Today in History - August 3
Return to home
1347 Aug 3, Six
burghers of the surrounded French city of Calais surrendered to Edward
III of England in hopes of relieving the siege.
(HN, 8/3/98)
1492 Aug 3, Christopher Columbus,
set sail from the port of Palos de la Frontera, in southern Spain
and headed for Cipangu, i.e. Japan. The voyage took him to the
present-day Americas. His squadron consisted of three small ships, the
Santa Maria, the Pinta, and the Nina. The 2nd ship was owned by
Cristóbal Quintero, and was named Pinta. The 3rd ship was owned
by Juan Niño, and was named the Santa Clara, but became known by
its nickname, the Nina.
(http://tinyurl.com/774v3)(SFEC, 8/8/99, Z1 p.8)(ON,
8/09, p.2)
1546 Aug 3, French printer Etienne
Dolet, accused of heresy, blasphemy and sedition, was hanged and burned
at the stake for printing reformist literature.
(HN, 8/3/98)
1553 Aug 3, Mary Tudor, the new
Queen of England, entered London.
(HN, 8/3/98)
1596 Aug 3, David Fabricius
discovered light variation of Mira (1st variable star).
(SC, 8/3/02)
1610 Aug 3, Henry Hudson of
England discovered a great bay on the east coast of Canada and named it
for himself.
(HN, 8/3/98)(HNQ, 7/23/00)
1667 Aug 3, Francesco Borromini
(b.1599), Italian Baroque architect and sculptor, died. He designed the
San Ivo della Sapienza church in Rome. In 2005 Jake Morrissey authored
“The Genius in the Design: Bernini, Borromini and the Rivalry that
Transformed Rome.”
(Econ, 7/25/05,
p.71)(www.bookrags.com/biography-francesco-borromini/
)
1678 Aug 3, Robert LaSalle built
the 1st ship in America, Griffon.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1692 Aug 3, French forces under
Marshal Luxembourg defeated the English at the Battle of Steenkerke in
the Netherlands.
(HN, 8/3/98)
1753 Aug 3, Charles Earl Stanhope,
radical politician, scientist, was born in England.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1804 Aug 3, US Commodore Edward
Prebble’s squadron bombarded Tripoli inflicting heavy damages on the
city.
(ON, 2/03, p.4)
1805 Aug 3, Mohammed Ali became
the new ruler of Egypt.
(HN, 8/3/98)
1807 Aug 3, Former Vice President
Aaron Burr went on trial before a federal court in Richmond, Va.,
charged with treason. He was acquitted less than a month later.
(AP, 8/3/07)
1811 Aug 3, Elisha Graves Otis
(d.1861), inventor (safe elevator), was born. The Vermont native, was a
master mechanic working at a bedstead factory in Yonkers, N.Y., when he
built a hoisting machine with two sets of metal teeth at the car’s
sides. If the lifting rope broke, the teeth would lock into place,
preventing the car from falling. Otis ever realized the potential of
his invention. His sons built the Otis Elevator Company, enabling the
skylines of cities throughout the world to be transformed with
skyscrapers.
(www.famousamericans.net/elishagravesotis/)(ON,
5/05, p.12)
1851 Aug 3, Lady Isabella Caroline
Somerset, temperance leader, was born.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1852 Aug 3, In the 1st
intercollegiate rowing race, Harvard beats Yale by 4 lengths.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1860 Aug 3, The American Canoe
Association was founded at Lake George, NY.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1863 Aug 3, Governor Seymour asked
Pres. Lincoln to suspend the draft in NY.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1863 Aug 3, Saratoga Racetrack
opened in NY.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1864 Aug 3, Federal gunboats
attacked but did not capture Fort Gains, at the mouth of Mobile Bay,
Alabama. [see Aug 4]
(HN, 8/3/98)
1867 Aug 3, Stanley Baldwin,
British Prime Minister (1923-24, 1924-29, 1935-37), was born.
(HN, 8/3/98)(SC, 8/3/02)
1871 Aug 3, Vernon Louis
Parrington, critic, educator, author (Pulitzer 1928), was born.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1872 Aug 3, Haakon VII, King of
Norway, was born in Charlottenlund, Denmark.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1881 Aug 3, US Nation Lawn Tennis
Association removed "Nation" from name.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1882 Aug 3, US Congress passed the
1st Immigration Act. The amended act banned Chinese immigration for ten
years. The Chinese Exclusion Act barred laborers from China and halted
a massive immigration of Cantonese peasants. [see 1882-1943]
(HN, 8/3/98)(SFEC, 9/20/98, Z1
p.4)(www.u-s-history.com/pages/h739.html)
1884 Aug 3, Louis Gruenberg,
composer (Daniel Jazz), was born near Brest Litovsk, Poland.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1887 Aug 3, Rupert Brooke
(d.1915), English poet who mainly wrote about World War I, was born:
"Cities, like cats, will reveal themselves at night."
(AP, 2/20/98)(HN, 8/3/98)
1900 Aug 3, Ernie Pyle (d.1945),
World War II correspondent who wrote about the common soldier, was
born. "One of the paradoxes of war is that those in the rear want to
get up into the fight, while those in the lines want to get out."
(HN, 8/3/98)(AP, 4/18/99)
1900 Aug 3, John T. Scopes,
Tennessee teacher convicted for teaching evolution, was born.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1901 Aug 3, John Stennis,
Sen-D-Miss, was born.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1902 Aug 3, Ray Block, orchestra
leader (Ed Sullivan, Jackie Gleason), was born in France.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1902 Aug 3, Habib Bourguiba, 1st
president of Tunisia, was born.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1902 Aug 3, Judson Laire, actor,
singer (Papa-Mama, Adm Broadway Revue), was born in NYC.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1905 Aug 3, Maggie Kuhn, social
activist and founder of "The Gray Panthers," was born.
(HN, 8/3/98)
1905 Aug 3, Dolores Del Rio,
actress (What Price Glory?), was born in Mexico.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1907 Aug 3, Irene Tedrow, actress
(Lucy-Dennis the Menace, Mr. Novak), was born in Denver, Colo.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1908 Aug 3, Col. Allan Allensworth
(1842-1914) filed the site plan for the first African-American town,
Allensworth, California. Allensworth had purchased 800 acres in Tulare
County along the Sante Fe rail line and planned a settlement to be
governed, financed and operated by black people. The town flourished
for a decade and then began to crumble. In 1976 it was transformed into
a 240-acre state park.
(HN, 8/3/98)(SFC, 1/8/07, p.A1)
1909 Aug 3, Walter Van Tilberg,
Western novelist, was born. He wrote "The Ox-Bow Incident."
(HN, 8/3/00)
1911 Aug 3, Airplanes were used
for the first time in a military capacity when Italian planes
reconnoitered Turkish lines near Tripoli.
(HN, 8/3/98)
1914 Aug 3, Germany invaded
Belgium and declared war on France at the onset of World War I. The
German plan for victory in France was known as the Schlieffen Plan, and
was based on a quick strike and the capture of Paris.
(HN, 8/3/98)(AP, 8/3/08)(ON, 8/08, p.5)
1914 Aug 3, German Admiral
Souchon, commander of the battle cruisers Goeben and Breslau, received
an unexpected change in his orders. After attacking the Algerian coast
he was no longer to sail west to the Atlantic Ocean. Instead, he was
now ordered to turn around and sail east to Turkey. His new mission was
to persuade the neutral Turkish government to enter the war on the side
of Germany. The 2 ships were sold to Turkey and Souchon was made
commander of the Turkish navy. He took the ships into the Black Sea,
where he bombarded the Russian cities of Odessa, Sebastopol and
Novorossiysk without the knowledge or consent of the Turkish government.
(http://www.worldwar1.com/sfgb.htm)(ON, Dec, 1995)
1916 Aug 3, Roger Casement,
knighted for his service in the Congo, was hanged at London’s
Pentonville Prison for his activities on behalf of Irish independence.
(SFEM, 8/16/98, p.12)(HN, 8/3/99)
1918 Aug 3, James MacGregor Burns,
political writer (The Lion & the Fox), was born.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1920 Aug 3, P.D. James (Phyllis
Dorothy James), British mystery writer, was born.
(HN, 8/3/00)
1920 Aug 3, Maria Karnilova,
actress (Olga-Ivan the Terrible), was born in Hartford, Ct.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1921 Aug 3, Hayden Carruth,
novelist (Crow & Heart), was born in Waterbury, Ct.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1921 Aug 3, Marilyn Maxwell,
actress (East of Sumatra), was born.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1921 Aug 3, Baseball commissioner
Kenesaw Mountain Landis refused to reinstate the former Chicago White
Sox players implicated in the "Black Sox" scandal, despite their
acquittals on a technicality in a jury trial.
(AP, 8/3/01)(SC, 8/3/02)
1921 Aug 3, The 1st aerial crop
dusting was in Troy, Ohio, to kill caterpillars.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1923 Aug 3, Anne Klein, fashion
designer (Anne Klein II), was born.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1923 Aug 3, Calvin Coolidge was
sworn in as the 30th president of the United States, following the
death of Warren G. Harding. It took several hours for the news of
President Warren G. Harding's death in California to reach the small
town of Plymouth, Vermont, where he was enjoying a short vacation, but
by 2 a.m., Coolidge was told that Harding was dead. Traditionally, the
president is sworn in by the chief justice of the Supreme Court--but he
slept 500 miles away. At 2:30 a.m. on August 3, 1923, Coolidge's
father, a notary public, administered the oath of office to his son by
the light of a kerosene lamp.
(AP, 8/3/97)(HNPD, 8/3/98)
1924 Aug 3, Leon Uris, writer, was
born. His works included "Battle Cry" and "Exodus."
(HN, 8/3/00)
1924 Aug 3, Joseph Conrad
(b.1857), Ukraine-born and Poland-raised novelist (Jozef Teodor Konrad
Korzeniowski), died in England. In 2008 Jim Stape authored “The Several
Lives of Joseph Conrad.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Conrad)
1926 Aug 3, Tony Bennett, singer,
was born in Queens, NY.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1927 Aug 3, Gordon Scott, actor
(Tarzan & the Trappers), was born in Portland, Oregon.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1927 Aug 3, Members of the West
Virginia Univ. Botanical Expedition on a trip to Peters Mountain in
Virginia, found wildflowers that were related to the Kankakee mallow,
and named it the Peters Mountain mallow. [see 1872]
(Nat. Hist., 3/96, p.57-58)
1928 Aug 3, Ray Barbuti saved the
US team from defeat in Amsterdam Olympics track events by winning 400 m
(47.8 sec).
(SC, 8/3/02)
1929 Aug 3, Bethel Leslie,
entertainer (Capt Newman MD, Rabbit Trap), was born in NYC.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1930 Aug 3, James Komack, writer,
director, actor (Courtship of Eddie's Father), was born in NYC.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1931 Aug 3, Alex Cord, actor
(Brotherhood, Fire, Street Asylum), was born.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1935 Aug 3, Richard D. Lamm,
Gov-D-Colo, was born.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1935 Aug 3, Georgi S. Shonin,
cosmonaut (Soyuz 6), was born.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1936 Aug 3, The State Department
urged Americans in Spain to leave because of that country's civil war.
(AP, 8/3/97)
1938 Aug 3, George Memmoli, actor
(Earl-Hello Larry), was born in NYC.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1938 Aug 3, Terry "5 Wigs" Wogan,
British talk show host (Irish Days), was born.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1940 Aug 3, John W. Carlin,
Gov-D-KS, was born.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1940 Aug 3, Martin Sheen, actor
(Subject Was Roses, Wall St), was born.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1940 Aug 3, The Supreme Soviet
officially registered the acceptance of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania
into the USSR.
(SC,
8/3/02)(www.historycommission.ee/temp/conclusions_frame.htm)
1941 Aug 3, Beverly Lee, singer
(Shirelles-Soldier Boy), was born in Passaic, NJ.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1941 Aug 3, Martha Stewart,
cookbook author, actress (Those Two), was born.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1943 Aug 3, Gen. George S. Patton
slapped a private at an army hospital in Sicily, accusing him of
cowardice. Patton was later ordered by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower to
apologize for this and a second, similar episode.
(AP, 8/3/97)
1945 Aug 3, Ron Hendren, TV host
(Entertainment Tonight), was born in Pinehurst, NC.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1945 Aug 3, Chinese troops under
American General Joseph Stilwell took the town of Myitkyina from the
Japanese.
(HN, 8/3/98)
1948 Aug 3, Whittaker Chambers, an
editor for Time Magazine and a former Communist, told a hearing of the
House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) that he was a courier of
stolen government documents in a Communist espionage operation during
the 1930s, some of which were supplied by Alger Hiss. He publicly
accused former State Department official Alger Hiss of having been part
of a Communist underground, a charge Hiss denied.
(SFC, 11/16/96, p.A3)(AP, 8/3/97)
1949 Aug 3, The US Congress
approved the celebration of Flag Day. Presidents had tried since 1916
to establish a national observance to show respect for the flag. It was
President Truman who signed it into law, finally, establishing June
14th as Flag Day.
(http://www1.va.gov/opa/feature/celebrate/flagday.asp)
1949 Aug 3, The Basketball
Association of America and the National Basketball League merged to
form the National Basketball Association.
(AP, 8/3/97)
1950 Aug 3, John Landis, American
film director, was born.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Landis)
1950 Aug 3, A US Military
Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) of 35 men arrives in Saigon. By the
end of the year, the US was bearing half of the cost of France's war
effort in Vietnam. Pres. Truman gave military aid to the Vietnamese
regime of Bao-Dai.
(www.oakton.edu/user/~wittman/chronol.htm)
1950 Aug 3, In South Korea Maj.
Gen'l. Hobart R. Gay ordered the demolition of the Waegwan Bridge over
the Naktong River to prevent enemy crossings. The bridge was filled
with refugees. 25 miles down river the 650-foot long Tuksong-dong
bridge was also destroyed as refugees crossed.
(SFC, 10/14/99, p.A6)
1951 Aug 3, Frank Pace, Jr.,
Secretary of the Army, announced that 90 cadets of the United States
Military Academy at West Point, NY, were to be expelled for cheating
during examinations. Many of them were on the football team. In 1996
James Blackwell authored “On Brave Old Army Team: Cheating Scandal That
Rocked the Country - West Point, 1951.”
(www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/print.php?pid=13874)(http://tinyurl.com/yfw7u3)
1952 Aug 3, Jay North, actor
(Dennis the Menace, Maya), was born in North Hollywood, Calif.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1952 Aug 3, The 15th Olympic Games
concluded in Helsinki. US competitors won 40 gold medals.
(SFC, 8/2/02, p.E4)(SC, 8/3/02)
1953 Aug 3, Ian Bairnson,
guitarist (Alan Parsons Project, Pilot), was born in Shetland Isles,
Scotland.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1953 Aug 3, Pres. Eisenhower
created the US Information Agency to communicate with foreign nations
and counter Soviet propaganda. "The USIA explains and supports American
foreign policy and promotes US national interests through a wide range
of overseas information programs." Theodore Streibert served as its
first director. The agency was dissolved in 1999. In 2008 Nicholas J.
Cull authored “The Cold War and the United States Information Agency.”
(WSJ, 7/23/08,
p.A13)(http://dosfan.lib.uic.edu/usia/abtusia/commins.pdf)
1953 Aug 3, Frank Blair became the
news anchor of the Today Show.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1954 Aug 3, The 1st VTOL (Vertical
Take-off & Land) aircraft was flown.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1954 Aug 3, Sidonie Gabrielle
Colette (b.1873), French actress, librettist, novelist (Claudine) and
critic, died. Her novels included "Le Ble en herbe" (The Ripening Seed)
and "Julie de Carneilhan (1941). In 1999 Judith Thurman authored
"Secrets of the Flesh," a biography of Colette.
(WSJ, 10/14/99, p.A24)(SC, 8/3/02)
1955 Aug 3, Automobile Association
of America ended support of auto racing.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1955 Aug 3, Hurricane Connie began
pounding US for 11 days.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1956 Aug 3, Kirk Brandon, rocker
(Theatre of Hate, Spear of Destiny-Outland), was born.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1958 Aug 3, The nuclear-powered
submarine USS Nautilus became the first vessel to cross the North Pole
underwater.
(AP, 8/3/97)(HN, 8/3/98)
1959 Aug 3, Victoria Jackson,
actress (Casual Sex, SNL), was born in Miami, Fla.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1960 Aug 3, Niger gained
independence from France. Hamani Diori was president.
(SFC, 8/9/97, p.A12)(SC, 8/3/02)(EWH, 1st ed.,
p.1170)
1961 Aug 3, Britain’s Parliament
adopted the Suicide Act of 1961, which decriminalized suicide in the
UK, but made assisting one punishable by up to 14 years in jail.
(Econ, 6/6/09,
p.55)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_Act_1961)
1963 Aug 3, James Hetfield, heavy
metal rocker (Metallica-Helpless), was born.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1963 Aug 3, Carlo Imperato, actor
(Fame), was born in Bronx, NYC.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1963 Aug 3, Allan Sherman released
"Hello Mudda, Hello Fadda."
(SC, 8/3/02)
1963 Aug 3, Beatles made a final
performance the Cavern Club in Liverpool.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1966 Aug 3, Lenny Bruce (b.1925),
stand up comic, died at his home in Hollywood, Ca., from a morphine
overdose.
(WSJ, 5/29/03,
p.D8)(www.fadetoblack.com/foi/lennybruce/bio.htm)
1967 Aug 3, John Femia, actor
(Square Pegs, Hello Larry), was born in Brooklyn, NY.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1967 Aug 3, President Lyndon B.
Johnson announced plans to send 45,000 more troops to Vietnam.
(HN, 8/3/98)
1970 Aug 3, A 4-day NFL strike
ended when the owners agreed to put $4.5 million into the players'
pension fund and insurance benefits annually. The players also received
increased preseason and per diem payments.
(www.buffalobills.com/team/history/important-dates-august.html)
1970 Aug 3, Hurricane "Celia"
reached its peak as it made landfall near Corpus Christi, Texas, as a
strong Category Three hurricane.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Celia)
1971 Aug 3, Paul McCartney
announced the formation of his group Wings.
(www.rockhall.com/inductee/paul-mccartney)
1972 Aug 3, The US Senate ratified
the Anti Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM treaty). It banned the
construction of systems to defend against ballistic missile attacks. It
had been signed in Moscow on May 26 and entered into force on October 3.
(SFC, 10/18/99, p.A5)(www.fas.org/nuke/control/abmt/)
1974 Aug 3, Jenny Beck, TV and
film actress, was born.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenny_Beck_(actress))
1975 Aug 3, The Louisiana
Superdome was dedicated.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_Superdome)
1976 Aug 3, Valeri Sablin, Soviet
Navy officer, was executed for mutiny. He was a character in the
1990 Hollywood film “Hunt for Red October.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valery_Sablin)
1977 Aug 3, Radio Shack issued a
press release introducing the TRS-80 computer. 25 existed and within
weeks thousands were ordered.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRS-80)
1977 Aug 3, Archbishop Makarios
(b.1913), president of Cyprus, died.
(SFC, 3/13/02,
p.A26)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makarios)
1979 Aug 3, INS inspectors at the
SF Int’l. Airport stopped 2 male Mexican nationals because their bags
contained cosmetics. The INS soon issued a new directive temporarily
halting its agents from turning back foreign visitors suspected of
being homosexuals.
(SFC, 8/13/04, p.F4)
1980 Aug 3, Closing ceremonies
were held in Moscow for the 1980 Summer Olympic Games, which had been
boycotted by dozens of countries, including the United States.
(AP, 8/3/00)
1981 Aug 3, US air traffic
controllers (PATCO) went on strike, despite a warning from President
Reagan they would be fired. Most of the 13,000 controllers defied
Reagan’s order to return to work within 48 hours and were fired.
(AP, 8/3/02)(SFC, 10/4/02, p.A17)
1983 Aug 3, Carolyn Jones
(b.1930), actress, died. She is best remembered for playing the role of
Morticia Addams in the classic TV Series The Addams Family.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolyn_Jones)
1987 Aug 3, The Iran-Contra
congressional hearings ended, with none of the 29 witnesses tying
President Reagan directly to the diversion of arms-sales profits to
Nicaraguan rebels.
(AP, 8/3/97)
1988 Aug 3, The Soviet Union
released Mathias Rust, the West German who landed a small plane in
Moscow's Red Square in May 1987.
(AP, 8/3/97)
1989 Aug 3, Shiite Muslim
kidnappers in Lebanon suspended their threat to execute another
American hostage, three days after the purported hanging of Lt. Col.
William R. Higgins.
(AP, 8/2/99)
1989 Aug 3, Hashemi Rafsanjani was
sworn in as president of Iran.
(AP, 8/3/99)
1990 Aug 3, US announced the
commitment of Naval forces to Gulf regions.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1990 Aug 3, Radio Kuwait went off
the air due to the Iraqi invasion.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1990 Aug 3, A day after Iraq
invaded Kuwait, thousands of Iraqi soldiers pushed to within a few
miles of the border with Saudi Arabia, heightening world concerns that
the invasion could spread.
(AP, 8/3/00)
1991 Aug 3, The Pan Am games
opened in Havana.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1991 Aug 3, US Secretary of State
James A. Baker III met with King Hassan the Second of Morocco. Baker
asked the monarch for his help in gaining Palestinian participation in
a Middle East peace conference.
(AP, 8/3/01)
1992 Aug 3, The US Senate voted to
sharply restrict and eventually end U.S. testing of nuclear weapons.
(AP, 8/3/97)
1992 Aug 3, Millions of South
African blacks joined a nationwide strike against white-led rule.
(AP, 8/3/97)
1993 Aug 3, The US Senate voted
96-3 to confirm Supreme Court nominee Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
(AP, 8/3/98)
1993 Aug 3, James Jordan, the
father of basketball star Michael Jordan, was found dead in a South
Carolina creek, 11 days after he was slain; his remains were not
identified until Aug. 13.
(AP, 8/3/98)
1994 Aug 3, President Clinton told
a prime-time news conference he would sign either of two Democratic
health care plans before Congress.
(AP, 8/2/99)
1994 Aug 3, Stephen G. Breyer was
sworn in as the US Supreme Court's newest justice in a private ceremony
at Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist's Vermont summer home.
(AP, 8/3/97)
1994 Aug 3, Arkansas carried out
the nation's first triple execution in 32 years.
(AP, 8/2/99)
1995 Aug 3, Wisconsin Gov. Tommy
Thompson announced an end to welfare offices in the state at the site
of a new jobs center in Racine.
(SFC, 9/1/97, p.A3)
1995 Aug 3, A Palestinian, Eyad
Ismoil, was flown to the United States from Jordan to face charges he’d
driven a bomb-laden van into New York’s World Trade Center. The 1993
explosion killed six people and injured more than one-thousand; Ismoil
is serving a life sentence.
(AP, 8/3/00)
1996 Aug 3, At the Atlanta
Olympics, the U.S. men's 400-meter relay, without Carl Lewis, failed to
win the gold medal, finishing behind Canada. The American women's 400
and 1,600 relay teams, and the men's 1,600, all won gold. The U.S.
men's basketball team beat Yugoslavia 95-69 to win the gold.
(AP, 8/3/97)
1996 Aug 3-4, In Malaysia there
was a nationwide power blackout that lasted 16 hours in some areas.
(WSJ, 8/9/96, p.A5c)
1996 Aug 3-4, Sri Lanka’s military
said it killed some 200 Tamil separatist rebels in a weekend battle.
Rebels said 100 government soldiers were killed. Both sides denied the
others claims.
(WSJ, 8/6/96, p.A1)
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, 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)
1998 Aug 3, The White House played
down the possibility that President Clinton would reverse previous
statements and admit to a sexual relationship with former White House
intern Monica Lewinsky when he testified before a grand jury.
(AP, 8/2/99)
1998 Aug 3, Lucky Stores and
Albertson’s announced a merger creating the largest supermarket chain
in the US.
(SFC, 8/4/98, p.A1)
1998 Aug 3, It was reported that
the US prison population grew 5.2% to 1,244,554 in 1997.
(WSJ, 8/3/98, p.A1)
1998 Aug 3, US researchers
announced the discovery of a number of new species on the island of
Navassa, a US territory of 2 sq. miles in the Greater Antilles, 40
miles west of Haiti.
(SFC, 8/4/98, p.A3)
1998 Aug 3, The Oregon coastal
Coho salmon were listed by the federal government as a Threatened
species.
(SFC, 8/4/98, p.A7)
1998 Aug 3, Soviet composer Alfred
Schnittke (63) died in Germany. The Kronos Quartet released a 2-disk
recording "Alfred Schnittke: The Complete String Quartets" just weeks
before his death.
(WSJ, 8/4/98, p.A1)(SFEC, 10/18/98, DB p.49)
1998 Aug 3, In Austria Hermann
Nitsch (b.1938) ignored animal rights protestors and began a 6-day
festival during which he planned to kill pigs and bulls and paint
pictures with their blood. This was his 100th such performance (named
the 6-Day Play after its length) and it took place at his castle,
Schloss Prinzendorf.
(SFC, 8/4/98,
p.E3)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Nitsch)
1998 Aug 3, In Congo rebellious
troops seized control of several cities. Sylvain Mbuchi, claimed to be
the rebel leader and announced that the military had decided to remove
Kabila from power. Kabila last week ordered Rwandan and Tutsi troops to
leave Congo.
(SFC, 8/4/98, p.A8)(WSJ, 8/4/98, p.A1)
1998 Aug 3, In India 34 villagers
were killed in Himachal Pradesh state.
(SFC, 8/4/98, p.A12)
1998 Aug 3, In Northern Ireland
Protestant marchers and Catholic residents compromised on the Aug 8
Apprentice Boys parade scheduled in Londonderry.
(SFC, 8/4/98, p.A12)
1998 Aug 3, It was reported that
Mexico’s bill for preventing the collapse of its banking system in 1995
was up to $65 billion.
(SFC, 8/3/98, p.A1)
1998 Aug 3, In Rwanda Hutu rebels
massacred at least 104 civilians over the weekend.
(SFC, 8/4/98, p.A12)
1998 Aug 3, Serb forces overran 2
more ethnic Albanian strongholds.
(SFC, 8/4/98, p.A8)
1998 Aug 3, In Sudan the
government declared a unilateral cease-fire.
(SFC, 8/4/98, p.A12)
1998 Aug 3, The UN approved plans
for a NATO action in Kosovo to counter the Serb offensive.
(WSJ, 8/4/98, p.A1)
1999 Aug 3, The new Talk Magazine,
a Hearst publication, hit the newsstands under Tina Brown, editor-in
chief, and Ron Galotti, publisher.
(SFC, 8/3/99, p.A7)(SFC, 8/7/99, p.A9)
1999 Aug 3, Congressional
Republicans, shrugging off a presidential veto threat, nailed down the
details of an agreement for a ten-year, $792 billion tax cut.
(AP, 8/3/00)
1999 Aug 3, Arbitrators ruled the
government had to pay the heirs of Dallas dressmaker Abraham Zapruder
$16 million for his movie film that captured the assassination of
President Kennedy.
(AP, 8/3/00)
1999 Aug 3, It was reported that
scientists had identified the gene, ABC1, that regulates the body's
good cholesterol, HDL.
(SFC, 8/3/99, p.A6)
1999 Aug 3, Richard Olney, writer
on French cooking, died in France at age 71. His autobiography
"Reflexions" was due for publishing in Oct.
(SFC, 8/4/99, p.C2)
1999 Aug 3, In Colombia fighting
died down in Currulao with 15 FARC rebels and one soldier dead. 2
Pentecostal pastors were reported killed near Lejanias.
(SFC, 8/4/99, p.A9)
1999 Aug 3, In Indonesia Pres.
Habibie validated the June 7 election results.
(WSJ, 8/4/99, p.A1)
1999 Aug 3, An Iraqi military
doctor, who had defected to Jordan, reported that 400 Iraqi dissidents,
wounded in recent clashes with security forces, were executed. Maj.
Saad Khazal Jabbar said 120 people were killed in the anti-government
riots in Baghdad.
(SFC, 8/5/99, p.A14)
1999 Aug 3, Three days of rain in
the Manila area left 33 dead. In South Korea 57 people died or were
missing from Monsoon rains. In Vietnam 24 were dead and at least 5 died
in Thailand. Numerous people were left homeless and many were missing.
(SFC, 8/4/99, p.A8)(WSJ, 8/4/99, p.A1)
1999 Aug 3, In Turkey Abdulah
Ocalan called on the PKK to abandon its armed struggle and pull forces
out of Turkey by Sept. 1.
(SFC, 8/4/99, p.A1)
2000 Aug 3, George W. Bush
accepted the Republican presidential nomination at the party’s
convention in Philadelphia with a 52 minute speech He presented himself
as an outsider who would return "civility and respect" to Washington
politics.
(SFC, 8/4/00, p.A1)(AP, 8/3/01)
2000 Aug 3, It was reported that
scientists had developed the genetic blueprint of the cholera bacterium.
(SFC, 8/3/00, p.A10)
2000 Aug 3, Canadian sailors
dropped from helicopters and took over the GTS Katie, a private
American freighter, that held 3 Canadian soldiers and $250 million in
military equipment that was being returned from Kosovo. The freighter
had refused to dock over a payment dispute.
(SFC, 8/4/00, p.A17)
2000 Aug 3, In Indonesia
prosecutors charged former Pres. Suharto with corruption for allegedly
skimming $750 million in public funds from charities under his control.
(SFC, 8/4/00, p.D3)
2000 Aug 3, In Sri Lanka the
government presented rebels with a new constitution that offered
autonomy to minority Tamils. Ramil Wickremesinghe, opposition United
National Party leader, rejected the offer.
(SFC, 8/4/00, p.D3)(SFC, 8/5/00, p.A11)
2001 Aug 3, In Chicago an elevated
commuter train rear-ended another and over 140 people were injured.
(SFC, 8/4/01, p.A3)
2001 Aug 3, Banamex was acquired
by Citigroup in a $12.5 billion deal.
(SFC, 8/9/01, p.A9)
2001 Aug 3, Christopher Hewett
(b.1922), British theater, film and TV Actor, died in LA, Ca. He was
best known for his role as Mr. Lynn Belvedere on the ABC sitcom Mr.
Belvedere. He also portrayed Mr. Roarke's sidekick Lawrence on the
final season of the original Fantasy Island, and the effeminate stage
director Roger DeBris in Mel Brooks's classic 1968 film comedy The
Producers.
(AP,
8/3/06)(www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Christopher_Hewett)
2001 Aug 3, Yasser Arafat’s news
agency called for a halt to armed attacks against Israel.
(SFC, 8/4/01, p.A6)
2001 Aug 3, Kim Jong Il arrived in
Moscow following 9-day train ride from North Korea.
(SFC, 8/4/01, p.A10)
2001 Aug 3, Russia freed John E.
Tobin Jr. (24), a US Fulbright scholar. Tobin had spent 6 months in
jail, half of one-year drug sentence, on a marijuana conviction that he
claimed was set up.
(SFC, 8/4/01, p.A6)(AP, 8/3/02)
2001 Aug 3, In Thailand the
Constitutional Court acquitted PM Thaksin Shinawatra of corruption
charges.
(SFC, 8/4/01, p.A7)
2002 Aug 3, The American
Service-Members' Protection Act (ASPA), a United States federal law
introduced by US Senator Jesse Helms as an amendment to the National
Defense Authorization Act, was passed by Congress. The stated purpose
of the amendment was "to protect United States military personnel and
other elected and appointed officials of the United States government
against criminal prosecution by an international criminal court to
which the United States is not party." It became known as the “Hague
invasion act.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Servicemembers%27_Protection_Act)(Econ,
3/7/09, p.67)
2002 Aug 3, Barbara Jean Laney
(67), former model and actress (TV’s Sky King), was beaten, strangled
and stabbed to death at her Bradenton, Florida, condo. In 2006 Gary
Michael Cloud (49) was sentenced to life in prison for her murder.
(SSFC, 7/30/06, p.A3)(http://tinyurl.com/hosx8)
2002 Aug 3, In Indonesia some
5,000 Muslims marched peacefully through Jakarta, calling for the
nationwide imposition of Shariah, or Islamic law, to rescue the country
from its many ills.
(AP, 8/3/02)
2002 Aug 3, In Londonderry,
Northern Ireland, Catholic mail carriers went on strike, over fears
they could be targeted in revenge for the latest killing of a local
Protestant. Chris Whitson (20), a Catholic, was pummeled outside of
Kelly's nightclub in Belfast. He died Aug 13.
(AP, 8/3/02)(AP, 8/13/02)
2002 Aug 3, North and South Korea
opened a fresh round of talks amid moves by the communist North to
improve ties with the United States and Japan and revitalize its
faltering economy.
(AP, 8/3/02)
2002 Aug 3, In Nigeria amid
political wrangling and fears of violence, President Olusegun Obasanjo
said nationwide municipal elections would be postponed for the second
time in six months.
(AP, 8/3/02)
2002 Aug 3, Philippine troops
captured seven suspected members of the Muslim Abu Sayyaf guerrilla
group said to be linked to al Qaeda.
(AP, 8/4/02)
2002 Aug 3, Taiwanese President
Chen Shui-bian declared in a speech that Taiwan was "not someone else's
province" but rather an independent country separate from China. Chen's
comments sparked an uproar both in China and at home, prompting him to
back away from his pointed rhetoric.
(AP, 8/3/03)
2002 Aug 3, Turkey's parliament
approved a reform package aimed at boosting its chances of joining the
European Union by abolishing the death penalty and granting greater
rights to the nation's Kurds.
(AP, 8/3/02)
2003 Aug 3, Hank Stram, Marcus
Allen, James Lofton, Elvin Bethea and Joe DeLamielleure were inducted
into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
(AP, 8/3/08)
2003 Aug 3, The Episcopal Church's
House of Deputies further paved the way for the Rev. V. Gene Robinson
to become the church's first openly gay elected bishop, approving him
on a 2-1 vote.
(AP, 8/5/04)
2003 Aug 3, As of this day 249
U.S. soldiers have died since the beginning of military operations in
Iraq.
(AP, 8/4/03)
2003 Aug 3, Fires in Flathead Ct.,
Montana, covered over 23,000 acres and into the edge of Glacier
National Park. Tow other fires burned nearby.
(SSFC, 8/3/03, p.A13)
2003 Aug 3, Dr. Pater Safar (79),
regarded as the father of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (cpr), died in
Pittsburgh, Pa.
(SFC, 8/5/03, p.A1)
2003 Aug 3, Annika Sorenstam
completed a career Grand Slam at the Women's British Open, beating Se
Ri Pak by a stroke in a thrilling head-to-head showdown.
(AP, 8/3/08)
2003 Aug 3, In western India 3
buildings collapsed when a cooking gas cylinder exploded, killing at
least 43 people and injuring 39.
(AP, 8/4/03)
2003 Aug 3, In northern Pakistan
dynamite used for building a water channel blew up in a village,
killing at least 45 people and injuring 150 others.
(AP, 8/3/03)
2003 Aug 3, The worst wildfires in
20 years raged across central Portugal, killing at least nine people.
(AP, 8/4/03)
2003 Aug 3, It was reported that
the economic crises in Zimbabwe has led to corpses being stacked up
because relatives could not afford burial costs.
(SSFC, 8/3/03, p.A16)
2004 Aug 3, Homeland Security
Secretary Tom Ridge defended the decision to tighten security in New
York and Washington even though the intelligence behind the latest
terror warnings was as much as four years old.
(AP, 8/3/05)
2004 Aug 3, The Statue of Liberty
pedestal in New York City reopened to the public for the first time
since the Sept. 11 attacks.
(AP, 8/3/05)
2004 Aug 3, At Cape Canaveral,
Fla., a Delta II rocket lifted the spacecraft Messenger on a 6 ½
year journey toward Mercury. The name stood for Mercury Surface, Space
Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging.
(SFC, 8/4/04, p.A2)(Econ, 7/24/04, p.74)
2004 Aug
3, Missouri voters solidly endorsed a state constitutional amendment
banning gay marriage. The Democratic primary endorsed Auditor Claire
McCaskill (51) over Gov. Bob Holden.
(AP, 8/4/03)(SFC, 8/4/04, p.A2)
2004 Aug 3, In London 13 Asian men
were arrested. One known as Moussa (or al-Hindi) was later said to be
the head of al-Qaeda in Britain.
(Econ, 8/7/04, p.46)
2004 Aug
3, A car bomb planted by suspected Colombian rebels ripped apart three
passing police vehicles, killing nine officers.
(AP, 8/4/03)
2004 Aug 3, Henri Cartier-Bresson
(95), French photographer of the decisive moment, died. In 2005 Pierre
Assouline authored “Henri Cartier-Bresson: A Biography.”
(WSJ, 8/5/04, p.A1)(Econ, 8/7/04, p.67)(Econ,
9/3/05, p.75)
2004 Aug
3, Fierce gunbattles broke out between Iraqi police and dozens of
masked militants roaming the northern city of Mosul, killing 12 Iraqis
and wounding 26 others.
(AP, 8/4/03)
2004 Aug
3, A Sudanese official and Arab tribal leader said rebels masquerading
as Arab militia have killed 28 Arab tribesman in attacks in western
Sudan over the last week.
(AP, 8/4/03)
2005 Aug 3, Luis Diaz (67), a
Florida man who spent 26 years in prison on rape charges, was released
after a judge exonerated him because new DNA evidence cast doubts on
his guilt. Authorities believed at the time the former cook was Miami's
infamous "Bird Road rapist" blamed for attacks on at least 25 women
between 1977 and 1979.
(AFP, 8/3/05)
2005 Aug 3, The FBI raided the
Maryland residence of Nigerian Vice President Atiku Abubakar as part of
a probe into whether a US congressman made or approved payments to
officials in West Africa.
(AP, 8/28/05)
2005 Aug 3, NASA astronaut Steve
Robinson successfully pulled 2 protruding gap fillers from the
underside of the shuttle Discovery.
(SFC, 8/4/05, p.A3)
2005 Aug 3, Some 2,000 Afghan
security forces rushed to an eastern province after dozens of suspected
Taliban rebels wearing army uniforms killed 8 police and soldiers in an
attack on a region that has been largely peaceful in recent months.
(AP, 8/3/05)
2005 Aug 3, British police charged
Ismael Abdurahman (23) of South London, arrested on July 28, on an
offense relating to terrorism.
(SFC, 8/4/05, p.A10)
2005 Aug 3, In Canada 43 of 140
train cars left the tracks at Wabamun, Alberta. Some of the cars
contained bunker fuel oil, used in liquid asphalt and to power barges
and ships. 15 of those cars, as well as a car full of lubricating oil,
began to leak into Wabamun lake.
(CP, 8/5/05)
2005 Aug 3, China's UN ambassador
said the US and China have agreed to work together to block a plan to
expand the powerful UN Security Council.
(AP, 8/3/05)
2005 Aug 3, German shoemaker
Adidas-Salomon AG said it will buy Reebok for $3.8 billion, giving the
company about 20 percent of the US market and the potential to better
challenge leader Nike Inc. on its home turf.
(AP, 8/3/05)
2005 Aug 3, An Iraqi Airways plane
landed at Istanbul airport and then took off again for Baghdad,
inaugurating its Iraq-Turkey route after a 14-year hiatus.
(AP, 8/4/05)
2005 Aug 3, About 1,000 U.S.
Marines and Iraqi forces launched attacks in western Iraq in operation
Quick Strike, aimed at disrupting insurgents and foreign fighters in
the Euphrates River valley. A Marine amphibious assault vehicle on
patrol during combat operations near the Syrian border hit a roadside
bomb. 14 Marines and a civilian interpreter were killed. A US Marine
was killed by small-arms fire in Ramadi.
(AP, 8/3/05)(AP, 8/4/05)(AP, 8/5/05)
2005 Aug 3, A group of Mauritanian
army officers, including Colonel Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz, announced the
overthrow of Pres. Maaouiya Ould Taya. The Military Council for Justice
and Democracy named Col. Ely Mohammed Vall as temporary leader. Vall
installed 17-member ruling junta and a 24-member cabinet of technocrats
to govern the country. The junta promised to create true democratic
institutions after a 2-year transitional period. A quick return to calm
indicated acceptance of Taya's bloodless overthrow. The UN and EU
denounced the coup and Washington called for Taya to be restored to
power.
(AP, 8/3/05)(AP, 8/5/05)(WSJ, 8/5/05, p.A7)(WSJ,
3/1/06, p.A7)(Econ, 8/16/08, p.50)
2005 Aug 3, Dutch authorities
seized 5 tons of cocaine, valued at $275 million, hidden in reels of
steel cable in the Port of Rotterdam in what was described as one of
the country's biggest drug busts. 13 suspects (aged 15-50) from the
Netherlands, Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico, Greece and the US, were
arrested later.
(AP, 9/5/05)
2005 Aug 3, UN agencies increased
their appeals to a total of $75 million to help 2.5 million people in
desperate need of food in Niger.
(AP, 8/4/05)
2005 Aug 3, Islamic Jihad, a major
Palestinian militant group, declared that it would fire no more rockets
at Israelis through Israel's planned Gaza Strip withdrawal, after a
deadly barrage inadvertently killed a 5-year-old Palestinian boy.
(AP, 8/3/05)
2005 Aug 3, Southern Sudanese
Arabs fled Juba after ethnic Africans angered by the death of their
popular rebel leader went on a two-day rampage, chasing Arabs in the
street and burning Arab shops and homes. At least 18 people were
killed. Northern and southern Sudanese leaders called for calm during a
third day of clashes in the capital that have killed at least 84 people
since the death of former southern rebel John Garang. Sudanese
President Omar al-Beshir announced the launch of a committee to probe
the death of vice president John Garang.
(AP-Reuters, 8/3/05)
2005 Aug 3, Suriname's president
Ronald Venetiaan easily won re-election in a vote by an assembly of
regional councils, ending a heated battle that had left the South
American country's leadership in limbo for more than two months.
(AP, 8/3/05)
2005 Aug 3, According to Amnesty
International 2 Yemeni men said they were held in solitary confinement
in secret, underground US detention facilities in an unknown country
and interrogated by masked men for more than 18 months without being
charged or allowed any contact with the outside world.
(AP, 8/4/05)
2006 Aug 3, US authorities
confirmed at least 25 deaths in 9 states from the heat wave that set in
on July 30.
(SFC, 8/4/06, p.A3)
2006 Aug 3, In Phoenix, Ariz.,
Dale S. Hausner (33) and Samuel John Dieteman (30), accused of shooting
two dozen people, including six fatally, were arrested after police
tailed them for a week. In 2009 Hausner was convicted of 6 murders. In
2009 Dieteman was sentenced to life in prison for random shootings in
the Phoenix area in 2005 and 2006.
(AP, 8/5/06)(WSJ, 3/28/09, p.A2)(SFC, 7/30/09, p.A4)
2006 Aug 3, Arthur Lee (61), rock
pioneer, died in Memphis. He fronted the band Love and established
himself as the 1st black rock star in the post Beatle’s era. The
group’s debut album, “Love,” was the 1st rock record released by
Electra Records.
(SSFC, 8/6/06, p.B6)
2006 Aug 3, Afghanistan's
government ordered around 1,500 South Korean Christians who came to the
Islamic republic for a "peace festival" to leave the country. The
US-led coalition killed 25 Taliban fighters in a joint operation with
Afghan forces in the country's south. A gunbattle near the capital
killed one militant. A suspected Taliban suicide car bomber killed 21
civilians and wounded 13 at a bazaar in Panjwayi. On the outskirts of
Kandahar city militant attacks killed 4 Canadian soldiers and wounded
another 10.
(AFP, 8/3/06)(AP, 8/4/06)
2006 Aug 3, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
(90), German-born opera soprano, died in Schrums, Austria.
(SFC, 8/4/06, p.B9)(Econ, 8/12/06, p.72)
2006 Aug 3, In Brazil officials
said authorities are evicting thousands of peasants who have been
ordered off ranches in northern Brazil by a court ruling obtained by
the land owners.
(AP, 8/3/06)
2006 Aug 3, More than 230,000
customers in Ontario and Quebec were without power following a series
of violent thunderstorms over the past couple of days.
(AP, 8/3/06)
2006 Aug 3, Typhoon Prapiroon
slammed into southern China, packing heavy rain and 75 mph winds as
authorities evacuated tens of thousands of people from their homes.
(AP, 8/3/06)
2006 Aug 3, State press reported
that China is building a 27-billion-dollar train line from Beijing to
the southern economic hub of Shenzhen and foreign investors will be
invited to join the project. The new 2,300-kilometer (1,420-mile)
railway will cut travel time between Beijing and Shenzhen, which
borders Hong Kong, from 24 hours to 10.
(AFP, 8/3/06)
2006 Aug 3, In eastern Congo a
small passenger plane crashed into a mountain and then tumbled into a
valley, killing all 17 passengers and crew.
(AP, 8/4/06)
2006 Aug 3, A pair of European
central banks raised interest rates, increasing expectations on Wall
Street that the Federal Reserve would follow suit next week. The
European Central Bank hiked rates .25% to 3%, with a similar hike by
the Bank of England to 4.75%.
(AP, 8/3/06)
2006 Aug 3, A French law that
allows regulators to force Apple Computer Inc. to make its iPod player
and iTunes online store compatible with rival offerings went into
effect.
(AP, 8/3/06)
2006 Aug 3, French health
officials said the sweltering temperatures that gripped Europe last
month killed 112 people.
(AP, 8/3/06)
2006 Aug 3, UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan, making his first trip to Haiti, called for strengthening
the national police force to stem an upsurge in kidnapping and
lawlessness.
(AP, 8/3/06)
2006 Aug 3, In India federal MPs
demanded a nationwide ban on Pepsi and Coke after the privately-funded
Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) said 11 drinks sold by the two
US companies contained unacceptable doses of pesticides.
(AFP, 8/4/06)
2006 Aug 3, Siti Fadilah Supari,
Indonesia’s health minister, declared that genomic data on bird flu
viruses could be accessed by anyone.
(Econ, 8/12/06, p.65)
2006 Aug 3, In Iraq an improvised
explosive device in a pile of garbage exploded in the center of
Baghdad, killing at least 10 people and injuring 32. Gunmen shot to
death four people in separate incidents in Baghdad, Amarah, Mosul and
Basra. The bodies of 9 men were found floating in separate places in
the Tigris River. At least two of the bodies were blindfolded, bound
and shot. Coalition forces killed at least three "terrorists" during an
air strike and multiple raids southeast of Baghdad. A suicide bomber
drove into a soccer field in the town of Hatra near Mosul, setting off
a blast that killed 7 spectators and 3 policemen. Gunmen shot and
killed 4 people and wounded 8 from a Shiite family in Dujail. 2 US
Marine were killed in Anbar province.
(AP, 8/3/06)(AP, 8/4/06)(SFC, 8/4/06, p.A9)
2006 Aug 3, A massive wave of
guerrilla rockets pounded northern Israel in a matter of minutes,
killing 8 people. Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's leader, offered
to stop the attacks if Israel ends its airstrikes. Israel lost four
soldiers in fighting. Israeli military said four Hezbollah fighters
were killed and two wounded. Lebanese security officials said a missile
crashed into a two-story house in the border village of Taibeh, killing
a couple and their daughter. Lebanese PM Fuad Saniora said Lebanon's
death toll in more than three weeks of Israel-Hezbollah fighting has
reached more than 900. France circulated a revised UN resolution
calling for an immediate halt to Israeli-Hezbollah fighting and
spelling out conditions for a permanent cease-fire in Lebanon.
(AP, 8/3/06)
2006 Aug 3, Israeli troops raided
southern Gaza, killing at least eight Palestinians, including four
militants and an 8-year-old boy.
(AP, 8/3/06)
2006 Aug 3, Japanese Foreign
Minister Taro Aso arrived in Baghdad on a surprise visit, bringing with
him a loan of 3.3 billion yen ($29 million) to jump-start Iraq's
economic development.
(AP, 8/3/06)
2006 Aug 3, In Malaysia the
Islamic world's largest organization of countries demanded on that the
UN implement an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon and investigate what it
called flagrant human rights violations by Israel.
(AP, 8/3/06)
2006 Aug 3, Pakistani Interior
Minister Aftab Sherpao and US envoy Ryan Crocker signed a memorandum of
understanding for $2.7 million in security and communications gear and
to help build more posts on the Afghan frontier.
(AFP, 8/3/06)
2006 Aug 3, Fresh fighting broke
out between Philippine forces and Al-Qaeda-linked militants after four
people were killed in a major operation to capture two suspected Bali
bombers.
(AFP, 8/3/06)
2006 Aug 3, In Sri Lanka artillery
fire hit 4 schools being used as shelters from fighting raging between
government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels, killing at least 17 people in
the northeastern town of Muttur.
(AP, 8/3/06)(SFC, 8/4/06, p.A10)
2006 Aug 3, Ukrainian Pres. Viktor
Yushchenko nominated former foe Viktor Yanukovych for prime minister
after Yanukovych signed a memorandum on national unity.
(SFC, 8/3/06, p.A3)
2007 Aug 3, A jury at Camp
Pendleton, Calif., sentenced Marine Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins III to 15
years in prison for the murder of an Iraqi civilian during a fruitless
search for an insurgent.
(AP, 8/3/08)
2007 Aug 3, In Kentucky a judge
ruled that 3 attorneys, accused of bilking their clients in a $200
million fen-phen settlement, must repay at least $62.1 million in
settlement funds and interest.
(AP, 8/4/07)
2007 Aug 3, Oakland police
arrested 7 people, including Yusuf Bey IV, in a predawn raid on Your
Black Muslim Bakery and 3 homes in connection with 3 homicides
including the Aug 2 murder of Oakland Post journalist Chauncey Bailey.
The Post had been investigating the organization’s finances. Alameda
County health inspectors shut down the bakery after finding health-code
violations. A judge converted the bakery’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy case
to Chapter 7 liquidation setting Aug 9 as its last day of business.
(SFC, 8/4/07, p.A1,6)(SSFC, 8/5/07, p.A11)
2007 Aug 3, American Home Mortgage
released all but 750 of its 7,000 employees as it ran out of money, the
latest victim of the subprime mortgage implosion.
(SFC, 8/4/07, p.C2)
2007 Aug 3, Two dogs belonging to
actor Ving Rhames mauled Jacob Adams (40), a caretaker for the actor's
dogs, to death at the star's Brentwood, Ca., home.
(AP, 8/4/07)(AP, 8/5/07)
2007 Aug 3, It was reported that
Bolivia’s Lake Titicaca is being strangled by city-fed pollution that
is driving away local people who draw sustenance from its mythical
waters.
(AFP, 8/3/07)
2007 Aug 3, Four people were
killed after a helicopter flying from northern England to southern
Scotland crashed in northwest England. The wreckage was found the next
day.
(AFP, 8/4/07)
2007 Aug 3, China asserted the
sole right to recognize living Buddhas, reincarnations of famous lamas
that form the backbone of the religion's clergy. All future
incarnations of living Buddhas related to Tibetan Buddhism must get
government approval.
(AP, 8/3/07)
2007 Aug 3, China banned
Indonesian seafood after checks turned up dangerous contamination.
Indonesian authorities called the move an apparent reaction to an
Indonesian ban on some tainted Chinese products. The Chinese
administration said Indonesian products have been found to contain
mercury and cadmium, metals that can accumulate in water and soil from
burning garbage, mining or other industrial processes.
(AP, 8/4/07)
2007 Aug 3, Lenovo Group Ltd. said
it will sell a basic personal computer aimed at China's vast but poor
rural market and priced as low as $199.
(AP, 8/3/07)
2007 Aug 3, About 50 women
occupied a central square in Makhachkala, Dagestan, declaring a hunger
strike and vowing not to leave until authorities tell them what
happened to their missing children. The president of Dagestan, Mukhu
Aliev, admitted last month that 76 people have been kidnapped so far
this year in Dagestan. In six of those cases, the abductors wore
camouflage uniforms similar to those worn by law enforcement officers.
(AP, 8/4/07)
2007 Aug 3, The death toll in
south Asia rose to at least 186 people killed. 19 million have been
driven from their homes as heavy monsoon rains triggered floods,
destroyed crops and submerged roads across a wide swath of northern
India and Bangladesh. The UN child welfare agency said that in India
alone, the number of dead from the monsoons topped 1,100.
(AP, 8/3/07)(AFP, 8/4/07)
2007 Aug 3, In Tanzania Darfur's
fractious rebel groups gathered for talks aimed at hammering out a
united front, following UN approval of a beefed up peacekeeping mission
in the Sudanese region.
(AP, 8/3/07)
2007 Aug 3, In Uganda gunmen on
Lake Albert attacked a boat operated by Canada's Heritage Oil Corp.,
killing a British contractor. 3 armed patrol boats from Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC), on the other side of the lake, had opened fire
on Heritage's boat.
(AP, 8/3/07)
2007 Aug 3, In Venezuela US actor
Sean Penn accompanied Pres. Chavez on a visit to western Venezuela.
"I'm also here as a journalist and so I owe it to that medium to wait
until I've digested, fact-checked and finished my journey here" before
saying more, Penn said. He thanked Chavez for the visit.
(AP, 8/4/07)
2007 Aug 3, Virgin Islands’
authorities arrested Kamal Thomas and charged him with first-degree
murder and assault, as well as using a dangerous weapon while
committing a crime. James Cockayne (21) of new Hope, Pa., was killed on
June 19 near a shopping center.
(AP, 8/6/07)
2007 Aug 3, In Zimbabwe the
Interception of Communication Act was published in the government
gazette. The bill, signed by President Robert Mugabe, allows the state
to eavesdrop on private phone conversations and monitor faxes and
emails.
(AFP, 8/3/07)
2008 Aug 3, Some 19,000 runners
participated in the 31st annual SF Marathon. Chad Worthen (34) of
Sacramento won with a time of 2:31:52. Lauren Gustafson of Millbrae won
among the women with a time of 2:52:33.
(SFC, 8/4/08, p.B1)
2008 Aug 3, In Gearhart, Oregon, a
small plane crashed into a seaside house killing 2 people aboard and 2
children in the vacation home.
(SFC, 8/5/08, p.A3)
2008 Aug 3, Lou Teicher (b.1924),
pianist, died in North Carolina. He was half of the popular piano duo
Ferrante & Teicher whose movie themes and love songs earned them
wide popularity in the 1960s. Together they recorded some 150 albums.
(SFC, 8/7/08, p.B5)
2008 Aug 3, In Afghanistan a
roadside bomb struck a US-led coalition vehicle, killing one service
member and wounding another on the outskirts of Kabul. Afghan and NATO
troops targeted a group of Taliban fighters in Helmand province,
killing 17 militants and wounding six others. Four police were killed
separately in a militant ambush in central Ghazni province.
(AP, 8/3/08)(AP, 8/4/08)
2008 Aug 3, In Algeria 21 people,
six of them policemen, were injured in a suicide car bomb attack in the
town of Tizi Ouzou in Algeria's Kabylie region.
(AFP, 8/3/08)
2008 Aug 3, Cambodia said that
Thai soldiers are occupying a second temple site on their border in an
escalation of an ongoing armed standoff that nearly led to clashes
between the neighbors last month.
(AP, 8/3/08)
2008 Aug 3, In Canada a small
plane crashed on Vancouver Island. Two survivors were pulled from the
wreckage but five other people on the aircraft died.
(Reuters, 8/4/08)
2008 Aug 3, In Greece Athanassios
Arvanitis (31) beheaded his girlfriend and her dog on the island of
Santorini and then escaped in a patrol car. Police shot him 5 times as
he ran over 2 women on a motorcycle before being caught.
(SFC, 8/4/08, p.A3)
2008 Aug 3, Hundreds of Honduran
squatters angry over a land dispute attacked the home of Henry Sorto, a
local police official. Five employees and six of Osorto's family
members were burned, shot and hacked to death with machetes.
(AP, 8/4/08)(AP, 8/5/08)
2008 Aug 3, In northern India 145
people, including many women and children, were killed when pilgrims
stampeded at a Hindu temple. The devotees were attending a 9-day
religious festival at the Naina Devi Temple in the Bilaspur district of
the Himachal Pradesh state.
(AP, 8/3/08)
2008 Aug 3, In Indonesia a top
health official said a factory worker had died of bird flu west of
Jakarta, bringing the death toll in the country worst hit by the virus
to 112.
(AP, 8/3/08)
2008 Aug 3, In Iraq a truck bomb
exploded during rush hour on a busy street in northern Baghdad, killing
at least 12 people and wounding about two dozen. A roadside bomb killed
six people, including three Iraqi soldiers, and wounded 13 others south
of Baghdad. In Tarmiyah a clash between US-allied fighters and
civilians killed one civilian and wounded 10 others.
(AP, 8/3/08)
2008 Aug 3, Israeli and
Palestinian officials said most of the 180 Fatah supporters, who had
fled into Israel, would be sent back into the Gaza Strip.
(AP, 8/3/08)
2008 Aug 3, The breakaway republic
of South Ossetia began sending hundreds of children across the border
to its Russian ally amid increasing violence between the republic and
Georgian government forces.
(AP, 8/3/08)
2008 Aug 3, Alexander Solzhenitsyn
(b.1918), Russian Nobel literature laureate (1970), died of heart
failure in his Moscow home. His books, which included “One Day in the
Life of Ivan Denisovich” (1962) and "Gulag Archipelago" (1973),
chronicled the horrors of dictator Josef Stalin's slave labor camps. In
1974, he was stripped of his citizenship and put on a plane to West
Germany for refusing to keep silent about his country's past.
(Reuters, 8/4/08)(WSJ, 8/9/08, p.W12)
2008 Aug 3, In Scotland the Int’l.
Primatological Society Congress opened a 6-day conference. On August 5
scientists released a report saying the nearly half of the world’s 634
types of primates are in danger of becoming extinct due to human
activity.
(SFC, 8/5/08, p.A3)
2008 Aug 3, In Senegal former US
president Bill Clinton wound up a four-nation Africa tour aimed at
combating HIV/AIDS in Dakar, praising France for its financial support
through the agency Unitaid.
(AP, 8/4/08)
2008 Aug 3, In Somalia a bomb
hidden under a pile of garbage killed at least 20 people, half of them
women who were sweeping the street in Mogadishu.
(AP, 8/3/08)
2008 Aug 3, In Sri Lanka the South
Asian summit ended. Tensions between India and Pakistan overshadowed
the summit, but the two nuclear-armed rivals vowed to work together and
save a tenuous peace process. A draft summit declaration called for
collective action to combat "all forms of terrorist violence" that was
threatening their "peace, stability and security." The leaders also
agreed to implement a regional trade pact, signed in 1995 but never
fully implemented. Troops repulsed an attempt by Tamil rebels to retake
a recently captured guerrilla stronghold in heavy fighting that killed
21 rebels and three soldiers. Thirteen rebels and three soldiers were
killed in other clashes in the Mannar, Vavuniya and Welioya regions.
(AFP, 8/3/08)(AP, 8/4/08)
2008 Aug 3, Venezuelan President
Hugo Chavez says 24 Sukhoi fighter jets have been delivered to
Venezuela, and are ready to defend his country from "imperialist"
aggressions.
(AP, 8/4/08)
2008 Aug 3, Zimbabwe's rival
parties resumed power-sharing talks, a day ahead of the expiry of a
deadline to conclude discussions to end a ruinous political crisis.
(AFP, 8/3/08)
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