Today in History - August 11
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117 Aug 11, The
Roman army of Syria hailed its legate, Hadrian, as emperor, which made
the senate's formal acceptance an almost meaningless event. One of his
first acts was to withdraw Rome’s army from Mesopotamia (modern Iraq).
(www.roman-emperors.org/hadrian.htm)(Econ, 7/19/08,
p.94)
991 Aug 11, Danes under Olaf
Tryggvason killed Ealdorman Brihtnoth and defeated the Saxons at Maldon.
(HN, 8/10/98)
1180 Aug 11, Guillaume de Sens,
French master builder (Canterbury), died.
(MC, 8/11/02)
1259 Aug 11, Mongke, Mongol
great-khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, died.
(MC, 8/11/02)
1456 Aug 11, Janos Hunyadi (69),
Hungarian Prince and general strategist died of plague at about age 49.
(PC, 1992, p.150)(MC, 8/11/02)
1492 Aug 11, Cardinal Rodrigo
Borgia Lanzol (61), father of Cesare and Lucretia, became Pope
Alexander VI (d.1503). He siphoned off untold riches from Church funds.
Borgia arrived in Rome from Spain in 1449 and Italianized his name from
Borja to Borgia. His rise in the church was helped a great deal when
his uncle became Pope Calixtus III.
(HN, 8/10/98)(PTA, p.424)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R4)(MC,
8/11/02)
1519 Aug 11, Johann Tetzel (~79),
Dominican monk, died.
(MC, 8/11/02)
1597 Aug 11, Germany threw out
English salesmen in "a noble experiment."
(MC, 8/11/02)
1772 Aug 11, An explosive eruption
blew 4,000 feet off Papandayan, Java, and 3,000 people were killed.
(MC, 8/11/02)
1792 Aug 11, A revolutionary
commune was formed in Paris, France.
(HN, 8/10/98)
1807 Aug 11, David Atchison,
legislator, was born. He was president pro tempore of the U.S. Senate,
and president of U.S. for one day [March 4, 1849], the Sunday before
Zachary Taylor was sworn in.
(MC, 8/11/02)
1807 Aug 11, The Eclipse, a Yankee
fur trading vessel, sank in the Shumagin Islands, south of the Alaska
Peninsula. It is the oldest known American shipwreck in Alaska and as
of 2007 had not been found.
(AP, 10/8/07)
1833 Aug 11, Robert G. Ingersoll,
advocate of scientific realism and humanistic philosophy , was born.
(HN, 8/10/98)
1837 Aug 11, Marie Francois
Carnot, engineer, French pres (1887-94), was born.
(MC, 8/11/02)
1849 Aug 11, Lajos Kossuth,
president of Hungary, abdicated in favor of Gen. Gorgey as Russia
intervened in the Hungarian revolution.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lajos_Kossuth)
1856 Aug 11, A band of rampaging
settlers in California killed four Yokut Indians. The settlers had
heard unproven rumors of Yokut atrocities.
(HN, 8/11/99)
1860 Aug 11, The first US
successful silver mill began operation near Virginia City, Nev.
(AP, 8/11/97)
1861 Aug 11, James Bryan Herrick,
physician who first described sickle-cell anemia, was born.
(AP, 8/11/00)
1862 Aug 11, Carrie James Bond,
songwriter who wrote "I Love You Truly" and "A Perfect Day," was born.
(HN, 8/10/98)
1862 Aug 11, President Abraham
Lincoln appointed Union General Henry Halleck to the position of
general in chief of the Union Army.
(HN, 8/10/98)
1866 Aug 11, The world's 1st
roller rink opened at Newport, RI.
(MC, 8/11/02)
1868 Aug 11, Thaddeus Stevens
(1792-1868), Pennsylvania Republican and architect of Radical
Reconstruction, died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thaddeus_Stevens)
1874 Aug 11, Harry S. Parmelee
patented a sprinkler head.
(MC, 8/11/02)
1885 Aug 11, Joseph Pulitzer’s NY
World announced that $100,000 was raised in US for a pedestal for the
Statue of Liberty.
(ON, 4/03, p.3)
1892 Aug 11, Hugh MacDiarmid,
founder of the Scottish Nationalist Party , was born.
(HN, 8/10/98)
1896 Aug 11, Harvey Hubbell
patented an electric light bulb socket with a pull chain.
(MC, 8/11/02)
1904 Aug 11, German General Lothar
von Trotha defeated the Hereros tribe near Waterberg, South Africa.
[see Namibia]
(HN, 8/10/98)
1906 Aug 11, In France Eugene
Lauste received the first patent for a talking film.
(HN, 8/10/98)
1908 Aug 11, Britain's King Edward
VII met with Kaiser Wilhelm II to protest the growth of the German navy.
(HN, 8/10/98)
1909 Aug 11, The SOS distress
signal was first used by an American ship, the Arapahoe, off Cape
Hatteras, N.C.
(AP, 8/11/97)
1912 Aug 11, Moroccan Sultan Mulai
Hafid abdicated his throne in the face of internal dissent. Most of the
country became a French protectorate with Spain taking the northern
fifth.
(HN, 8/10/98)(SFEC, 7/25/99, p.T11)(AP, 5/17/03)
1914 Aug 11, Jews were expelled
from Mitchenick, Poland.
(MC, 8/11/02)
1916 Aug 11, The Russia army took
Stanislau, Poland, from the Germans.
(HN, 8/10/98)
1918 Aug 11, The British attacked
with 450 tanks at the Battle of Amiens as the Allies pushed Germany
back.
(MC, 8/11/02)(PC, 1992, p.728)
1919 Aug 11, The Green Bay Packers
football was club founded.
(MC, 8/11/02)
1919 Aug 11, Andrew Carnegie
(b.1835), industrialist, philanthropist, and founder of Carnegie Steel,
died. Carnegie became a philanthropist in later life, giving away more
than $350 million and building 2,509 public libraries. His value in
1999 dollars totaled $100 billion.” The man who dies rich dies
disgraced,” was the motto of Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie‘s last years
were spent giving away as much money as possible in an effort to shed
his image as one of the era‘s leading “robber barons.” Among other
bequests to good causes, he established the Carnegie Institute of
Technology and hundreds of Carnegie Free Public Libraries across the
U.S. In 2005 Les Standiford authored “Meet You In Hell,” an account of
the rivalry between Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick. In 2006 David Nasaw
authored “Andrew Carnegie.”
(SFEC, 5/23/99, Par p.7)(HNQ, 4/21/00)(WSJ, 7/29/05,
p.W8)(SSFC, 10/22/06, p.M3)
1919 Aug 11, Germany's Weimar
Constitution was signed by President Friedrich Ebert.
(AP, 8/11/07)
1921 Aug 11, Alex Haley,
genealogist and author of "Roots," was born.
(HN, 8/10/98)
1925 Aug 11, Carl Rowan,
gun-toting newspaper columnist (Wash Post), was born.
(MC, 8/11/02)
1926 Aug 11, Claus Von Bulow,
accused of murdering his wife, was born.
(MC, 8/11/02)
1927 Aug 11, Raymond Leppard,
conductor (St Louis Symphony Orch), was born in London, England.
(MC, 8/11/02)
1929 Aug 11, Babe Ruth hit his
500th major league home run against the Cleveland Indians.
(HN, 8/10/98)
1933 Aug 11, Jerry Falwell,
founder of the conservative political lobbying organization, the Moral
Majority , was born.
(HN, 8/10/98)
1934 Aug 11, The US government
opened a maximum security prison on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco
Bay and the first federal prisoners arrived. From the time it opened to
1937 there was no talking by prisoners allowed. Federal convicts from
McNeil Island Prison in Washington joined a small number of military
prisoners, left over from the island‘s time as a US Army prison. The
facility had been used as a military prison since 1859, but was
redesigned to be a high-security penitentiary for the "most dangerous"
prisoners. The prison closed in 1963.
(AP, 8/11/97)(SFEC, 3/8/98, p.W30)(HNQ,
7/10/00)(OAH, 2/05, p.A6)
1935 Aug 11, There was a Nazi mass
demonstration against German Jews.
(MC, 8/11/02)
1937 Aug 11, Edith Wharton
(b.1862), American author, died in France. Her books included “The
House of Mirth” (1905) and “Ethan Frome” (1911). In 1975 R.W.B. Lewis
(d. 2002) authored the Pulitzer prize-winning "Edith Wharton: A
Biography." In 2007 Hermione Lee authored “Edith Wharton.”
(SFC, 6/17/02, p.B5)(Econ, 1/27/07,
p.85)(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/wharton.htm)
1939 Aug 11, Moses Annenberg,
owner of the Philadelphia Enquirer, was indicted by a federal jury in
Chicago for evading some $3.2 million in income taxes.
(SFC, 10/2/02, p.A2)
1939 Aug 11, Sergei Rachmaninov
had his last appearance in Europe.
(MC, 8/11/02)
1940 Aug 11, 38 German aircrafts
were shot down over England.
(MC, 8/11/02)
1940 Aug 11, Italian forces
attacked Observation Hill in British Somaliland. Capt. Wilson and
Somali gunners under his command beat off the attack and opened fire on
the enemy troops attacking Mill Hill, another post within his range.
The enemy finally overran the post at 5 p.m. on the 15th August when
Capt. Wilson, fighting to the last, was reportedly killed. 2 months
later he was awarded a Victoria Cross. In April 1941, however, Wilson
was found alive in a prisoner of war camp in Eritrea. Wilson died at
age 96 on Dec 23, 2008.
(AP, 12/30/08)
1941 Aug 11, Elizabeth Holtzman,
DA (D-Rep-NY, Watergate Committee), was born in Brooklyn.
(MC, 8/11/02)
1941 Aug 11, Soviet bombers raided
Berlin but caused little damage.
(HN, 8/10/98)
1942 Aug 11, Some 999 Jews were
taken from Mechelen transit camp in Belgium.
(MC, 8/11/02)
1942 Aug 11, During World War II,
Vichy government official Pierre Laval publicly declared that "the hour
of liberation for France is the hour when Germany wins the war."
(AP, 8/11/99)
1942 Aug 11, The German submarine
U-73 attacked a Malta bound British convoy and sank the HMS Eagle, one
of the world's first aircraft carriers.
(HN, 8/10/98)
1942 Aug 11-1942 Sep 30, The SS
began exterminating 3,500 Jews in Zelov Lodz, Poland.
(MC, 8/11/02)
1943 Aug 11, Richard Strauss' 2nd
Horn Concerto premiered.
(MC, 8/11/02)
1944 Aug 11, German troops
abandoned Florence, Italy, as Allied troops closed in on the historic
city.
(HN, 8/10/98)
1949 Aug 11, President Truman
nominated Gen. Omar N. Bradley to become the first chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff.
(AP, 8/11/08)
1951 Aug 11, The Mississippi River
flooded some 100,000 acres in Ks, Okla, Mo and Ill.
(MC, 8/11/02)
1954 Aug 11, A formal peace took
hold in Indochina, ending more than seven years of fighting between the
French and Communist Vietminh.
(AP, 8/11/97)
1956 Aug 11, Elvis Presley
released "Don't Be Cruel."
(MC, 8/11/02)
1956 Aug 11, Abstract artist
Jackson Pollock (b.1912) died in an automobile accident in East
Hampton, N.Y. He was born in Wyoming and became a leader of the
abstract expressionist school of art.
(AHD, 1971, p.1015)(AP, 8/11/97)
1957 Aug 11, Paul Hindemith's
opera "Harmonie der Welt," premiered in Munich.
(MC, 8/11/02)
1960 Aug 11, Chad became
independent from France, but remained within the French community.
Francois Tombalbaye became the 1st president.
(PC, 1992, p.973)(EWH, 1st ed., p.1173)
1962 Aug 11, The Soviet Union
launched cosmonaut Andrian Nikolayev on a 94-hour flight.
(AP, 8/11/97)
1964 Aug 11, Beatles' "A Hard Days
Night" opened in NYC.
(MC, 8/11/02)
1964 Aug 11, There was a race riot
in Paterson, NJ.
(MC, 8/11/02)
1965 Aug 11, Beatles movie "Help"
opened in NYC.
(MC, 8/11/02)
1965 Aug 11, Rioting and looting
broke out in the predominantly black Watts section of Los Angeles. A
small clash between the California Highway Patrol and two black youths
sets off six days of rioting in the Watts area of Los Angeles.
(AP, 8/11/97)(SFEC, 5/23/99, Z1 p.4)(HN,
8/11/00)(MC, 8/11/02)
1967 Aug 11, Roy M. Wheat
(20) led a team from Company K, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, providing
security for a Navy construction crew on the Liberty Road in Quang Nam
Province, Vietnam. Lance Corporal Roy Wheat accidentally triggered a
well-concealed, bounding type anti-personnel mine. He yelled for team
members Lance Corporals Vernon Sorenson and Bernard Cannon to run. Then
he flung himself onto the mine as it exploded, absorbing the tremendous
impact with his body. Roy Wheat was killed, but his companions were
spared certain injury and possible death. Marine Roy M. Wheat was the
only Mississippian to earn the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War.
(HN, 9/19/01)
1968 Aug 11, Eight US troops were
killed and 50 wounded when an Air Force F100 fighter accidentally
bombed a US unit near Ta Bat, northeast of Saigon. The fighter intended
on hitting Viet Cong who were located in front of the troops.
(www.project1968.com/august-11-17-1968.html)
1971 Aug 11, Construction began on
the Louisiana Superdome. It opened on August 3, 1975.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_Superdome)
1975 Aug 11, The United States
vetoed the proposed admission of North and South Vietnam to the United
Nations, following the Security Council's refusal to consider South
Korea's application.
(AP, 8/11/97)
1975 Aug 11, Alfred Loomis
(b.1887), financier and amateur physicist, died. In 2002 Jennet Conant
authored "Tuxedo Park," an account of how Loomis led research that
enhanced radar and led to the atom bomb.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Lee_Loomis)
1975 Aug 11, Anthony C. McAuliffe
(b.1898), US general and commandant of 101st division, died. He is
famous for his WWII single-word reply to a German surrender ultimatum:
"Nuts!"
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_McAuliffe)
1977 Aug 11, The California
legislature restored the death penalty.
(SFC, 5/17/02,
p.G8)(www.deathpenalty.org/article.php?id=48)
1978 Aug 11, “Le Freak” by Chic
was released. In October it topped the US hot 100 chart.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C'est_Chic)
1978 Aug 11, Chiefs of state and
foreign dignitaries arrived in Vatican City for the funeral of Pope
Paul VI.
(AP, 8/11/98)
1982 Aug 11, Pan Am flight 830
from Tokyo to Honolulu was bombed. One boy was killed and 15 people
were injured. In 1998 Mohammed Rashid, a Palestinian national, was
turned over to the US by Egypt on charges related to the bombing.
(SFC, 6/4/98,
p.A4)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Am_Flight_830)
1984 Aug 11, In LA, Ca., Carl
Lewis (b.1961) duplicated Jesse Owens' 1936 feat with 4 Olympic track
gold medals.
(www.usatf.org/athletes/bios/oldBios/1997/lewis.asp)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Lewis)
1984 Aug 11, President Reagan
sparked controversy when he joked during a voice test for a paid
political radio address: "My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to
tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia
forever. We begin bombing in five minutes."
(AP, 8/11/97)(www.yaf.com/Reagan.shtml)
1984 Aug 11, Alfred A. Knopf (91),
US publisher, died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_A._Knopf_(person))
1984 Aug 11, Percy Mayfield
(b.1920), songwriter and blues artist, died. His songs included "Hit
the Road Jack" and "Please Send Me Someone to Love."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Mayfield)
1985 Aug 11, "Dreamgirls" closed
at Imperial Theater in NYC after 1522 performances.
(www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=4152)
1987 Aug 11, Economist Alan
Greenspan succeeded Paul Volcker as chairman of the Federal Reserve
Board. Greenspan retired in 2006.
(SSFC, 1/29/06, p.A9)
1987 Aug 11, Britain and France
ordered minesweepers to the Persian Gulf, but said they would not be
used in combined operations with the United States as it escorted
reflagged Kuwaiti ships.
(AP, 8/11/97)
1988 Aug 11, The U.S. Senate
confirmed Dick Thornburgh to succeed Edwin Meese III as attorney
general, by a vote of 85-0.
(AP, 8/11/98)
1988 Aug 11, Jean-Pierre Ponnelle
(b.1932), French opera director (Figaro, Barber of Seville, numerous
operas in Europe, Bayreuth, Met Opera), died in Munich, Germany.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Pierre_Ponnelle)
1989 Aug 11, Poland's
Solidarity-dominated Senate adopted a resolution expressing sorrow for
the nation's participation in the 1968 Soviet-led invasion of
Czechoslovakia.
(AP, 8/11/99)
1990 Aug 11, Egyptian and Moroccan
troops arrived in Saudi Arabia to join US forces in helping to protect
the desert kingdom from possible Iraqi attack.
(AP, 8/11/00)
1991 Aug 11, Shiite Muslim
kidnappers in Lebanon released two Western captives: Edward Tracy, an
American held nearly five years, and Jerome Leyraud, a Frenchman who
had been abducted by a rival group three days earlier.
(AP, 8/11/97)
1991 Aug 11, The space shuttle
"Atlantis" returned safely from a nine-day journey.
(AP, 8/11/01)
1992 Aug 11, In Washington, D.C.,
negotiators for the United States, Canada and Mexico continued to work
out final details of the proposed North American Free Trade Agreement.
(AP, 8/11/97)
1992 Aug 11, The Mall of America,
the biggest shopping mall in the country, opened in Bloomington, Minn.
(AP, 8/11/97)
1993 Aug 11, President Clinton
named Army Gen. John Shalikashvili to be the new chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, succeeding the retiring Gen. Colin Powell.
(AP, 8/11/98)
1993 Aug 11, Pope John Paul II
visited Mexico.
(http://tinyurl.com/ckmy6)
1994 Aug 11, A US federal
jury awarded $286.8 million to some 10,000 commercial fishermen for
losses as a result of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.
(AP, 8/11/99)
1994 Aug 11, The Tenth
International Conference on AIDS concluded in Yokohama, Japan.
(AP, 8/11/99)
1995 Aug 11, President Clinton
banned all US nuclear tests, calling his decision "the right step as we
continue pulling back from the nuclear precipice."
(AP, 8/11/00)
1995 Aug 11, Pres. Clinton vetoed
a congressional move to end the arms embargo on Bosnia and sent Envoy
Richard Holdbrooke on a new peace mission.
(WSJ, 6/11/96, p.A14)(SFC,10/16/97, p.A12)
1996 Aug 11, The Reform Party
opened the first part of its two-stage convention in Long Beach,
Calif., with Ross Perot and Richard Lamm battling for the presidential
nod.
(AP, 8/11/97)
1996 Aug 11, It was reported that
a Greek Cypriot man was killed and 41 injured in a border clash, after
Greek Cypriot motorcyclists defied orders to halt a rode across the
line to protest Turkey’s 1974 invasion.
(WSJ, 8/12/96, p.A1)
1996 Aug 11, In Indonesia Budiman
Sujatmiko, leader of the unauthorized People’s Democratic Party, was
one of ten people arrested. The government was considering charges of
subversion.
(SFC, 8/13/96, p.A10)
1996 Aug 11, In Russia Pres.
Yeltsin appointed Alexander Lebed as his pres. envoy to Chechnya.
(WSJ, 8/12/96, p.A9)
1996 Aug 11, In Turkey the prime
minister approved an agreement to buy $20 billion of natural gas from
Iran over 22 years.
(WSJ, 8/12/96, p.A1)
1996 Aug 11, Rafael Jeronym
Kubelik (b.1914), conductor, died at age 82. He led the Czech
Philharmonic from 1941 to 1948 and the Chicago Symphony from 1050-1953.
He was then musical director at London’s Covent Garden opera house and
from 1961-1979 headed the Munich orchestra of Bavarian Radio. He was
the son of Czech violinist Jan Kubelik.
(SFC, 8/12/96,
p.C5)(www.britannica.com/eb/article-9046338)
1997 Aug 11, Pres. Clinton made
the first use of the historic line-item veto approved by Congress. He
removed 3 narrow provisions in the new budget legislation in spending
and tax bills. The Supreme Court later struck down the line-item veto
as unconstitutional.
(SFC, 8/12/97, p.A1)(AP, 8/11/05)
1997 Aug 11, US federal officials
arrested 29 people in a drug sweep in New York, Michigan and New
Mexico. The arrests were linked to Mexico’s Juarez cartel.
(SFC, 8/12/97, p.A3)
1997 Aug 11, It was reported that
the US Energy Dept. was short of tritium for nuclear weapons and would
borrow space from a civilian power plant for its production.
(SFC, 8/11/97, p.A3)
1997 Aug 11, Steelhead trout of
the west coast was added to the federal list of imperiled species.
(SFC, 8/12/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 11, The Environmental
Working Group claimed that high levels of the weed killer atrazine were
found in 245 Midwest communities. The chemical is used to spray corn
and kill weeds.
(SFC, 8/12/97, p.A3)
1997 Aug 11, In Hawaii lava from
Kilauea Volcano began to flow over the walls of a 700-year-old temple
believed to have been used for human sacrifice.
(SFC, 8/12/97, p.A3)
1997 Aug 11, In Columbia leftist
guerrillas killed at least 9 people in 2 separate incident.
(SFC, 8/12/97, p.A9)
1997 Aug 11, In Honduras some 700
inmates escaped from prisons at Santa Barbara and Trujillo after
rioting prisoners set fire to facilities and burned them to the ground.
(SFC, 8/12/97, p.A9)
1997 Aug 11, From Israel it was
reported that mobsters were in control of gambling, prostitution and
money laundering rings in the resort city of Netanya. Seven gang
killings in the last 18 months were reported and protection money was
demanded from stall holders and shop owners.
(SFC, 8/11/97, p.A6)
1997 Aug 11, It was reported that
Sri Lanka was getting desperate for recruits and that more than 12,000
soldiers had deserted the army in recent months. Women were being
recruited and it was noted that half of the Tamil rebel attack forces
were composed of women. The government military service was comprised
of some 114,000 vs. about 5,000 Tamil fighters.
(SFC, 8/11/97, p.A7)
1997 Aug 11, Int’l. donors offered
Thailand a $16-17 bil loan package.
(SFC, 8/12/97, p.A8)(SFC, 1/8/98, p.A7)
1998 Aug 11, Mitchell Johnson
(14), one of the shooters in the March 24 Jonesboro, Ark., schoolyard
massacre, pleaded guilty to murder and battery. He and Andrew Golden
(12) were both convicted. The boys were detained by Arkansas juvenile
authorities until they turned 18, then transferred to federal custody.
Federal authorities released the two when they turned 21. In 2008 a US
District Judge sentenced Johnson (24) to 4 more years in prison for
possession of a 9mm pistol, a Federal violation of his parole. Charges
remained pending on the possession of marijuana and a stolen credit
card.
(AP,
8/11/08)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Golden)
1998 Aug 11, Steve Fossett (54)
became the first man to cross the south Atlantic in a balloon. He was
on his 4th attempt to float around the world.
(SFC, 8/12/98, p.A8)
1998 Aug 11, Bell Atlantic workers
returned to work after reaching a tentative agreement with management.
(SFC, 8/12/98, p.A9)
1998 Aug 11, British Petroleum PLC
under John Browne announced a merger with Amoco Corp. in a purchase
valued at $49 billion. The deal vaulted BP into the top ranks.
(SFC, 8/12/98, p.A1)(AP, 8/11/99)(Econ, 1/20/07,
p.17)
1998 Aug 11, The Judicial Council
of the Methodist Church ruled pastors who perform gay marriages can be
tried under a 1996 resolution prohibiting gay marriages.
(SFC, 8/12/98, p.A1)
1998 Aug 11, Tajikistan appealed
to other former Soviet states for help in securing its borders as the
Taliban consolidated its hold in Afghanistan.
(WSJ, 8/12/98, p.A1)
1999 Aug 11, Pres. Clinton offered
conditional amnesty to imprisoned Puerto Rican militants (FALN). The
separatists were responsible for at least 150 bombings over a 9-year
period that killed 6 people and injured over 70.
(SFC, 9/8/99, p.A3)(WSJ, 9/14/99, p.A22)
1999 Aug 11, In Kansas the KC
Board of Education deleted virtually any mention of evolution from the
state's science curriculum. Gov. Bill Graves said the next day that the
decision was "out of sync with reality."
(SFC, 8/12/99, p.A2)(SFC, 8/14/99, p.A3)
1999 Aug 11, Buford O. Furrow Jr.,
a white supremacist, surrendered to the FBI in Las Vegas and confessed
to wounding 5 people in LA and killing mail carrier Joseph Ileto (39).
He said that he wanted his act to be "a wakeup call to America to kill
Jews."
(SFC, 8/12/99, p.A1,17)(AP, 8/11/00)
1999 Aug 11, A tornado hit
downtown Salt Lake City killing one person and injuring over a hundred.
(SFC, 8/12/99, p.A1)(AP, 8/11/00)
1999 Aug 11, A total eclipse of
the sun by the moon was centered over Cornwall, England, and lasted 2
minutes and 6 sec.
(SFEC, 10/13/96, p.A18)(WSJ, 12/1/98, p.A1)
1999 Aug 11, In Congo warring
sides agreed to stop fighting until Aug 20 to allow the UN to vaccinate
10 million children against polio.
(WSJ, 8/12/99, p.A1)
1999 Aug 11, In Indonesia police
and soldiers shot at battling mobs of Muslims and Christians. The death
toll for the last 3 days of fighting in Malaku province climbed to 23.
(SFC, 8/12/99, p.D3)
1999 Aug 11, In Liberia 6 European
relief workers were kidnapped in Kolahun by insurgents based in Guinea.
(SFC, 8/13/99, p.D2)
1999 Aug 11, In Sri Lanka
suspected Tamil rebels set off a mine under a bus carrying police
officers and at least 11 people were killed and 17 wounded.
(SFC, 8/12/99, p.D3)
2000 Aug 11, Pat Buchanan won the
Reform Party’s presidential nomination and named Ezola Foster (62), a
black former teacher, as his running mate. Dissidents, disputed by
party founder Ross Perot’s supporters, chose physicist John Hagelin at
a rump convention.
(SFC, 8/12/00, p.A3)(AP, 8/11/01)
2000 Aug 11, The National
Transportation Safety Board released evidence reports in the October
31st, 1999, crash of EgyptAir Flight 990 off the New England coast; a
transcript of the cockpit voice recording showed the chilling details
of the pilot’s futile struggle to save the Boeing 767 and its 217
occupants.
(AP, 8/11/01)
2000 Aug 11, A jury in Orlando,
Fla., ordered the Disney Co. to pay $240 million to Nicholas Stracick
and Edward Russell for stealing their ideas for a sports complex.
(SFC, 8/12/00, p.A3)
2000 Aug 11, As many as 8 people
subdued Jonathan Burton (19) during a flight to Salt Lake City from Las
Vegas after he broke into the cockpit. Burton was pronounced dead on
arrival to a Salt Lake hospital.
(SFC, 9/21/00, p.A6)
2000 Aug 11, British and US
bombers struck southern Iraq and Iraqi military reported 2 people
killed and 19 injured.
(SFC, 8/14/00, p.A12)
2001 Aug 11, In his weekly radio
address, President Bush said his decision to restrict but not forbid
federal financing of embryonic stem cell research placed him at the
crossroads between protecting and enhancing human life.
(AP, 8/11/02)
2001 Aug 11, A woman (71) who
lived near downtown Atlanta died of the West Nile virus, the first
reported death from the disease outside the Northeast since the virus
emerged on the East Coast in 1999. Tests done by the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the cause of death. The virus,
which can cause deadly swelling of the brain, has killed nine people in
New York and New Jersey since 1999.
(AP, 8/17/01)(SFC, 8/18/01, p.A6)
2001 Aug 11, In northwestern
Angola a train carrying hundreds of refugees and some soldiers hit a
mine and derailed. Refugees were machine-gunned and over 252 were
killed. Unita forces claimed responsibility.
(SSFC, 8/12/01, p.A18)(WSJ, 8/13/01, p.A1)(SFC,
8/14/01, p.A6)(SFC, 8/16/01, p.A9)
2001 Aug 11, Britain restored
power-sharing in Northern Ireland after a 1-day suspension in order.
The move allowed a 6-week postponement of whether or not to call new
elections.
(SSFC, 8/12/01, p.A1)
2001 Aug 11, In Brunei some 10,000
items belonging to Prince Jefri Bolkiah’s bankrupt development
corporation went on auction.
(SSFC, 8/12/01, p.A18)
2001 Aug 11, In, Bogota, Colombia
3 members of the Irish Republican Army were arrested after spending 5
weeks training FARC rebels in explosives and terrorist tactics.
(SFC, 8/14/01, p.A7)
2001 Aug 11, In northern Thailand
heavy rains triggered flash floods that left at least 86 people dead
and 70 missing.
(SSFC, 8/12/01, p.A18)(WSJ, 8/14/01, p.A1)
2002 Aug 11, Dr. Steven J.
Hatfill, a bioweapons expert under scrutiny for anthrax-laced letters,
fiercely denied any involvement and said he had cooperated with the
investigation. He was eventually exonerated and given a $5.8 million
settlement from the US government after years of their harassing him.
Investigators on June 27, 2008, announced that the anthrax attacks had
been carried out by another government scientist, Bruce Edwards Ivins,
whom they concluded had acted alone.
(AP,
8/11/03)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Hatfill)
2002 Aug 11, US Airways, the 6th
largest US airline, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
(SFC, 8/12/02, p.A1)
2002 Aug 11, Karrie Webb won her
third Women's British Open title.
(AP, 8/11/03)
2002 Aug 11, Jiri Kolar (87), a
Czech poet and artist known mainly for his pioneering work in the art
of collage, died in Prague. His poetry books included "Birth
Certificate" (1941)
(AP, 8/12/02)
2002 Aug 11, In Congo fighting
around Bunia ended and at least 110 civilians were killed and more than
70 injured. More than 10,000 families were displaced during the
fighting.
(AP, 8/14/02)
2002 Aug 11, In eastern Congo
renovation work uncovered the remains of 38 people buried in a communal
grave at the site where the United Nations began building new
headquarters for its peacekeeping force.
(AP, 12/13/02)
2002 Aug 11, In northern India
monsoon rains killed at least 43 people in Uttaranchal state.
(SFC, 8/12/02, p.A8)
2002 Aug 11, Israeli troops shot
and killed Basil Naji (22), a Palestinian gunman, after he opened fire
on Israeli road workers in the northern Gaza Strip, wounding one of
them.
(AP, 8/11/02)(SFC, 8/12/02, p.A10)
2002 Aug 11, In southwestern
Uganda a minibus and a fuel tanker collided near Omukabale, killing at
least 17 people and injuring two others.
(AP, 8/12/02)
2002 Aug 11, Yemen reported that 6
suspected Muslim militants were arrested for planning a bombing attack
in the capital San'a. Two more were arrested in connection with a
previous blast.
(AP, 8/11/02)
2003 Aug 11, Pres. Bush named Mike
Leavitt, Republican governor of Utah, to head the EPA.
(SFC, 8/11/03, p.A1)
2003 Aug 11, Herb Brooks, who
coached the U.S. Olympic hockey team to the "Miracle on Ice" victory
over the Soviet Union in 1980, died in a car wreck near Minneapolis at
age 66.
(AP, 8/11/04)
2003 Aug 11, In Afghanistan NATO
took command of the 5,000-strong international peacekeeping force in
Kabul, its 1st deployment outside Europe.
(AP, 8/11/03)
2003 Aug 11, British troops
restored badly needed electricity to parts of Basra and supervised
distribution of gasoline after two days of protests over fuel and power
shortages.
(AP, 8/11/03)
2003 Aug 11, In northern China a
gas explosion ripped through a coal mine, killing at least 33 miners
and leaving nine missing.
(AP, 8/12/03)
2003 Aug 11, The Dominican
Republic granted asylum to former Ecuadorian President Gustavo Noboa,
who has been under investigation for allegedly mishandling his
country's foreign debt negotiations and costing the country $9 billion.
(AP, 8/12/03)
2003 Aug 11, A helicopter
chartered by one of India's largest oil companies crashed into the
Arabian Sea near Bombay with 29 people on board. Two people were
rescued.
(AP, 8/12/03)
2003 Aug 11, In Liberia Pres.
Charles Taylor shook hands with his designated successor as his
long-promised resignation ceremony started in Monrovia. A UN official
later reported that Taylor took $3 million with him, that had been
donated for disarming and demobilizing thousands of armed combatants.
Taylor flew into exile in Nigeria following his resignation.
(AP, 8/11/03)(SFC, 9/6/03, p.A3)(AP, 7/14/09)
2003 Aug 11, Gunmen killed
Nadirshakh Khachilayev, a former lawmaker, in Makhachkala, capital of
Dagestan. In 1998 his armed supporters were accused of seizing a
Dagestani government building during a violent anti-government raid and
Russia's parliament voted to lift his immunity.
(AP, 8/12/03)
2003 Aug 11, Saudi Crown Prince
Abdullah flew to Morocco for talks with King Mohammed VI about Iraq and
the Palestinian territories.
(AP, 8/11/03)
2003 Aug 11, Hambali (39), an
Indonesian whose real name is Riduan Isamuddin, was captured in a raid
in the ancient temple city of Ayutthaya, Thailand. Hambali, the
operational head of Jemaah Islamiyah, was handed over to US authorities
and flown out of the country. He was al Qaeda's top man in Southeast
Asia and the suspected mastermind behind a string of deadly bombings
including the Bali attacks.
(Reuters, 8/15/03)(SFC, 8/15/03, p.A3)(AP, 8/16/03)
2004 Aug 11, The U.S. women's
soccer team defeated home team Greece 3-0 on the first day of
competition in the 2004 Olympic Games. The opening ceremony took place
two days later.
(AP, 8/11/05)
2004 Aug 11, A 3-day wildfire near
Lake Shasta broke out and covered some 10,000 acres destroying 86 homes
in Jones Valley. Matt Rupp (44) served 2 years in jail for accidentally
igniting the fire while riding a mower over a field of dry grass.
(SSFC, 8/15/04, p.B2)(SSFC, 8/10/08, p.A1)
2004 Aug 11, In Algeria an appeals
court upheld a two-year prison term for one of Algeria's best known
journalists in a case seen by many as a pretext to crush press freedom.
(AP, 8/12/04)
2004 Aug 11, Britain granted its
1st license for human embryonic cloning research.
(WSJ, 8/12/04, p.A1)
2004 Aug 11, In northeast Colombia
suspected rebel gunmen lined up and killed nine coca pickers on a
remote ranch.
(AP, 8/12/04)
2004 Aug 11, Ahmad Chalabi, former
Iraqi Governing Council member who fell out of favor with the United
States, returned to Iraq to face counterfeiting charges, but was never
arrested. Charges were later dropped citing lack of evidence. Chalabi
regained enough credibility to be made deputy prime minister on April
28, 2005. At the same time he was made acting oil minister. Since then
he has thrived in becoming invaluable to the Iraqi government.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmed_Chalabi#Falling_out_with_the_U.S..2C_2004-5)(AP,
8/11/04)
2004 Aug 11, An Islamic Web site
carried a videotape that appeared to show militants in Iraq beheading a
man identified as a CIA agent. The authenticity of the videotape could
not be verified immediately.
(AP, 8/11/04)
2004 Aug 11, U.S. jet fighters
bombed the turbulent city of Fallujah, killing four people and injuring
four others.
(AP, 8/11/04)
2004 Aug 11, Ngugi wa Thiongo
(b.1938), exiled Kenyan writer, was accosted by assailants during a
return trip to Nairobi. His face was burned with cigarettes and his
wife was raped.
(Econ, 8/19/06,
p.70)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ngugi_wa_Thiongo)
2004 Aug 11-2004 Aug 15, Pakistani
officials arrested around a dozen local and foreign militants who
hatched a plot to launch strikes on August 13 and Pakistan's 57th
Independence Day celebrated on August 14. The plot was masterminded by
an Egyptian Al-Qaeda suspect named Sheikh Esa alias Qari Ismail.
(AFP, 8/22/04)
2004 Aug 11, A West Bank assailant
detonated a large bomb near a busy Israeli military checkpoint, killing
two Palestinian men and wounding 16 people.
(AP, 8/11/04)
2004 Aug 11, In northwestern
Turkey 2 trains collided head on, killing 8 people, injuring 55 others.
(AP, 8/11/04)(AP, 8/12/04)
2005 Aug 11, President Bush
expressed sympathy for war protesters like Cindy Sheehan, the mother
camped outside his Texas ranch demanding answers for her solider-son's
death, but said he believed it would be a mistake to bring U.S. troops
home immediately.
(AP, 8/11/06)
2005 Aug 11, Scott Sullivan,
former WorldCom finance chief, was sentenced to five years in prison
for his high-ranking role in the largest accounting fraud in U.S.
history.
(AP, 8/11/05)
2005 Aug 11, It was reported that
an anonymous donor will give $25 million to UC Berkeley’s Haas School
of Business to construct a new building for its executive education
program.
(SFC, 8/11/05, p.C1)
2005 Aug 11, Qualcomm announced
that it would buy Flarion for some $600 million in order to gain access
to post-3G network technology.
(Econ, 8/20/05, p.51)
2005 Aug 11, Yahoo agreed to pay
$1 billion in cash and turn over its Chinese operations to Alibaba in
return for a 40% stake in the Chinese e-commerce company. Jack Ma
started Alibaba.com in 1999 to support small business people in China.
(WSJ, 8/12/05, p.A1,B1)
2005 Aug 11, A team of scientists
from 10 countries reported that they had deciphered the genetic code of
rice.
(SFC, 8/11/05, p.A6)
2005 Aug 11, Scientists reported
the discovery of an asteroid with 2 small moons. Asteroid 87 Sylvia was
about 175 miles in diameter and circled the sun between the orbits of
mars and Jupiter.
(SFC, 8/11/05, p.A2)
2005 Aug 11, In Afghanistan a US
service member was killed in Paktika province, the sixth American
fatality in a week. An American soldier was killed and two others were
wounded in an explosives training accident in central Uruzgan province.
(AP, 8/11/05)(AP, 8/12/05)
2005 Aug 11, Argentina and
Venezuela signed an accord to set up a joint trust fund aimed at
providing export financing to small businesses. Presidents Kirchner and
Chavez signed a series of accords during the Chavez visit that included
an expansion of Venezuelan fuel oil imports. Kirchner thanked Chavez
for the purchase of $500 million of Argentine government bonds over the
last few months.
(WSJ, 8/12/05, p.A7)
2005 Aug 11, In Vienna the board
of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
unanimously approved a resolution demanding that Iran suspend all
nuclear activities it resumed earlier this week.
(AP, 8/11/05)
2005 Aug 11, Thirty-five
Bangladeshi children who worked as camel jockeys in the United Arab
Emirates arrived home to an uncertain future as part of a United
Nations-sponsored program. The UAE now plans to use robots to race
camels rather than children.
(AP, 8/11/05)
2005 Aug 11, A one-day strike by
British Airways baggage handlers and other ground staff forced the
cancellation of hundreds of flights to and from Heathrow Airport.
(AP, 8/11/06)
2005 Aug 11, Brazilian police said
they recovered a small percentage of the currency stolen from the
Central Bank in one of the world's biggest heists. Brazil's Central
Bank released an official statement saying that the amount stolen was
$70 million, instead of the $67.8 million it reported earlier.
(AP, 8/12/05)
2005 Aug 11, Beijing ordered an
investigation into the cause of a flood at a coal shaft in southern
China. Hopes of finding survivors among the 122 miners still trapped
underground all but disappeared.
(AP, 8/11/05)
2005 Aug 11, El Salvador sent its
fifth contingent of 380 soldiers to Iraq for humanitarian missions.
President Tony Saca said it was in the same spirit as the countries
that helped El Salvador during its 12-year civil war.
(AP, 8/11/05)
2005 Aug 11, Manmohan Singh,
India's first Sikh prime minister, apologized for riots two decades ago
that killed nearly 3,000 Sikhs and were blamed on the Congress.
(AP, 8/11/05)
2005 Aug 11, Indian officials said
waterborne diseases have killed at least 46 people in Bombay in the
past four days following widespread floods in the city last month.
(AP, 8/11/05)
2005 Aug 11, Indonesian President
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a former army general, and the Timorese
ex-guerrilla fighter Xanana Gusmao witnessed the signing of documents
appointing the 10 members of the Commission for Truth and Friendship.
(AFP, 8/11/05)
2005 Aug 11, In Iraq gunmen killed
at least 16 people in attacks across the country, including one that
left a young girl wounded and her parents dead.
(AFP, 8/11/05)
2005 Aug 11, An ex-soldier was
sentenced to eight years in prison for fatally shooting British
activist Tom Hurndall in April, 2003. It was the first case in which an
Israeli soldier was convicted of killing a foreigner during more than
four years of Israeli-Palestinian violence.
(AP, 8/11/05)
2005 Aug 11, Louis-Jodel
Chamblain, a Haitian rebel leader who once led a paramilitary group
accused of killing and torturing thousands of people, was released from
prison.
(AP, 8/12/05)
2005 Aug 11, Lebanese police
arrested Omar Bakri, the Islamic cleric who is being investigated in
Britain for his remarks on the London bombings.
(AP, 8/11/05)
2005 Aug 11, Pakistan test fired
its first cruise missile without warning archrival India under a new
treaty requiring notification of tests involving missiles capable of
carrying nuclear warheads. The Foreign Ministry said the missile
notification agreement formalized by the two nuclear-armed nations over
the weekend did not cover cruise missiles.
(AP, 8/11/05)
2005 Aug 11, Peru's PM Carlos
Ferrero quit unexpectedly in an apparent protest against President
Alejandro Toledo's appointment of an unpopular political ally as
foreign minister.
(AP, 8/12/05)
2005 Aug 11, The two unions
representing 90,000 striking South African gold miners agreed to accept
management's latest offer and return to work, ending the worst strike
in 18 years in the world's largest gold-producing nation.
(AP, 8/11/05)
2005 Aug 11, A senior South Korean
official said that North Korea has the right to a peaceful nuclear
program, a view conflicting with Washington in its disagreement with
the hard-line Pyongyang regime that has snagged disarmament talks.
(AP, 8/11/05)
2005 Aug 11, Southern leader Salva
Kiir Mayardit was sworn in as Sudan's 1st vice president.
(AP, 8/11/05)
2005 Aug 11, A judge in Suriname
convicted the son of a former dictator of leading a ring that
trafficked in cocaine, illegal arms and stolen luxury cars, sentencing
him to 8 years in prison.
(AP, 8/11/05)
2005 Aug 11, Uganda police
arrested Andrew Mwenda a day after the KFM radio station he works for
was shut down following threats from President Yoweri Museveni to close
media outlets that report conspiracies about the Garang's death.
(AP, 8/12/05)
2005 Aug 11, The UN Security
Council voted unanimously to extend its mission in Iraq, reaffirming
its leading role in helping to promote a national dialogue which is
crucial for the country's political stability and unity.
(AP, 8/11/05)
2005 Aug 11, Venezuela's major
newspapers calculated that pro-Chavez candidates won some 47 percent of
city council posts across the country, while opposition candidates won
17 percent and other independent parties had 18 percent of posts in the
Aug 7 elections.
(AP, 8/11/05)
2006 Aug 11, A Kentucky judge
ruled that Gov. Ernie Fletcher, under fire for a hiring scandal, is
protected by executive immunity and cannot be prosecuted while in
office.
(AP, 8/11/06)
2006 Aug 11, BP PLC announced it
would keep one side of the Prudhoe Bay oil field open as it replaced
corroded pipes, averting a larger crimp in the nation's oil supply.
(AP, 8/11/07)
2006 Aug 11, In SF Ed Jew,
operator of a Chinatown flower shop, filed to run as supervisor for
District 4. He won a surprise victory in November. In 2007 he faced
residency questions and an FBI investigation regarding money accepted
from a businessmen facing permit problems. On January 10, 2008 he
resigned from the Board of Supervisors. Jew had been accused of
violating the city charter by not living in the district he
represented. On November 6, 2007, federal prosecutors obtained a grand
jury indictment of Jew on five felony bribery, fraud and extortion
charges, accusing him of running a scheme to shake down Sunset District
businesses for $84,000 in bribes. His trial on federal charges was
slated to being in July 2008.
(SFC, 5/22/07,
p.A1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Jew#Resignation)
2006 Aug 11, Jamie Gold (36), a
former Hollywood talent agent, won the $12 million grand prize in the
World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, Nv.
(SFC, 8/12/06, p.A2)
2006 Aug 11, In Michigan 3
Palestinian American men from Texas were arrested after buying dozens
of cell phones at a Wal-Mart store. They were found with a 1000 cell
phones and later charged with federal fraud conspiracy and money
laundering. Initial terrorism charges were dropped.
(SFC, 8/17/06, p.A3)
2006 Aug 11, Mike Douglas (born in
1925 as Michael Delaney Dowd Jr.), popular television host, died in
Florida. His Mike Douglas Show began in Cleveland in 1961 and ended in
1982. In 1999 he authored the memoir “”I’ll be Right Back: Memories of
TV’s Greatest Talk Show.”
(SFC, 8/12/06, p.B6)
2006 Aug 11, A suicide car bomber
struck a NATO-led convoy in southern Afghanistan, killing one soldier.
In northeastern Afghanistan 3 US soldiers were killed and 3 wounded
after militants attacked an American patrol with rocket-propelled
grenades and small arms fire.
(AP, 8/11/06)(AP, 8/12/06)
2006 Aug 11, In Brazil officials
said police had arrested 30 businessmen, government officials and
soldiers accused of taking part in a scheme to net millions of dollars
by over-billing for meals in the military and at schools.
(AP, 8/11/06)
2006 Aug 11, British officials
identified 19 of the suspects accused of planning to blow up US-bound
aircraft in the biggest terrorist plot to be uncovered since 9/11,
while investigators probed their movements, background and finances. In
addition, five Pakistanis have been arrested in Pakistan as suspected
"facilitators" of the plot, as well as two Britons arrested there about
a week ago. A Pakistani intelligence official said 10 Pakistanis were
arrested in Bhawalpur district, 300 miles southwest of Islamabad, in
connection with the terror plot in Britain.
(AP, 8/11/06)(AP, 8/12/06)
2006 Aug 11, Typhoon Saomai, the
strongest storm to strike China in 50 years, weakened to a tropical
depression but drenched the country's southeast after killing at least
105 people with another 190 missing.
(AP, 8/12/06)
2006 Aug 11, German novelist
Guenter Grass (78) admitted in an interview that he served in the
Waffen SS, the combat arm of Adolf Hitler's dreaded paramilitary
forces, during World War II. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in
1999 for works including his 1959 novel, "The Tin Drum." His new memoir
about the war years, Peeling the Onion” was published in September,
2006. The English translation came out in 2007.
(AP, 8/11/06)(SSFC, 7/8/07, p.M1)
2006 Aug 11, Indonesian officials
issued a last-minute stay of execution for three Christian militiamen
on death row, but they added that the sentences would still be carried
out. Fabianus Tibo, Marinus Riwu and Dominggus da Silva, were
scheduled to be executed August 12. They had been sentenced to death
for inciting and carrying out attacks on Muslims in 2000 during
religious violence on Sulawesi that left 1,000 dead from both faiths.
(AP, 8/11/06)
2006 Aug 11, US soldiers raided a
funeral and detained 60 men suspected of ties to al-Qaida car bombings
in the first major roundup of suspected insurgents since troop
reinforcements began arriving for a new crackdown in Baghdad.
(AP, 8/12/06)
2006 Aug 11, Israeli airstrikes
pounded south Beirut and border crossings to Syria, killing at least 14
people across Lebanon as ground fighting picked up intensity in the
south. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert accepted an emerging Mideast
cease-fire deal and informed the United States of his decision. An
Israeli drone fired at a convoy of refugees fleeing southern Lebanon,
killing at least six people and wounding 16.
(AP, 8/11/06)
2006 Aug 11, North Kenya
authorities said they caught at least 45 sympathizers or members of the
Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), a small Ethiopian group operating on the
border. Ethiopia reported having shot dead 11 Ogaden National
Liberation Front (ONLH) fighters.
(Reuters, 8/11/06)(Econ, 8/19/06, p.44)
2006 Aug 11, An oil tanker sank in
rough seas off the Philippine coast of Guimaras Island, about 312 miles
southeast of Manila. About 528,000 gallons of industrial fuel was
leaking from the accident.
(AP, 8/15/06)
2006 Aug 11, The Sri Lankan air
force bombed Tamil Tiger-held areas in the east. Tamil Tigers warned of
a humanitarian crisis after 42,000 people were displaced by a surge in
violence that has left Sri Lanka's truce in tatters, as fighting
erupted on two new fronts.
(AP, 8/11/06)(AFP, 8/11/06)
2006 Aug 11, The UN Human Rights
Council condemned Israel for "massive bombardment of Lebanese civilian
populations" and other "systematic" human rights violations, and
decided to send a commission to investigate. UN Resolution 1701 called
for Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon and the disarmament of Hezbollah.
(AP, 8/11/06)(Econ, 8/26/06,
p.11)(www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2006/sc8808.doc.htm)
2006 Aug 11, The Zimbabwe Cabinet
slashed fuel prices for private motorists by almost half, but experts
said the move could lead to further shortages and fail to snuff out a
flourishing black market.
(AFP, 8/18/06)
2007 Aug 11, President George W.
Bush welcomed France's Pres. Sarkozy to the Bush family's oceanfront
home in Maine for a private meeting, boat ride and picnic fare.
(www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/08/11/bush-sarkozy.html)
2007 Aug 11, Republican Mitt
Romney (b.1947) won the first test of the 2008 White House race, using
a big wallet and broad organization to muscle aside a field of rivals
in a low-turnout Iowa straw poll. Mike Huckabee (b.1955), former
governor of Arkansas, came in second.
(Reuters, 8/11/07)(WSJ, 8/13/07, p.A5)
2007 Aug 11, Zhang Shuhong, who
co-owned Lee Der Industrial Co. Ltd., killed himself at a warehouse,
days after China announced it had temporarily banned exports by the
company.
(AP, 8/13/07)
2007 Aug 11, It was reported that
citizen’s in 5 of Egypt’s 26 governorates have been suffering a dire
shortage of drinking water.
(Econ, 8/11/07, p.40)
2007 Aug 11, In Guatemala 46
children believed abducted or coerced from their parents were rescued
from Casa Quivira, an adoption home catering to foreigners run by
Clifford Phillips of Deland, Fla., and his Guatemalan wife and
attorney, Sandra Gonzalez.
(AP, 8/12/07)
2007 Aug 11, The int’l. medical
charity Doctors Without Borders said it has been stopped from working
in a Maoist-hit area of India, after being accused of treating banned
rebels.
(AFP, 8/11/07)
2007 Aug 11, Iran’s state-run news
network said Iran and Iraq have signed an agreement to build pipelines
for the transfer of Iraqi crude oil and oil products.
(AFP, 8/11/07)
2007 Aug 11, A powerful roadside
bomb killed Khalil Jalil Hamza, the governor of Qadisiyah province and
the police chief. The southern province has seen fierce internal
fighting between Shiite factions. Militants bombed the house of a
prominent anti-al-Qaida Sunni cleric, seriously wounding him and
killing three of his relatives in what appeared to be an increased
campaign against Sunnis who have turned against the terror network. The
bodies of four men abducted a week ago were found chopped into pieces
in Dujail, 50 miles north of Baghdad. A roadside bomb killed one
civilian and wounded another while they were driving on the highway
south of Baghdad. A local tribal leader in Albu Khalifa, a village west
of Baghdad, was gunned down by militants who broke into his home.
Gunmen ambushed a police patrol southwest of the northern city of
Kirkuk, killing three officers and wounding another. The US military
reported the death of a Task Force Lightning soldier in a non-combat
incident. 5 American soldiers were killed in southeastern Baghdad,
including four in an ambush bombing after a sniper felled a soldier.
(AP, 8/11/07)(AP, 8/12/07)
2007 Aug 11, Hamas militiamen
detained 32 Fatah supporters across Gaza, half of them after breaking
up a bachelor's party and beating guests with clubs and chairs.
(AP, 8/11/07)
2007 Aug 11, Sierra Leone held its
first elections since UN peacekeepers left nearly two years ago, a vote
that will test whether the diamond-rich West African country can
transfer power peacefully after years of conflict. The opposition won a
parliamentary majority, but the presidential race faced a runoff in
September.
(AP, 8/11/07)(WSJ, 8/24/07, p.A1)
2007 Aug 11, In Somalia 2
prominent radio journalists were assassinated in Mogadishu within hours
of each other, one just outside his office and the other as he returned
from his colleague's burial.
(AP, 8/11/07)
2007 Aug 11, In northeast Sri
Lanka security forces shot dead five suspected LTTE cadres as they
tried to lay landmines. Two gunmen riding on a motorbike shot dead a
Muslim man in the eastern district of Ampara.
(AFP, 8/12/07)
2007 Aug 11, A security official
said disarmament has finally started in south Sudan's state of Eastern
Equatoria under a 2005 peace deal now it has been made possible by the
departure of Ugandan rebels.
(Reuters, 8/12/07)
2007 Aug 11, Togo national
television said 3 new cases of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu have
been detected in poultry on farms in Sigbehoue, 45 kilometers east of
the capital.
(AFP, 8/11/07)
2008 Aug 11, President George W.
Bush said he used talks with China's leaders during the Beijing
Olympics to press them to use their influence with Sudan to help end
the humanitarian crisis in Darfur.
(Reuters, 8/11/08)
2008 Aug 11, California’s Gov.
Schwarzenegger sued state Controller John Chiang for refusing to follow
the governors order to slash pay for thousands of state workers during
the budget impasse.
(SFC, 8/12/08, p.B1)
2008 Aug 11, Federal prosecutors
in NYC charged Joseph Shereshevsky and Steven Byers, partners in
Chicago-based WexTrust Capital, with raising over $250 million through
a Ponzi scheme, mainly from Orthodox Jews.
(WSJ, 8/15/08, p.A1)
2008 Aug 11, Jurors in Stockton,
Ca., convicted William Choyce (54) for the murders of 3 prostitutes. He
was serving time in state prison for rape when DNA evidence linked him
to the murders dating back to 1988.
(SFC, 8/13/08, p.B12)
2008 Aug 11, George Furth
(b.1932), writer and actor, died in Santa Monica. He wrote the book for
“Company,” a 1971 Broadway musical with music and lyrics by Stephen
Sondheim. As an actor he appeared in over 85 films and TV show episodes.
(SFC, 8/12/08, p.B5)
2008 Aug 11, Don Helms (81), steel
guitarist, died in Nashville. Helms had played on over 100 Hank
Williams songs.
(SSFC, 8/17/08, p.B4)
2008 Aug 11, An Afghan police
officer was killed and two others were injured in a roadside bomb
explosion on the southeastern outskirts of Kabul. 3 civilians were
killed and 15 people were wounded, including three NATO troops, when a
suicide car bomber rammed his vehicle into a NATO military convoy in
Kabul. In the northern province of Maimana meanwhile a Latvian ISAF
soldier was killed and three others wounded when their vehicle hit a
roadside bomb.
(AFP, 8/11/08)
2008 Aug 11, Fred Sinowatz (b.
1929) former Chancellor of Austria (1983 to 1986), died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Sinowatz)
2008 Aug 11, In Belarus Emmanuel
Zeltser, an American lawyer, was sentenced to 3 years in prison after
being convicted at a closed trial for commercial espionage and using
false documents. He is an expert on organized crime and money
laundering. The US raised protests over his detention and concerns
about his health in custody. Zeltser (55) was released on June 30,
2009, following a presidential pardon.
(AP, 8/12/08)(AP, 7/1/09)
2008 Aug 11, Brazil's environment
minister said he granted a license for the Santo Antonio hydroelectric
dam but attached stringent conditions to protect Amazon Indian
reservations and nature preserves. The dam is expected to cost 9.5
billion reals (US$5.9 billion) and go online in 2012. The dam is one of
two planned for the Madeira river in the Amazon state of Rondonia.
(AP, 8/11/08)
2008 Aug 11, In China the US
remained third in the medals table at the end of the third day of
Olympic competition with three gold medals behind hosts China with nine
after the completion of 34 events, and South Korea with four. Abhinav
Bindra became the first Indian to ever win a solo gold medal at the
Olympic Games after winning the men's 10m air rifle title.
(AP,
8/11/08)(www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/aug/14/olympicgames.shooting)
2008 Aug 11, Swarms of Russian
jets launched new raids on Georgian territory and Georgia faced the
threat of a second front of fighting as Russia demanded that Georgia
disarm troops near the breakaway province of Abkhazia.
(AP, 8/11/08)
2008 Aug 11, Indian troops shot
dead Sheikh Abdul Aziz (52), a prominent Kashmiri separatist leader,
and three other protesters. The shooting came as Indian security forces
tried to prevent about 100,000 Muslims from marching towards the de
facto border with Pakistan.
(AFP, 8/11/08)
2008 Aug 11, The Iraqi government
said it has halted military operations in Diyala province for a week to
give insurgents time to surrender. A female suicide bomber (15) struck
a market checkpoint in the provincial capital of Baqouba, killing at
least one policeman and wounding 14 other people. Another bomb exploded
in the Wijaihiyah area, about 12 miles east of Baqouba, killing 5 Iraqi
women. A bomb stuck under a car exploded in eastern Baghdad, killing
the driver and wounding two other people.
(AP, 8/11/08)(SFC, 8/12/08, p.A7)
2008 Aug 11, Mauritania's ousted
PM Yahya Ould Ahmed Waqef defiantly refused to recognize the African
country's ruling military junta, after he was freed from house arrest
under international pressure.
(AP, 8/12/08)
2008 Aug 11, In Acapulco, Mexico,
gunmen traveling in a sport utility vehicle fired at a hardware store
killing a girl (14) and a man (35).
(AP,
8/12/08)(www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,402108,00.html)
2008 Aug 11, Pakistani forces
trained gunfire and dropped bombs on Islamic militants in and around
the main town of a tribal region next to the Afghan border, forcing
thousands of residents to flee. The bodies of two men beheaded by
militants were found about 12 miles north of Khar along with a note
accusing them of spying for US and Pakistani authorities. In Peshawar
an explosion killed one man and wounded another apparently as they were
planting a bomb near a private clinic.
(AP, 8/11/08)
2008 Aug 11, Philippine attack
aircraft and artillery bombed Muslim rebel positions for a second day,
raising fears of a humanitarian disaster in North Cotabato province
with nearly 130,000 refugees forced to flee. Members of the Moro
Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) attacked a town on the island of
Basilan, around 200 km (125 miles) southwest of where the main fighting
was taking place, and disrupted voting in local elections there.
(Reuters, 8/11/08)
2008 Aug 11, Thailand's Supreme
Court issued arrest warrants for ousted PM Thaksin Shinawatra and his
wife after they failed to appear at a hearing on corruption charges and
fled to London, saying they could not get justice in their homeland.
(AP, 8/11/08)
2008 Aug 11, A roadside bomb
exploded in eastern Turkey, killing nine soldiers who were on their way
back from an operation against Kurdish rebels.
(AP, 8/11/08)
2008 Aug 11, Two Yemeni security
officers and five suspected al-Qaida militants died in a gunbattle in
Tarim, a southern Yemeni town.
(AP, 8/11/08)
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