Today in History - August 26
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55 BC Aug 26,
Roman forces under Julius Caesar invaded Britain.
(AP, 8/26/97)
1071 Aug 26, Turks defeated the
Byzantine army under Emperor Romanus IV at Manzikert (Malaz Kard),
Eastern Turkey. Romanus was taken prisoner.
(PCh, 1992, p.85)(Ot, 1993, p.4)
1346 Aug 26, During the Hundred
Years War, King Edward III's 9,000-man English army annihilated a
French force of 27,000 under King Philip VI at the Battle of Crecy in
Normandy. The battle is regarded as one of the most decisive in
history. [see Aug 25]
(PC, 1992, p.128)(WSJ, 11/4/04, p.D10)
1429 Aug 26, Joan of Arc makes a
triumphant entry into Paris.
(HN, 8/26/99)
1648 Aug 26, There was a people's
uprising, the Fronde, against Anna of Austria, regent for Louis XIV of
France, and Cardinal Mazarin (d.1661), the effective ruler.
(PC, 1992, p.241)(MC, 8/26/02)
1676 Aug 26, Sir Robert Walpole
(d.1745), the first and longest serving prime minister of England, was
born. He was not then called the prime minister as the king held all
honors. He collected a large number of paintings by old masters at his
Houghton Hall home in Norfolk.
(WSJ, 3/3/97,
p.A16)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Walpole)
1723 Aug 26, Anton van Leeuwenhoek
(b.1632), Dutch biologist, inventor (microscope), died in Delft,
Netherlands. [some sources say Aug 30]
(www.es.rice.edu/ES/humsoc/Galileo/Catalog/Files/leewnhok.html)
1740 Aug 26, Joseph-Michel
Montgolfier, French inventor, born. He and his brother Jacques-Etienne
invented the hot air balloon in 1783.
(RTH, 8/26/99)
1743 Aug 26, Antoine Laurent
Lavoisier, the father of modern chemistry, was born. He discovered
"dephlogisticated air" which he called oxygen and was executed by the
revolution in 1794.
(HN, 8/26/99)(RTH, 8/26/99)
1768 Aug 26, Capt James Cook
departed from Plymouth with Endeavour to the Pacific Ocean. Daniel
Solander and Joseph Banks accompanied Cook to catalog plants and
animals of Australia and New Zealand on the 3-year journey.
(www.artstor.org/what-is-artstor/w-html/col-endeavour-london.shtml)(SSFC,
4/19/09, Books p.J7)
1789 Aug 26, The Constituent
Assembly in Versailles, France, approved the final version of the
Declaration of Human Rights.
(HN, 8/26/99)
1791 Aug 26, John Fitch and James
Rumsey, rival inventors, were both granted a US patent for a working
steamboat.
(MC, 8/26/02)(WSJ, 7/27/04, p.D10)
1813 Aug
26-1813 Aug 27, The Battle of Dresden was Napoleon’s last major victory
against the allied forces of Austria, Russia and Prussia.
(www.napoleonguide.com/battle_dresden.htm)
1819 Aug 26, Albert "Bertie" von
Saxon-Coburg-Gotha (d.1861), husband of queen Victoria, was born at
Schloss Rosenau, near Coburg, Bavaria.
(WUD, 1994,
p.34)(www.encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com)
1839 Aug 26, The slave ship
Amistad was captured off Long Island. The U.S.S. Washington, a U.S.
Navy brig, seized the Amistad York, and escorted it to New London,
Connecticut.
(MC, 8/26/02)
1843 Aug 26, Charles Thurber
patented a typewriter.
(MC, 8/26/02)
1846 Aug 26, Felix Mendelssohn's
"Elijah," premiered.
(MC, 8/26/02)
1847 Aug 26, Liberia was
proclaimed an independent republic. Freed American slaves founded
Liberia. They modeled their constitution after that of the US, copied
the US flag, and named their capital Monrovia, after James Monroe, who
financed early settlers. Over the decades 16,400 former slaves made the
voyage. They assumed that the 16 native tribes were there to be
exploited.
(AP, 8/26/97)(SFC, 4/10/96, p.A-4)(SFC, 4/16/96,
p.A-9)
1850 Aug 26, Charles Richet,
French physiologist (anaphylaxis-Nobel 1913), was born.
(MC, 8/26/02)
1862 Aug 26, Confederate General
Thomas ‘Stonewall’ Jackson encircles the Union Army under General John
Pope at the Second Battle of Bull Run.
(HN, 8/26/99)
1863 Aug 26, Battle of Rocky Gap,
WV, (White Sulphur Springs).
(MC, 8/26/02)
1873 Aug 26, Lee De Forest
(d.1961), inventor of the Audion vacuum tube, was born in Council
bluffs, Iowa. He is considered the father of radio.
(WUD, 1994 p.379)(www.britannica.com)
1875 Aug 26, John Buchan (d.1940),
Lord Tweedsmuir, was born in Perth, Scotland. He became a writer and
governor general of Canada (1935), and was famous for his spy story
"The Thirty-Nine Steps" (1915). "There may be Peace without Joy, and
Joy without Peace, but the two combined make Happiness."
(HN, 8/26/99)(WSJ, 12/9/06, p.P12)(AP, 1/7/98)
1883 Aug 26, The island volcano
Krakatoa in Indonesia began erupting with increasingly large explosions
and killed some 36,000 people, both on the island itself and from the
resulting 131-foot tidal waves that obliterated 163 villages on the
shores of nearby Java and Sumatra. A book by Ian Thornton: "Krakatau:
The Destruction and Reassembly of an Island Ecosystem" was published in
1996. [see Aug 27] The history of hundreds of volcanoes is at a Volcano
World Web page: (www.volcano.und.nodak.edu/vw.html).
(AP, 8/26/97)(Nat. Hist, 3/96, p.6)(HN, 8/26/02)
1884 Aug 26, Earl Biggers, author
("Charlie Chan" detective series), was born.
(MC, 8/26/02)
1898 Aug 26, Peggy Guggenheim, art
patron and collector, was born.
(HN, 8/26/00)
1901 Aug 26, Maxwell Taylor, U.S.
general and diplomat, born. As commanding general of the 8th Army in
1953, he directed U.N. forces during the latter stages of the Korean
War.
(RTH, 8/26/99)
1906 Aug 26, Christopher
Isherwood, English-US novelist and playwright, was born. He wrote
"Goodbye to Berlin" (Berlin Stories), the inspiration for the play "I
am a Camera" and the musical and film "Cabaret." [1904 also given as
birth year]
(WUD, 1994 p.755)(HN, 8/26/00)
1906 Aug 26, Albert Bruce Sabin,
U.S. virologist, born in Poland. In 1955, he developed an oral vaccine
against polio.
(RTH, 8/26/99)
1907 Aug 26, Harry Houdini escaped
from chains underwater at Aquatic Park in 57 sec.
(MC, 8/26/02)
1908 Aug 26, Tony Pastor (b.1837),
singer and actor, died. He is considered to be the father of American
vaudeville.
(www.britannica.com/eb/article-9058682/Tony-Pastor)
1910 Aug 26, William James
(b.1842), American psychologist and philosopher, died. His work
included “the Principles of Psychology” (1890) and “The Varieties of
Religious Experience” (1902). William James was the older brother of
novelist Henry James. In 2006 Robert D. Richardson authored the
biography: “William James.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_James)
1910 Aug 26, Agnes Gonxhe Bojaxhiu
(d.1997), later known as Mother Teresa and care-taker of the poor in
Calcutta, was born to an ethnic Albanian family in Uskub (later Skopje,
Macedonia). In 1950 she founded the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta
and in 1979 was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for her work.
(SFC, 8/26/97, p.C3)(AP,
9/26/04)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Teresa)
1914 Aug 26, The French government
appointed Gen. Joseph Simon Gallieni (65) as military governor of
Paris. He had been called out of retirement at the onset of war to
serve in the Ministry of War in Paris.
(ON, 8/08, p.4)
1915 Aug 26, Gre [Gerarda D]
Brouwenstijn, Dutch opera soprano, was born.
(MC, 8/26/02)
1920 Aug
26, US Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby certified ratification of
the Nineteenth Amendment. The amendment had been first introduced in
Congress in 1878, setting in motion supporters who demonstrated,
lobbied, marched and spoke out for woman suffrage. They were often met
with venomous opposition. Early on, the two main factions of the
movement disagreed about how to achieve their goal, but they ultimately
united in 1890 to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association
and worked together to get the amendment passed. By August 18, 1920,
three-fourths of the United States had agreed to the bill.
(AP, 8/26/97)(HNPD, 8/26/99)
1921 Aug 26, Ben Bradlee, editor,
journalist, executive (Washington Post), was born in Boston.
(MC, 8/26/02)
1929 Aug 26, The 1st US roller
coaster was built.
(MC, 8/26/02)
1930 Aug 26, Lon Chaney (47),
actor (Thunder, Big City, Unholy 3), died.
(MC, 8/26/02)
1935 Aug 26, Geraldine Ferraro,
(Rep-D-NY) 1st female dem VP candidate (1984), was born.
(MC, 8/26/02)
1935 Aug 26, The US Public
Utilities Act gave federal agencies powers to regulate gas and electric
companies.
(SSFC, 1/18/09, p.D6)
1936 Aug 26, The Anglo-Egyptian
Treaty, calling for most British troops to leave Egypt, except those
guarding the Suez Canal, was signed in Montreux, Switzerland. It was
abrogated by Egypt in 1951.
(AP, 8/26/05)
1937 Aug 26, President Roosevelt
signed the Judicial Procedure Reform Act, a compromise on his judicial
reorganization plan.
(SSFC, 1/18/09, p.D6)
1939 Aug 26, The first televised
major league baseball games were shown on experimental station W2XBS, a
double-header between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers at
Ebbets Field. The Reds won first, 5-2; the Dodgers, second, 6-1.
(AP, 8/26/98)
1942 Aug 26, 7,000 Jews were
rounded up in Vichy, France.
(MC, 8/26/02)
1942 Aug 26, Japanese troops
landed on New Guinea, Milne Bay.
(MC, 8/26/02)
1942 Aug 26, A Russian counter
offensive began in Moscow.
(MC, 8/26/02)
1943 Aug 26, The United States
recognizes the French Committee of National Liberation.
(HN, 8/26/99)
1944 Aug 26, US 12th Army Corps
crossed the river Seine East of Paris.
(MC, 8/26/02)
1944 Aug 26, In World War Two,
Bulgaria announced that it had withdrawn from the war and that German
troops in the country were to be disarmed.
(RTH, 8/26/99)
1945 Aug 26, Japanese diplomats
boarded the Missouri to receive instructions on Japan's surrender at
the end of WW II.
(MC, 8/26/02)
1945 Aug 26, Franz Werfel (54),
Czech-German-US poet, writer (Mirror Man), died.
(MC, 8/26/02)
1957 Aug 26, Ford Motor Company
revealed the Edsel, its latest luxury car.
(HN, 8/26/99)
1957 Aug 26, The Soviet Union
announced it had successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic
missile.
(AP, 8/26/97)
1958 Aug 26, Alaskans went to the
polls to overwhelmingly vote in favor of statehood.
(AP, 8/26/08)
1958 Aug 26, Ralph Vaughan
Williams (85), English composer (Fantasia on Themes of Thomas Tallis),
died.
(MC, 8/26/02)
1960 Aug 26, Knud Jensen (23),
Danish cyclist, collapsed while riding in a 100-km team trial at the
Olympics in Rome. He fractured his skull and died. An autopsy revealed
amphetamines in his blood. His death would led the International
Olympic Committee to begin a program of drug testing beginning with the
1968 Games held in Grenoble, France and Mexico City, Mexico.
(WSJ, 8/7/06,
p.B1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knud_Enemark_Jensen)
1961 Aug 26, The official
International Hockey Hall of Fame opened in Toronto.
(AP, 8/26/97)
1964 Aug 26, President Johnson was
nominated for a term of office in his own right at the Democratic
National Convention in Atlantic City, N.J.
(AP, 8/26/97)
1968 Aug 26, The Democratic
National Convention opened in Chicago. Thousands of antiwar
demonstrators took to Chicago's streets to protest the Vietnam War
during the Democratic National Convention.
(AP, 8/26/08)(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.F6)
1971 Aug 26, New Jersey Gov.
William T. Cahill announced that the New York Giants football team had
agreed to leave Yankee Stadium for a new sports complex to be built in
East Rutherford.
(AP, 8/24/01)
1972 Aug 26, The XX Olympiad
opened in Munich, Germany. The IOC had withdrawn Rhodesia’s invitation
to the summer Olympics after several African nations threatened a
boycott.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1972_Summer_Olympics)
1972 Aug 26, Sir Francis
Chichester (b.1901), English adventurer, died. In 1966-67 he sailed
around the world alone in his 53-foot yacht, Gypsy Moth IV.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Chichester)
1973 Aug 26, The Univ. of Texas at
Arlington became the 1st accredited school to offer belly dancing.
(www.celebratetoday.com/celebrate.html)(http://tinyurl.com/696e4t)
1974 Aug 26, Charles Lindbergh
(72), the first man to fly solo, nonstop across the Atlantic, died at
his home in Hawaii. Lindbergh had 3 illegitimate children in Germany
with Brigitte Hesshaimer, a Munich hat maker. In 1998 A. Scott Berg
authored "Lindbergh." Earlier Lindbergh's daughter authored her memoir
"Under a Wing."
(AP, 8/26/97)(SFEC, 11/15/98, Par p.29)(SSFC,
10/24/04, Par p.2)
1975 Aug 26, An international plan
began to show significant results to stop Venice from sinking into the
sea. Venice was built on 118 small islands. By the early 1960s, rising
seawater and floods threatened Venice. Scientists determined that
Venice was sinking, and that much of the city would disappear if swift
measures were not taken.
(http://twotrees.www.50megs.com/attic/history/08/26.html)
1976 Aug 26, Prince Bernhard,
husband of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, agreed to resign his
positions with the Dutch armed forces and industry following severe
criticism of his behavior by a commission of enquiry into a Lockheed
bribery scandal. Bernhard had allegedly received $1.1 million as a gift
from Lockheed.
(RTH, 8/26/99)(SFC, 12/24/08, p.B7)
1978 Aug 26, Charles Boyer
(b.1897), French-born film actor (Gaslight, Rogues), committed suicide
in Phoenix, Az., 2 days after his wife's death from cancer. Boyer and
actress Pat Robertson lost their only child in 1965, when their son
shot himself playing Russian roulette.
(http://www.imdb.com)(SSFC, 1/21/07, Par p.2)
1978 Aug 26, Cardinal Albino
Luciani of Venice was elected the 264th Pope of the Roman Catholic
Church following the death of Paul VI. The new pontiff took the name
John Paul I. He served only 33 days before dying of a heart attack on
September 28.
(AP, 8/26/97)(RTH, 8/26/99)
1978 Aug 26, Sigmund Jahn became
the first German in space when he blasted off aboard Russia’s Soyuz 31.
(RTH, 8/26/99)
1979 Aug 26, Alvin Karpis
(1907-1979), Canadian-born US gangster, died. His autobiography, “The
Alvin Karpis Story,” was completed in 1971.
(WSJ, 7/15/04,
p.D8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_Karpis)
1981 Aug 26, Roger Nash Baldwin
(b.1884), one of the founders of the ACLU, died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Nash_Baldwin)
1982 Aug 26, The Argentine
government lifted a ban on political parties.
(RTH, 8/26/99)
1985 Aug 26, Thirteen-year-old
AIDS patient Ryan White began "attending" classes at Western Middle
School in Kokomo, Indiana, via a telephone hook-up at his home. School
officials had barred Ryan from attending classes in person.
(AP, 8/26/00)
1985 Aug 26, French government
claimed no knowledge of assault on Rainbow Warrior.
(www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1689202,00.html)
1986 Aug 26, In the so-called
"preppie murder" case, 18-year-old Jennifer Levin was found strangled
in New York's Central Park; Robert Chambers later pleaded guilty to
manslaughter for strangling Jennifer Levin during a tryst in Central
Park. Chambers was released from prison in 2003 after serving a 15-year
sentence. He owed the Levin family $25 million from a wrongful death
suit [see Mar 25, 1988]. In 2007 Chambers was arrested for dealing
cocaine. He pleaded guilty and faced another long term in prison.
(SFC, 2/15/03, p.A4)(AP, 8/26/04)(SFC, 8/12/08, p.A6)
1986 Aug 26, Ted Knight (b.1923),
[Tadeus Konopka], actor (Mary Tyler Moore), died.
(www.infoplease.com/biography/var/tedknight.html)
1987 Aug 26, The US stock market
began a 2 month decline of 41%.
{DJIA, USA}
(SFC,10/17/97,
p.B2)(www.financialsense.com/Market/wood/2003/0905.htm)
1987 Aug 26, In an attempt to
eliminate a superpower stumbling block, West German Chancellor Helmut
Kohl said his country would destroy its 72 Pershing 1A rockets if
Washington and Moscow scrapped all their intermediate-range nuclear
weapons.
(AP, 8/26/97)
1988 Aug 26, Republican
presidential nominee George Bush denounced Democrat Michael Dukakis'
criticism of Reagan administration drug policies as "an insult," one
day after the Massachusetts governor called U.S. dealings with
Panamanian General Manuel Noriega "criminal."
(AP, 8/26/98)
1989 Aug 26, A team from Trumbull,
Conn., became the first American team since 1983 to win the Little
League World Series in Williamsport, Pa.
(AP, 8/26/99)
1989 Aug 26, Irving Stone, US
writer born as Irving Tennenbaum (Love is Eternal, Lust for Life), died
in Los Angeles.
(www.absoluteastronomy.com/i/irving_stone)
1990 Aug 26, Fifty-five Americans,
who had been evacuated from the US Embassy in Kuwait, left Baghdad by
car and headed for the Turkish border.
(AP, 8/26/00)
1990 Aug 26, The bodies of two
slain college students were found in their off-campus apartment in
Gainesville, Florida; three more bodies were discovered in the days
that followed, setting off a wave of panic.
(AP, 8/26/00)
1991 Aug 26, In an address to the
Supreme Soviet, President Mikhail S. Gorbachev promised national
elections in a last-ditch effort to preserve his government, but
leaders of Soviet republics told him the hour of central power had
passed.
(AP, 8/24/01)
1992 Aug 26, A federal judge
declared a mistrial in the Iran-Contra cover-up trial of former CIA spy
chief Clair George. George was convicted of perjury in a retrial, but
was then pardoned by President H.W. Bush.
(AP, 8/26/97)
1992 Aug 26, The United States,
Britain and France imposed a 2nd no-fly zone south of the 32nd
parallel, the southern one-third of Iraq aimed at protecting Iraqi
Shiite Muslims.
(AP, 8/26/97)(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A11)
1992 Aug 26, Arthur Leigh Allen
(b.1933) of Vallejo, a convicted child molester and alleged Zodiac
killer, died in Vallejo, Ca. In 1985 Robert Graysmith authored "Zodiac"
in which he identified the killer with the pseudonym of "Robert Starr."
Graysmith authored "Zodiac Unmasked" in 2002. In 2009 lawyer Robert
Tarbox said a merchant seaman had identified himself as the Zodiac
killer as a walk-in client at his SF Montgomery Street office in the
early 1970s.
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W20)(SSFC, 5/12/02, p.M6)(SSFC,
7/19/09, p.A18)
1993 Aug 26, Sheik Omar
Abdel-Rahman and 14 co-defendants entered innocent pleas in federal
court in New York, a day after their indictment on charges of
conspiring to wage terrorism against the United States.
(AP, 8/26/98)
1993 Aug 26, Landlady Dorothea
Puente was convicted in Monterey, Calif., of murdering three of her
boardinghouse tenants; she was later sentenced to life without parole.
(AP, 8/26/98)
1993 Aug 26, Russian President
Boris Yeltsin signed a friendship treaty with the Czech Republic after
condemning the 1968 Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia.
(RTH, 8/26/99)
1994 Aug 26, US Congressional
leaders and White House officials all but conceded that a health reform
bill was dead.
(AP, 8/26/99)
1994 Aug 26, In Egypt a
13-year-old Spanish boy was killed and 3 others injured in a tour bus
attack by Islamic extremists at Nag Hammadi.
(SFC,11/19/97, p.C2)
1995 Aug 26, In his weekly radio
address, President Clinton explained his decision to impose a two-year
moratorium on mining claims on 4500 acres of federal land near the
northeast corner of Yellowstone National Park, saying the land was
"more priceless than gold."
(AP, 8/26/00)
1995 Aug 26, John Costello
(b.1943), British historian, died.
(www.ihr.org/jhr/v20/v20n2p40_Douglas.html)(http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Obituary/1995/misc.html)
1995 Aug 26, Evelyn Wood (86),
speed reading guru, died in Tucson, Arizona. The Salt Lake City school
teacher, began popularizing her “Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics” in the
late 1950s after seeing her graduate-school professors speed-read
through a paper.
(www.readfaster.com/evelynwood.asp)(WSJ, 7/25/06,
p.D1)
1996 Aug 26, There was a review of
Public Television’s new program "Adventures from the Book of Virtues"
based on the anthology by William J. Bennett "The Book of Virtues: A
Treasury of Great Moral Stories."
(WSJ, 8/26/96, p.A10)
1996 Aug 26, Democrats opened
their 42nd national convention in Chicago.
(SFC, 8/26/96, p.A4)(AP, 8/26/97)
1996 Aug 26, A new fake fat,
Z-trim, was announced. It was developed by a researcher of the US Dept.
of Agriculture.
(SFC, 8/26/96, p.A4)
1996 Aug 26, Barbara Jewell,
mother of security guard Richard Jewell, tearfully called on President
Clinton to clear her son's name in connection with the Centennial
Olympic Park bombing. Jewell was later cleared by the Justice
Department.
(AP, 8/26/97)
1996 Aug 26, A Cuban court
convicted fugitive U.S. financier Robert Vesco of economic crimes. He
was sentenced to 13 years in prison for economic crimes against the
state.
(AP, 8/26/97)(SFC, 8/27/96, p.A8)
1996 Aug 26, In Seoul, South
Korea, former Pres. Chun Doo Hwan was sentenced to death for mutiny,
treason and corruption. His successor, Roh Tae Woo, was sentenced to 22
1/2 years in prison. Nine leading businessman were also convicted. They
included Lee Kin Hee, chairman of Samsung Group, and Kim Woo Choong,
chairman of Daewoo Group. The death sentence was later commuted, and
Chun was freed as part of an amnesty in 1997.
(SFC, 8/26/96, p.A1)(AP, 8/26/06)
1996 Aug 26, In Sierra Leone
rebels killed 31 villagers and 7 soldiers in the eastern village of
Foindu.
(SFC, 8/29/96, p.A14)(AP, 8/26/97)
1996 Aug 26, In South Africa
Eugene de Kock, former police colonel, was found guilty of 5 counts of
murder. He still face 116 charges that included 3 for murder.
(WSJ, 8/27/96, p.A1)
1997 Aug 26, It was announced that
researchers at Johns Hopkins had found a gene that causes colon cancer
in some people of Jewish ancestry.
(WSJ, 8/26/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 26, In Columbia Mayor
Mauricio Guzman of Cali was arrested for allegedly accepting money from
a drug cartel.
(SFC, 8/26/97, p.C3)
1997 Aug 26, It was reported that
China executed at least 4,367 people in 1996.
(SFC, 8/26/97, p.A9)
1997 Aug 26, It was reported that
Israel planned to proceed with the building of a dam on the Yarmuk
River. The territory is claimed by Syria.
(SFC, 8/26/97, p.A10)
1997 Aug 26, Two defectors and
their families from North Korea were accepted by the US. One was Chang
Sung Gil, the ambassador to Egypt, the other was his brother
Chang Sung Ho, a commercial councilor at the North Korean mission in
Paris. High level arms talks were immediately terminated.
(SFC, 8/26/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 26, Former South African
President F.W. de Klerk, who shared the Nobel Peace Prize for helping
to end apartheid, announced his retirement from politics and his
leading role in the National Party which had created the practice of
apartheid.
(SFC, 8/26/97, p.C2)(AP, 8/26/98)
1998 Aug 26, Attorney General
Janet Reno reopened the investigation of the assassination of civil
rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., focusing on two allegations of a
conspiracy beyond James Earl Ray. A Justice Department investigation
later rejected allegations that conspirators had aided or framed James
Earl Ray in King's assassination.
(AP, 8/26/08)
1998 Aug 26, American U.N. weapons
inspector Scott Ritter, at the center of several standoffs with Iraq,
resigned his U.N. post.
(RTH, 8/26/99)
1998 Aug 26, In NYC a judge ruled
to allow a Million Youth March for Sep 5. It was being organized by
Khalid Abdul Muhammad and was opposed by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.
(SFC, 8/28/98, p.A3)
1998 Aug 26, Hurricane Bonnie
drifted ashore in North Carolina and began creeping up the coast,
packing heavy rains and high winds.
(AP, 8/26/99)
1998 Aug 26, A Yemeni national,
Mohammed Rashed Daoud Owhali, aka Khalid Salim, suspected in the
bombing of the US embassy at Nairobi, was flown to the US from
Kenya.
(SFC, 8/27/98, p.A14)(SFC, 8/28/98, p.A1)
1998 Aug 26, A $225 million rocket
and communication satellite exploded after take-off at Cape Canaveral.
(SFC, 8/27/98, p.A3)
1998 Aug 26, In China the
government revised its death toll from the floods to over 3,000 [4,150]
people.
(SFC, 8/27/98, p.a14)(SFC, 8/6/99, p.A12)
1998 Aug 26, In Congo
Rwandan-backed rebels attempted an assault on Kinshasa but were held
off by government soldiers and troops from Zimbabwe and Namibia.
(SFC, 8/27/98, p.A10)
1998 Aug 26, Libya indicated that
it would accept an American and British proposal that 2 suspects of the
1988 bombing of a Pan Am jet be tried in the Netherlands by Scottish
judges.
(SFC, 8/27/98, p.A10)
1998 Aug 26, The Russian ruble
fell another 5% as government attempts to support it failed.
(SFC, 8/27/98, p.A1)
1999 Aug 26, Attorney General
Janet Reno pledged that a new investigation of the 1993 Waco, Texas,
siege would "get to the bottom" of how the FBI used potentially
flammable tear gas grenades against her wishes and then took six years
to admit it.
(AP, 8/26/00)
1999 Aug 26, US officials reported
that its permanent military presence in Haiti would be replaced by
temporary missions.
(SFC, 8/27/99, p.A14)
1999 Aug 26, American Home
Products, the parent company of Wyeth-Ayerst was reported to have
agreed to pay over $50 million to over 36,000 women to settle claims
against the Norplant implantable contraceptive.
(SFC, 8/27/99, p.A5)
1999 Aug 26, In Australia the
Parliament recognized 200 years of injustice to its indigenous people.
(SFC, 8/27/99, p.D3)
1999 Aug 26, In Senegal the army
reported 29 dead fisherman from recent storms and that another 100 were
missing.
(SFC, 8/27/99, p.D3)
1999 Aug 26, In East Timor
anti-independence militiamen left 6 people dead in Dili.
(SFC, 8/27/99, p.A1)
1999 Aug 26, In Tibet Tashi
Tsering, a carpenter, lowered the Chinese flag in the capital and
attempted to put up the banned Tibetan flag. He was arrested and died
on Oct 13 from beatings while under Chinese police custody.
(SFC, 10/14/99, p.A14)
1999 Aug 26, The Turkey quake
death toll was lowered to 13,040 with 26,630 injured. The parliament
passed a law to give amnesty to Kurdish rebels with no criminal record.
The death toll was later raised to over 17,000.
(SFC, 8/27/99, p.A14)(SFC, 10/15/99, p.A19)
2000 Aug 26, The Houston Comets
won their fourth straight WNBA championship by defeating the New York
Liberty 79-73.
(AP, 8/24/01)
2000 Aug 26, Maracaibo, Venezuela,
won the Little League World Series title, defeating Bellaire, Texas,
3-2.
(AP, 8/24/01)
2000 Aug 26, Pres. Clinton visited
Nigeria. Pres. Obasanjo, head of 110 million people, pressed Clinton to
help reduce the country’s $32 billion debt. Clinton appealed to the
leaders of the oil-rich nation to set aside political acrimony so that
their citizens could lift themselves from poverty and isolation.
(SFEC, 8/27/00, p.A14)(AP, 8/24/01)
2000 Aug 26, United Airlines
signed a tentative accord with its 10,000 pilots following 20 months of
negotiations.
(SFEC, 8/27/00, p.A1)
2000 Aug 26, In Israel 3 Israeli
soldiers were killed in a West Bank shootout with Palestinian militants
of Hamas. The Israeli raid was an attempt to capture Mahmoud Abu Hanoud
near Nablus. Hanoud was wounded and escaped.
(SFEC, 8/27/00, p.C12)(SFC, 8/28/00, p.A11)
2000 Aug 26, In Sierra Leone 11
British soldiers were seized by the "West side Boys," a faction of a
former pro-government alliance.
(SFEC, 8/27/00, p.C11)
2000 Aug 26, In Somalia Abdiqasim
Salad Hassan, a former interior minister, won the presidential
elections.
(SFEC, 8/27/00, p.C12)
2000 Aug 26, In Sasolburg, South
Africa, black employee John Mosoko Rampuru (37) died after being
dragged behind a pickup for over 3 miles by white building contractor
Pieter Odendaal (44). On November 12, 2001, the Bloemfontein High Court
sentenced Odendaal to 10 years in jail after finding him guilty of
culpable homicide but not murder with intent. Judge AP van Coller
suspended 3 years of Odendaal's sentence and freed him on bail pending
appeal.
(SFEC, 9/10/00,
p.C12)(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/1651683.stm)
2001 Aug 26, The Tokyo Kitasuna
beat Apopka, Fla., 2-1 to win the Little League championship in South
Williamsport, Pa.
(AP, 8/26/02)
2001 Aug 26, President Bush
admitted he was worried about the economy's "paltry" growth and,
without making promises, assured steel company executives and workers
that protecting domestic steel was a national security priority.
(AP, 8/26/02)
2001 Aug 26, IBM computer
scientists reported that they had constructed a working logic circuit
within a single molecule of carbon fiber known as a carbon nanotube.
(SSFC, 8/26/01, p.A20)(SFC, 8/27/01, p.D1)
2001 Aug 26, The San Francisco
Board of Supervisors proclaimed the City Lights Bookstore at 261
Columbus Ave. as Landmark No. 228.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_San_Francisco_Designated_Landmarks)(SSFC,
5/31/09, p.B2)
2001 cAug 26, In the French Alps a
hot-air balloon caught fire after apparently hitting a high voltage
wire and 6 people were killed.
(WSJ, 8/27/01, p.A1)
2001 Aug 26, In Iran film director
Tahmineh Milani was arrested on charges of supporting
counterrevolutionary and armed opposition groups. A relative said it
was due to her stand on the clerical oppression of women.
(WSJ, 8/31/01, p.A1)(SFC, 9/1/01, p.A10)
2001 Aug 26, Israeli jets
flattened the Palestinian Gaza City police headquarters in retaliation
for the shooting ambush of a settler family. Other Palestinian police
buildings and checkpoints were bombed.
(SFC, 8/27/01, p.A6)
2001 Aug 26, In Macedonia an
explosion at a hotel in Celopek killed 2 Macedonian Slavs.
(SFC, 8/27/01, p.A6)
2001 Aug 26, In Taiwan Pres. Chen
Shui-bian endorsed an economic council’s proposals to expand commercial
ties with China.
(SFC, 8/27/01, p.A6)
2002 Aug 26, US VP Cheney,
speaking at a Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Tennessee, warned
that there is "no doubt" that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein is amassing
weapons of mass destruction for use against America and its allies.
(SFC, 8/27/02, p.A1)(AP, 8/26/03)
2002 Aug 26, In Bangui, Central
African Republic, former military ruler Gen. Andre Kolingba was
convicted in absentia of taking part in a failed 2001 coup and was
sentenced to death.
(AP, 8/26/02)
2002 Aug 26, In San Antonio,
Honduras, Jose Callejas (46), director of a Human Rights Committee, was
killed. Organized crime was blamed.
(SFC, 8/29/02, p.A12)
2002 Aug 26, Israeli troops
arrested Jamal Abdel Salam Abu el-Heijah, leader of Hamas in the Jenin
region in a West Bank raid as Israel's defense minister said a security
deal to ease violence was still in force.
(AP, 8/26/02)
2002 Aug 26, In Nigeria an Islamic
court has sentenced a couple to death by stoning for having an affair,
marking the first time in Nigeria that a man has been sentenced to
death for adultery.
(AP, 8/29/02)
2002 Aug 26, The 4th UN World
Summit on Sustainable Development opened in Johannesburg, SA, with a
call from South African President Thabo Mbeki for coordinated
international action to fight poverty and protect the world's natural
resources. Pres. Bush sent Colin Powell as his stand-in. The 3rd
gathering was in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.
(SSFC, 8/25/02, p.A3)(AP, 8/26/03)
2002 Aug 26, As Zimbabwean and
Ethiopian activists staged protests, South African security officials
promised to clamp down on any protesters demonstrating at the U.N.
development summit without government approval.
(AP, 8/26/02)
2003 Aug 26, In the face of
criticism, President Bush defended his handling of the war and
reconstruction of Iraq, telling an American Legion conference in St.
Louis the fight was essential to the U.S. campaign against terrorism.
(AP, 8/26/04)
2003 Aug 26, Investigators
concluded that NASA's overconfident management and inattention to
safety doomed the space shuttle Columbia as much as did damage to the
craft.
(AP, 8/26/04)
2003 Aug 26, The CBO forecast a US
deficit of $401 billion this year and $480 billion in 2004.
(WSJ, 8/27/03, p.A1)
2003 Aug 26, The toll of U.S.
troops killed in postwar Iraq surpassed the number killed in major
combat, reaching 139.
(AP, 8/26/03)
2003 Aug 26, In northern Iraq the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Iraqi Turkmen Front signed an
agreement in Kirkuk aimed at preventing ethnic violence after clashes
left 11 people dead last week.
(AP, 8/28/03)
2003 Aug 26, A hidden cache of
fireworks exploded in a town in China's southeast, killing at least 20
people in the 2nd such disaster to strike the same county in one month.
(AP, 8/27/03)
2003 Aug 26, Two Russian military
helicopters collided over an airfield in Russia's Far East, killing
five people and injuring one.
(AP, 8/26/03)
2004 Aug 26, The US supply of
vaccine for the impending flu season took a big hit when Chiron Corp.
announced it had found tainted doses in its factory, and would hold up
shipment of about 50 million shots.
(AP, 8/26/05)
2004 Aug 26, MIT named Yale
neuroscientist Susan Hockfield as its new president, the 1st woman to
ever hold that job.
(WSJ, 8/27/04, p.A1)
2004 Aug 26, Laura Branigan
(b.1957), a Grammy-nominated pop singer best known for her 1982
platinum hit "Gloria," died in East Quogue, N.Y.
(AP, 8/29/04)(SFC, 8/30/04, p.B4)
2004 Aug 26, Australia announced a
cruise missile program to give it the region's "most lethal" air combat
capacity, a move that further strained awkward relations with Indonesia.
(AP, 8/26/04)
2004 Aug 26, Chile’s Supreme Court
stripped Pinochet of his immunity.
(WSJ, 8/27/04, p.A1)
2004 Aug 26, Typhoon Aere crashed
into mainland China prompting the evacuation of nearly a million
people, as the death toll climbed to 35 after a mudslide killed 15
villagers in Taiwan.
(AP, 8/26/04)
2004 Aug 26, In Colombia a bomb
exploded in front of a beauty salon in Bogota as a police car drove by,
killing two officers and wounding two other people.
(AP, 8/27/04)
2004 Aug 26, Cuba broke diplomatic
ties with Panama after the outgoing Panamanian president Mireya Moscoso
pardoned four Cuban exiles, including Luis Posada Carriles, the
communist government accuses of trying to assassinate President Fidel
Castro.
(AP, 8/27/04)(SFC, 5/18/05, p.A9)
2004 Aug 26, At the Athens
Olympics, the US women's soccer team won the gold medal by beating
Brazil, 2-1, in overtime; Shawn Crawford led a U.S. sweep of the 200
meters.
(AP, 8/26/05)
2004 Aug 26, In India a passenger
bus and another carrying paramilitary soldiers and their families were
blown up in separate explosions in the insurgency-wracked Assam state,
killing four people and wounding 39.
(AP, 8/26/04)
2004 Aug 26, Grand Ayatollah Ali
al-Husseini al-Sistani arranged a peace pact with Muqtada al-Sadr. The
5-point plan called for Kufa and Najaf to be declared weapons-free.
(SFC, 8/27/04, p.A1)(WSJ, 8/27/04, p.A1)
2004 Aug 26, A mortar barrage hit
a mosque in Kufa filled with Iraqis preparing to join a march in Najaf
by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, killing 27 people and
wounding 63.
(AP, 8/26/04)
2004 Aug 26, The Arabic TV network
Al-Jazeera reported it had received a video that appeared to show the
killing of Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni (56).
(AP, 8/27/04)
2004 Aug 26, In northern Vietnam a
boat capsized in heavy winds on a river, killing 16 people.
(AP, 8/28/04)
2005 Apr 26, Florida’s Gov. Bush
signed legislation giving people the right to meet “force with force,”
effective Oct 1. Utility crews in South Florida scrambled to restore
power to more than 1 million customers blacked out by Hurricane
Katrina, which continued to churn in the Gulf of Mexico.
(SFC, 4/27/05, p.A5)(AP, 8/26/06)
2005 Aug 26, In SF the new Int’l.
Hotel, with 88 studio and 16 one-bedroom apartments, re-opened at 848
Kearny Street. Over 50 tenants from the original “I-Hotel” were evicted
Aug 4, 1977. 12 people from the original hotel were 1st in line as
7,500 applicants vied for apartments.
(SFC, 8/27/05, p.B1)
2005 Aug 26, In eastern
Afghanistan a bomb killed a US service member and wounded four when it
exploded near their armored vehicle in Paktika province.
(AP, 8/27/05)
2005 Aug 26, Fire raced through a
crowded Paris apartment building housing African immigrants, trapping
residents in their sleep and killing 17 people, most of them believed
to be children.
(AP, 8/26/05)
2005 Aug 26, India’s Maharashtra
government planned to ban most plastic bags, blaming them for choking
drains and causing floods a month ago that left more than 1,000 people
dead.
(Reuters, 8/26/05)
2005 Aug 26, In India nearly 5,000
people held a rally as shops and businesses shut down in Amritsar, the
hometown of Sarabjeet Singh facing death by hanging in Pakistan for
allegedly spying. They demanded clemency and his immediate return home.
(AP, 8/26/05)
2005 Aug 26, In India 24 people
were drowned when flash floods inundated hundreds of villages around a
commercial town in Uttar Pradesh.
(AP, 8/27/05)
2005 Aug 26, In Indian Kashmir at
least 15 people, including three soldiers, were wounded when suspected
Islamist rebels threw five grenades at different places in Sopore. 4
people, including 2 militants, were killed in separate shootouts across
the region in the past 24 hours.
(AP, 8/26/05)
2005 Aug 26, An Iranian daredevil
died while attempting to break the world record for jumping over buses
on a motorcycle. Javad Palizbanian (44) was trying to leap over 22
buses parked side-by-side when his motorbike came down on the 13th bus.
(AP, 8/28/05)
2005 Aug 26, Shiite negotiators,
prodded by Pres. Bush, offered what they called their final compromise
proposal to Sunnis Arabs to try to break the impasse over Iraq's new
constitution.
(AP, 8/26/05)
2005 Aug 26, In Iraq US warplanes
launched multiple airstrikes against a suspected "terrorist safe house"
in the western Anbar province, destroying the building where up to 50
militants were believed to be hiding.
(AP, 8/26/05)
2005 Aug 26, A Pakistani military
court sentenced five men to death for their roles in a 2003 suicide
plot to kill President Gen. Pervez Musharraf.
(AP, 8/26/05)
2005 Aug 26, Jailed Russian tycoon
Mikhail Khodorkovsky ended his nearly weeklong hunger strike after
hearing that his business partner Platon Lebedev was transferred from
solitary confinement to a regular cell.
(AP, 8/26/05)
2005 Aug 26, In Kazan, Russia,
tens of thousands of Tatars, Russians and others packed the main square
for a gala concert to celebrate the millennial anniversary of the Volga
River city.
(AP, 8/26/05)
2005 Aug 26, The first South
Korean tourists visited historic sites in Kaesong, North Korea, set to
become only the 2nd destination in the communist nation that can be
visited by ordinary citizens of its southern neighbor.
(AP, 8/27/05)
2005 Aug 26, Sri Lanka's Supreme
Court ruled that President Chandrika Kumaratunga's final term expires
in December, ending her controversial 11-year reign and clearing the
way for a vote before November 21.
(AP, 8/26/05)
2005 Aug 26, The UN food relief
agency said that it's battling to feed 90,000 Eritrean and Ethiopian
refugees displaced in eastern Sudan mainly due to a serious funding
shortfall.
(AP, 8/27/05)
2006 Aug 26, Tropical Storm
Ernesto strengthened over the Caribbean as it headed toward Jamaica and
the Cayman Islands, threatening to become the first hurricane of the
2006 Atlantic season.
(AP, 8/26/06)
2006 Aug 26, In Afghanistan a
large number of militants attacked the Musa Qala district government
compound in Helmand, provoking a clash with police that left 10
insurgents dead.
(AP, 8/27/06)
2006 Aug 26, Thousands of farmers
took to the streets across northern Bangladesh over the fatal shooting
of at least five people protesting against an open-pit coal mine.
(AFP, 8/27/06)
2006 Aug 26, Chad ordered US
energy giant Chevron and Malaysia's Petronas to leave the country
within 24 hours for failing to honor tax obligations, a move apparently
aimed at increasing control over its oil output. Chad's president
Idriss Deby suspended the oil minister and two other Cabinet members
who negotiated deals with the two foreign oil firms.
(AP, 8/27/06)
2006 Aug 26, Iran's hard-line
president inaugurated a heavy-water production plant, a facility the
West fears will be used to develop a nuclear bomb, as Tehran remained
defiant ahead of a UN deadline that could lead to sanctions.
(AP, 8/26/06)
2006 Aug 26, Iraq's PM Nouri
al-Maliki urged hundreds of tribal leaders to join his efforts to end
sectarian strife and terrorism Kidnapped Sunni lawmaker Tayseer
al-Mashhadani was released after being held for nearly two months.
Al-Mashhadani and 7 of her bodyguards were seized July 1 by gunmen in a
Shiite area of east Baghdad. Gunmen in a speeding car opened fire on
two sisters working as translators for the British consulate, killing
one of them and seriously wounding the other. 26 people were killed in
dozens of attacks across Iraq. One US soldier was killed by a roadside
bomb.
(AP, 8/26/06)(AP, 8/27/06)(AP, 8/28/06)
2006 Aug 26, In Nepal a landslide
in a mountainous western village killed at least 10 people and injured
three others.
(AP, 8/26/06)
2006 Aug 26, In Pakistan
government forces killed Nawab Akbar Bugti (79), the most prominent
leader in the rebellion by Baluch tribesmen, in a raid on his cave
hideout in the mountainous area of the southwestern provinces of
Baluchistan. A top security official said at least 16 security forces,
including four officers, were killed.
(AP, 8/27/06)
2006 Aug 26, In the West Bank,
Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen traded heavy fire during a
standoff at a fugitives' hideout and doctors said a 16-year-old
Palestinian was killed. Twenty Palestinians were wounded in the clashes
in the West Bank city of Nablus.
(AP, 8/27/06)
2006 Aug 26, In Russia's Dagestan
region police surrounded a home and exchanged gunfire with suspected
militants, killing four and wounding a woman who was with the gunmen.
(AP, 8/27/06)
2006 Aug 26, In Sri Lanka police
found a large weapons cache hidden in a house on the outskirts of
Colombo, and arrested 17 people suspected of planning a major attack.
Sporadic fighting left 12 rebels killed and 20 injured during a battle
in the northeastern Batticaloa district. A bomb killed six Sri
Lankan soldiers and wounded 11 as they cleared up after fierce fighting
with Tamil Tiger rebels in the besieged northern Jaffna peninsula.
(AP, 8/26/06)(AFP, 8/27/06)
2006 Aug 26, A Sudanese court
charged reporter Paul Salopek (44) with espionage. He was detained by
pro-government forces in Darfur on Aug 6. Salopek was on freelance
assignment for National Geographic magazine.
(SSFC, 8/27/06, p.A19)
2006 Aug 26, An international
rights groups said a court in tightly controlled Turkmenistan has
sentenced three rights defenders to jail terms of six to seven years.
(AP, 8/26/06)
2006 Aug 26, Officials said Uganda
and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army have signed a truce to end a
19-year conflict that killed thousands of people.
(AP, 8/26/06)
2007 Aug 26, In northern
California the 17th annual Cotati Accordion Festival ended with some
5,000 people and 30 bands attending the 2-day event. Day tickets rose
to $17.50.
(SFC, 8/27/07, p.D2)
2007 Aug 26, The $95 million
Hawaii Superferry made its maiden run from Honolulu to Maui as
environmentalists protested. The 349-foot giant catamaran, named
Alakai, carried over 500 passengers and 150 cars for the 3-hour trip.
The special one-way $5 fares will soon rise to over $240 for one
passenger and a car.
(SFC, 8/27/07, p.A4)
2007 Aug 26, Afghan police killed
six suspected militants during a one-hour gunbattle in Paktika
province, which borders Pakistan. Unidentified assailants shot and
killed a soldier from the 37-nation strong security assistance force
during a foot patrol in eastern Afghanistan. A Dutch soldier was killed
by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan. In southern Zabul province,
Afghan and coalition troops clashed with insurgents in Daychopan
district, killing four suspected Taliban and wounding four others.
Afghan troops destroyed a heroin laboratory in Helmand province after
battling Taliban fighters guarding the facility.
(AP, 8/27/07)
2007 Aug 26, A road bridge linking
Tajikistan and Afghanistan paid for by the US was officially opened at
a ceremony attended by the presidents of the two Central Asian
countries.
(AP, 8/26/07)
2007 Aug 26, Australia released a
new draft citizenship test. The 40-page document outlining citizenship
application procedures said migrants who want to become Australian
citizens will have to be able to correctly identify the country's prime
minister and national flower.
(AFP, 8/26/07)
2007 Aug 26, Massive fires
consuming large areas of southern Greece for a third day raced toward
the site of the ancient Olympics, engulfing villages and forests as the
flames reached one of the most revered sites of antiquity.
(AP, 8/26/07)
2007 Aug 26, Iran vowed to use a
new 2,000-pound "smart" bomb against its enemies and unveiled mass
production of the new weapon.
(AP, 8/26/07)
2007 Aug 26, Iraqi PM Nouri
al-Maliki lashed out at American critics, saying Sen. Hillary Clinton
and other Democrats who had called for his ouster should "come to their
senses." A US helicopter attacked two Kurdish police outposts, killing
four policemen and wounding eight. A spokesman for the Kurdish
Peshmerga militia believed the attack was mistaken friendly fire. Waves
of Shiite pilgrims descended on Karbala for the Shabaniyah festival
marking the birth of the 9th century Hidden Imam. A woman making the
50-mile trek from Baghdad was shot to death by men in a passing car in
the southwest of the capital.
(AP, 8/26/07)(AP, 8/26/08)
2007 Aug 26, In northwestern
Pakistan a suicide bomber in a car killed four policemen and wounded
two in an attack in Swat.
(Reuters, 8/26/07)
2007 Aug 26, The moderate
Palestinian government began implementing the closure of 103
institutions in the West Bank and Gaza in an apparent crackdown against
the Islamic Hamas.
(AP, 8/27/07)
2007 Aug 26, In Manila,
Philippines, economic ministers of Southeast Asian countries (ASEAN)
and China agreed to strengthen product standards and safety. The move
follows recalls of several tainted Chinese products from international
markets.
(AP, 8/26/07)
2007 Aug 26, In Somalia bombings
and grenade attacks killed two schoolboys and three other people in
Mogadishu.
(AP, 8/26/07)
2007 Aug 26, In eastern Uganda a
truck carrying soldiers and their families overturned, killing 72
people and injuring 40 others.
(AP, 8/27/07)
2008 Aug 26, The Pentagon said two
men were cleared for release to Algeria from Guantanamo, Cuba, where
about 260 detainees remained.
(AP, 8/26/08)
2008 Aug 26, In the 2nd day of the
Democratic Convention in Denver Sen. Hillary Clinton endorsed Sen.
Barack Obama for the US presidential nomination.
(SFC, 8/27/08, p.A1)
2008 Aug 26, California’s Gov.
Schwarzenegger signed a measure for a statewide bullet train system to
be placed on the November ballot.
(SFC, 8/27/08, p.A1)
2008 Aug 26, California Attorney
General Jerry Brown said he expected raids on medical pot clubs that
sell for big profits in the Bay Area. He had recently issued guidelines
on sales of medical marijuana and state officials over the weekend
raided a club in Los Angeles County.
(SFC, 8/27/08, p.B1)
2008 Aug 26, An Ohio jury
convicted Andrew Siemaszko, a former nuclear plant engineer, of hiding
information in 2001 about reactor corrosion at the Davis-Besse plant
along Lake Erie. Siemaszko’s attorney’s said the plant’s owner set him
up as a scapegoat because he spoke out about safety concerns.
(WSJ, 8/27/08, p.A1)
2008 Aug 26, A UN team in Herat,
Afghanistan, said it found "convincing evidence" that 90 civilians,
including 60 children, were killed in US-led air strikes last week.
Aerial bombardment was clearly evident with some 78 houses having been
totally destroyed and serious damage to many others. Kazuya Ito (31), a
Japanese aid worker, was kidnapped at gunpoint with his driver near
Jalalabad. Ito was found killed the next day. A group of Taliban
fighters attacked a police checkpoint in Nad Ali district of Helmand
province, sparking a clash that killed 18 militants. An air strike
killed 30 Taliban in southeastern Afghanistan close to the border with
Pakistan.
(AP, 8/26/08)(AP, 8/27/08)(Reuters, 8/27/08)
2008 Aug 26, Brazil asked the WTO
for the right to impose $4 billion in annual sanctions against US goods
and services to penalize the US for handing out illegal cotton
subsidies.
(WSJ, 8/27/08, p.A9)
2008 Aug 26, In Brazil Olavo
Egydio Setubal (b.1923), industrialist and former mayor of Sao Paulo,
died. His industrial and financial empire, which grew up from a metal
shop, included Banco Itau Holding Financiera SA, Brazil’s 2nd largest
bank.
(www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=29439734)(WSJ,
8/30/08, p.A5)
2008 Aug 26, In southwest China
explosions ripped through a chemical plant, killing at least 11 people,
injuring dozens and forcing the evacuation of thousands of nearby
residents.
(AP, 8/26/08)
2008 Aug 26, In Dubai a fire
in a building packed with foreign laborers killed 11 people. 10 of the
victims were Indian.
(AP, 8/27/08)
2008 Aug 26, Hurricane Gustav hit
Haiti and triggered flooding and landslides that killed 15 people
before weakening to a tropical storm.
(AP, 8/27/08)(SFC, 8/28/08, p.A2)
2008 Aug 26, In India Christians
clashed with Hindu mobs who attacked churches, and eight people died in
the violence in Kandhamal district of Orissa state, a region known for
deadly religious fighting.
(AP, 8/27/08)
2008 Aug 26, Andhra Chiranjeevi
(53), Indian film star, launched his People’s Rule Party (Prajarajyam)
in southern Andhra Pradesh state.
(Econ, 3/14/09, p.43)
2008 Aug 26, In Iraq a suicide
bomber attacked police recruits in Jalula in Diyala province killing 28
people and wounding 25. A bomb planted in a parked car killed 5 people
and wounded 8, including three policemen, in the city of Tikrit.
(AP, 8/26/08)(SFC, 8/27/08, p.A7)
2008 Aug 26, Israel ordered the
Gaza Strip's border crossings closed after militants violated a
cease-fire by launching two rockets the previous evening, bringing to
46 the number of rockets launched by militants since the truce began.
(AP, 8/26/08)
2008 Aug 26, Malaysia's opposition
leader Anwar Ibrahim won a "landslide" victory in a by-election to
return him to parliament, and said he was on track to oust a weakened
government. The Malays National Organization (UMNO) and its allies had
ruled since independence in 1957.
(AFP, 8/26/08)(Econ, 8/30/08, p.39)
2008 Aug 26, A Maltese fishing
trawler rescued the migrants. Authorities said the survivors first told
the fishermen that 10 people were missing, but later said as many as 70
people from Somalia, Eritrea and Sudan made the sea voyage with them.
(AP, 8/28/08)
2008 Aug 26, In Mexico 3
decapitated bodies were found in an empty lot on the eastern outskirts
of Tijuana. The bodies had messages written on their backs in permanent
marker saying they worked for "the weakened 'engineer,'" a nickname for
Francisco Sanchez Arellano, a top lieutenant in Tijuana's powerful
Arellano Felix drug cartel. A day earlier 2 bodies were found in
Tijuana, one with the head placed on the upper back.
(AP, 8/27/08)(SFC, 8/27/08, p.A11)
2008 Aug 26, North Korea said it
has suspended work on disabling its nuclear facilities as of August 14
and is considering restoration of the Yongbyon reactor that can make
material for atomic bombs, accusing the US of violating a disarmament
deal by failing to delist North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism.
(AP, 8/26/08)
2008 Aug 26, In Pakistan an
explosion on the outskirts of Islamabad killed at least seven people
and wounded 20. Around midnight 75-100 militants attacked the Tiarza
Fort in South Waziristan. The attack was repulsed with 11 militants
killed.
(AP, 8/27/08)(SFC, 8/28/08, p.A5)
2008 Aug 26, Russia formally
recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the breakaway Georgian
territories at the heart of its war with Georgia, heightening tensions
with the West as the US dispatched a military ship bearing aid to a
port city still patrolled by Russian troops. In a direct challenge to
Russia, the US announced it intends to deliver humanitarian aid to the
beleaguered Georgian port city of Poti, which Russian troops still
control through checkpoints on the city's outskirts.
(AP, 8/26/08)
2008 Aug 26, In Sri Lanka ground
battles in the northern regions of Jaffna, Vavuniya, Mullaitivu,
Kilinochchi and Welioya killed 27 rebels and two soldiers.
(AP, 8/27/08)
2008 Aug 26, Sudanese hijackers
commandeered the Boeing 737 jetliner, which was carrying 95 passengers
and crew, soon after it took off from the southern Darfur town of
Nyala, not far from a refugee camp that the Sudanese military attacked
a day earlier.
(AP, 8/27/08)
2008 Aug 26, In Thailand thousands
of anti-government demonstrators pushed into the Thai prime minister's
office compound and rallied outside several ministries. A violent
masked mob from the same protest group forced a state-run TV station
off the air.
(AP, 8/26/08)
2008 Aug 26, Zimbabwe's opposition
heckled Robert Mugabe in an unprecedented show of defiance when the
president opened parliament with traditional pomp and his familiar
denunciations of the West.
(AP, 8/26/08)
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