Today in History - August 15
Return to home
Buddhist Day of the Dead.
When a man went to
Buddha, bereaved over a friend's death, Buddha said throw a party.
Buddhists
hold carnivals on this day.
(WSJ, 11/2/98, p.B1)
National Relaxation Day.
(HFA, '96, p.36)
636 Aug 15, At
the Battle at Yarmuk, east of the Sea of Galilee, Islamic forces beat a
Byzantine army and gained control of Syria.
(PC, 1992, p.61)
778 Aug 15, At the Battle at
Roncesvalles the Basques beat Charlemagne.
(PC, 1992, p.67)
1040 Aug 15, In Scotland Donnchad
led an army into Moray, where he was killed by Mac Bethad at Pitgaveny
near Elgin.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macbeth_of_Scotland)
1057 Aug 15, Macbeth, the King of
Scotland, was mortally wounded at the Battle of Lumphanan, by Malcolm
Canmore, the eldest son of King Duncan I, who was killed by Macbeth 17
years earlier.
(AP,
8/15/07)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macbeth_of_Scotland)
1261 Aug 15, Constantinople fell
to Michael VIII of Nicea and his army.
(HN, 8/15/98)
1519 Aug 15, Panama City was
founded.
(MC, 8/15/02)
1534 Aug 15, St. Ignatius of
Loyola, Spanish ecclesiastic, founded the Society of Jesus (the
Jesuits) in Paris with the aim of defending Catholicism against heresy
and undertaking missionary work. Ignatius converted to Christianity
while convalescing after a battle and wrote his Spiritual Exercises
meant as a guide for conversion. In Paris, Ignatius and a small group
of men took vows of poverty, chastity and papal obedience. Ignatius
formally organized the order in 1539 that was approved by the pope in
1540. The society‘s rapid growth and emphasis on scholarship aided in
the resurgence of Catholicism during the Counter-Reformation. The
Jesuits were also active in missionary work in Asia, Africa and the
Americas.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.14)(HNQ, 1/13/01)(MC, 8/15/02)
1537 Aug 15, Juan de Salazar,
Spanish pioneer, founded Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay.
(SFEC, 1/12/97, Z3 p.4)(PC, 1992, p.181)
1548 Aug 15, Mary Queen of the
Scots (6), who was engaged to the Dauphin, landed in France.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)(MC, 8/15/02)
1549 Aug 15, Francis Xavier,
Portuguese Jesuit missionary, landed in Kagoshima, Japan.
(Jap. Enc., BLDM, p. 215)(ON, 11/02, p.8)(MC,
8/15/02)
1598 Aug 15, Hugh O'Neill, the
Earl of Tyrone, led an Irish force to victory over the British at
Battle of Yellow Ford.
(HN, 8/15/98)
1665 Aug 15-22, The London weekly
"Bill of Mortality" recorded 5,568 fatalities with teeth holding the
no. 5 spot. 4,237 were killed by the plague.
(SFEC, 8/2/98, BR p.7)
1688 Aug 15, Frederick-William I,
king of Prussia (1713-1740), was born.
(MC, 8/15/02)
1748 Aug 15, United Lutheran
Church of US was organized.
(MC, 8/15/02)
1760 Aug 15, Frederick II
(1712-1786), king of Prussia, defeated the Austrians at the Battle of
Liegnitz.
(HN, 8/15/98)(WUD, 1994, p.565)
1769 Aug 15, Napoleon Bonaparte
(d.1821), Emperor of France (1804-1813, 1814-1815) and continental
Europe, was born on the island of Corsica.
(WUD, 1994, p.950)(AP, 8/15/97)(HN, 8/15/02)(MC,
8/15/02)
1771 Aug 15, Sir Walter Scott
(d.1832), Scottish novelist who wrote "Ivanhoe" and "Rob Roy," was born.
(WUD, 1994, p.1281)(HN, 8/15/98)
1785 Aug 15, Thomas De Quincey,
English writer (Confessions of English Opium Eater), was born.
(MC, 8/15/02)
1785 Aug 15, French cardinal De
Rohan (51), Bishop of Strasbourg, was arrested in the affair of the
diamond necklace.
(PC, 1992, p.335)
1795 Aug 15, Franz Joseph Haydn
left England for the last time.
(MC, 8/15/02)
1824 Aug 15, General Lafayette
returned to the US under an invitation from Pres. Monroe. Political
ribbons were printed in for the 1st time in large quantities to
celebrate his US tour.
(http://friendsoflafayette.org/data/timeline.html)
1824 Aug 15, Freed American slaves
formed the country of Liberia.
(MC, 8/15/02)
1843 Aug 15, National black
convention met in Buffalo, NY.
(MC, 8/15/02)
1843 Aug 15, The Tivoli Gardens
opened in Copenhagen.
(SFEC, 2/20/00, p.T8)(MC, 8/15/02)
1846 Aug 15, The first California
newspaper was the Californian of Monterey issued by Colton and Semple.
It was written half in English and half in Spanish.
(SFEC, 3/8/8, BR p.6)(CVG, Vol 16, p.10)
1848 Aug 15, M. Waldo Hanchett
patented a dental chair.
(MC, 8/15/02)
1861 Aug 15, Lincoln directed
reinforcements to be sent to Missouri.
(MC, 8/15/02)
1864 Aug 15, The Confederate
raider Tallahassee captured six Federal ships off New England.
(HN, 8/15/98)
1865 Aug 15, Sir Joseph Lister
discovered the antiseptic process. [see Sep 1]
(MC, 8/15/02)
1872 Aug 15, The first ballot
voting in England was conducted. [see July 18]
(HN, 8/15/98)
1876 Aug 15, US law removed
Indians from Black Hills after gold find. Sioux leaders Crazy Horse and
Sitting Bull led their warriors to protect their lands from invasion by
prospectors following the discovery of gold. This led to the Great
Sioux Campaign staged from Fort Laramie. Gold was discovered in
Deadwood in the Dakota territory by Quebec brothers Fred and Moses
Manuel. The mine was incorporated in California on Nov 5, 1877, as the
Homestake Mining Company.
(HT, 3/97, p.43)(WSJ, 1/5/00, p.CA1)(MC, 8/15/02)
1885 Aug 15, Samuel
Coleridge-Taylor (d.1912), composer (Hiawatha's Wedding Feast), was
born in London, England.
(www.classical-composers.org)
1887 Aug 15, Edna Ferber (d.1968),
American novelist, short-story writer and playwright (American Beauty,
Cimarron), was born. The "Ice Palace" is a 1950s Ferber novel inspired
by the Northward Building in Fairbanks, Alaska. "There are only two
kinds of people in the world that really count. One kind’s wheat and
the other kind’s emeralds."
(WUD, 1994, p.523)(AP, 3/14/98)(MC, 8/15/02)
1888 Aug 15, The British soldier
T.E. Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia for his military
exploits against the Turks in World War I, was born in Tremadoc, Wales.
(AP, 8/15/97)(HN, 8/15/98)
1890 Aug 15, Jacques Ibert,
composer (Escales), was born in Paris, France.
(MC, 8/15/02)
1899 Aug 15, Henry Ford (36) quit
his job with the Edison Illuminating Company. He soon found backers and
started the Detroit Automobile Company, with himself as chief engineer.
(ON, 3/03, p.1)
1906 Aug 15, The 1st freight
delivery tunnel system began underneath Chicago.
(MC, 8/15/02)
1907 Aug 15, Joseph Joachim (76),
German violinist, composer, died.
(MC, 8/15/02)
1910 Aug 15, Hugo Winterhalter,
composer, was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
(MC, 8/15/02)
1911 Aug 15, Procter and Gamble
unveiled its Crisco shortening.
(MC, 8/15/02)
1912 Aug 15, Julia Child (d.2004),
American chef and television personality, was born as Julia Carolyn
McWilliams in Pasadena, Calif. Her 90th B-day party was held in SF on
Aug 1, 2002.
(SFEC, 9/28/97, BR p.5)(SFC, 10/20/99, Z1p.4)(HN,
8/15/00)(SFCM, 9/1/02, p.33)
1914 Aug 15, The Panama Canal
opened to traffic. The Panama Canal, a 52-mile waterway, was completed.
Some 5,000 workers, just 350 of them white, perished in the American
effort. In 1977 David McCullough authored "The Path Between the Seas,"
a definitive account of the building of the Panama Canal. In 2009 Julie
Greene authored “The Canal Builders: Making America’s Empire at the
Panama Canal.”
(WSJ, 7/22/96, p.A11)(SFEC, 11/3/96, p.A16)(HN,
8/15/98)(WSJ, 10/17/02, p.A18)(SFC, 3/3/09, p.E10)
1914 Aug 15, Lt. Charles de Gaulle
(24) was injured during a German assault at Dinant.
(MC, 8/15/02)
1914 Aug 15, Anatol K. Liadov
(59), Russian composer (Baba Yaga), died.
(MC, 8/15/02)
1918 Aug 15, Russia severed
diplomatic ties with US.
(MC, 8/15/02)
1921 Aug 15, The US Congress
passed the Packer and Stockyards Act. The Act's purpose was to
"regulate interstate and foreign commerce in live stock, live-stock
produce, dairy products, poultry, poultry products, and eggs, and for
other purposes."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packers_and_Stockyards_Act)
1922 Aug 15, Lukas Foss, [Fuchs],
composer (Prairie), was born in Berlin, Germany.
(MC, 8/15/02)
1923 Aug 15, Simon Peres [Persky],
premier of Israel, was born in Belarus.
(www.ourcampaigns.com/CandidateDetail.html?CandidateID=30248)
1923 Aug 15, Eamon de Valera was
arrested in Irish Free State.
(MC, 8/15/02)
1924 Aug 15, Robert Oxton Bolt,
English screenwriter and playwright, was born. He is best known for "A
Man for all Seasons."
(HN, 8/15/00)(MC, 8/15/02)
1931 Aug 15, Roy Wilkins joined
NAACP as asst. secretary.
(MC, 8/15/02)
1933 Aug 15, Drug Inc., and Int'l.
shoe were removed from the DJIA. Corn Products Refining and United
Aircraft were added.
(WSJ, 5/28/96, p. R-45)(WSJ, 4/8/04, p.C4)
1935 Aug 15, Humorist Will Rogers
(55), American comedian and "cowboy philosopher," and aviation pioneer
Wiley Post (36) were killed when their airplane crashed near Point
Barrow, Alaska. Rogers once said: "Even if you're on the right track,
you'll get run over if you just sit there."
(AP, 8/15/97)(HN, 8/15/98)(MC, 8/15/02)
1938 Aug 15, Maxine Waters,
congresswoman from California, second African-American woman to be
elected to congress, was born.
(HN, 8/15/98)
1939 Aug 15, The MGM musical "The
Wizard of Oz" premiered at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood.
(AP, 8/15/97)
1940 Aug 15, In the largest–scale
raids in the history of aerial warfare, hundreds of Germany planes
struck against London and its suburbs. Hitler’s planned Operation Sea
Lion was to have commenced on this day. However it was cancelled on Aug
17 following heavy German air raid losses. In 2008 Michael Korda
authored “With Wings Like Eagles: A History of the Battle of Britain.”
(WSJ, 1/9/09, p.W10)
1941 Aug 15, Lithuanian Jews in
Kaunas were herded into the Slobodka ghetto.
(MC, 8/15/02)
1942 Aug 15, The Japanese
submarine I-25 departed Japan with a floatplane in its hold. It was
assembled upon arriving off the West Coast of the US, and used to bomb
U.S. forests.
(HN, 8/15/99)
1943 Aug 15, Allies landed on
Kiska in the Aleutians.
(MC, 8/15/02)
1944 Aug 15, Linda Ellerbee,
newscaster (Weekend, NBC Overnight), was born in Bryan, Texas.
(MC, 8/15/02)
1944 Aug 15, The American 7th
Army, British and French forces landed on the southern coast of France,
between Toulon and Cannes, in Operation Dragoon. The amphibious landing
was met with minimal resistance.
(PCh, 1992, p.888)(AP, 8/15/97)(HN, 8/15/98)(SFC,
9/11/00, p.A22)
1945 Aug 15, Gasoline and fuel oil
rationing ended in the United States.
(HN, 8/15/98)
1945 Aug 15, A riot ensued in SF
while the city was celebrating the end of WW II. The riot left 11 dead
and some 1,000 people injured.
(SFC, 8/15/05, p.B1)
1945 Aug 15, Emperor Hirohito
announced to his subjects in a pre-recorded radio address that Japan
had accepted terms of surrender for ending World War II. This day was
proclaimed "V-J Day" by the Allies, a day after Japan agreed to
surrender unconditionally. At 7 p.m. reporters gathered in the Oval
Office to hear President Harry S. Truman announce the unconditional
surrender of Japan.
(HNPD, 8/13/98)(AP, 8/15/07)
1945 Aug 15, Korea was
liberated after nearly 40 years of Japanese colonial rule, but it
soon faced the tragic division of the North and South along the 38th
parallel.
(www.koreanconsulate.on.ca/en/?mnu=a06b03)(SFC,
6/17/00, p.A9)
1947 Aug 15, India gained
independence after some 200 years of British rule. Britain partitioned
the subcontinent. Prior to independence, 565 princes ruled a third of
India. After independence the government let the royals retain their
titles and assets in return for incorporating their principalities into
the new nation. The 664 princely states of India were given the choice
of which country they wanted to join. Although most of the people of
Kashmir were Muslim, the maharaja was Hindu and he appealed to India
for help. Independence in Pakistan and India led to bloody conflicts
and thousands died. In 1999 Fareed Zakaria published "Raj: The Making
and Unmaking of British India." In 2006 David Gilmour authored “The
Ruling Caste,” an account of Britain’s Indian Civil Service (ICS).
(WSJ, 1/9/95, A-8)(WSJ, 12/21/95, p.A-12)(WSJ,
5/16/96, p.A-10)(SFEC, 8/3/97, p.A15)(AP, 8/15/97)(SFC, 6/4/98,
p.C2)(WSJ, 1/29/99, p.W7)(WSJ, 2/23/06, p.D8)
1948 Aug 15, The Republic of Korea
(South Korea) declared independence.
(AP, 8/15/97)(Econ, 9/27/08, SR p.16)
1950 Aug 15, Two U.S. divisions
were badly mauled by the North Korean Army at the Battle of the Bowling
Alley in South Korea, which raged on for five more days.
(HN, 8/15/98)
1950 Aug 15, A magnitude 8.6
earthquake in Assam, Tibet, killed at least 780 people.
(AP, 2/27/10)
1951 Aug 15, Artur Schnabel
(b.1882), Austrian born US pianist (Reflections on Music), died in
Switzerland.
(MC, 8/15/02)
1953 Aug 15, In Iran a CIA plot,
masterminded by Kermit Roosevelt, to unseat PM Mossadeq failed. A 2nd
attempt succeeded on August 19.
(Econ, 5/15/10, p.92)
1954 Aug 15, Alfredo Stroessner
(b.1912) named himself president of Paraguay. This ended a 27-year
chaotic period in which 22 presidents came and went.
(SFC, 8/17/06, p.A10)
1960 Aug 15, Congo (formerly
Congo/Brazzaville) declared Independence from France.
(MC, 8/15/02)
1961 Aug 15, East German workers
began building the Berlin Wall. [see Aug 12]
(AP, 8/15/01)
1962 Aug 15, Shady Grove Baptist
Church was burned in Leesburg, Georgia.
(MC, 8/15/02)
1962 Aug 15, US Pvt. James Joseph
Dresnok (21) defected to North Korea. His wife had recently divorced
him and he faced a court-martial. A British film crew met with Dresnok
in 2004. A documentary about his defection, "Crossing the Line," was
released in 2006 and made it to DVD in 2008.
(SFC, 8/16/04, p.A5)(AFP,
1/29/07)(http://tinyurl.com/m59l5v)
1962 Aug 15, Lei Feng (b.1940), a
Chinese revolutionary soldier, died after being hit by a falling
telephone pole.
(WSJ, 4/12/08,
p.R6)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lei_Feng)
1964 Aug 15, A race riot took
place in Dixmoor, a suburb of Chicago, Ill.
(MC, 8/15/02)
1965 Aug 15, Beatles played to
55,000 at Shea Stadium.
(MC, 8/15/02)
1968 Aug 15, Pirate Radio Free
London began transmitting.
(http://radio.eric.tripod.com/in_breach_of_the_law.htm)
1969 Aug 15, The Woodstock Music
and Art Fair opened in upstate New York. 400,000 young people gathered
at Max Yasgur’s dairy farm in the Bethel hamlet of White Lake, N.Y. for
the Woodstock music festival. Wavy Gravy (Hugh Romney) and companions
from the Hog Farm Commune ran a free kitchen and "bad trips tent." The
performers included Joan Baez; Crosby, Stills and Nash; Creedence
Clearwater; the Grateful Dead; Jimi Hendrix; the Jefferson Airplane;
Janis Joplin; Canned Heat and Ravi Shankar.
(TMC, 1994,
p.1969)(SFC,5/17/96,p.E-1)(WSJ,10/22/96,p.A20)(SFEC,1/26/97, p.A14)(AP,
8/15/97)(SFC,10/27/97, p.C2)
1970 Aug 15, A ferryboat named the
M.V. Golden Gate made its maiden voyage from San Francisco to Sausalito
marking a revival of ferry service on San Francisco Bay. It was retired
from service on March 26, 2004. The Golden Gate Bus and Ferry Transit
system began operating with one ferry and 4 leased busses. Ferry
service to Sausalito was inaugurated. The ferryboat Golden Gate was
retired in 2004.
(www.goldengateferry.org/researchlibrary/history.php)(SFC, 12/2/99,
p.A36)(SFC, 3/26/04, p.A1)
1971 Aug 15, Pres. Nixon suspended
conversion of dollars to gold and imposed a 90-day price, wage and
rents freeze and 10% import charge. He also cut various taxes and
expenditures. This became known as the “Nixon Shock” and marked the end
of the gold standard and fixed exchange rates. The Bretton Woods
agreement, that defined the post World War II economic environment,
collapsed under the weight of US deficit spending. In the wake of this
exchange rates were allowed to float under the watchful eye of central
bankers.
(WSJ, 5/28/96, p. R-44)(WSJ, 8/15/96, p.A12)(AP,
8/15/97)(WSJ, 10/1/98, p.A16)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R42)(Econ, 3/27/10, p.86)
1971 Aug 15, Bahrain proclaimed
independence after 110 years of British rule. December 16, 1971, is the
date of independence from British protection.
(http://ixpats.com/bahrain.html)
1972 Aug 15, In Argentina 22
members of guerrilla groups escaped from prison in the city of Rawson
and took over the airport in nearby Trelew, about 800 miles south of
Buenos Aires. Military forces guarding the airport managed to arrest
19, while three escaped by plane to Chile. 19 guerrillas were
transferred to the base Almirante Zar. On August 22 they were
machine-gunned in their cells. Alberto Camps, Mary Berger and Ricardo
Haidar survived the attack and reported the crime, only to disappear in
the late 1970s during the military dictatorship that lasted from 1976
to 1983. In 2008 federal police arrested two retired military officers
in connection with the massacre of the 16 leftist guerrillas. In 1973
journalist Tomas Eloy Martínez authored “The Passion According
to Trelew.” It was banned by the Argentine dictatorship.
(AP, 2/10/08)(
www.bither-terry.org/latinamerica/?cat=20)
1972 Aug 15, The Italian town of
Grazie di Curtatone began its Int’l. Street Painting Festival. This
revived a 16th century practice by itinerant artists who traveled from
village to village for religious and folk festivals.
(WSJ, 5/16/06, p.D6)
1974 Aug 15, South Korean
President Park Chung-hee escaped an assassination attempt in which his
wife was killed. Park’s daughter took over as 1st lady.
(AP, 8/15/97)(Econ, 5/21/05, p.44)
1975 Aug 15, Bangladesh
army officers killed Sheik Mujibar Rahman, the country's founding
leader and father of Hasina Wajed. A total of 20 people, including
domestic staff, were killed when the group of officers stormed his
house. General Ziaur Rahman, father of Khaleda Zia, became the military
ruler. Rahman had introduced a one-party socialist system and assumed
almost dictatorial powers. In 1997 the government charged two people
with his assassination. In 1998 15 men were found guilty and sentenced
to death. Three were acquitted in 2001. Of the remaining 12, five
appealed the verdict to the Supreme Court, six are in hiding and one is
believed to have died in Zimbabwe. In 2010 the Supreme Court upheld the
death sentence for five killers.
(SFC, 6/12/96, p.A9)(SFC, 6/14/96, p. A14)(SFC,
4/7/97, p.A10)(AFP, 1/27/10)
1976 Aug 15, Former SS Colonel
Herbert Kappler dramatically escaped from prison hospital in Rome with
the aid of his wife and taken to Germany.
(http://tinyurl.com/yvulbh)
1977 Aug 15, Police in Cape
Girardeau, Missouri, found Mary Parsh (58) and her daughter, Brenda
(27), lying nude side by side on a bed at home, their hands tied behind
their backs. Each had been shot in the head. In 2007 Timothy Krajcir
(63), a graduate from Southern Illinois with a degree in law
enforcement, confessed to their rape and murder and at least 4 more. He
was sentenced to 40 years in prison for the 1982 killing of a Southern
Illinois University Carbondale student, Deborah Sheppard. and, in
addition, was charged with five counts of murder and three counts of
rape against women in the Cape Girardeau, Missouri, area from 1977 to
1982. In 2008, Krajcir pleaded guilty and was sentenced to another 40
years in prison for the 1978 killing of Marion resident Virginia Lee
Witte.
(AP,
12/12/07)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Krajcir)
1980 Aug 15, George Manuel Bosque
(25) reportedly abandoned his armored truck at the SF Airport Hilton
Hotel, stole a car at gunpoint, and vanished with over $1.8 million in
cash. 2 days later he sent an envelope with $20,000 to SF Police
officer Lou Vance to pay off a business deal. Bosque was caught on
November 23, 1981 and pleaded not guilty before a Federal Judge on
November 24, 1981.
(SFC, 8/12/05, p.F3)(http://tinyurl.com/ebwtd)
1985 Aug 15, The Assam Accord was
signed between Rajiv Gandhi and Assamese nationalists. A Congress
government led by Hiteshwar Saikia, widely viewed in Assam as
illegitimate, was dissolved as part of the terms of the Assam Accord.
Under the accord the government promised to identify and deport people
who had crossed the border since the creation of Bangladesh in 1971,
but the promise went unfulfilled.
(http://tinyurl.com/ypjjgw)(Econ, 10/11/08, p.60)
1985 Aug 15, Iraq launched its
first air raid on Iran’s Kharg oil-island.
(www.eia.doe.gov/cabs/iraqchron.html)
1987 Aug 15, Thousands of people
marched past the grave of Elvis Presley in Memphis, Tenn., as they
began an all-night vigil marking the 10th anniversary of his death.
(AP, 8/15/97)
1988 Aug 15, President Reagan
bade a sentimental farewell on the first night of the Republican
national convention in New Orleans, and praised the man destined to
succeed him, Vice President George Bush.
(AP, 8/15/98)
1989 Aug 15, F.W. de Klerk was
sworn in as acting president of South Africa, one day after P.W. Botha
resigned as the result of a power struggle within the National Party.
(AP, 8/15/99)
1990 Aug 15, In an attempt to gain
support against the US-led coalition in the Persian Gulf, Iraqi
President Saddam Hussein offered to make peace with longtime enemy Iran.
(AP, 8/15/00)
1991 Aug 15, Some 750,000 attended
Paul Simon's free concert in Central Park. The event was recorded and
became available on video.
(http://tinyurl.com/rdhv8)
1991 Aug 15, The UN Security
Council, by a vote of 13-to-one, authorized Iraq to export
one-point-six billion dollars’ worth of oil in a tightly controlled
sale to pay for desperately needed food and medicine.
(AP, 8/15/01)
1992 Aug 15, While Republicans
gathered in Houston for their national convention, President Bush spent
the weekend at Camp David, his renomination secure.
(AP, 8/15/97)
1992 Aug 15, Giorgio Perlasca,
Italian anti-fascist (saved 5,200 Jews), died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgio_)
1993 Aug 15, Pope John Paul II
ended his four-day U.S. visit with a farewell address at Denver's
Stapleton International Airport in which he denounced the "culture of
death" of abortion and euthanasia.
(AP, 8/15/98)
1993 Aug 15, An Egyptian
surrendered peacefully after hijacking a Dutch jet to Germany to demand
the U.S. release Muslim cleric Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman.
(AP, 8/15/98)
1993 Aug 15, Robert W. Kempner
(93), German officer of justice in Prussia and special US prosecutor of
Nazis, died.
(http://library.law.columbia.edu/ttp/TTP_LOC.htm)
1994 Aug 15, Ilich Ramirez
Sanchez, the terrorist known as "Carlos the Jackal," was jailed in
France after being captured in Sudan. By his own count he had killed 83
people before being captured. Bernard Violet is the author of
"Carlos - The Secret networks of Int’l. Terrorism."
(AP, 8/15/97)(SFC,12/11/97, p.C2,4)
1994 Aug 15, Shepherd Mead (80),
author, died of stroke In London, England. His 1951 novel “How to
Succeed at Business Without Really Trying” was made into a 1961
Broadway musical.
(www.inthe90s.com/generated/obit1994.shtml)
1995 Aug 15, The Justice
Department agreed to pay 3.1 million dollars to white separatist Randy
Weaver and his family to settle their claims over the killing of
Weaver’s wife and son during a 1992 siege by federal agents at Ruby
Ridge, Idaho.
(AP, 8/15/04)(AP, 8/15/00)
1995 Aug 15, The St. John Baptist
Church in Lexington Co., S.C., burned down. Arson was suspected and
investigations by the FBI and ATF were later begun.
(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A16)
1995 Aug 15, John Cameron Swayze
(89), pioneering TV journalist and Timex watch pitchman, died in
Sarasota, Fla.
(AP, 8/15/05)
1996 Aug 15, Bob Dole claimed the
Republican presidential nomination at the party's convention in San
Diego, offering himself as the "bridge to a time of tranquility" and
describing himself as "the most optimistic man in America." Jack Kemp
became the Republican Party vice-presidential nominee.
(WSJ, 8/15/96, p.A1)(AP, 8/15/97)
1996 Aug 15, A botulism outbreak
began killing birds at the Salton Sea in California. The sea is 278
feet below sea level and is now 10% more salty than the Pacific Ocean.
Extensive pollution with sewage from Mexico and pesticides from farms
in the Coachella valley plagued the big lake.
(SFC, 9/1/96, p.D8)(SFC, 9/3/96, p.A18)
1996 Aug 15, Frederick Davidson, a
graduate student at San Diego State University, shot and killed three
engineering professors; he was later sentenced to three life terms in
prison.
(AP, 8/15/97)
1996 Aug 15, In Algeria armed
militants killed 17 passengers on a bus using a fake police barricade
on a remote highway.
(SFC, 8/19/96, p.A9)
1996 Aug 15, In Belgium two
kidnapped girls were rescued by police just days following the arrest
of Marc Doutroux. [see Aug 13]
(SFC, 8/19/96, p.A8)(SFC, 4/24/98, p.A14)
1996 Aug 15, In Nigeria 27 of the
30 governors were sacked by Sani Abacha. The other 3 were transferred
to other states.
(WSJ, 8/16/96, p.A1)
1996 Aug 15, In South Korea some
6,000 police clashed with 7,000 students who protested for
reunification with North Korea and the removal of 37,000 US troops.
(SFC, 8/16/96, p.A17)
1997 Aug 15, The US government
expanded its recall of ground beef sold under the Hudson brand name to
1.1 million pounds because of new evidence of possible contamination by
E. coli bacteria.
(AP, 8/15/98)
1997 Aug 15, The Justice
Department decided not to prosecute senior FBI officials in connection
with an alleged cover-up that followed the deadly 1992 Ruby Ridge siege
in Idaho.
(AP, 8/15/98)
1997 Aug 15, The Dow Jones dropped
247 points in its 2nd biggest point loss session ending at 7,694.66.
(SFC, 8/16/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 15, In Louisiana a
self-defense law, passed in June, that permits motorists to use deadly
force in a car-jacking incident took effect.
(SFC, 8/14/97, p.A3)
1997 Aug 15, Beginning today
couples seeking marriage in Louisiana were given the choice between a
traditional or a covenant marriage. The covenant marriage, designed to
make divorce much more difficult, required counseling and a 2-year
cooling off period.
(SFC, 8/15/97, p.A6)(Econ, 2/12/05, p.31)
1997 Aug 15, Researchers from the
Univ. of New Hampshire reported that the spanking of children causes
long-term behavioral problems.
(SFC, 8/15/97, p.A3)
1997 Aug 15, Scientists at Geron
corp. reported that an "immortality gene" had been cloned. The key gene
carries the code for a key section of the enzyme telomerase, that
rebuilds the telomere of DNA. It could lead to new cancer-prevention
drugs and even be used to slow the process of aging.
(SFC, 8/15/97, p.A1,17)(SFC, 8/16/97, p.D1)
1997 Aug 15, From Argentina it was
reported that the country would issue bonds to pay indemnities to the
relatives and descendants of the 1970s "dirty war." As many as 30,000
people disappeared and about 8,000 families have applied for payments
authorized at $224,000 per victim.
(WSJ, 8/15/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 15, In Bosnia the high
court ruled that Pres. Biljana Plavsic had no right to disband the
Parliament. Plavsic announced the formation of a new political party,
the Serb National Union.
(SFC, 8/16/97, p.A10)
1997 Aug 15, In Columbia ten
woodcutters were killed by a gang of hooded gunmen near the town of
Retiro in Antioquia province.
(SFC, 8/16/97, p.C1)
1997 Aug 15, From Egypt it was
reported that a nurse in Alexandria, Aida Nur el-Din, had killed at
least 18 patients so that she would not be disturbed at night.
(SFC, 8/16/97, p.C1)
1997 cAug 15, In Mexico the Saba
family’s 22% stake in Television Azteca SA was sold through an IPO. The
family led by Isaac Saba Raffoul was reputed to have a cash equivalent
of a billion dollars with the sale.
(WSJ, 8/22/97, p.A10)
1998 Aug 15, The Catholic Feast of
the Ascension was celebrated around the world.
(SFEC, 8/16/98, p.A20)
1998 Aug 15, Some 34,000 union
workers went on strike against US West.
(SFEC, 8/16/98, p.A7)
1998 Aug 15, In Britain it was
reported that 6,000 mink from a fur farm in Ringworm had been released
by animal rights activists. The released mink caused a wildlife
disaster as they preyed on all wildlife.
(SFC, 8/15/98, p.A5)
1998 Aug 15, In Congo the US
Embassy shut its doors as rebels approached Kinshasa. Pres. Kabila and
his ministers retired to Lubumbashi.
(SFEC, 8/16/98, p.A12)
1998 Aug 15, In Northern Ireland a
car bomb killed 29 people in Omagh and wounded 220. A splinter group
called the Real IRA took responsibility. It was affiliated with the
political organization called the 32-County Sovereignty Committee.
Families of the dead filed civil suit in 2001. In 2002 Colm Murphy
(50), a veteran anti-British militant, was convicted of aiding the
bombers and sentenced to 14 years in prison. In 2005 Murphy was
released on bail pending a retrial. In 2003 Michael McKevitt, head of a
dissident IRA faction, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for
directing the group. In 2005 Sean Gerard Hoey (35) was charged with
murdering 29 people in the attack. Detectives had used “low copy DNA
profiling” to link Sean Hoey to the bombing. In 2007 a judge acquitted
Hoey, saying he was not satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt of the
evidence's integrity. In 2009 a Belfast court found 4 dissidents liable
for the bombing. Michael McKevitt, leader of the Real IRA, Liam
Campbell, Colm Murphy and Seamus Daly were found liable in a civil case
brought by the families of those killed. A fifth man, Seamus McKenna,
was cleared of involvement.
(SFC, 8/17/98, p.A9)(SFC, 1/23/02, p.A6)(SFC,
1/26/02, p.A8)(SFC, 8/8/03, p.A3)(AP, 5/26/05)
(AP, 12/21/07)(AP, 6/8/09)
1998 Aug 15, In Myanmar (Burma) 18
detainees, arrested for passing out literature and charged with
violating the 1950 Emergency Provision Act, were forced to leave the
country. A 5-year prison term was imposed if they break Burma’s laws
again.
(SFC, 8/15/98, p.A14)
1998 Aug 15, Some 750 Iranians
entered Iraq to visit shrines for the first time in 18 years.
(SFEC, 8/16/98, p.A24)
1998 Aug 15, In Paraguay Raul
Cubas Grau took the presidential oath and promised to rejuvenate the
economy.
(SFEC, 8/16/98, p.A24)
1998 Aug 15, In Oslo, Norway, a
4-day conference by religious leaders ended. The group pledged to form
an int’l. alliance to wipe out prejudice linked to religion and belief.
(SFEC, 8/16/98, p.A21)
1998 Aug 15, The Russian Soyuz
TM-28 ship docked in manual mode with the Mir space station. The new
crew was expected to stay to Feb.
(SFEC, 8/16/98, p.A26)
1998 Aug 15, Serbian forces seized
the Kosovo rebel town of Junik
(SFC, 8/17/98, p.A8)
1998 Aug 15, In South Korea police
used water canons to disperse marching students in a banned
pro-unification rally with North Korean counterparts. The day marked
the 53rd year of liberation from 36 years of Japanese rule.
(SFEC, 8/16/98, p.A26)
1999 Aug 15, Tiger Woods won the
PGA Championship, becoming the youngest player to win two majors since
Seve Ballesteros.
(AP, 8/15/00)
1999 Aug 15, President Clinton and
his family went house-hunting in Westchester County, New York. They
later settled on a house in Chappaqua.
(AP, 8/15/00)
1999 Aug 15, In Algeria an armed
group killed 29 people near Beni Ounif.
(SFC, 8/16/99, p.A10)
1999 Aug 15, In Congo fighting in
Kisangani (formerly Stanleyville) extended from the airport to the city
center between forces from Uganda and Rwanda. Rebel leader Ernest Wamba
dia Wamba was backed by Uganda, while Emile Ilunga was backed by Rwanda.
(SFC, 8/16/99, p.A8)
2000 Aug 15, Democrats stirred
memories of President John F. Kennedy at their national convention in
Los Angeles, with his daughter, Caroline, taking a rare turn in the
spotlight and beckoning delegates to turn the New Frontier into a
"timeless call" that would send Al Gore to the White House.
(AP, 8/15/01)
2000 Aug 15, US warplanes bombed
air defense sites in northern Iraq.
(SFC, 8/16/00, p.A18)
2000 Aug 15, Edward Walker (82),
inventor of the lava lamp and promoter of nudism, died.
(SFEC, 8/20/00, p.B9)
2000 Aug 15, British Airways
joined Air France in grounding its Concorde supersonic jets in the wake
of the July 25th crash near Paris that claimed 113 lives.
(SFC, 8/16/00, p.A17)(AP, 8/15/01)
2000 Aug 15, In Colombia
authorities and US Secret Service agents captured 10 leaders of a
counterfeiting ring that had sent over $40 million in bogus bills to
the US over the last 2 years.
(SFC, 8/17/00, p.A15)
2000 Aug 15, In Colombia 6
students were killed after they were caught in a cross fire between
leftist rebels and government troops. The students were on a field trip
with teachers. An investigation followed and a military coverup was
suspected. 5 officers and 36 soldiers were suspended for the deaths.
(SFC, 8/16/00, p.A18)(SFC, 8/17/00, p.A15)(WSJ,
8/17/00, p.A1)(SFC, 8/19/00, p.A10)
2000 Aug 15, In Israel 4
prostitutes died in Tel Aviv when a brothel was set on fire. Police
suspected a serial arsonist.
(SFC, 8/16/00, p.A18)
2000 Aug 15, One hundred people
from North Korea and 100 people from South Korea held temporary
reunions with family members not seen in 50 years.
(SFC, 8/15/00, p.A13)(AP, 8/15/01)
2000 Aug 15, South Korea released
3,586 prisoners in an amnesty.
(WSJ, 8/16/00, p.A1)
2001 Aug 15, The Air Force gave
the go-ahead to build its new F-22 fighter, but said it would build
fewer planes for more money than it had once planned.
(AP, 8/15/02)
2001 Aug 15, Robert R. Courtney, a
wealthy Kansas City, Mo., pharmacist accused of diluting chemotherapy
drugs surrendered to the FBI. He was later sentenced to 30 years in
prison.
(AP, 8/15/06)
2001 Aug 15, A Texas appeals court
halted the execution of Napoleon Beazley just hours before he was
scheduled to die for a murder he had committed as a teenager. He was
executed in May 2002.
(AP, 8/15/02)
2001 Aug 15, Astronomers announced
the discovery of the first solar system outside our own.
(AP, 8/15/02)
2001 Aug 15, It was reported that
scientists had found data that suggested that "there is a time
evolution of the laws of physics."
(SFC, 8/15/01, p.A2)
2001 Aug 15, Israeli undercover
troops in Hebron killed Emad Abu Sneiheh (25), an activist in the
Tanzim militia.
(SFC, 8/16/01, p.A9)
2001 Aug 15, NATO authorized 400
first wave peacekeepers for Macedonia.
(SFC, 8/16/01, p.A1)
2001 Aug 15, Four Zimbabwean Daily
News journalists were arrested after publishing a report that police
were helping loot white-owned farms.
(WSJ, 8/16/01, p.A1)(SSFC, 8/19/01, p.A11)
2002 Aug 15, President Bush, using
Mount Rushmore as a dramatic backdrop, pressed Congress to give him a
flexible, fast-moving homeland security department.
(AP, 8/15/03)
2002 Aug 15, Some 600 families of
9/11 victims files a $3 trillion lawsuit against Saudi princes, foreign
banks, charities and the government of Sudan for funding the terrorist
networks that launched the 2001 attacks.
(SFC, 8/16/02, p.A1)(AP, 8/15/03)
2002 Aug 15, In NYC WNEW-FM radio
shock jocks Gregg Hughes and Anthony Cumia aired an eyewitness account
of a couple having sex in the vestibule of St. Patrick's Cathedral.
Their show was cancelled Aug 23.
(SFC, 8/24/02, p.D4)
2002 Aug 15, In Virginia the
bodies of Michael and Mary Short were found shot to death south of
Roanoke. Bones of their daughter Jennifer (9) were found Sep 25 in
Stoneville, NC, some 30 miles away.
(SFC, 8/17/02, p.A3)(SFC, 10/5/02, p.A5)
2002 Aug 15, Larry Rivers (78),
painter, sculptor, jazz musician and poet, died in Southampton, NY.
Rivers was born as Yitzroch Grossberg in Bronx, NY.
(SFC, 8/16/02, p.A25)(NW, 8/26/02, p.9)
2002 Aug 15, In Afghanistan Ghulam
Sakhi Bashi, deputy head of Gen. Dostum's 70th division, was shot and
killed during his son's wedding ceremony in Charbolak, about 30
kilometers to the west of Mazar-I-Sharif.
(Reuters, 8/18/02)
2002 Aug 15, An Indonesian court
acquitted a former East Timor police chief and five other security
officers of crimes against humanity over East Timor's bloody
independence vote in 1999.
(AP, 8/15/02)
2002 Aug 15, Israeli soldiers
strapped a bulletproof vest on a Palestinian teenager and ordered him
to approach a house where a Hamas militant was hiding, with
instructions to bring out everyone inside. As Nidal Daraghmeh (19)
neared the house in the West Bank village of Tubas he was shot in the
back of the head and killed, though it's not clear who pulled the
trigger.
Israeli soldiers shot and killed a 5-year-old
boy in Khan Younis in the central Gaza Strip near an Israeli
settlement. His grandfather and another Palestinian man were critically
wounded.
Israeli soldiers shot and killed two armed
Palestinians who were approaching the fence around Gaza, apparently
planning to attack soldiers or infiltrate into Israel, the military
said. The two were carrying a large bomb, the military said.
(AP, 8/15/02)
2002 Aug 15, Heavy rains caused
the San Luis Potosi and Los Dolores dams to burst, sending a wave of
floodwaters roaring over villages in central Mexico, where authorities
said at least eight people were killed and six others were missing and
feared dead.
(AP, 8/16/02)
2002 Aug 15, A train in Tlaxcala,
Mexico, struck and killed six young people (13-25) as they were walking
along railroad tracks during a religious procession.
(AP, 8/15/02)
2002 Aug 15, Peru's first lady,
Eliane Karp, resigned from a $10,000-a-month consulting job with a
Peruvian bank after the revelation of the contract raised suspicions of
influence peddling.
(AP, 8/16/02)
2002 Aug 15, Uganda has agreed to
withdraw its troops from neighboring Congo, where they were sent four
years ago to support Congolese rebels and root out Ugandan insurgents.
(AP, 8/16/02)
2002 Aug 15, The U.N. Security
Council voted unanimously to strengthen the U.N. presence in Angola to
help consolidate peace in the southwest African nation after 27 years
of civil war.
(AP, 8/15/02)
2003 Aug 15, Bouncing back from
the largest blackout in U.S. history, cities from the Midwest to
Manhattan restored power to millions of people — only to confront a
second series of woes created in the aftermath of the enormous outage.
(AP, 8/15/04)
2003 Aug 15, West Virginia
officials suspected that a single sniper had killed 3 people in recent
days near Charleston.
(SFC, 8/16/03, p.A4)
2003 Aug 15, A remote mine,
allegedly triggered by Chechen rebels, killed five Russian soldiers
while troops were conducting a search operation in the breakaway
republic. Chechen rebels also fired automatic weapons and lobbed
grenades at a military commander's office, killing two soldiers and
wounding 10.
(AP, 8/15/03)(AP, 8/16/03)
2003 Aug 15, Saboteurs blew up a
major pipeline and stopped all oil flow from Iraq to Turkey, just three
days after the pipeline between the two countries was reopened. A
following fire raged into the next day. The 600-mile pipeline runs from
the northern city of Kirkuk to the Turkish city of Ceyhan.
(AP, 8/16/03)
2003 Aug 15, Tens of thousands
Liberian civilians, desperate for food, broke through barricades on
Monrovia's front-line bridges, reuniting the capital after 10 weeks of
rebel siege.
(AP, 8/15/03)
2003 Aug 15, The ruling prince of
Liechtenstein, who garnered controversy in Europe with his push for
more power in the tiny state, announced he would step down and hand
over the reins to his son in one year.
(AP, 8/15/03)
2003 Aug 15, Mexican troops
arrested one of the country's most-wanted drug-traffic suspects,
Armando Valencia, along with seven top figures in his ring in
Tlajomulco near Guadalajara.
(AP, 8/16/03)
2003 Aug 15, A landslide swept
through an army base in northern Nepal killing at least 15 soldiers,
and search teams scoured the debris for more bodies.
(AP, 8/16/03)
2003 Aug 15, Nicanor Duarte was
inaugurated as Paraguay's 47th president. Presidents from Colombia and
other countries in the region gave Duarte his first official business
as they signed the "Declaration of Asuncion" pledging a political
alliance in the war on drugs.
(AP, 8/16/03)
2003 Aug 15, Philippine army
forces in a speedboat killed 4 suspected members of Abu Sayyaf, an
extremist Muslim group, in a clash at sea after getting a tip from
fishermen.
(AP, 8/17/03)
2003 Aug 15, Saudi police arrested
at least 11 suspected militants and seized a large weapons cache in
southern Jazan province that included rockets and explosive chemicals.
(AP, 8/16/03)
2003 Aug 15, The World Bank said
it is lending Vietnam $100 million over the next 3 years to support
reforms, reduce poverty, develop a market economy and help devise a
modern legal system.
(AP, 8/15/03)
2004 Aug 15, In NY Spencer Tunick,
photographer, gathered 1,826 people at Buffalo’s old Central Terminal
for a group session of nude photographs.
(SFC, 8/17/04, p.E5)
2004 Aug 15, Vijay Singh won the
PGA Championship in Haven, Wis.
(AP, 8/15/05)
2004 Aug 15, Residents left
homeless by Hurricane Charley dug through their ravaged homes, rescuing
what they could as President Bush promised rapid delivery of disaster
aid.
(AP, 8/15/05)
2004 Aug 15, Sporadic gunfire and
shelling took place overnight in the disputed Georgian region of South
Ossetia in violation of a fragile ceasefire, wounding seven Georgian
servicemen.
(AFP, 8/15/04)
2004 Aug 15, IOC officials,
worried by the television images being flashed around the world of
athletes competing in near empty stadiums, told the Athens Games
organizers to give tickets away for free if necessary.
(AP, 8/16/04)
2004 Aug 15, In Athens, the US
men's basketball team lost 92-73 to Puerto Rico, only the third Olympic
defeat ever for the Americans and first since adding pros.
(AP, 8/15/05)
2004 Aug 15, In northeast India a
bomb exploded during an Independence Day parade in Dhemaji, killing 18
people, including schoolchildren.
(AP, 8/15/04)(Econ, 8/21/04, p.34)
2004 Aug 15, Hundreds of delegates
from across Iraq gathered in Baghdad at a three-day national conference
intended to bring a taste of democratic debate.
(AP, 8/15/04)
2004 Aug 15, US armored vehicles
and tanks rolled back into the streets of Najaf and troops battled
Shiite militants in a resumption of fighting after the collapse of
negotiations. 2 US soldiers were killed in Najaf when troops came under
attack by militiamen loyal to firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
(AP, 8/15/04)(AP, 8/16/04)
2004 Aug 15, In Liechtenstein
Prince Hans-Adam II formally handed over day-to-day governing powers to
his son Crown Prince Alois, and then invited all 33,000 of
Liechtenstein's people to a garden party.
(AP, 8/15/04)
2004 Aug 15, In Sweden Dr. Sune
Karl Bergstrom (88), 1982 Nobel laureate, died.
(SFC, 8/19/04, p.B7)
2004 Aug 15, In Venezuela the
opposition's long and bitter campaign to oust Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez finally came down to a recall referendum. Chavez survived a
referendum to oust him.
(AP, 8/16/04)
2005 Aug 15, US prosecutors said 4
former Wall Street brokers have been indicted for a scheme allowing day
traders to eavesdrop on internal communications and profit by trading
ahead of large share orders and subsequent price movements.
(Reuters, 8/15/05)
2005 Aug 15, Reliant Energy agreed
to pay $135.4 million in cash to California and to forgo $299.5 million
it claims it is owed to settle allegations of energy manipulation
during the energy crises 5 years earlier.
(SFC, 8/16/05, p.D1)
2005 Aug 15, Delta Air Lines said
it is selling its feeder carrier, Atlantic Southeast Airlines, to
SkyWest for $425 million.
(SFC, 8/16/05, p.D3)
2005 Aug 15, Hershey announced the
acquisition of Joseph Schmidt, a SF chocolate maker.
(SFC, 8/16/05, p.D1)
2005 Aug 15, James Dougherty (84),
the retired Los Angeles detective who was the first husband of Marilyn
Monroe, died in San Rafael, Calif.
(AP, 8/15/06)
2005 Aug 15, Bulgaria's three
largest parties formed a coalition under a Socialist prime minister,
resolving seven weeks of stalemate threatening to hold up the Balkan
state's aspirations for EU entry in 2007.
(AP, 8/15/05)
2005 Aug 15, Canada’s CBC locked
out 5,300 of its 9,000 employees following 15 months of unsuccessful
talks with the Canadian Media Guild, a merger of 3 unions.
(Econ, 10/1/05, p.37)
2005 Aug 15, A powerful car bomb
exploded outside a restaurant in Chechnya's capital, killing two
people, including a child, and wounding at least 11 others.
(AP, 8/16/05)
2005 Aug 15, In northeast Colombia
suspected rebels killed two Catholic priests, ambushing their car with
gunfire and explosives as they drove down a country road.
(AP, 8/15/05)
2005 Aug 15, In Egypt’s the Sinai
Peninsula a crude roadside bomb blasted a vehicle belonging to
international peacekeepers, lightly wounding two Canadians.
(AP, 8/15/05)
2005 Aug 15, Near-simultaneous
attacks and riots at 7 Guatemalan prisons left 31 inmates dead. They
showed the organizational power of Central America's gangs, whose
members communicate between prisons through cell phones and visitors.
(AP, 8/16/05)
2005 Aug 15, Indonesia and Aceh
rebels signed a peace treaty in Helsinki to end nearly 30 years of
fighting that killed 15,000 people, but rebel leaders voiced concern
about government troops remaining in the region.
(AP, 8/15/05)
2005 Aug 15, Iraq’s parliament
failed to meet a key deadline for finishing a new constitution and
voted to give itself another week on a new draft constitution.
(Econ, 8/20/05, p.37)(AP, 8/15/06)
2005 Aug 15, Israel began to pull
out from the Gaza Strip after 38 years of occupation. Asher Weisgen
(Weisgan), an Israeli settler, murdered four Palestinians under his
employ and wounded a fifth near Shilo in an effort to prevent Israeli
withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. On Sep 27, 2006, Weisgan was sentenced
to 4 consecutive life terms plus 12 years and ordered to pay $53,000 to
the families of those killed and $23,000 to Rauhi Kassab, who survived.
(AP,
8/15/05)(http://dc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/135780/index.php)
2005 Aug 15, Italy’s Interior
Minister said Italy has arrested 141 people in a security swoop
following the bombings in London and Egypt last month and remains at
high risk from an attack by Islamic militants. Expulsion procedures had
begun against 701 people.
(Reuters, 8/15/05)
2005 Aug 15, New Kyrgyz President
Kurmanbek Bakiyev appointed Felix Kulov, a former opposition politician
who was jailed under the country's ousted Soviet-era leader, as acting
prime minister.
(AP, 8/15/05)
2005 Aug 15, Singapore hosted
maritime exercises aimed at stopping shipments of weapons of mass
destruction. The drills are part of the U.S.-led Proliferation Security
Initiative (PSI). Other participants in the Deep Saber exercises
included Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Italy,
Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Russia and the US.
(AP, 8/15/05)
2006 Aug 15, US federal agents
arrested 138 alleged drug traffickers in 15 cities. They seized over 47
pounds of Mexican black tar heroin and confiscated over $500,000 in
illegal profits.
(SFC, 8/16/06, p.A3)
2006 Aug 15, US officials arrested
Edgar Alvarez Cruz on immigration violations in Denver. He was
suspected of participating in the rapes and killings of at least 10
women in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, where more than 100 young
women have been killed since 1993.
(AP, 8/17/06)
2006 Aug 15, Seven northeastern US
states said they had agreed on a model rule that would create the
country's first market for heat-trapping carbon dioxide by curbing
emissions at power plants.
(Reuters, 8/15/06)
2006 Aug 15, Afghan and US troops
killed an al-Qaida suspect and detained 13 others in southeastern
Afghanistan.
(AP, 8/15/06)
2006 Aug 15, The official death
toll in China from Typhoon Saomai jumped to 295 as fishing families
grieving the loss of loved ones said authorities were no help and had
covered up the number of fatalities.
(AFP, 8/15/06)
2006 Aug 15, In Colombia the last
major paramilitary leader to enter into a peace deal with the
government handed in his weapon, even as the future of that fragile
accord was called into doubt by other ex-militia leaders. Freddy Rendon
Herrera and 745 fighters from the Elmer Cardenas bloc handed in 447
rifles in a disarmament ceremony in Unguia, a village 370 miles
northwest of Bogota.
(AP, 8/15/06)
2006 Aug 15, French Interior
Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said nearly 30,000 illegal immigrants with
school-age children applied for French residency under a special
government offer, and about 6,000 will get it.
(AP, 8/15/06)
2006 Aug 15, The UN Security
Council voted unanimously to extend the UN peacekeeping mission in
Haiti for six months and urged its troops and police to help fight gang
violence and kidnapping.
(AP, 8/15/06)
2006 Aug 15, A suicide bomber
killed nine people at the party headquarters of the Iraqi president. In
Basra tribal leader Faisal Raji al-Asadi, an anti-American Shiite
cleric, was killed. Gunbattles between his supporters and Iraqi forces
left at least six people dead. In Karbala street battles between
security forces and followers of anti-American cleric Mahmoud
al-Hassani, left 12 dead, including two Iraqi soldiers. A suicide car
bomber killed nine people in an attack on the Mosul headquarters of the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, a Kurdish party headed by President Jalal
Talabani.
(AP, 8/15/06)(AP, 8/16/06)(SFC, 8/17/06, p.A14)
2006 Aug 15, Israel began slowly
withdrawing its forces from southern Lebanon and made plans to hand
over its captured territory as hopes were raised that a UN-imposed
cease-fire would stick, despite early tests on its first day.
(AP, 8/15/06)
2006 Aug 15, Japan’s PM Junichiro
Koizumi made a pilgrimage to a Tokyo war shrine reviled by critics as a
symbol of militarism, triggering a further erosion in Japan's ties with
its neighbors just a month before he leaves office.
(AP, 8/15/06)
2006 Aug 15, Maori Queen Te
Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu (75), aka Te Ata, died in New Zealand.
(SFC, 8/16/06, p.B7)(AP, 8/15/07)
2006 Aug 15, Two Norwegian and two
Ukrainian oil workers being held hostage in Nigeria were freed as the
government promised to crack down on a surge in unrest in Africa's
largest oil producer.
(Reuters, 8/15/06)
2006 Aug 15, Pakistani forces
arrested 29 suspected Taliban militants in a raid on a private hospital
after they came from neighboring Afghanistan.
(AP, 8/15/06)
2007 Aug 15, Ex-NBA referee Tim
Donaghy pleaded guilty to felony charges in an NBA betting scheme. He
faced up to 25 years in prison and a $500,000 fine. A federal judge
later sentenced Donaghy to 15 months behind bars.
(WSJ, 8/16/07, p.A1)(AP, 8/15/08)
2007 Aug 15, Pennsylvania Superior
Court Judge Michael Thomas Joyce, an appeals court judge, was indicted
on charges of scamming $440,000 from insurers by claiming he suffered
debilitating injuries in a car crash, even while he golfed, skated and
went scuba diving.
(AP, 8/16/07)
2007 Aug 15, Max Roach (b.1924),
jazz drummer, died in Manhattan.
(SFC, 8/16/07, p.B11)
2007 Aug 15, In Afghanistan US led
ground troops and airstrikes targeted "hundreds of foreign fighters"
dug into positions in the Tora Bora region of eastern Nangarhar
province. 2 German police officers and a German foreign ministry
employee were killed in Kabul, in a bomb attack claimed by the Taliban.
(AP, 8/15/07)
2007 Aug 15, In Germany 6 Italian
men were fatally shot in the head in the western city of Duisburg, an
execution-style killing that Italy's interior minister said appeared to
be a feud between two Italian organized crime clans. On March 12, 2009,
Dutch police arrested Giovanni Strangio (30), an Italian man wanted for
the killings in Duisburg.
(AP, 8/15/07)(AP, 3/13/09)
2007 Aug 15, State radio reported
that Iran has detained two Chinese nationals on charges of spying on
its military and nuclear facilities. A drug crackdown was launched
throughout Iran and police seized more than 54 kilos (118 pounds) of
heroin and crack from the gang in airports in Tehran and several other
cities. In the operation 90 members of a drug network, including 85
Africans from Tanzania, Nigeria and Ghana as well as two Pakistanis,
were arrested.
(AP, 8/15/07)(AFP, 8/18/07)
2007 Aug 15, In Mosul a bomb in a
parked car killed a civilian and wounded ten others. 5 people were
killed in an ambush on a minibus carrying civilians near Khalis. South
of Baghdad a suicide car bomber killed two people and wounded seven. US
troops killed 11 suspected terrorists and detained four others in
operations against al-Qaida in central and northern Iraq. Two US
soldiers were killed and six wounded in fighting north of Baghdad.
(AP, 8/15/07)(AP, 8/16/07)
2007 Aug 15, Japan's foreign
minister launched plans for a joint Israeli-Palestinian industrial park
in the West Bank that he said would promote peace in the region through
prosperity.
(AP, 8/15/07)
2007 Aug 15, In Kenya hundreds of
journalists wearing black gags marched silently through Nairobi to
protest a proposed law that would allow courts to compel reporters to
reveal their sources.
(AP, 8/15/07)
2007 Aug 15, Maputo's interior
ministry said South Africa has intensified the repatriation of
Mozambican illegal immigrants, going from 400 to a weekly average of
more than 600.
(AFP, 8/15/07)
2007 Aug 15, A magnitude-8.0
trembler rocked Peru's coast, toppling buildings leaving some 610
people dead and 36,000 homes damaged. State doctors called off a
national strike to handle the emergency. Two prisons collapsed and 600
prisoners escaped. About a third gave themselves up over the next week.
Tremors destroyed 80% of Pisco, where 148 people died when the city
cathedral collapsed.
(AP, 8/16/07)(Econ, 8/25/07, p.35)(SSFC, 4/6/08,
p.A14)(Econ, 8/16/08, p.37)
2007 Aug 15, Sergei Sinkonen and
another conscript came upon the officers celebrating a wedding not far
from their unit at the Plesetsk cosmodrome in northwestern
Russia. The officers thought the conscripts had fled and beat them with
army belts, and put Sinkonen in a kennel with guard dogs, where he was
found the next morning in serious condition. Sinkonen died Aug 27.
(AP, 8/29/07)
2007 Aug 15, Official media said
severe floods have destroyed more than a tenth of North Korea's
farmland at the height of the growing season.
(AP, 8/15/07)
2007 Aug 15, Hordes of shoppers
desperate to buy sugar amid severe shortages stampeded at a shopping
complex in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second-largest city, killing a
15-year-old boy and a security guard.
(AP, 8/16/07)
2008 Aug 15, Cookie retailer Mrs.
Fields Famous Brands LLC said it plans to file for Chapter 11
bankruptcy protection to help restructure its business.
(Reuters, 8/15/08)
2008 Aug 15, In Texas store clerk
Mindy Daffern (46) was abducted in the north Texas town of Scotland.
Wallace Bowman Jr. (30) was identified by a security camera and led
investigators to her body the next day.
(SFC, 8/18/08,
p.A3)(www.wafb.com/global/story.asp?s=8854535)
2008 Aug 15, Leroy Sievers
(b.1955), broadcast journalist, died of cancer. He was a former
executive producer of ABC’s “Nightline” and commented on his disease on
National Public Radio (NPR).
(SFC, 8/19/08, p.B5)
2008 Aug 15, Jerry Wexler
(b.1917), record producer, died. From 1953-1975 he worked for NYC-based
Atlantic Records and helped build the firm into a rhythm and blues
powerhouse. As a reported for Billboard magazine he coined the term
“rhythm and blues.”
(WSJ, 8/16/08, p.A7)
2008 Aug 15, Afghan security
forces withdrew from Nawa district in eastern Ghazni province after
days of fighting with Taliban, allowing the rebels to move in and
capture the area. In eastern Afghanistan a roadside bomb and small arms
fire killed 2 soldiers serving under the separate NATO-led force.
Taliban insurgents attacked police checkpoints in Nad Ali district of
southern Helmand province, sparking clashes that killed 23 militants.
(AFP, 8/15/08)(SFC, 8/16/08, p.A6)(AP, 8/17/08)
2008 Aug 15, In Canada employees
at a Wal-Mart Stores Inc. outlet won an arbitrator-imposed contract,
becoming the giant retailer's only location in North America with a
collective agreement in place.
(AP, 8/17/08)
2008 Aug 15, In Chad a court
sentenced former President Hissene Habre and 11 rebels to death. Habre
was awaiting trial in Senegal for torture and murder.
(SFC, 8/16/08, p.A5)
2008 Aug 15, In Beijing 2 positive
dope tests by Asian athletes overshadowed Singapore's first medal in 48
years and a podium for Malaysia with a North Korean shooter and a
Vietnamese gymnast exposed as cheats.
(AP, 8/15/08)
2008 Aug 15, Xinhua News said a
bus veered off the road and plunged into a ravine in central China,
killing 15 people.
(AP, 8/15/08)
2008 Aug 15, About 20 people,
including Italian tourists, were killed when two buses collided head-on
in the Dominican Republic.
(AP, 8/15/08)
2008 Aug 15, Iraqi security forces
began taking over checkpoints near the Iranian border previously manned
by Georgian troops before they redeployed home following recent
fighting with Russia. A roadside bomb struck a minibus beginning the
trip in eastern Baghdad morning, killing at least one passenger and
wounding 10 others. A passenger van packed with explosives blew up at a
bus station in Balad, north of Baghdad. 9 people were killed and 40
wounded.
(AP, 8/15/08)(AP, 8/16/08)
2008 Aug 15, Russian troops
allowed some humanitarian supplies into Georgia’s city of Gori but kept
up their blockade of the strategically located city, raising doubts
about Russia's intentions. Relief planes swooped into Tbilisi with tons
of supplies for the estimated 100,000 people uprooted by the fighting.
An international rights group said it has evidence that Russian
warplanes dropped cluster bombs in civilian areas in Georgia.
(AP, 8/15/08)
2008 Aug 15, In India's part of
Kashmir tens of thousands of Muslims took to the streets again,
ignoring a plea by the country's prime minister for an end to weeks of
violence that has left 34 people dead.
(AP, 8/15/08)
2008 Aug 15, Officials said
Nepal's lawmakers have voted in Prachanda, the leader of the former
Maoist rebels, as the Himalayan country's new prime minister.
(AFP, 8/15/08)
2008 Aug 15, Twelve Nigerian
militants and a naval officer were killed in a gunbattle near a Royal
Dutch Shell natural gas plant in the oil-producing Niger Delta.
(Reuters, 8/16/08)
2008 Aug 15, Coalition government
officials said Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf is ready to resign
rather than face impeachment, but is seeking immunity from prosecution
and agreement on a safe place to live. President Pervez Musharraf's
spokesman rejected reports that the embattled Pakistani leader was set
to resign. Pakistan's interior ministry chief said that over 460
Islamic militants and 22 soldiers have been killed in more than a week
of fighting in a tribal area bordering Afghanistan.
(Reuters, 8/15/08)(AFP, 8/15/08)(AP, 8/15/08)
2008 Aug 15, Leftist ex-bishop
Fernando Lugo was inaugurated as Paraguay's president, ending six
decades of one-party rule in a key step in the poor South American
nation's democratic transformation.
(AP, 8/15/08)
2008 Aug 15, Peruvians flooded the
streets to protest the slow pace of reconstruction a year after a
magnitude-8.0 earthquake left tens of thousands homeless.
(AP, 8/16/08)
2008 Aug 15, In the Philippines at
least 15 hitchhikers were killed and 14 others injured when the truck
they were riding in plunged into a ravine outside Monkayo township in
the southern gold mining area on Diwalawal mountain.
(AP, 8/15/08)
2008 Aug 15, South African
authorities closed camps that have housed thousands of foreigners
displaced by xenophobic violence, in a move that has drawn concern they
could face more attacks when they return home.
(AFP, 8/15/08)
2008 Aug 15, International aid
groups said tens of thousands of civilians have fled their homes in
northern Sri Lanka in recent weeks as the military ramped up its
offensive against the Tamil Tiger rebels' heartland.
(AP, 8/15/08)
2009 Aug 15, In Georgia former
college professor Lothar Karl Schweder (77) and his wife Sherry (65)
were found mauled to death by dogs near their home in Lexington.
(SFC, 8/18/09, p.A7)
2009 Aug 15, In southern
California the body of Jasmine Fiore (28), a swimsuit model, was found
stuffed in a suitcase and dumped into a trash bin in Orange County. Her
husband Ryan Alexander Jenkins (32), a reality TV show contestant and
CEO of Skyhomes in Calgary, Canada, reported her missing the same day.
On Aug 20 Jenkins was charged with murder and believed to be hiding in
Canada. On Aug 23 Jenkins was found dead of apparent suicide in a motel
in Hope, British Columbia.
(SFC, 8/20/09, p.A5)(SFC, 8/20/09, p.A9)(Reuters,
8/24/09)
2009 Aug 15, In Afghanistan a
suicide car bomb exploded outside the main gate of NATO's headquarters
five days before presidential elections, killing seven and wounding 91
in the biggest attack in the Afghan capital in six months. A British
soldier succumbed to injuries sustained while out on foot patrol in
Helmand province, becoming the 201st British military fatality in
Afghanistan.
(AP, 8/15/09)(AFP, 8/16/09)
2009 Aug 15, In northern Algeria
an explosion followed by gunfire left one police officer dead and two
others wounded at a beach. A head-on collision between a lorry and a
minibus killed 16 people on the outskirts of the city of Ghazaouet,
including more than a dozen members of the same family traveling
together.
(AFP, 8/15/09)
2009 Aug 15, Canada said it will
pay some farmers to stop raising hogs and offer loans to help others
restructure, assistance that drew praise from Canadian hog farmers and
concerns from a top US farmer group.
(Reuters, 8/15/09)
2009 Aug 15, In southern Chile
Manuel Calfiu, head of the Mapuche community Meli Wixan Mapu, said
dozens of Indian communities agreed to form the Mapuche Territorial
Alliance to fight for political autonomy, said after several days of
violence over land seizures.
(AP, 8/15/09)
2009 Aug 15, Three Iraqi men
herding cattle were killed after wandering into the middle of a
US-Iraqi mortar training exercise north of the Iraqi capital.
(AP, 8/16/09)
2009 Aug 15, In Kuwait a fire at a
wedding tent killed 57 women and children as it consumed the structure
in a blazing inferno lasting just three minutes. The bridegroom’s
ex-wife was later found to be the arsonist. In 2010 a Kuwaiti appeals
court confirmed a death sentence against Nasra Yussef Mohammed al-Enezi
(23). She had been convicted in March of setting fire to the wedding
tent as her husband took a second wife.
(AP, 8/16/09)(AP, 8/18/09)(SFC, 8/18/09, p.A4)(AFP,
5/26/10)
2009 Aug 15, Japan's PM Taro Aso
expressed deep regret over the suffering his country inflicted on Asian
countries during World War II in a solemn ceremony that marked the 64th
anniversary of Tokyo's surrender.
(AP, 8/15/09)
2009 Aug 15, In Mexico the
dismembered body of Jesus Arroyo, a legal adviser for the leftist
Democratic Revolution Party, was found in an ice box in Ciudad
Altamirano, in Guerrero state. In Guadalajara singer Carlos Vicente
Ocaranza, who specialized in drug ballads, was shot to death outside a
bar. His manager died of wounds 2 days later. Ocaranza was better known
as "El Loco Elizalde," or The Crazy Elizalde, a reference to his
distant relation by marriage to Valentin Elizalde, a much more famous
musician, also killed by gunshots in 2006.
(AP, 8/15/09)(www.wtop.com/?nid=105&sid=1646540)
2009 Aug 15, In Myanmar US Sen.
Jim Webb won the release of John Yettaw (53), an American prisoner
convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison for swimming secretly
to the residence of detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
(AP, 8/15/09)
2009 Aug 15, Nigeria's anti-graft
agency said it had recovered more than 50 billion naira ($320.5 million
/ €224.2 million) in looted funds and secured 70 convictions in the
past year. Police in the western Nigerian state of Niger raided the
Darul Islam community and detained hundreds of its members, weeks after
an uprising by a radical sect killed almost 800 in the remote
northeast. Sect leader Amrul Bashir Abdullahi said: "We decided to
create a camp for ourselves outside the community because of the
problems in the larger society. These are problems of corruption,
drunkenness, prostitution and so on which Allah forbids."
(AFP, 8/15/09)(Reuters, 8/16/09)
2009 Aug 15, In Pakistan a suicide
bomber rammed an explosives-laden car into a checkpoint in the
northwestern Swat Valley, killing at least five people in a reminder
that extremists can still strike despite the military's retaking of the
area. Air strikes by government fighter jets killed 16 militants and
destroyed several Taliban hideouts in tribal South Waziristan.
(AP, 8/15/09)(AFP, 8/17/09)
2009 Aug 15, In the Gaza Strip
Abdel-Latif Moussa, the leader of an al-Qaida-inspired group, blew
himself up during a shootout with Hamas security forces, ending hours
of violence sparked by a rebellious sermon at a mosque near the
Egyptian border. A total of 24 people, including six Hamas police
officers and an 11-year-old girl, were killed and 150 were wounded.
(AP, 8/15/09)
2009 Aug 15, In Peru farmers freed
13 police officers and four civilians seized at a hydroelectric dam in
the Andean region after local officials agreed to provide them with
fertilizer.
(AP, 8/15/09)
2009 Aug 15, In Puerto Rico
Ricardo Lebron Berrios (23), a prisoner being taken to jail to face car
theft charges, allegedly shot one police officer to death and gravely
wounded a second, then escaped in their squad car.
(AP, 8/16/09)
2009 Aug 15, Somali pirates found
seven dead colleagues floating in the ocean and vowed to take revenge
against Egyptian fishermen they say killed them during an August 13
escape.
(Reuters, 8/15/09)
2009 Aug 15, South Korea's
president renewed his offer of aid for impoverished North Korea if it
abandons its nuclear weapons and called for talks on the reduction of
conventional weapons along their heavily fortified border.
(AP, 8/15/09)
2009 Aug 15, Sri Lanka's Roman
Catholic leaders called for the release of ethnic Tamils held in
military-run displacement camps, saying they are confined like
prisoners behind barbed wire.
(AP, 8/15/09)
2009 Aug 15, Taiwan's President Ma
Ying-jeou bowed to public anger, apologizing for his government's slow
response to Typhoon Morakot, which devastated central and southern
parts of the island.
(AFP, 8/15/09)
2009 Aug 15, Yemen widened a
military offensive against Shiite rebels in the country's north,
blasting the fighters' positions with artillery and airstrikes.
(AP, 8/15/09)
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