97, p.D1)
1997 Aug 15, From Argentina it was
reported that the country would issue bonds to pay indemnities to the
relatives and descendants of the 1970s "dirty war." As many as 30,000
people disappeared and about 8,000 families have applied for payments
authorized at $224,000 per victim.
(WSJ, 8/15/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 15, In Bosnia the high
court ruled that Pres. Biljana Plavsic had no right to disband the
Parliament. Plavsic announced the formation of a new political party,
the Serb National Union.
(SFC, 8/16/97, p.A10)
1997 Aug 15, In Colombia ten
woodcutters were killed by a gang of hooded gunmen near the town of
Retiro in Antioquia province.
(SFC, 8/16/97, p.C1)
1997 Aug 15, From Egypt it was
reported that a nurse in Alexandria, Aida Nur el-Din, had killed at
least 18 patients so that she would not be disturbed at night.
(SFC, 8/16/97, p.C1)
1997 Aug 15, In Mexico the Saba
family’s 22% stake in Television Azteca SA was sold through an IPO. The
family led by Isaac Saba Raffoul was reputed to have a cash equivalent
of a billion dollars with the sale.
(WSJ, 8/22/97, p.A10)
1997 Aug 16, Thousands of Elvis
Presley fans thronged Graceland on the 20th anniversary of his death.
(AP, 8/16/98)
1997 Aug 16, It was reported that
the US led the world in arms sales last year with 35.5% of all orders.
Britain ranked 2nd with 15.1% and Russia 3rd with 14.5%.
(SFC, 8/16/97, p.A10)
1997 Aug 16, In Mexico Alejandro
Ortiz Martinez, brother of the finance minister Guillermo Ortiz, was
shot and killed by three gunmen in Mexico City.
(SFEC, 8/17/97, p.A21)
1997 Aug 16, Nusrat Fateh Ali
Khan, the most popular singer in Pakistan, died in a London hospital.
He was considered one of the world’s greatest singers of Sufi
devotional music in a style called qawwali, where long performances
built up emotion and complexity to the backdrop of stringed instruments
and the harmonium.
(SFEC, 8/17/97, p.D8)
1997 Aug 16, Scientists reported
that an underground seismic event occurred in Russia. Inquiries were
being made about nuclear testing. Russian scientists claimed a
magnitude-2 earthquake near the Novaya Zemlya test range triggered the
event.
(SFC, 8/29/97, p.A18)(WSJ, 9/3/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 16, Two cosmonauts just
returned from Mir (Vasily Tsibliyev and Alexander Lazutkin) rejected
criticism that they were to blame for troubles aboard the aging,
problem-plagued space station.
(AP, 8/16/98)
1997 Aug 17, President Clinton
urged both sides in the United Parcel Service strike to "redouble their
efforts" to reach a deal, but hours later, negotiators recessed their
intensive talks.
(AP, 8/17/98)
1997 Aug 18, The Lutheran Church
approved a Formula of Agreement document that called for closer
cooperation with the Presbyterian Church (USA), the United Church of
Christ and the Reformed Church in America. A separate document called
the Concordat of Agreement for closer ties with the Episcopal Church
was 6 votes short of a required majority.
(SFC, 8/19/97, p.A3)
1997 Aug 18, UPS management agreed
to a tentative contract with the striking Teamsters Union to end a
15-day-old strike. New full-time jobs and pay raises were part of
the settlement.
(SFC, 8/19/97, p.A1)(AP, 8/18/98)
1997 Aug 18, In Virginia the VMI
class of 2001 included 30 women among the 460 freshman students. Beth
Ann Hogan became the first coed in the Virginia Military Institute's
158-year history.
(SFC, 8/18/97, p.A3)(AP, 8/18/98)
1997 Aug 18, Burnum Burnum (b.1936
as Henry James Penrith), Australian Aboriginal activist, died at age
61. He had been a member of the "stolen generation," Aborigine children
taken from their families into government welfare.
(SFC, 8/19/97, p.A20)
1997 Aug 18, Militiamen under the
South Lebanon Army, a key ally of Israel, shelled the port city of
Sidon and killed at least 6 people while injuring over 3 dozen. In
apparent retaliation northern Israel was hit by dozens of Katyusha
rockets fired from Lebanon.
(SFC, 8/19/97, p.A8)
1997 Aug 18, In Taiwan typhoon
Winnie swept over the island and left 24 people dead.
(SFC, 8/19/97, p.A9)
1997 Aug 18, In Tajikistan
government forces killed 50 mutinous troops in a battle over a bridge
on the Vakhsh River.
(SFC, 8/19/97, p.A9)
1997 Aug 19, Missouri and Oklahoma
withdrew inmates from a private Texas prison after the release of a
video tape that showed guards using dogs and stun guns on prisoners
made to crawl during a drug raid.
(WSJ, 8/20/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 19, A New Hampshire man,
Carl Drega (67) of Colebrook, killed 2 state troopers, Scott Philips
(32) and Les Lord (45), a local judge and a newspaper editor in
Colebrook. The shooting spree ended with his death near the Canadian
border in Vermont. The issue was believed to be a grudge over a tax
case.
(WSJ, 8/20/97, p.A1)(SFC,11/3/97, p.A3)(AP,
8/19/98)(SFEC, 10/18/98, Par p.9)
1997 Aug 19, In Cambodia 35,000
people fled across the border to Thailand to escape fighting between
forces loyal to Prince Ranariddh and troops of coup leader Hun Sen.
(WSJ, 8/20/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 19, In Honduras lawmakers
voted to name Archbishop Oscar Andres Rodriguez to oversee the creation
of a new civilian police force.
(SFC, 8/21/97, p.A13)
1997 Aug 19, In Kenya some 300
kiosks were burned in Malindi.
(SFC, 8/21/97, p.A12)
1997 Aug 19, In North Korea
groundbreaking ceremonies were held for 2 nuclear power plants to be
built by a US led Int’l. consortium.
(WSJ, 8/20/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 19, In Sri Lanka
government jets hit rebel positions and some 20,000 government troops
met guerrillas en route to Puliyankulam where 7 soldiers and more than
50 rebels were reported killed.
(SFC, 8/20/97, 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)
1997 Aug 21, A hamburger recall
was extended to cover some 25 million pounds. The Hudson Foods Inc., of
Rogers, Ark., closed its Nebraska beef-processing facility under a
"non-negotiable" recommendation by Agricultural Sec. Dan Glickman due
to E. coli poisonings in Colorado.
(SFC, 8/22/97, p.A3)(AP, 8/21/98)
1997 Aug 21, The CEO of Philip
Morris Cos. said that cigarettes "might have" killed 100,000 Americans.
It was the first acknowledgement by the company of a possible link
between smoking and death.
(SFC, 8/22/97, p.A3)
1997 Aug 21, In Afghanistan
leaders of the alliance fighting the Taliban army were killed in an air
crash aboard an Antonov 32 about 90 miles NW of Kabul.
(SFC, 8/22/97, p.A15)
1997 Aug 21, From Bosnia Judge
Jovo Rosic reported that he was beaten up and ordered to vote against
Pres. Plavsic last week.
(SFC, 8/22/97, p.A14)
1997 Aug 21, In France Pope John
Paul II began a visit to Paris with an outdoor encounter with 500,000
young people from around the world.
(SFC, 8/22/97, p.A14)
1997 Aug 21, In North Korea a
tidal wave from a passing typhoon struck and destroyed some 700,000
tons of corn and left 28,000 people homeless.
(WSJ, 9/2/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 21, Palestinians began an
embargo of Israeli goods.
(SFC, 8/22/97, p.A14)
1997 Aug 21, In Russia Yuri
Nikulin (b.1921), a cherished comic actor, died.
(SFC, 8/22/97, p.A24)
1997 Aug 21, From Russia the
Kremlin demanded the release of journalists of ORT TV. They were jailed
in Belarus for allegedly trying to cross the border illegally into
Lithuania. The journalists had made negative reports on Pres.
Lukashenko.
(SFC, 8/22/97, p.A15)
1997 Aug 22, A US federal judge
rejected Pres. Clinton’s request to dismiss the sexual harassment suit
of Paula Jones. The trial was scheduled to start May 27, 1998.
(SFC, 8/23/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 22, A federal official
threw out the contentious Teamsters election because of alleged
campaign fund-raising abuses, forcing union President Ron Carey into
another race against James P. Hoffa.
(SFC, 8/23/97, p.A1)(AP, 8/22/98)
1997 Aug 22, A $64.8 million 890-
lb. Lewis satellite was launched by NASA on a hoped-for 5-year mission.
It went into an uncontrolled spin on Aug 22 and was expected to fall
and burn up in Earth’s atmosphere in Sep.
(SFC, 9/27/97, p.A3)
1997 Aug 22, It was reported that
Ethiopia has completed work on more than 200 dams that use 624 million
cubic yards of Nile water per year.
(WSJ, 8/22/97, p.A10)
1997 Aug 22, In Kenya armed
marauders attacked a church filled with some 2,500 refugees and killed
2 refugees and wounded a police guard in Linkoni.
(SFC, 8/23/97, p.A12)
1997 Aug 22, On Montserrat
voluntary evacuation of the islanders was begun. Two-thirds of the
12,000 inhabitants fled the island. It was expected that much of the
island would not be habitable for 20 years after the eruptions ceased.
(SFC, 8/23/97, p.A12)
1997 Aug 22, In Rwanda at least
120 people were killed at the Mudende camp near Mutura. The slain were
thought to have been Tutsis and were killed by "infiltrators," rival
rebel Hutus.
(SFC, 8/23/97, p.A14)
1997 Aug 23, In his weekly radio
address, President Clinton said he would ask Congress to renew his
authority for speedy negotiation of trade agreements, saying the "fast
track" approach would make U.S. companies more competitive
worldwide.
(AP, 8/23/98)
1997 Aug 23, In Iran Pres. Khatami
appointed the first woman vice-president and ended an 18-year ban on
commercial flights to Saudi Arabia.
(WSJ, 8/25/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 24, Officer Jeremy
Charron (24) was shot and killed by Gordon Perry (22) and Kevin Paul
(18) in Epsom, New Hampshire. Both captured suspects were on probation.
(SFC, 8/25/97, p.A8)
1997 Aug 24, In Cambodia troops of
Hun Sen overran O’Smach, the last frontier town held by forces loyal to
Prince Ranariddh.
(SFC, 8/25/97, p.A8)
1997 Aug 24, In France Pope John
Paul II offered tough challenges and affectionate encouragement to more
than 1 million faithful attending Mass during closing World Youth Day
ceremonies in Paris.
(AP, 8/24/98)
1997 Aug 24, In Honduras a power
outage at a state-run hospital resulted in the death of 14 patients.
The Sunday blackout was not reported until Monday.
(SFC, 8/26/97, p.C3)
1997 Aug 24, In Zambia former
pres. Kaunda accused Pres. Frederick Chiluba of trying to kill
him after he was wounded by riot police during a protest rally.
(WSJ, 8/25/97, p.B5A)
1997 Aug 25, It was reported that
the number of US mutual funds today has climbed to 2,855 funds
controlling $2.13 trillion, as opposed to 1987 when there were 812
mutual funds with $241.9 billion in assets.
(WSJ, 8/25/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 25, The tobacco industry
agreed to an $11.3 billion settlement with the state of Florida to
settle a smoking-related lawsuit.
(SFC, 8/26/97, p.A1)(AP, 8/25/98)
1997 Aug 25, Dow Corning Corp.
offered $2.4 billion to settle claims from more than 200,000 women with
illnesses related to silicone breast implants.
(SFC, 8/26/97, p.A3)(AP, 8/25/98)
1997 Aug 25, It was reported that
the US government would pay 1,000 teaching hospitals not to train
doctors in specialties where there is a glut.
(WSJ, 8/25/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 25, Prof. William Ferris,
a scholar at the Univ. of Mississippi, was selected by Pres. Clinton to
head the National Endowment for the Humanities.
(SFC, 8/26/97, p.A4)
1997 Aug 25, NASA sent a Delta
rocket aloft with the Ace solar observatory, Advanced Composition
Explorer. The 5-year $110 million project will go into orbit at a point
1 million miles from Earth and 92 million miles from the Sun where the
gravity of Earth and Sun balance.
(SFC, 8/26/97, p.A2)
1997 Aug 25, Germany convicted 3
politicians from the defunct East German era on charges related to
shootings of would-be escapees. Egon Krenz, the last leader of the East
German Communist Party, was convicted along with Politburo members
Guenther Kleiber and Guenther Schabowski. The conviction was upheld in
1999.
(SFC, 8/26/97, p.A8)(SFC, 11/9/99, p.A14)
1997 Aug 25, From South Korea it
was reported that Samsung was proceeding with plans to manufacture
automobiles. Korea’s 5 auto manufacturers will increase capacity to 6
million units a year.
(WSJ, 8/25/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 26, It was announced that
researchers at Johns Hopkins had found a gene that causes colon cancer
in some people of Jewish ancestry.
(WSJ, 8/26/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 26, In Colombia Mayor
Mauricio Guzman of Cali was arrested for allegedly accepting money from
a drug cartel.
(SFC, 8/26/97, p.C3)
1997 Aug 26, It was reported that
China executed at least 4,367 people in 1996.
(SFC, 8/26/97, p.A9)
1997 Aug 26, It was reported that
Israel planned to proceed with the building of a dam on the Yarmuk
River. The territory is claimed by Syria.
(SFC, 8/26/97, p.A10)
1997 Aug 26, Two defectors and
their families from North Korea were accepted by the US. One was Chang
Sung Gil, the ambassador to Egypt, the other was his brother
Chang Sung Ho, a commercial councilor at the North Korean mission in
Paris. High level arms talks were immediately terminated.
(SFC, 8/26/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 26, Former South African
President F.W. de Klerk, who shared the Nobel Peace Prize for helping
to end apartheid, announced his retirement from politics and his
leading role in the National Party which had created the practice of
apartheid.
(SFC, 8/26/97, p.C2)(AP, 8/26/98)
1997 Aug 27, Former Agriculture
Secretary Mike Espy was charged with seeking and accepting more than
$35,000 dollars in trips, sports tickets and favors from companies that
did business with his agency. A jury found Espy innocent in 1998 of
taking illegal gifts, but eight others pleaded guilty or were convicted
of various charges; President Clinton later issued seven pardons and a
commutation.
(AP, 8/27/02)
1997 Aug 27, There was a report on
the US nuclear arsenal broken down to the number of nuclear weapons in
each state. New Mexico was 1st with 2,850, Georgia 2nd with 2,000, and
Washington State 3rd with 1,600. The total stockpile was totaled at
12,500 warheads, of which 8,750 were described as "operational."
(SFC, 8/26/97, p.A6)
1997 Aug 27, A secret CIA report
acknowledged that the CIA knew of human rights abuses by the Honduran
military in the 1980s. It was declassified in 1998.
(SFC, 10/24/98, p.A3)
1997 Aug 27, It was announced that
the diet drugs, Redux and Pondimin, caused brain damage in animals at
doses similar to those taken by humans.
(WSJ, 8/27/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 27, Brandon Tartikoff
(48), TV exec (NBC), died in Los Angeles.
(www.imdb.com/name/nm0850748/)
1997 Aug 27, From India it was
reported that at least 945 people had died since June due to torrential
monsoon rains.
(SFC, 8/26/97, p.C3)
1997 Aug 27, It was reported that
a 3-part expose in the Israeli Maariv newspaper alleged that gameshow
host Dudu Topaz was involved in rigging the winners in the Mar 30 show
"First in Comedy."
(SFC, 8/26/97, p.E7)(WSJ, 8/28/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 27 Israel lifted a
month-long blockade of Bethlehem imposed after a suicide bombing July
30 that killed 16 people.
{Israel}
(SFC, 8/26/97, p.E7)(WSJ, 8/28/97, p.A1)(AP, 8/27/98)
1997 Aug 27, It was announced that
South Korea had a $22 billion trade deficit in 1996 and that the
purchase of foreign goods was being actively discouraged.
(SFC, 8/26/97, p.C3)
1997 Aug 27, The annual Burning
Man Festival began near Gerlach, Nevada, on a private ranch on the
Hualapai Playa, a prehistoric lakebed. Some 20,000 people came to the
instantly created "Black Rock City" for the torching of the 50-foot
effigy.
(SFEC, 8/24/97, p.A3)(SFC, 8/30/97, p.A1, 15)
1997 Aug 28, After nearly a year
of legal challenges, California's affirmative action ban, Proposition
209, became law. In SF some 4,000 people marched with Jesse Jackson
across the Golden Gate Bridge to protest Prop. 209, in what was dubbed
the "March to Save the Dream."
(SFC, 8/29/97, p.A1)(AP, 8/28/98)
1997 Aug 28, The UN imposed air
and travel sanctions on the UNITA movement in Angola to deter Jonas
Savimbi from increasing tensions.
(SFC, 8/29/97, p.A16)
1997 Aug 28, In Algeria a 2nd bomb
this week killed 8 people in the Casbah.
(USAT, 8/29/97, p.8A)
1997 Aug 28, US troops clashed
with Bosnian Serbs in Brcko. NATO forces rescued some 50 besieged UN
police monitors as crowds, opposed to Pres. Plavsic, demanded the
expulsion of Western peacekeepers. U.S. troops fired tear gas and
warning shots to fend off rock-hurling Serb mobs. The attempt by US-led
NATO forces to install Plavsic forces in police stations in 3 cities
failed.
(SFC, 8/29/97, p.A1)(SFC, 9/3/97, p.C2)(AP, 8/28/98)
1997 Aug 28, Four Israeli soldiers
were killed in a fire caused by strafing from Israeli helicopters in
southern Lebanon in a battle where 4 Amal guerrillas were also killed.
(WSJ, 8/29/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 28, In Mexico the
government’s National Human Rights Commission recommended that the
Durango State Attorney Gen’l. Francisco Arroyo be fired for negligence.
This was in response to the suicide 2 months ago of 16-year-old Yessica
Diaz Cazares who had been gang raped some 5 months ago. Yessica had
spent 3 months recounting her story to officials under threats from her
attackers and pressure from authorities to drop the charges.
(SFC, 8/30/97, p.A14)
1997 Aug 28, Pres. Yeltsin set the
draft Russian military budget at $14 million, up from $11.9 million. He
also fired the head of the defense council and his culture minister.
(WSJ, 8/29/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 28, In Sri Lanka Pres.
Kumaratunga pushed parliament to enact constitutional changes to
address Tamil grievances.
(SFC, 8/29/97, p.A16)
1997 Aug 28, In Taiwan Pres. Lee
Teng-hui selected Vincent Siew (58) to replace Lien Chen as premier.
(SFC, 8/29/97, p.A18)
1997 Aug 28, In Venezuela 29
prison inmates died after a dominant prison gang fell on a group of
newcomers at the El Dorado Jail in Bolivar state.
(WSJ, 8/29/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 29, In NYC some 7,000
protestors marched across the Brooklyn Bridge to protest police
brutality and the assault on Abner Louima.
(SFC, 8/30/97, p.A3)
1997 Aug 29, In Algeria some 300
villagers of Rais were slain by hooded men armed with axes in an
Algerian farm village in the worst carnage since an Islamic insurgency
began. In addition 20 young women were abducted.
(SFC, 8/30/97, p.A10)(AP, 8/29/98)
1997 Aug 29, In Britain the
government formally invited Sinn Fein, the political wing of the IRA,
to peace talks next month in Northern Ireland.
(SFC, 8/30/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 29, In Japan the Supreme
Court upheld the government’s right to control the nation’s textbooks
but not to tamper with the truth. Japan's Supreme Court ruled that the
country's Education Ministry broke the law by removing mention of a
Japanese World War II atrocity from historian Saburo Ienaga's high
school textbook. Novelist Ryotaro Shiba was quoted: "A country whose
textbooks lie... will inevitably collapse."
(SFC, 8/30/97, p.A12)(AP, 8/29/98)
1997 Aug 29, In Kenya thousands
fled from the Indian Ocean coast in fear of ethnic violence and attacks
from government security forces.
(SFC, 8/30/97, p.A12)
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)
1997 Aug 31, In Phoenix, Az.,
bounty hunters in search of a bail jumper killed a couple that
apparently knew nothing about the sought bail jumper. Chris Foote (23)
and Spring Wright (20) were killed by 5 bounty hunters. Matthew
Brackney (20), his father David Brackney (45) and Michael Martin
Sanders (40) were in custody and 2 others were sought by authorities.
Arizona laws allow bounty hunters to break down doors and use guns to
bring bail jumpers back to jail without a court order, warrant or
license. There were an estimated 2,000 bounty hunters nationwide. Brian
Jay Robbins and Ronald Eugene Timms were arrested on Sep 3. On October
30, 1998 Michael Martin Sanders was judged guilty of murder, and nine
other felonies including burglary, aggravated assault and unlawful
imprisonment. Co-defendant Ronald Timms pleaded guilty to second-degree
murder and testified against Sanders, saying the men planned to break
into Foote's home because they mistakenly believed there would be a
large amount of drugs and cash there. The rest were charged with second
degree murder and various counts of felonious assault.
(SFC, 9/3/97, p.A3)(SFC, 9/4/97,
p.A3)(http://tinyurl.com/lp6bs)
1997 Aug 31, Prince Charles
brought Princess Diana home for the last time, escorting the body of
his former wife to a Britain that was shocked, grief-stricken and
angered by her death in a Paris traffic accident. Princess Diana (36)
and Egyptian billionaire Dodi al-Fayed (42) were killed along with the
car’s driver in a car crash in Paris while trying to evade paparazzi
photographers. A bodyguard was severely injured but expected to
survive. It was later learned that the driver had 3 times the legal
alcohol limit and was driving at about 110 mph.
(SFEC, 8/31/97, p.A1)(SFC, 9/1/97, p.A1)(SFC,
9/2/97, p.A1)(AP, 8/31/98)
1997 Aug 31, In Peru 2 small
planes collided at the Nazca archeological site and 12 people were
killed.
(SFC, 9/1/97, p.A14)
1997 Aug 31, Vitaly Schmidt (47),
Russian oil tycoon, died in Moscow. Much of his fortune came from a
group of small offshore energy companies he oversaw on behalf of
himself and a few fellow executives of OAO Lukoil.
(WSJ, 12/6/06, p.A1)
1997 Aug, Newsweek reported Linda
Tripp, a White House secretary, was told by Kathleen Willey, that Pres.
Clinton had made an aggressive sexual pass at Willey.
(WSJ, 2/18/98, p.A24)
1997 A North American ban on
cattle feed that included bovine brain and spinal tissue went into
effect to prevent the spread of mad cow disease, bovine spongiform
encephalopathy.
(SFC, 12/30/03, p.A1)
1997 Aug, In Arizona two jurors in
the Symington trial received telephoned death threats and offers of
bribes.
(SFC,10/16/97, p.A3)
1997 Aug, Harry Stonecipher, CEO
of McDonnell Douglas, negotiated a merger with Boeing.
(WSJ, 3/7/05, p.A1)
1997 Aug, The US population was
267.8 million people.
(WSJ, 10/22/97, p.A20)
1997 Aug, Argentine beef was
allowed to be imported fresh to the US market.
(WSJ, 5/26/98, p.B1)
1997 Aug, In Chad a plague of
locusts began to spread across the southwest with as many as 200
locusts per square yard.
(SFC, 9/27/97, p.A21)
1997 Aug, Chen Xiaotang, son of
former Beijing mayor Chen Xitong, was sentenced to 12 years in prison
for economic crimes.
(SFC, 9/10/97, p.E3)
1997 Aug, In Colombia a group of
30 intellectuals issued a plea for UN mediation over the violence in
the countryside.
(SFC, 1/5/98, p.A14)
1997 Aug, In Cyprus UN talks
between Turkish and Greek Cypriot officials broke down when the EU
reaffirmed that it would begin membership talks with the Greek-led
Cypriot government. Lower level talks continued.
(SFEC,12/28/97, p.A22)
1997 Aug, Ethiopian officials set
up an administration in the contested region known as Bada, that
triggered skirmishes with Eritrea.
(SFC, 6/13/98, p.A14)
1997 Aug, In India A.R. Rahman
launched his first non-movie album "Vande Mataram" (Salute to the
Motherland) to coincide with the 50-year anniversary of independence
from Britain. He was the first Indian artist signed by Sony Records.
(SFEC,12/14/97, DB p.63)
1997 Aug, In Indonesia a $43
billion economic bailout package obliged the government to run a budget
surplus, close insolvent banks, end nepotism and raise interest rates.
(SFC, 1/8/98, p.A7)
1997 Aug, Kenyan police with US
investigators raided the home of Wadih el-Hage and seized his papers
and computer. Hage was arrested a year later for his ties to Osama bin
Laden and terrorist conspiracy.
(SFEC, 1/23/00, p.A21)
1997 Aug, In Russia Mikhail
Manevich, deputy governor of the of St. Petersburg region and
privatization chief, was shot and killed. In 1998 4 suspects were
arrested in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.
(SFC, 7/22/98, p.A12)
1997 Aug, In Zimbabwe on Heroes
Day Pres. Mugabe was shouted down by his own former guerrillas who were
angered that pensions to disabled veterans were frozen and over
allegations that $36 million had gone to the ruling party elite.
(SFC, 1/26/98, p.A12)
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