Today in History - July 8
Return to home
810 Jul 8,
Pepin, son of Charlemagne and King of Italy, died.
(MC, 7/8/02)
1099 Jul 8, In Jerusalem 15,000
starving Christian soldiers marched around barefoot while the Muslim
defenders mocked them from the battlements.
(HN, 5/23/99)
1497 Jul 8, Vasco da Gama,
Portuguese explorer, departed on a trip to India. He sailed from
Lisbon enroute to Calicut, India. His journey took him around South
Africa and opened the Far East to European trade and colonial
expansion.
(V.D.-H.K.p.143)(WUD, 1994,
p.1672)(www.indhistory.com/vasco-da-gama.html)
1538 Jul 8, Diego de Almagro
(63), Spanish conquistador (Chile and Peru), died.
(MC, 7/8/02)
1545 Jul 8, Don Carlos, son of
Spanish king Philip II (protagonist in Schiller's drama; hero
in Verdi opera), was born.
(MC, 7/8/02)
1621 Jul 8, Jean La Fontaine,
poet and author of Fables, was born.
(HN, 7/8/98)
1686 Jul 8, The Austrians took
Budapest, Hungary, from the Turks and annexed the country.
(HN, 7/8/01)
1695 Jul 8, Christian Huygens
(66), Dutch inventor, astronomer, died. He generally wrote his name
as Christiaan Hugens, and it is also sometimes written as Huyghens.
In his book “Cosmotheros,” published in 1698, he speculated on life
on other planets.
(http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bl_huygens.htm)
1709 Jul 8, Peter the Great
defeated Charles XII at Poltava, in the Ukraine, effectively ending
the Swedish empire. [see June 28]
(HN, 7/8/98)
1730 Jul 8, A magnitude 8.7
earthquake in Valparasio, Chile, killed at least 3,000 people.
(AP, 2/27/10)
1740 Jul 8, Pierre Vigne
(b.1670), Frenchman, died. He founded the Congregation of Sisters of
the Most Holy Sacrament. In 2004 he was beatified by Pope John Paul
VI.
(AP, 10/3/04)(www.catholic-forum.com)
1755 Jul 8, Britain broke off
diplomatic relations with France as their disputes in the New World
intensified.
(HN, 7/8/98)
1758 Jul 8, During the French
and Indian War a British attack on Fort Carillon at Ticonderoga, New
York, was foiled by the French. Some 3,500 Frenchmen defeated the
British army of 15,000, which lost 2,000 men.
(HN, 7/8/98)(AH, 10/02, p.27)
1776 Jul 8, Col. John Nixon
gave the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence to
a crowd gathered at Independence Square in Philadelphia. The reading
was announced by the "Liberty Bell." The bell had the inscription:
"proclaim liberty throughout all the land onto all the inhabitants
thereof."
(AP, 7/8/97)(SFEC, 8/16/98, p.T5)
1778 Jul 8, George Washington
headquartered his Continental Army at West Point.
(MC, 7/8/02)
1794 Jul 8, French troops
captured Brussels, Belgium.
(HN, 7/8/98)
1800 Jul 8, Dr. Benjamin
Waterhouse gave the 1st cowpox vaccination to his son to prevent
smallpox. [see May 14, 1796]
(MC, 7/8/02)
1802 Jul 8, Gen. Toussaint
L'Ouverture of Saint-Domingue (later Haiti) was sent to France in
chains.
(AP, 4/7/03)(ON, 2/10, p.9)
1803 Jul 8, Frederick Augustus
Hervey (b.1730), the 4th Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Derry, died.
He had toured Europe with his own cook and entourage and inspired a
number of hotels to take on the Bristol name.
(WSJ, 9/27/08,
p.A1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Hervey,_4th_Earl_of_Bristol)
1815 Jul 8, With Napoleon
defeated, Louis XVIII returned to Paris.
(HN, 7/8/98)
1822 Jul 8, Percy Bysshe
Shelley (b.1792), English poet, drowned while sailing in Italy at
age 29.
(HN, 7/8/01)
1826 Jul 8, Luther Martin
(b.1748), Maryland lawyer and former delegate to the Constitutional
Convention, died in NYC. In 2008 Bill Kaufman authored “Forgotten
Founder, Drunken Prophet: The Life of Luther Martin.”
(WSJ, 9/20/08,
p.A21)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luther_Martin)
1835 Jul 8, The US Liberty Bell
in Philadelphia cracked while being tolled for Chief Justice John
Marshall. It was never rung again.
(HFA, ‘96, p.34)(HN, 7/6/98)(WSJ, 12/10/96,
p.A20)
1838 Jul 8, Count Ferdinand von
Zeppelin (d.1917), German designer and manufacturer of airships, was
born.
(HN, 7/8/98)(WUD, 1994, p.1660)
1839 Jul 8, John D. Rockefeller
(d.1937), financier, philanthropist, founder of Standard Oil, was
born on a farm in Richford, New York. He moved into the refining end
of the oil business and gobbled up competitors. The 1890 Sherman
Anti-Trust Act forced the breakup of his Standard Oil Co. Ron
Chernow later published "Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller."
His philanthropy totaled over $500 million and included the founding
of the Univ. of Chicago and the Rockefeller Inst. For medical
Research, later Rockefeller Univ.
(HN, 7/8/98)(WSJ, 1/11/98, p.R18)(AP, 7/8/99)
1851 Jul 8, Sir Arthur John
Evans, English archaeologist who excavated Knossos, Crete, was born.
(MC, 7/8/02)
1853 Jul 8, An expedition led
by Commodore Matthew Perry arrived in Edo Bay, Uraga, Japan, on a
mission to seek diplomatic and trade relations with the Japanese.
Perry sailed his flagship USS Susquehanna into Edo Bay. He soon
forced Japan to open its ports with his big gunboats, the
steam-powered “Black Ships.”
(AP, 7/8/97)(SFEC, 1/25/98, Z1 p.2)(ON, 11/04,
p.9)
1859 Jul 8, With the signing of
the truce at Villafranca Austria ceded Lombardy to France. France
also received Nice and Savoy.
(HN, 7/8/99)
1862 Jul 8, Odore R. Timby
patented a revolving gun turret.
(MC, 7/8/02)
1863 Jul 8, Discouraged by the
surrender of Vicksburg, Mississippi, Confederates in Port Hudson,
Louisiana, surrendered to Union forces.
(HN, 7/8/98)
1864 Jul 8, Confederate General
Joseph E. Johnston retreated into Atlanta to prevent being flanked
by Union General William T. Sherman.
(HN, 7/8/98)
1865 Jul 8, C.E. Barnes of
Lowell, MA, patented the machine gun.
(MC, 7/8/02)
1869 Jul 8, William Vaughan
Moody, poet and playwright (The Great Divide), was born.
(HN, 7/8/01)
1876 Jul 8, White terrorists
attacked Black Republicans in Hamburg, SC, and killed 5.
(MC, 7/8/02)
1879 Jul 8, The first ship to
use electric lights departed from San Francisco, California.
(HN, 7/8/98)
1879 Jul 8, The steamship USS
Jeannette under Lt. George W. De Long departed San Francisco on an
expedition to reach the North Pole. [see June 12, 1881]
(ON, 2/05, p.1)
1881 Jul 8, Edward Berner of
Two Rivers, Wisconsin, created the Sundae.
(MC, 7/8/02)
1882 Jul 8, Percy Grainger,
composer, pianist, conductor (Hill Songs), was born in Melbourne.
(MC, 7/8/02)
1889 Jul 8, In Mississippi Jake
Kilrain (1859-1937) fought boxing champion John L. Sullivan in the
last world heavyweight championship prizefight decided with bare
knuckles under London Prize Ring rules in history. Sullivan defeated
Kilrain in a match that went to 75 rounds.
(AH, 2/06,
p.29)(http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Sullivan_-_Kilrain_Fight)
1889 Jul 8, Dow Jones & Co.
turned its “Customer’s Afternoon Letter” into a full-fledged
newspaper and co-founder Charles Bergstresser dubbed it the Wall
Street Journal.
(AP, 7/8/97)(WSJ, 5/2/07, p.C1)
1889 Jun 8, Gerard Manley
Hopkins (54), poet, died.
(MC, 6/8/02)
1891 Jul 8, Warren G. Harding
married Florence K. DeWolfe in Marion, Ohio.
(AP, 7/8/97)
1896 Jun 8, William Jennings
Bryan propelled himself to presidential candidacy when he stood
before the Democratic Convention and made his famous “Cross of Gold”
speech. The paramount issue in the 1896 presidential election was
one of economics—the U.S. government promised to pay the holder of
one dollar bill one dollar in gold. Democrats, farmers and
westerners demanded that the government redeem paper money in silver
as well, while Republicans and easterners protested that this policy
would destroy the economy. It was on this dull, technical issue that
36-year-old William Jennings Bryan, a former congressman from
Nebraska, launched his national political career. When he made his
“Cross of Gold” speech, the Democrats had no strong presidential
candidate. His dramatic words—“You shall not press down upon the
brow of labor this crown of thorns; you shall not crucify mankind
upon a cross of gold!”—electrified his audience and resulted in his
nomination for president in 1896. [see Jul 9]
(HNQ, 6/8/98)(MC, 7/8/02)
1898 Jul 8, Alec Waugh
(d.1981), novelist (Island in the Sun); brother of Evelyn, was born
in London. "If we knew where opinion ended and fact began, we should
have discovered, I suppose, the absolute."
(AP, 2/9/00)(MC, 7/8/02)
1898 Jul 8, US battle fleet
under Adm. Dewey occupied Isla Grande at Manila.
(MC, 7/8/02)
1905 Jul 8, The mutinous crew
of the battleship Potemkin surrendered to Rumanian authorities.
(HN, 7/8/98)
1906 Jul 8, Philip C. Johnson,
architect, was born.
(HN, 7/8/01)
1907 Jul 8, George W. Romney,
later governor of Michigan, was born into a Mormon family in
Chihuahua, Mexico. He later was a candidate for the Republican
presidential nomination until he admitted that he had been
"brainwashed" by the military on the Vietnam War.
(HN, 7/8/98)(SSFC, 2/25/07, p.A4)(SSFC, 2/25/07,
p.A4)
1907 Jul 8, Florenz Ziegfeld
staged his first "Follies" on the roof of the New York Theater in
New York City.
(AP, 7/8/97)
1908 Jul 8, Nelson Aldrich
Rockefeller, businessman and philanthropist, was born in Bar Harbor,
Maine. The liberal Republican served as governor of New York and
then as vice president of the United States under Pres. Gerald Ford
(1974-77).
(AP, 7/8/08)
1915 Jul 8, Charles Hard
Townes, physicist (developed lasers), was born in Greenville, SC.
(MC, 7/8/02)
1918 Jul 8, Ernest Hemingway
(1899-1961), Nobel Prize winning writer, was wounded in Italy while
working as an ambulance driver for the American Red Cross. He was
later awarded the Italian Silver Medal of Military Valor. Hemingway
enlisted in a Red Cross ambulance unit in 1917 during World War
I. He was commissioned a second lieutenant and served on the
Italian front. After WWI he reported from the battlefields of the
Spanish Civil War for American newspapers. His book "Farewell to
Arms" was based on his experiences in WWI.
(HNQ, 7/28/99)(HN, 7/8/01)
1919 Jul 8, President Wilson
received a tumultuous welcome in New York City after his return from
the Versailles Peace Conference in France.
(AP, 7/8/97)
1921 Jul 8, Great Britain and
Ireland agreed to end hostilities after centuries of strife. In
December British and Irish representatives signed a treaty in London
providing for creation of an Irish Free State a year later on the
same date. Southern Ireland was granted independence and 6 counties
in Northern Ireland remained part of the UK.
(SFC, 10/14/99, p.C5)(AP, 12/6/06)
1926 Jul 8, Elizabeth
Kubler-Ross, author, physician, educator, was born.
(MC, 7/8/02)
1932 Jul 8, The Dow Jones
Industrial Average closed at 41.22, with an intra-day low of 40.56,
its lowest point during the Great Depression.
(WSJ, 11/22/08,
p.B1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dow_Jones_Industrial_Average)
1939 Jul 8, Henry Havelock
Ellis (80), English sexologist (Man & Woman), died.
(MC, 7/8/02)
1941 Jul 8, Twenty B-17s flew
in their first mission with the Royal Air Force over Wilhelmshaven,
Germany.
(HN, 7/8/98)
1941 Jul 8, All Jews living in
Baltic States were obligated to wear Star of David.
(MC, 7/8/02)
1943 Jul 8, Faye Wattleton,
women's rights advocate, was born.
(HN, 7/8/98)
1943 Jul 8, American B-24
bombers struck Japanese-held Wake Island for the first time. An
obscure U.S. Navy fighter did yeoman duty when times were toughest
early in World War II.
(HN, 7/8/98)
1943 Jul 8, US invasion fleet
passed Bizerta, Tunisia.
(MC, 7/8/02)
1943 Jul 8, The 4th day of
battle at Kursk: Gen Model used his last tank reserve.
(MC, 7/8/02)
1943 Jul 8, Jean "Max" Moulin
(b. Jun 20, 1899), French resistance fighter, was executed.
(www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/moulin_jean.shtml)
1944 Jul 8, Japanese kamikaze
attacked US lines at Saipan.
(MC, 7/8/02)
1946 Jul 8, Aleksander V.
Aleksandrov (63), Russian composer, conductor, died.
(MC, 7/8/02)
1947 Jul 8, The American League
defeated the National League, 2-1, in the All-Star game played at
Chicago's Wrigley Field.
(AP, 7/8/97)
1947 Jul 8, Demolition work
began in New York City to make way for the new permanent
headquarters of the United Nations.
(AP, 7/8/97)
1947 Jul 8, In New Mexico the
Roswell Daily Record reported the military’s capture of a flying
saucer. It became know as the Roswell Incident. Officials later
called the debris a "harmless, high-altitude weather balloon. In
1994 the Air Force released a report saying the wreckage was part of
a device used to spy on the Soviets.
(SFC, 6/23/96, p.T4)(USAT, 6/28/96, p.7D)
1948 Jul 8, The 500th
anniversary of the Russian orthodox church was celebrated in Moscow.
(MC, 7/8/02)
1949 Jul 8, Vietta M. Bates
became the first enlisted woman sworn into the U.S. Army when
legislation was passed making the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps part
of the regular Army.
(HN, 7/8/98)
1950 Jul 8, President Harry
Truman named US Gen. Douglas MacArthur as commander-in-chief of
United Nations forces assisting the South Koreans.
(WSJ, 6/24/96, C1)(AP, 7/8/97)(HN, 7/8/99)
1953 Jul 8, Anna Quindlen,
novelist, was born.
(HN, 7/8/01)
1954 Jul 8, The raft Lehi with
5 amateur sailors was towed out of SF Bay to attempt a 2,200
drifting voyage to Hawaii. Mormon elder DeVere Baker (38) led the
expedition. The freighter Metapan rescued the crew on July 14.
(SFC, 7/9/04, p.F5)
1954 Jul 8, Carlos Castillo
Armas of Guatemala became president. He was assassinated in 1957.
(WUD, 1994, p.1685)
1957 Jul 8, Irish premier Eamon
de Valera arrested Sinn-Fein leaders.
(MC, 7/8/02)
1957 Jul 8, William Cadbury
(89), chocolate maker, died.
(MC, 7/8/02)
1958 Jul 8, President
Eisenhower began a visit to Canada, where he conferred with Prime
Minister John Diefenbaker and addressed the Canadian Parliament.
(AP, 7/8/08)
1960 Jul 8, The Soviet Union
charged Francis Gary Powers, whose U-2 spy plane was shot down over
the country, with espionage.
(HN, 7/8/98)
1963 Jul 8, Reports were made
of Charlie Finley's intention to move KC A's baseball team to
Oakland.
(MC, 7/8/02)
1963 Jul 8, US banned all
monetary transactions with Cuba.
(MC, 7/8/02)
1966 Jul 8, A US airline strike
began and lasted until Aug 19th.
(MC, 7/8/02)
1968 Jul 8, Golda Meir resigned
from her post as secretary of the Labor Party.
(www.jafi.org.il/education/jafi75/timeline5i.html)
1972 Jul 8, The US signed an
agreement to sell grain to USSR for $750 million. Soviet grain
buyers over 6 weeks purchased the US grain. This was later called
the "great grain robbery" and the privately-held agribusiness giant
Cargill played a major role. The story of Cargill was told in the
1998 book "Cargill Going Global" by Wayne Broehl Jr.
(http://tinyurl.com/5qvx8c)(PC, 1992, p.1040)
1974 Jul 8, Trudeau's Liberal
Party won Canadian parliamentary election.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_federal_election,_1974)
1975 Jul 8, President Ford
announced he would seek the Republican nomination for the presidency
in 1976.
(AP, 7/8/97)
1975 Jul 8, An earthquake
struck Pagan (Bagan), Burma, and destroyed many monuments.
(Econ, 2/28/04,
p.42)(www.myanmars.net/travel/bagan.htm)
1975 Jul 8, Israeli premier
Yitzhak Rabin began a 4-day visit to West-Germany.
(http://tinyurl.com/4c5zyo)
1976 Jul 8, A volcano erupted
on Guadeloupe and frightened the capital, Basse-Terre. A phreatic
eruption of the Soufriere volcano cracked open the summit dome
(www.ipgp.jussieu.fr/~beaudu/soufriere/smithsonian76.html#sean_0109)
1982 Jul 8, In Dujail, Iraq, 17
Islamic militants, furious over the execution of a Shiite leader,
opened fire on a presidential convoy and killed several people, but
Saddam Hussein escaped. In retaliation 247,000 acres of orchards and
palm groves, the town's primary source of income, were destroyed in
retribution. 386 people were locked up until 1986. Some 900 people
were taken away and about 380 were killed.
(AP, 5/28/03)(SFC, 3/8/05, p.A10)
1986 Jul 8, Kurt Waldheim was
inaugurated as president of Austria despite controversy over his
alleged ties to Nazi war crimes. He was barred from entering the US
due to his services as an officer in a German army unit implicated
in war crimes in the Balkans. Waldheim served to 1992.
(SFC, 2/17/96, p.A14)(AP, 7/8/97)
1986 Jul 8, Admiral Hyman G.
Rickover (86), widely regarded as "father of the nuclear navy," died
in Arlington, Va.
(AP, 7/8/06)
1987 Jul 8, Lt. Col. Oliver
North became a daytime TV star as the Iran-Contra hearings were
televised throughout the US. Under questioning by committee counsel
John Nields, North said the issue of his security system was first
broached immediately after a threat by Abu Nidal.
(http://www.talkleft.com/new_archives/000742.html)
1987 Jul 8, Kitty Dukakis, wife
of Massachusetts governor and Democratic presidential candidate
Michael S. Dukakis, revealed she'd been addicted to amphetamines for
26 years but had sought help and was drug-free. She later admitted
to dependence on alcohol, and entered a recovery program.
(AP, 7/8/97)
1987 Jul 8, Kiwanis Clubs voted
to admit women and ended its men-only tradition.
(www.tcfn.org/kiwanistci/about.html)
1988 Jul 8, Iran's
parliamentary speaker, Hashemi Rafsanjani, said his nation would not
seek revenge against the United States for shooting down an Iranian
jetliner over the Persian Gulf, killing 290 people.
(AP, 7/8/98)
1989 Jul 8, Carlos Saul Menem
was inaugurated as president of Argentina in the country's first
transfer of power from one democratically elected civilian leader to
another in six decades.
(AP, 7/8/99)
1990 Jul 8, Sweden’s Stefan
Edberg beat Boris Becker of West Germany to capture his second men’s
tennis championship at Wimbledon.
(AP, 7/8/00)
1990 Jul 8, West Germany won
the World Cup soccer championship by defeating Argentina, 1-to-0.
(AP, 7/8/00)
1991 Jul 8, Reversing earlier
denials, Iraq disclosed for the first time that it was carrying out
a nuclear weapons program, including the production of enriched
uranium.
(AP, 7/8/01)
1992 Jul 8, Russian President
Boris Yeltsin met with Group of Seven leaders holding their economic
summit in Munich, Germany, where he offered a startling proposal to
swap factories, energy resources and other properties for Russian
debt.
(AP, 7/8/97)
1993 Jul 8, A jury in Boise,
Idaho, acquitted white separatist Randy Weaver and a co-defendant of
slaying a federal marshal in a shootout at a remote mountain cabin.
(AP, 7/8/03)
1993 Jul 8, Leaders of the
Group of Seven, in the second day of their Tokyo summit, warned
against the dismembering of Bosnia, but backed away from a threat to
use force.
(AP, 7/8/03)
1993 Jul 8, In Latvia Guntis
Ulmanis was sworn in as president.
(BN, 10/97, p.3)
1994 Jul 8, O.J. Simpson was
ordered to stand trial on charges of murdering his ex-wife, Nicole,
and her friend, Ronald Goldman.
(AP, 7/8/99)
1994 Jul 8, The space shuttle
"Columbia" blasted off on a two-week mission.
(AP, 7/8/99)
1994 Jul 8, Leaders of the
Group of Seven nations opened their 20th annual economic summit in
Italy. Silvio Berlusconi hosted the G-7 summit in Naples.
(SFC, 2/13/98, p.A12)(AP, 7/8/99)(Econ, 1/22/05,
p.46)
1994 Jul 8, Kim Il Sung ("Great
Leader"), North Korea's communist leader since 1948, died at age 82.
His son Kim Jong Il ("The Dear Leader") succeeded him.
(AP, 7/8/97)(WSJ, 6/26/97, p.A14)
1995 Jul 8, Steffi Graf won the
women’s singles title at Wimbledon, defeating Arantxa Sanchez
Vicario.
(AP, 7/8/00)
1995 Jul 8, Chinese-American
human rights activist Harry Wu, detained on June 19, was arrested in
China and charged with obtaining state secrets. He was later
convicted of espionage and deported.
(AP, 7/8/00)
1995 Jul 8, A deadly heat wave
began in the midsection of the US. It claimed more than 800 lives,
more than half of them in Illinois.
(AP, 7/8/00)
1995 Jul 8, In Bosnia shelling
resumed and the Dutch abandoned 3 posts under direct fire. 30 Dutch
troops were taken by the Serbs to Bratunac.
(SFC, 6/4/96, p.A12)
1996 Jul 8, The Shuttle
Columbia landed after a record flight of 16 days, 21 hours, 48
minutes and 30 sec.
(SFC, 7/8/96, p.A2)
1996 Jul 8, Hurricane Bertha
slammed into the US Virgin Islands with torrential rains and winds
that gusted to 105 mph.
(WSJ, 7/9/96, p.A1)(AP, 7/8/97)
1996 Jul 8, A 1975 JetRanger
Bell Helicopter crashed in Salem, Ohio and killed all 5 people
onboard.
(SFC, 7/9/96, p.A3)
1996 Jul 8, In Niger the
military ruler suspended the Independent National electoral
commission after early results showed him losing.
(WSJ, 7/9/96, p.A1)(WSJ, 1/2/98, p.8)
1996 Jul 8, In Northern Ireland
Michael McGoldrick Jr. (31), a taxi driver, was abducted and fatally
shot, two days after graduating from a Belfast university. He was
the first victim of the Loyalist Volunteer Force, an outlawed
Protestant gang that opposed Northern Ireland's peace process.
(AP, 4/5/06)
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, Michelle
Moore-Bosko (18) of Pittsburgh, who had recently moved to Norfolk,
Va., and secretly married her longtime boyfriend, William Bosko, was
found raped and killed. 4 sailors, who became known as the Norfolk
Four, were later convicted for her rape and murder. In 2009 Danial
Williams (37), Derek Tice (39) and Joseph Dick (33) were pardoned,
culminating a four-year campaign for clemency based on the sailors'
claims that they were coerced into falsely admitting their
involvement, that the details they provided were wrong and that
there was no physical evidence linking them to the crime. A fourth
sailor, Eric Wilson (33), served more than eight years in prison and
has been released. A fifth man, Omar Ballard, was also convicted in
the crime, and was sentenced to 100 years in prison, 59 of which
were suspended. He is the only man whose DNA matched that found at
the scene. His confession stated that he committed the crime by
himself.
(SFC, 8/7/09,
p.A5)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Norfolk_Four)
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
Transnistria, 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)
1998 Jul 8, Dow Corning agreed
to settle a suit with women claiming injury from silicone breast
implants for $3.2 billion. A federal bankruptcy judge tentatively
approved a settlement under which an estimated 170,000 women, who
said silicone breast implants had made them sick, would get $3.2
billion dollars from Dow Corning Corp.
(SFC, 7/9/98, p.A1)(AP, 7/8/99)
1998 Jul 8, The US and European
countries demanded an immediate cease fire in Kosovo and called for
a crackdown on the flow of funds to ethnic Albanian rebels.
(SFC, 7/9/98, p.A10)
1998 Jul 8, In Afghanistan the
Taliban decreed that television was corrupting Afghan society and
issued an edict that banned televisions, videocassette recorders,
videos and satellite dishes.
(SFC, 7/9/98, p.A11)
1998 Jul 8, In Algeria Khalifi
Athmani (24), a leading member of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), was
killed outside the capital. Athmani’s nom de guerre was Hossein
Flicha and he was believed to have led the Sep. ‘97 killings at Beni
Messous.
(SFC, 7/10/98, p.A18)
1998 Jul 8, China announced
that it would broadcast its first live court trial on Jul 11.
(SFC, 7/9/98, p.A15)
1998 Jul 8, It was reported
that elephant poaching had increased in Kenya.
(SFC, 7/9/98, p.A11)
1998 Jul 8, Thailand was
expected to withdraw a plan to deport foreign workers and planned to
announce proposals to widen work opportunities for migrant workers
from Burma, Cambodia, Laos and Bangladesh.
(SFC, 7/9/98, p.A10)
1999 Jul 8, An Air Force cargo
jet took off from Seattle on a dangerous mission to Antarctica to
drop medicine for Dr. Jerri Nielsen, a physician at the
Amundsen-Scott South Pole Research Center who had discovered a lump
in her breast. The mission was successful; Nielsen was evacuated the
following October.
(AP, 7/8/00)
1999 Jul 8, Astronaut Charles
"Pete" Conrad Junior, the third man to walk on the moon, died after
a motorcycle accident near Ojai, California; he was 69.
(SFC, 7/9/99, p.A1)(AP, 7/8/00)
1999 Jul 8, In Columbia heavy
fighting in Gutierrez between the government and FARC killed as many
as 78 soldiers.
(SFC, 7/9/99, p.A14)(SFC, 7/10/99, p.A10)
1999 Jul 8, In Malaysia Prime
Minister Mahathir Mohamad unveiled phase one of Cyberjaya, a
futuristic high-tech city expected to cost some $5.3 billion.
(SFC, 7/9/99, p.D2)
1999 Jul 8, In southern Nigeria
activists claimed to have captured and shut down 61 oil wells
operated by Shell Co. Shell workers were also ejected from wells in
the states of Egbema East and Egbema West.
(SFC, 7/9/99, p.D5)
1999 Jul 8, It was reported
that Palestinian water shortages were due Israeli diversions of 80%
of West Bank aquifer water.
(SFC, 7/8/99, p.A10)
1999 Jul 8, In Yugoslavia some
4,000 protested against Pres. Milosevic in Prokupje.
(SFC, 7/9/99, p.A12)
2000 Jul 8, Venus Williams beat
Lindsay Davenport 6-3, 7-6 (3) for her first Grand Slam title,
becoming the first black women’s champion at Wimbledon since Althea
Gibson in 1957-58.
(WSJ, 7/10/00, p.A1)(AP, 7/8/01)
2000 Jul 8, The Pentagon’s
missile defense project suffered its latest setback when a rocket
that had taken off from Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific failed to
intercept a target missile launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base
in California.
(AP, 7/8/01)
2000 Jul 8, F.M. Esfandiary,
"chronic optimist," died at age 69. "There is no scarcity, there is
only the psychology of scarcity." His written works included "Days
of Sacrifice" and "Optimism One."
(SFC, 7/12/00, p.A17)
2000 Jul 8, In Germany over a
million people gathered in Berlin for the techno music Love Parade
at Tiergarten park.
(SFEC, 7/9/00, p.C11)
2000 Jul 8, In Iran a student
march to mark a bloody rally one year ago turned violent as police
charged thousands of students in Tehran.
(SFEC, 7/9/00, p.C11)
2000 Jul 8, In Japan a Typhoon
Kirogi hit the eastern coast and left 3 people dead.
(SFEC, 7/9/00, p.C11)
2000 Jul 8, A bomb exploded at
the Stewartstown Royal Ulster Constabulary station with no injuries.
The Orange Order announced plans to bring the country to a halt the
next day if they are not allowed to march down Garvaghy Road in
Portadown.
(SFEC, 7/9/00, p.C12)
2000 Jul 8, In Russia Pres.
Putin made his first state of the nation address and called for
increased power to the central government to overcome a bleak
diagnosis of the country’s ills.
(SFEC, 7/9/00, p.C11)
2001 Jul 8, Venus Williams won
her second consecutive Wimbledon title by beating Belgian Justine
Henin.
(AP, 7/8/02)
2001 Jul 8, In West Virginia
Gov. Bob Wise declared a state of emergency due to flooding in 8
counties.
(SFC, 7/9/01, p.A4)
2001 Jul 8, Cable operator
Comcast mounted a $41 billion hostile bid to merge with AT&T
Broadband. Although AT&T spurned that offer, the company's board
ultimately agreed to merge the cable unit with Comcast, subject to
approval by federal regulators.
(AP, 7/8/02)
2001 Jul 8, In Brazil some 100
inmates escaped through a tunnel from Latin America’s largest prison
in Sao Paulo. 35 were soon captured.
(WSJ, 7/10/01, p.A1)
2001 Jul 8, In England race
rioting continued in Bradford with injured police rising to a total
of 120.
(SFC, 7/9/01, p.A8)
2001 Jul 8, In Northern Ireland
some 500 Orangemen marched at Drumcree and dispersed when confronted
by police at Portadown.
(SFC, 7/9/01, p.A8)
2001 Jul 8, Israeli agents in
Hebron abducted Ayoub Sharawi, a member of Hamas. In Gaza
Palestinians and Israelis exchanged gunfire in Rafah.
(SFC, 7/9/01, p.A8)
2001 Jul 8, Israeli wrecking
crews destroyed 14 Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem at the edge
of the Shuafat refugee camp.
(SFC, 7/10/01, p.A7)
2001 Jul 8, In the Philippines
police in General Santos City arrested Nadzmie Sabtulah, a
high-ranking member of the Abu Sayyaf Muslim extremists.
(SFC, 7/9/01, p.A8)
2002 Jul 8, WorldCom and its
former auditors clashed over responsibility for nearly 4 billion
dollars in accounting improprieties, as WorldCom's former CEO and
finance chief, Scott Sullivan, refused to testify to a House panel
investigating the debacle.
(AP, 7/8/03)
2002 Jul 8, African leaders
gathered in South Africa to form the new African Union and to bid
farewell to the Organization of African Unity, a much-criticized
regional body formed nearly four decades ago to usher the continent
out of colonialism.
(AP, 7/8/02)
2002 Jul 8, In China a gas
explosion at a coal mine killed 44 miners at the Dingsheng mine in
northeastern Heilongjiang province.
(Reuters, 7/9/02)(SFC, 7/9/02, p.A10)
2002 Jul 8, Ralph Nader
attended a dinner with Cuban leader Fidel Castro as the consumer
advocate began a three-day visit to the communist nation.
(AP, 7/8/02)
2002 Jul 8, Cuban poet and
writer Cintio Vitier was named winner of Mexico's Juan Rulfo Prize
for literature.
(AP, 7/8/02)
2002 Jul 8, In the Ivory Coast
local elections meant to close the door on years of turbulence ended
with complaints by angry crowds that they were not allowed to vote.
(AP, 7/8/02)
2002 Jul 8, Typhoon Chata'an
headed towards southern Japan after battering the Philippines, where
officials said it had killed 17 people -- including three South
Korean tourists who died when their boat capsized.
(Reuters, 7/8/02)
2002 Jul 8, In Nigeria unarmed
women, from the Arutan and Igborodo communities occupied a
Chevron-Texaco oil terminal, preventing 700 workers, including
Americans, Britons, and Canadians, from leaving. Their number soon
reached as many as 2,000.
(AP, 7/11/02)
2002 Jul 8, Peter Friedrich,
Switzerland's ambassador to Luxembourg, was arrested on suspicion of
money laundering.
(AP, 7/11/02)
2002 Jul 8, In southern
Thailand a bomb tore through a parked passenger railway coach
injuring a policeman and a security guard.
(Reuters, 7/8/02)
2002 Jul 8, In Turkey 3
ministers resigned in a growing push for early elections.
(WSJ, 7/9/02, p.A1)
2003 Jul 8, Pres. Bush met with
Pres. Abdoulaye Wade in Senegal. Bush visited Senegal's notorious
Goree Island, for several centuries a processing station for African
slaves bound in chains for the Western Hemisphere.
(SFC, 7/7/03, p.A8)(AP, 7/8/03)
2003 Jul 8, In Meridian, Miss.,
Doug Williams (48), a white factory worker known as a racist who
talked about murdering others opened fire with a shotgun and a rifle
at a Lockheed Martin plant, killing four blacks and one white before
committing suicide.
(AP, 7/8/03)(SFC, 7/9/03, p.A6)
2003 Jul 8, Joanie Harper (39),
and her 3 children aged 2 months to 4 years, were shot and killed in
Bakersfield, Ca. Husband Vincent E. Brothers (41), a Bakersfield
teacher and administrator, was arrested and released, but remained a
prime suspect. In 2007 Brothers was convicted and a jury said he
deserved to die for the murders.
(SFC, 7/9/03, p.A13)(SFC, 7/11/03, p.A17)(SFC,
5/30/07, p.B4)
2003 Jul 8, Lewis Coser (89),
leftist sociologist, died. His books included "American Communist
Party: A Critical History (1919-1957)" (1958), and "Men of Ideas: A
Sociologist's View" (1966).
(SSFC, 7/13/03, p.A27)
2003 Jul 8, In Bangladesh a
ferry, with an estimated 750 passengers, sank at the confluence of
the Padma, Meghna and Dakatia rivers about 40 miles south of the
capital, Dhaka. Some 220 survivors were counted.
(AP, 7/9/03)
2003 Jul 8, In Burundi Hutu
rebels fought their way into part of the capital, trading gun,
mortar and grenade fire with the Tutsi-dominated army. Thousands
fled their homes.
(AP, 7/8/03)
2003 Jul 8, Antonis Samarakis
(84), Greek writer and children's rights activist, died. His books
included the novel "Mistake" (1965).
(SFC, 8/11/03, p.A17)
2003 Jul 8, In Iraq Mizban
Khadr Hadi (No. 23), a high-ranking member of the Baath Party
regional command and Mahmud Diab al-Ahmed (No. 29), the former
interior minister, were taken into custody. The capture of Al-Ahmed
was reported in error. He surrendered Aug 8.
(AP, 7/9/03)(AP, 8/10/03)
2003 Jul 8, US military experts
arrived in Liberia to assess the need for help in the local civil
war.
(AP, 7/8/03)
2003 Jul 8, Nigeria's main
trade unions accepted a government compromise on fuel prices and
ended a crippling eight-day strike.
(AP, 7/8/03)
2003 Jul 8, Palestinian PM
Mahmoud Abbas resigned from a top post in the Fatah movement.
(AP, 7/8/03)
2003 Jul 8, Ladan and Laleh
Bijani (29), Iranian twin sisters, joined at the head, died within
90 minutes of each other as neurosurgeons in Singapore worked into a
3rd day to separate them.
(AP, 7/7/03)(AP, 7/8/03)
2003 Jul 8, A Sudanese airliner
crashed minutes after its captain reported technical problems
following takeoff, killing 116 people. The only survivor was a
2-year-old boy.
(AP, 7/8/03)
2003 Jul 8, In Switzerland a
swerving car plowed through pedestrians on a downtown bridge in
Lausanne. Two people were killed, including a woman pushing her
child in a stroller.
(AP, 7/8/03)
2004 Jul 8, New Jersey became
the 2nd state in the nation after New York to ban the use of
handheld cell phones while driving.
(USAT, 6/29)
2004 Jul 8, John Rigas (79),
founder of Adelphia Communications Corp. (1952), was convicted along
with his son Timothy of looting the cable company to line their own
pockets.
(SFC, 7/9/04, p.C1)(USAT, 7/9/04, p.1B)
2004 Jul 8, Kenneth Lay, former
CEO of Enron Corp., was charged in Houston, Texas, with 11 counts of
conspiracy and fraud.
(WSJ, 7/8/04, p.A1)(USAT, 7/9/04, p.1B)
2004 Jul 8, It was reported
that a strain of syphilis has proved resistant to azithromycin.
(WSJ, 7/8/04, p.A1)
2004 Jul 8, Iranian troops
killed two Turkish Kurdish rebels in clashes close to the Iraqi
border, amid reports of a major offensive by Tehran on Ankara's
behalf.
(AP, 7/10/04)
2004 Jul 8, In Iraq insurgents
hit a military compound in Samarra with a car bomb and mortar fire.
5 US soldiers were killed and 20 wounded.
(SFC, 7/9/04, p.A14)
2004 Jul 8, Israeli troops
killed 7 Palestinians in northern Gaza.
(WSJ, 7/9/04, p.A1)
2004 Jul 8, A Swedish appeals
court threw out a life prison sentence for the convicted killer of
Foreign Minister Anna Lindh, ruling that Mijailo Mijailovic should
receive treatment for his "significant psychiatric problems."
(AP, 7/8/05)
2005 Jul 8, Australia granted
fugitive former Chinese diplomat Chen Yonglin a permanent visa
allowing him to stay in the country indefinitely.
(AFP, 7/8/05)
2005 Jul 8, In Austria an
89-nation UN conference approved broadening a treaty meant to keep
nuclear material from the hands of terrorists, opening the way for
states to ratify the agreement. The Convention of the Physical
Protection of Nuclear Material originally obligated the 112
countries that have accepted it to protect nuclear material during
international transport. The amended version expands such protection
to materials at nuclear facilities, in domestic storage and during
domestic transport or use.
(AP, 7/8/05)
2005 Jul 8, Jorge Alberto
Uribe, Colombia's defense minister, resigned amid criticism over his
handling of the country's counterinsurgency war and his alleged
relationship with a jailed female drug trafficker.
(AP, 7/8/05)
2005 Jul 8, Police said that
the bombs used in London's terrorist attacks held less than 10
pounds of explosives each.
(AP, 7/8/05)
2005 Jul 8, In China Exxon
Mobil Corp., Saudi Aramco and top Asian refiner Sinopec signed a
$3.5 billion deal to expand a refinery in south China, sealing what
they called the country's largest oil project.
(Reuters, 7/8/05)
2005 Jul 8, Hurricane Dennis
slammed Cuba, sweeping away coastal homes and sending waves crashing
over Havana's seawall. At least 10 people were killed.
(AP, 7/9/05)
2005 Jul 8, Shares of Gas de
France (GDF), a 20% stake in the state monopoly, began to trade
following the plans of PM Dominique de Villepin. The IPO was
expected to fetch up to $6 billion. A sale of shares in Electricite
de France was set for October.
(Econ, 7/25/05, p.56)y
2005 Jul 8, An Israeli security
guard shot dead a Palestinian teenager during a protest against
Israel's West Bank separation barrier.
(AP, 7/9/05)
2005 Jul 8, In Italy a judge
convicted and sentenced to life in prison three members of the Red
Brigades terrorist group for the 1999 killing of a government labor
adviser, court officials said. A fourth was convicted and sentenced
to nine years.
(AP, 7/8/05)
2005 Jul 8, In rural
southeastern Mexico a series of explosions at a natural gas pipeline
killed two people and set fire to houses, cars and cattle near
Cunduacan.
(AP, 7/10/05)
2005 Jul 8, Gloria Macapagal
Arroyo's presidency was in tatters, her base of support eroding by
the hour, as former backers abandoned the Philippine leader and
added to calls for her resignation over an election scandal.
(AP, 7/8/05)
2005 Jul 8, In Scotland G8
world leaders concluded an economic summit shaken by terrorism,
offering an "alternative to the hatred," a $50 billion aid package
for Africa and up to $3 billion in additional support for the
Palestinians. They pledged new joint efforts against terrorism in
response to the deadly London bombings the day before.
(AP, 7/8/05)
2005 Jul 8, John Garang, the
rebel leader in a two-decade civil war for southern autonomy,
returned to Sudan's capital for the first time in 22 years to take
up his new position as first vice president in the government he
once fought.
(AP, 7/8/05)
2006 Jul 8, The US military
charged 4 more US soldiers with rape and murder and a fifth with
dereliction of duty in the alleged rape-slaying of a young Iraqi
woman and the March killings of her relatives in Mahmoudiya.
(AP, 7/9/07)
2006 Jul 8, New Jersey Gov. Jon
S. Corzine issued an executive order that ended a weeklong state
government shutdown, bringing slot machine bells noisily to life as
Atlantic City casinos reopened.
(AP, 7/8/06)
2006 Jul 8, Georgia police
found the decomposed body of Carlnell Walker (23), a Morehouse
student from Richmond, Ca., in the trunk of his car in Riverdale. On
July 21, 2006, 3 men were arrested for his murder. In 2007 4 men
were indicted for the murder.
(SFC, 7/12/06, p.B1)(SFC, 7/22/06, p.A1)(SFC,
3/23/07, p.A2)
2006 Jul 8, Discovery
astronauts Piers Sellers and Michael Fossum went on a 7 1/2-hour
spacewalk to test a repair technique for space shuttles.
(AP, 7/8/07)
2006 Jul 8, June Allyson
(b.1917), chorus girl and film star, died in Ojai, Ca. her films
included “The Glenn Miller Story” (1953).
(SFC, 7/11/06, p.B5)
2006 Jul 8, The Guggenheim
Foundation announced it had commissioned American architect Frank
Gehry to build a new branch of the Guggenheim modern and
contemporary art museum in Abu Dhabi.
(AP, 7/8/06)
2006 Jul 8, Afghan and
coalition forces pounded a Taliban stronghold in southern
Afghanistan, killing five rebels and leaving an Afghan and three
foreign soldiers wounded. An explosion attributed to a land mine in
western Afghanistan killed a Peruvian solder and slightly wounded
four Spanish troops.
(AFP, 7/8/06)(AP, 7/9/06)
2006 Jul 8, China launched a
Web site, www.linese.com, offering free Chinese lessons and
materials to promote the study and use of the language abroad.
(Reuters, 7/8/06)
2006 Jul 8, In central China a
landslide at a construction site buried migrant workers sleeping in
a tent, killing 11 of them.
(AP, 7/8/06)
2006 Jul 8, In Kinshasa, Congo,
gunmen killed Mwamba Bapuwa (64), an independent journalist, a day
after foreign donors called on the government to guarantee press
freedoms ahead of historic elections this month. Bapuwa had recently
criticized the government and survived a previous attack several
months ago.
(Reuters, 7/8/06)
2006 Jul 8, Jose Ramos-Horta,
Nobel peace laureate, was named East Timor's new prime minister.
(AP, 7/8/06)
2006 Jul 8, In Hungary several
thousand labor union members demonstrated in Budapest against a
government austerity package they say requires a disproportionate
sacrifice from workers.
(AFP, 7/8/06)
2006 Jul 8, In northern India
15 people were killed and eight injured when the bus they were
traveling in plunged into a gorge and fell into Bhagirathi river.
(AFP, 7/8/06)
2006 Jul 8, In Iraq 3 American
soldiers were killed in fighting in the western province of Anbar.
Gunmen in two cars stopped a vehicle in Baghdad's Dora neighborhood,
forced the two passengers to get out and killed them in front of
horrified bystanders. Gunmen killed three people working in an ice
cream shop in the mostly Shiite Baghdad neighborhood of Nahrawan.
Police also reported finding two bodies in separate locations in
eastern Baghdad. At least 17 others died in a wave of bombings and
mortar attacks against mostly Sunni mosques in the Baghdad area and
northern Iraq. Iraqi and US authorities released 368 prisoners as
they continue to whittle down the number of inmates.
(AP, 7/8/06)
2006 Jul 8, In Indian Kashmir a
politician and four civilians died and at least 45 others were
injured when suspected Islamic rebels hurled a grenade outside a
Muslim shrine.
(AFP, 7/8/06)
2006 Jul 8, Leftist
presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador urged his
supporters to take to the streets, claiming the governing party
stole his victory in Mexico's extremely narrow elections. Obrador
called on a huge crowd of supporters to keep peacefully protesting
as he goes to court to challenge what he called his fraudulent
electoral defeat.
(AP, 7/8/06)(AP, 7/9/06)
2006 Jul 8, A Mexican federal
judge threw out genocide charges against former President Luis
Echeverria, ruling that a 30-year statute of limitations had run
out.
(AP, 7/9/06)
2006 Jul 8, In western Mexico 4
children, who won an airplane ride for good grades at school, were
killed along with the pilot when the small aircraft crashed near
Tepic.
(AP, 7/12/06)
2006 Jul 8, The Hamas-led
Palestinian government called for a cease-fire in its violent
two-week standoff with Israel but stopped short of offering to
release an Israeli soldier held by Hamas militants. Israeli Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert rejected the proposal by Palestinian Prime
Minister Ismail Haniyeh. Olmert will not agree to a truce until
Hamas releases the soldier. Israeli tanks and troops clashed with
militants in eastern Gaza.
(AP, 7/8/06)
2006 Jul 8, Poland's governing
party accepted the resignation of PM Marcinkiewicz and recommended
party chairman Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the president's twin brother, to
replace him. A group with roots in Poland's anti-communist
Solidarity trade union movement signed an unprecedented accord to
join forces with the country's two main post-communist parties.
(AP, 7/8/06)
2006 Jul 8, Saudi officials
said 7 suspected terrorists had escaped from a prison in Riyadh a
few days earlier.
(AP, 7/8/06)
2006 Jul 8, The Islamic
militiamen controlling the Somali capital broke up a wedding
celebration because a band, the Mogadishu Stars, was playing and
women and men were socializing together. Band members were flogged
with electric cables.
(AP, 7/8/06)(Econ, 7/15/06, p.47)
2006 Jul 8, Pope Benedict XVI
stressed family values during a visit to Spain, where church
influence has waned and the government has angered the Vatican with
its liberal take on issues including gay marriage.
(AP, 7/8/06)
2006 Jul 8, A Yemeni court
acquitted 19 alleged al-Qaida members of charges they plotted to
blow up a hotel frequented by Americans, citing a lack of evidence.
The state prosecutor appealed the collective acquittal, and the
defendants were returned to their cells at the intelligence
services' jail where they have been held for more than two years. 14
Yemenis and 5 Saudis had been caught with guns and fake Iraqi
passports.
(AP, 7/8/06)(WSJ, 8/14/06, p.A1)
2007 Jul 8, In Pennsylvania
Gov. Ed Rendell ordered a range of government services shutdown
after last minute negotiations failed to break a budget stalemate.
The shutdown took about 24,000 workers off the job. A budget deal
was hammered out the following night.
(AP, 7/9/07)(SFC, 7/9/07, p.A3)(AP, 7/8/08)
2007 Jul 8, SF Bay Area police
and FBI completed Operation Strikeout, a 3-day prostitution sweep
that netted over 140 pimps, prostitutes and their customers. This
included 50 prostitutes and 7 alleged johns arrested in SF.
(SFC, 7/17/07, p.D3)
2007 Jul 8, Boeing unveiled its
first fully assembled 787 Dreamliner in Everett, Wash.
(SFC, 7/9/07, p.A4)
2007 Jul 8, In Oakland, Ca.,
Odell Roberson Jr., a transient drug addict, was found shot and
killed. Police later determined that his killer used an AK-47
assault rifle linked to Your Black Muslim Bakery. In 2009 an
indictment accused Yusuf Bey IV (23), the leader of the bakery, of
murder for allegedly ordering the killing.
(SFC, 10/15/07, p.A1)(SFC, 4/30/09, p.A1)
2007 Jul 8, Roger Federer won
his fifth straight Wimbledon tennis championship, beating Rafael
Nadal 7-6 (7), 4-6, 7-6 (3), 2-6, 6-2.
(AP, 7/8/08)
2007 Jul 8, China’s state media
said nearly 2,000 officials in central China's Hunan province have
been caught breaking China's strict one-child policy. State media
also said floods and landslides triggered by heavy rains have killed
at least 26 people and left 17 missing in southwest Sichuan province
in the last week.
(AP, 7/8/07)
2007 Jul 8, France’s President
Nicolas Sarkozy said he will not offer mass pardons to prisoners on
Bastille Day, keeping up his law-and-order reputation and breaking
with tradition.
(AP, 7/8/07)
2007 Jul 8, In India at least
four people drowned or were electrocuted over the weekend in the
northwestern desert state of Rajasthan, bringing India's overall
monsoon death toll to 177.
(AP, 7/9/07)
2007 Jul 8, Chandra Shekhar
(b.1927), former Indian prime minister (1990), died from a
blood-related illness. He served briefly during a period of
political turmoil.
(AFP, 7/8/07)
2007 Jul 8, Iran’s state TV
said 4 fuel-smuggling trucks crashed into each other and caught fire
in southeastern Iran, killing 13 people.
(AP, 7/9/07)
2007 Jul 8, Abu Omar
al-Baghdadi, who leads the group Islamic State in Iraq, said in an
audiotape that his Sunni fighters have been preparing for four years
to wage a battle against Shiite-dominated Iran. He threatened to
wage war against Iran unless it stops supporting Shiites in Iraq
within two months. A suicide truck bomber killed 23 new Iraqi army
recruits when he rammed into their vehicle south of Baghdad. A
flurry of bombings in Baghdad killed 26 people. American special
operations forces in a raid captured 12 militants in Baghdad who had
broken away from the Mahdi Army, and had carried out attacks on US
and Iraqi troops.
(AP, 7/8/07)(Reuters, 7/8/07)(AP, 7/10/07)
2007 Jul 8, The Israeli Cabinet
approved the release of 250 Palestinian prisoners, in the
government's latest gesture of support for moderate Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas in his struggle against the Hamas militant
group.
(AP, 7/8/07)
2007 Jul 8, Valdis Zatlers, a
trauma surgeon with no prior political experience and widely
publicized tax problems, was sworn in as Latvia's third president
since the Baltic state gained independence in 1991.
(AP, 7/8/07)
2007 Jul 8, Libya invited
international tenders for exploration of its onshore and offshore
gas fields covering an area almost the size of Scotland.
(AP, 7/9/07)
2007 Jul 8, Two gunmen attacked
a German couple photographing wildlife in Namibia, killing Johannes
Fellinger (56), in front of his wife and taking her on a high-speed
chase.
(AP, 7/10/07)
2007 Jul 8, In southern Nigeria
a British toddler was released by gunmen and reunited with her
parents, who said she was fine but hungry and covered in mosquito
bites.
(AP, 7/8/07)
2007 Jul 8, Pakistan's army
tried to blast through the wall of a besieged radical Islamic
seminary to help free hostages held by a cleric and his militant
supporters, leaving one commando dead.
(AP, 7/8/07)
2007 Jul 8, In the Philippines
2 small planes collided in the air and crashed in a rice field north
of Manila, killing two Indian citizens and a Filipino flight
instructor.
(AP, 7/8/07)
2007 Jul 8, Russia’s top
security agency said it has declassified documents on millions of
victims of Soviet-era repression (1920-1950), allowing relatives to
request information about those who were executed or died of disease
and starvation in prison.
(AP, 7/8/07)
2007 Jul 8, Spain's largest
fighting bulls lived up to their fearsome reputation, goring two and
crushing at least seven people as thousands of daredevils sprinted
down narrow streets Sunday in Pamplona's annual running of the
bulls.
(AP, 7/8/07)
2007 Jul 8, Zimbabwe’s official
media said police have arrested 16 more business leaders in a
crackdown on those suspected of violating the government's order to
slash prices by 50%.
(AP, 7/8/07)
2008 Jul 8, A report from a US
Senate Homeland Security investigations subcommittee said sellers of
medical supplies collected as much as $93 million in fraudulent
Medicare claims based on prescriptions from doctors who were
actually dead.
(SFC, 7/9/08, p.A6)
2008 Jul 8, Boeing announced a
deal with SkyHook Int’l., a private Canadian firm, to develop a
heavy lift rotorcraft capable of carrying 4o tons.
(Econ, 7/12/08, p.76)
2008 Jul 8, In California the
Butte Lightning Complex Fire destroyed 41 homes overnight in and
around Paradise. The next day 10,000 people were evacuated from the
area.
(SFC, 7/10/08, p.A1)
2008 Jul 8, T. Boone Pickens,
energy baron, announced his “Pickens Plan” for installing wind
turbines in parts of four Texas Panhandle counties. The plans were
scrapped in 2009 due to lack of transmission lines.
(AP, 7/7/09)
2008 Jul 8, John Templeton
(b.1912), legendary mutual fund manager, died in Nassau. His
Templeton Growth Fund in 1954 was among the first to invest in
companies outside the US. In 1972 he started the Templeton Prize,
which made its first award to Mother Teresa in 1973.
(WSJ, 7/9/08, p.C17)(Econ, 7/19/08, p.95)
2008 Jul 8, Abkhazia's leader
Sergei Bagapsh rejected a US proposal to deploy an international
police force there.
(AP, 7/8/08)
2008 Jul 8, In eastern
Afghanistan a roadside bomb blast killed one NATO soldier and
wounded four others. a provincial police chief said five insurgents
and two policemen died during a clash in central Ghazni province.
(AP, 7/8/08)
2008 Jul 8, Brazilian police
arrested a former Sao Paulo mayor and two prominent financiers in a
case that grew out of an influence-peddling scandal involving senior
government officials.
(AP, 7/9/08)
2008 Jul 8, A Chinese court
jailed Xiong Zhengliang, a former anti-graft prosecutor for life,
for torturing a suspect to death. His superior was sentenced to
seven years in prison for trying to cover up the case. Liang Jiping,
a deputy director of the county's electricity bureau, was detained
in May 2007 on suspicion of taking bribes. Liang died on June 1,
2007, after being held in custody for nearly five days and in three
separate places.
(Reuters, 7/9/08)
2008 Jul 8, Chinese police
killed five Muslims who were planning a "holy war" in the latest
alleged terror threat ahead of the Beijing Olympics. The five were
shot dead when police raided their hide-out in Urumqi.
(AFP, 7/9/08)
2008 Jul 8, The United States
and the Czech Republic signed a treaty in Prague allowing Washington
to build part of a missile defense shield in the central European
state despite opposition from its former Cold War master Russia.
(Reuters, 7/8/08)
2008 Jul 8, Ecuador's
government seized 3 television stations and 195 businesses, owned by
the Isaias family, to collect debts stemming from the 1998 failure
of Filanbanco, owned by Roberto and William Isaias. The economy
minister resigned just hours before the takeover.
(AP, 7/9/08)(Econ, 7/12/08, p.48)
2008 Jul 8, The EU formally
invited Slovakia to join the euro zone on Jan. 1, 2009.
(AP, 7/8/08)
2008 Jul 8, Industrial
conglomerate Siemens AG said it will cut 16,750 jobs, or 4.2 percent
of its global work force, to streamline operations and slice nearly
$2 billion in costs in the face of a slowing economy.
(AP, 7/8/08)
2008 Jul 8, A German cargo ship
held captive for 41 days off the coast of Somalia was released and
all aboard were safe and unharmed. A Somali official said the
pirates received a ransom of $750,000. The Lehmann Timber was one of
two ships hijacked on May 30 off the Horn of Africa.
(AP, 7/9/08)
2008 Jul 8, Tillman Thomas,
former political detainee, returned his party to power in Grenada
after 13 years in opposition. The apparent win by the National
Democratic Congress was a stunning setback for PM Keith Mitchell's
conservative New National Party, which was seeking an unprecedented
4th consecutive term in legislative elections.
(AP, 7/9/08)
2008 Jul 8, Indian PM Manmohan
Singh's communist allies withdrew their support for his
four-year-old coalition government to protest the government's plan
to push forward with a controversial nuclear deal with the United
States. The government had gained new support from the Samajwadi
Party (SP) and submitted a draft request to the IAEA for a required
safeguards accord on July 9.
(AP, 7/8/08)(Econ, 7/12/08, p.50)
2008 Jul 8, At Developing Eight
summit of Islamic nations, meeting in Kuala Lumpur, the leaders of
Indonesia and Malaysia called for boosting world food production and
finding a permanent solution to skyrocketing oil prices, saying the
twin problems have become "grave threats" to the world economy.
(AP, 7/8/08)
2008 Jul 8, Iraq's national
security adviser said his country will not accept any security deal
with the United States unless it contains specific dates for the
withdrawal of US-led forces.
(AP, 7/8/08)
2008 Jul 8, The Israeli
military said Gaza militants fired a mortar shell into Israel in
another violation of a shaky truce.
(AP, 7/8/08)
2008 Jul 8, In Japan G8 leaders
endorsed halving world emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050. The G8
also agreed to impose targeted sanctions against leading Zimbabwean
officials after a violent election last month that extended
President Robert Mugabe's 28-year rule.
(AP, 7/8/08)
2008 Jul 8, Amos Kimunya,
Kenya’s finance minister, was forced to resign following the sale of
the Grand Regency Hotel to Libyans, without taking bids and
advertising the sale. The hotel had been confiscated from Kamlesh
Paul Pattni, a businessman alleged to have paid hundreds of millions
to individuals close to former Pres. Daniel arap Moi, for the export
of gold and diamonds that did not exist.
(Econ, 7/12/08, p.60)
2008 Jul 8, The Mexican
government said UNESCO has added a Monarch butterfly reserve in
southern Mexico to its list of World Heritage sites.
(AP, 7/8/08)
2008 Jul 8, State-media said
Myanmar's military regime has approved visas for more than 1,500
international aid workers to help victims of Cyclone Nargis, with
half of them involved in relief operations in storm-hit regions.
(AP, 7/8/08)
2008 Jul 8, In northwest
Pakistan unknown assailants fired on a vehicle carrying tribal
police forces, killing four and wounding seven.
(AP, 7/808)
2008 Jul 8, In Russia’s
Caucasus region the Interior Ministry of Kabardino-Balkaria province
said unidentified gunmen had riddled the police car with bullets in
the village of Baksan. 3 police officers were killed.
(AP, 7/8/08)
2008 Jul 8, A human rights
group said domestic workers in Saudi Arabia often suffer abuse that
in some cases amounts to slavery, as well as sexual violence and
lashings for spurious allegations of theft or witchcraft.
(AP, 7/8/08)
2008 Jul 8, In Sudan about two
hundred gunmen on horseback and in SUVs ambushed peacekeepers from a
joint UN-African Union force in the Darfur region. Five Rwandan
soldiers and two police officers, one from Ghana and the other from
Uganda, were killed in fierce gunbattles that lasted more than two
hours.
(AP, 7/9/08)
2008 Jul 8, Sudan's army
spokesman claimed Ethiopian forces had attacked a police base 17
kilometers (11 miles) inside Sudanese territory, killing 19 people,
including one police officer. Ethiopia denied the accusations.
(AFP, 7/9/08)
2008 Jul 8, In eastern Turkey
Kurdish guerrillas kidnapped three German tourists on a climbing
expedition. The Germans were released on July 20.
(AP, 7/20/08)
2009 Jul 8, In SF Philip Day
(63), former head of SF City College, was charged with 8 felonies
for using public funds for political donations and other banned
expenditures.
(SFC, 7/9/09, p.A1)
2009 Jul 8, In Chesnee, North
Carolina, Ricky Lee Blackwell shot a girl (8) twice in the driveway
of a home where he had taken her and his estranged wife to swim and
play. The girl's father was dating Blackwell's estranged wife.
Blackwell shot himself as police closed in. He was taken to a
hospital but his condition wasn't released.
(AP, 7/9/09)
2009 Jul 8, In Afghanistan a
roadside bomb attack killed two NATO soldiers.
(AP, 7/9/09)
2009 Jul 8, Australia said
Chinese authorities had detained Stern Hu, Rio Tinto Ltd's top iron
ore negotiator, as well as three other Rio employees on suspicion of
espionage and stealing state secrets, threatening to strain already
fraying ties.
(Reuters, 7/8/09)
2009 Jul 8, Australian
residents of rural Bundanoon, hoping to protect the earth and their
wallets, voted to ban the sale of bottled water, the first community
in the country, and possibly the world, to take such a drastic step
in the growing backlash against the industry.
(AP, 7/9/09)
2009 Jul 8, Azerbaijan police
arrested Adnan Hadzhizade, a video blogger and member of the "OL!"
opposition movement, and Emin Milli, a youth activist who also runs
an Internet TV program, after a fight in a Baku cafe with two
unknown men. Both were charged with hooliganism. A Baku court
decision soon ordered two months of pretrial detention for Milli and
Hadzhizade, which prompted criticism from international journalism
advocates.
(AP, 7/14/09)
2009 Jul 8, The British
government set out plans to toughen regulation of its banking
sector, including greater oversight of bonuses paid to staff.
(AFP, 7/8/09)
2009 Jul 8, British scientists
claimed to have created human sperm from embryonic stem cells for
the first time. Several critics said the sperm cells were clearly
abnormal. The paper was retracted by the end of the month because
two paragraphs in its introduction had been plagiarized. Experts
acknowledged that concerns might be raised about the study's
credibility.
(SFC, 7/9/09, p.A5)(AP, 7/31/09)
2009 Jul 8, In China hundreds
of helmeted troops in riot gear swarmed the central square of
Urumqi, capital of western Xinjiang, after ethnic riots left some
192 dead. The city's Communist Party boss promised those behind the
killings would be executed. On July 11 China said 137 of the riot
victims were Han while 46 were Uighurs and one was a Hui, another
Muslim group. Uighurs on the streets of Urumqi, and from exile
activist groups disputed the new figures.
(AP, 7/8/09)(AP, 7/11/09)(AP, 7/15/09)
2009 Jul 8, In France some 60
youths rioted outside Saint-Etienne after hearing that man had tried
to hang himself in jail. Mohamed Benmouna (21) died soon after at a
hospital.
(SFC, 7/9/09, p.A2)
2009 Jul 8, In Haiti Bill
Clinton said a lack of coordination among aid groups and Haitian
leaders is hurting efforts to ease poverty in the Caribbean nation,
as he wrapped up his first trip here as a special UN envoy.
(AP, 7/8/09)
2009 Jul 8, Indonesian
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono won a second term. Exit polls
gave him a massive lead in only the second presidential vote since
the fall of Suharto. Yudhoyono won 61% of the vote. Jusuf Kalla, his
former vice-president, won 12%. Megawati Sukarnoputri won 27%.
(AP, 7/8/09)(Econ, 9/12/09, SR p.4)
2009 Jul 8, In Iraq car bombs
in two Shiite villages near Mosul killed 16 civilians and injured
more than two dozen.
(AP, 7/10/09)
2009 Jul 8, The Irish
government said Irish voters who rejected the EU's Lisbon Treaty
last year will be asked to vote again Oct. 2 on the long-delayed
blueprint for reform.
(AP, 7/8/09)
2009 Jul 8, G8 Leaders met in
L'Aquila, Italy, for talks on threats to global security and
stability at a summit where climate change, a continuing global
economic crisis, nuclear proliferation and world hunger took top
billing.
(AP, 7/8/09)
2009 Jul 8, Protesters in
Indian Kashmir set fire to a police van and stoned other security
vehicles after the body of a missing young man was recovered in the
regional capital Srinagar.
(AFP, 7/8/09)
2009 Jul 8, Malaysian education
officials announced that they will abandon the use of English to
teach math and science, bowing to protesters who demanded more use
of the national Malay language.
(SFC, 7/9/09, p.A2)
2009 Jul 8, In Mexico
investigators found a severed head and two arms inside a plastic bag
in the of Ario de Rosales, Michoacan state.
(AP, 7/9/09)
2009 Jul 8, Nigerian MEND
militants said they blew up two key oil pipelines as they stepped up
attacks in response to a government amnesty offer.
(AFP, 7/8/09)
2009 Jul 8, In Pakistan a US
drone fired 6 missiles and killed 10 suspected militants at a
training camp about 35 kilometers northeast of Wana. At least 35
suspected militants were killed in a second US missile strike
targeting insurgents in the northwest tribal belt.
(AFP, 7/8/09)(SFC, 7/9/09, p.A4)
2009 Jul 8, Saudi officials
said a criminal court has convicted and sentenced an al-Qaida
militant to death and given more 330 others jail terms, fines and
travel bans in the country's first known terrorism trials for
suspected members of the terror network. The 330 are believed to be
among the 991 suspected militants that Interior Minister Prince
Nayef has said had been charged with participating in terrorist
attacks over the past five years.
(AP, 7/8/09)
2009 Jul 8, Somali pirates
seized a Turkish ship with 23 crew and were being shadowed by a
Turkish warship in the Gulf of Aden. The pirates first surrounded
the Horizon-1 in speed boats and then boarded the ship, which was
carrying sulfate from Saudi Arabia to Jordan.
(AP, 7/8/09)
2009 Jul 8, A senior UN
official said fighting between tribes in southern Sudan has
increasingly targeted women and children and likely killed more than
1,000 people since January.
(AP, 7/8/09)
2009 Jul 8, Switzerland's
government said it would forbid the Swiss bank UBS AG from complying
with any court-ordered transfer of data on tens of thousands of
American clients to the US government, and would consider seizing
documents to prevent that.
(AP, 7/8/09)
2010 Jul 8, Cleveland
Basketball star LeBron James said to a national TV audience. "I'm
going to take my talents to South Beach and join the Miami Heat."
Once James shared his secret, fans poured out of the same downtown
bars and restaurants that have thrived during these tough economic
times. A few set fire to his No. 23 jersey while others threw rocks
at the 10-story-tall billboard featuring James with his head tossed
back and arms pointing skyward.
(AP, 7/9/10)
2010 Jul 8, US District Court
Judge Joseph Tauro ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA),
which bars the federal government from recognizing gay marriage, is
unconstitutional.
(www.aolnews.com/tag/Joseph-Tauro/)
2010 Jul 8, In California a Los
Angeles jury found BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle guilty of
involuntary manslaughter. The verdict sparked a riot in downtown
Oakland, Ca., with at least 50-100 people arrested for smashing
windows and looting.
(SFC, 7/9/10, p.A1)
2010 Jul 8, The curator of the
Nieman Foundation at Harvard, which has offered mid-career Nieman
fellowships since 1938, said that a consular official at the US
Embassy in Bogota told him that Colombian journalist Hollman Morris
has been ruled permanently ineligible for a visa under the
"Terrorist activities" section of the USA Patriot Act. Hollman has
been highly critical of ties between illegal far-right militias and
allies of outgoing President Alvaro Uribe.
(AP, 7/8/10)
2010 Jul 8, Zap Inc., a Santa
Rosa, Ca., electric vehicle manufacturer, announced a merger with
China’s Jonway Automobile Co. Ltd. Zap Jonway will be 51% owned by
Zap.
(SFC, 7/8/10, p.D1)
2010 Jul 8, US federal
researchers said that they have identified a pair of naturally
occurring antibodies that are able to kill more than 90% of all
strains of the AIDS virus.
(SFC, 7/9/10, p.A6)
2010 Jul 8, In California
Robert de Heer (b.1923), real estate broker, died in San Rafael. He
created the Realty Bluebook, which became a standard for real estate
people nationwide. He also devised a standard purchase order, which
started with one page and grew to 7 to reflect changes in real
estate law.
(SFC, 7/10/10, p.C3)
2010 Jul 8, Dr. Thomas Peebles
(b.1921), measles researcher, died at his home in Port Charlotte,
Fla. His work in the 1950s enabled researchers to develop a vaccine
against measles.
(SFC, 8/6/10, p.C5)
2010 Jul 8, In Afghanistan two
international troops died in insurgent attacks as violence spiraled
across the country. NATO forces overnight captured a suspected
Taliban-linked supplier of bomb-making materials in Khost province.
(AP, 7/8/10)
2010 Jul 8, In Argentina some
of the most notorious figures of Argentina's "dirty war" were
convicted of kidnapping, torturing and murdering 22 people at the
beginning of the 1976-1983 military dictatorship. A judge handed
down the sentences for Gen. Luciano Menendez and former police
intelligence chief Roberto Albornoz: life in prison for crimes
against humanity committed at a secret detention center in
provincial Tucuman. Two former police officers, brothers Luis
Armando de Candido and Carlos Esteban de Candido, were sentenced to
18 and 3 years, respectively.
(AP, 7/8/10)
2010 Jul 8, Australian police
investigated the mysterious mass poisoning of seven million tomato,
eggplant and other crops which is expected to send prices soaring.
Detectives probed whether vandals or a competitor with a grudge had
put herbicide in sprinklers at a nursery near the northeastern city
of Cairns, wiping out 16 million tons of produce, mostly tomatoes.
(AFP, 7/8/10)
2010 Jul 8, A British court in
London convicted Ibrahim Savant, Arafat Waheed Khan and Waheed Zaman
of conspiracy to murder in a case linked to a 2006 plot to blow up
transatlantic jet planes.
(AFP, 7/8/10)
2010 Jul 8, Canada named David
Johnston (69), president of the University of Waterloo, to become
the country's next acting head of state, who will have the final say
in settling constitutional disputes.
(Reuters, 7/9/10)
2010 Jul 8, Chile's Supreme
Court upheld murder convictions for the dictatorship's former secret
police chief and his top agents in the 1974 assassination of Gen.
Carlos Prats and his wife. The court also reduced Manuel Contreras'
life sentence to just 20 years in prison.
(AP, 7/8/10)
2010 Jul 8, In northwest China
local authorities said floods triggered by torrential rain in a
remote part of Qinghai province have killed 25 people. According to
the China News Service, the government has recorded 483
flood-related deaths in China so far this year, with 255 people
still missing.
(AFP, 7/8/10)
2010 Jul 8, The International
Criminal Court at The Hague suspended Congolese militia chief Thomas
Lubanga's trial and rapped prosecutors for abusing court processes
and ignoring judges' orders.
(AFP, 7/9/10)
2010 Jul 8, Cuban opposition
activist Guillermo Farinas ended his 134-day hunger strike,
following signs the communist government is making good on its
promise to release 52 political prisoners. The court also reduced
Manuel Contreras' life sentence to just 20 years in prison,
reflecting a compromise between the right and left over how to
punish "dirty war" crimes.
(AP, 7/9/10)
2010 Jul 8, In France exiled
Darfur rebel leader Abdelwahid Nur announced his decision to join
peace talks brokered by Qatar.
(AFP, 7/9/10)
2010 Jul 8, In Iran at least
two people were arrested in Tehran's grand bazaar, the third day of
a major strike that has alarmed the authorities. A wave of anti-tax
strikes by merchants in Tehran unsettled government authorities.
(http://tinyurl.com/24nw65k)(SFC, 7/10/10, p.A4)
2010 Jul 8, In Iraq three
separate roadside bombings in eastern and northern Baghdad left 14
people dead and at least 63 wounded. The attacks targeted the
hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who defied violence to take part
in the final day of a Shiite religious holiday.
(AP, 7/8/10)(AP, 7/9/10)
2010 Jul 8, In Israel police
arrested overnight a pair of ultra-Orthodox Jewish men suspected of
trying to smuggle $1 million of pure cocaine into Israel from
Brazil. More than 15,000 Israelis marched into Jerusalem and rallied
at a park downtown for the government to conclude a deal for the
release of a captive soldier held by Palestinian militants.
(AP, 7/8/10)(AP, 7/9/10)
2010 Jul 8, Libya said that it
has granted some 400 Eritreans permission to stay after human rights
group warnings that refugees and asylum seekers among them risked
abuse if forcibly repatriated.
(AFP, 7/8/10)
2010 Jul 8, In Mexico 4
suspects were killed in a shootout with police in the border state
of Coahuila. 5 civilian bystanders were wounded.
(AP, 7/9/10)
2010 Jul 8, Mozambique’s
transport minister said in a report that his country will overcome a
shipping bottleneck to export its vast coal deposits by finding ways
for barges to navigate the Zambezi River.
(AFP, 7/8/10)
2010 Jul 8, In Norway 2
suspected al-Qaida members were arrested for what Norwegian and US
officials said was a terrorist plot linked to similar plans to bomb
New York's subway and blow up a shopping mall in England. A 3rd
suspect was arrested in Germany. Authorities later said the
ringleader of the plot is Mikael Davud (39), an Uighur who came to
Norway in 1999 as part of a UN refugee program and then became a
Norwegian citizen eight years later. Davud was arrested along with
suspected accomplices Shawan Sadek Saeed Bujak Bujak, an Iraqi Kurd
(37), and Uzbek national, David Jakobsen (31). Norwegian and Danish
police later said the 3 were likely planning an attack against a
Danish newspaper that caricatured the Prophet Muhammad. Jakobsen was
released on Oct 15 after prosecutors revealed that he had been a
police informant in the case. Jakobsen still faced terrorism charges
because the allegations against the group rely partly on events that
took place before he approached police last year.
(AP, 7/8/10)(AP, 8/29/10)(AP, 9/28/10)(AP,
10/15/10)
2010 Jul 8, In western Panama
striking banana plantation workers and police clashed, leaving one
man dead and 100 people hurt. A 2nd man was killed by police on July
10.
(AP, 7/8/10)(Reuters, 7/10/10)
2010 Jul 8, Rwandan authorities
arrested Agnes Uwimana, director of Umurabyo, a privately
owned newspaper, on charges of incitement, denial of the 1994
genocide and contempt of the head of state.
(AFP, 7/9/10)
2010 Jul 8, In Switzerland an
experimental solar-powered plane completed its first 24-hour test
flight successfully, proving that the aircraft can collect enough
energy from the sun during the day to stay aloft all night.
(AP, 7/8/10)
2010 Jul 8, In Uruguay 12
inmates burned to death in an overcrowded prison, just as the
country’s congress debated a law to put the army in charge of prison
security and relieve the pressure on civilian prisons by moving some
inmates into military installations.
(AP, 7/8/10)
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