HISTORY IS LIFE

HISTORY OF SUGAR

2011-11-17T14:58:00.000-08:00

It is thought that cane sugar was first used by man in Polynesia from where it spread to India. In 510 BC the Emperor Darius of what was then Persia invaded India where he found "the reed which gives honey without bees". The secret of cane sugar, as with many other of man's discoveries, was kept a closely guarded secret whilst the finished product was exported for a rich profit.

It was the major expansion of the Arab peoples in the seventh century AD that led to a breaking of the secret. When they invaded Persia in 642 AD they found sugar cane being grown and learnt how sugar was made. As their expansion continued they established sugar production in other lands that they conquered including North Africa and Spain.

Sugar was only discovered by western Europeans as a result of the Crusades in the 11th Century AD. Crusaders returning home talked of this "new spice" and how pleasant it was. The first sugar was recorded in England in 1099. The subsequent centuries saw a major expansion of western European trade with the East, including the importation of sugar. It is recorded, for instance, that sugar was available in London at "two shillings a pound" in 1319 AD. This equates to about US$100 per kilo at today's prices so it was very much a luxury.

In the 15th century AD, European sugar was refined in Venice, confirmation that even then when quantities were small, it was difficult to transport sugar as a food grade product. In the same century, Columbus sailed to the Americas, the "New World". It is recorded that in 1493 he took sugar cane plants to grow in the Caribbean. The climate there was so advantageous for the growth of the cane that an industry was quickly established.

By 1750 there were 120 sugar refineries operating in Britain. Their combined output was only 30,000 tons per annum. At this stage sugar was still a luxury and vast profits were made to the extent that sugar was called "white gold". Governments recognised the vast profits to be made from sugar and taxed it highly. In Britain for instance, sugar tax in 1781 totalled £326,000, a figure that had grown by 1815 to £3,000,000. This situation was to stay until 1874 when the British government, under Prime Minister Gladstone, abolished the tax and brought sugar prices within the means of the ordinary citizen.

Sugar beet was first identified as a source of sugar in 1747. No doubt the vested interests in the cane sugar plantations made sure that it stayed as no more than a curiosity, a situation that prevailed until the Napoleonic wars at the start of the 19th century when Britain blockaded sugar imports to continental Europe. By 1880 sugar beet had replaced sugar cane as the main source of sugar on continental Europe. Those same vested interests probably delayed the introduction of beet sugar to England until the First World War when Britain's sugar imports were threatened.

Today's modern sugar industry is still beset with government interference at many levels and throughout the world. The overall pattern can be seen by investigating the mid 1990s' position in the map. Annual consumption is now running at about 120 million tons and is expanding at a rate of about 2 million tons per annum. The European Union, Brazil and India are the top three producers and together account for some 40% of the annual production. However most sugar is consumed within the country of production and only approximately 25% is traded internationally.

One of the most important examples of governmental actions is within the European Union where sugar prices are so heavily subsidised that over 5 million tons of white beet sugar have to be exported annually and yet a million tons of raw cane sugar are imported from former colonies. This latter activity is a form of overseas aid which is also practised by the USA. The EU's over-production and subsequent dumping has now been subjected to GATT requirements which should see a substantial cut-back in production over the next few years.

What we call sugar, the chemist knows as 'sucrose', one of the family of sugars otherwise known as saccharides in the grouping called carbohydrates. Carbohydrates, as the name implies, contain carbon and hydrogen plus oxygen in the same ratio as in water. The saccharides is a large family with the general formula CnH2nOn. The simplest of the sugars is glucose, C6H12O6, although its physical chemistry is not that simple because it occurs in two distinct forms which affect some of its properties. Sucrose, C12H22O11, is a disaccharide, a condensation molecule made up of two glucose molecules [less a water molecule to make the chemistry work].

The process whereby plants make sugars is photosynthesis. The plant takes in carbon dioxide from the air though pores in its leaves and absorbs water through its roots. These are combined to make sugar using energy from the sun and with the help of a substance called chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is green which allows it to absorb the sun's energy more readily and which, of course, gives the plants' leaves their green colour. The reaction of photosynthesis can be written as the following chemical equation when sucrose is being made:

12 CO2 + 11 H2 O = C12 H22 O11 + 12 O2
carbon dioxide + water = sucrose + oxygen
This shows that oxygen is given off during the process of photosynthesis.

Historically, sugar was only produced from sugar cane and then only in relatively small quantities. This resulted in it being considered a great luxury, particularly in Europe where cane could not be grown. The history of man and sugar is a subject in its own right but suffice to say that, even today, it isn't easy to ship food quality sugar across the world so a high proportion of cane sugar is made in two stages. Raw sugar is made where the sugar cane grows and white sugar is made from the raw sugar in the country where it is needed. Beet sugar is easier to purify and most is grown where it is needed so white sugar is made in only one stage.

TODAY IN HISTORY

2011-07-26T09:52:00.000-07:00

On July 26th, 1956, Egyptian leader Gamal Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal.

HISTORY FOR SUNDAY, JUNE 20

2010-06-20T15:10:00.000-07:00

Sunday June 20, 2010

Today is Sunday, June 20, the 171st day of 2010 with 194 to follow.

This is Father's Day.

The moon is waning. The morning stars are Neptune, Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus. The evening stars are Venus and Mars.

This Day in History, June 20
On June 20th, 1214, the University of Oxford received its charter.

Other Notable Events, June 20
In 1893, a jury in Fall River, Mass., found Lizzy Borden not guilty in the ax murders of her father and stepmother.

In 1898, the U.S. Navy seized Guam, the largest of the Mariana Islands in the Pacific, during the Spanish-American War. The people of Guam were granted U.S. citizenship in 1950.

In 1900, in response to widespread foreign encroachment upon China's national affairs, Chinese nationalists launched the so-called Boxer Rebellion in Beijing.

In 1963, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to establish a hot line communications link between Washington and Moscow.

In 1967, the American Independent Party was formed to back George Wallace of Alabama for president.

In 1977, oil began to flow through the $7.7 billion, 789-mile Alaska pipeline.

In 1990, U.S. President George H.W. Bush broke off U.S. diplomatic contact with the Palestine Liberation Organization after the PLO refused to act against a factional leader who plotted to attack Israel.

In 1991, the German parliament voted to move its capital from Bonn to Berlin.

In 1994, O.J. Simpson pleaded "100 percent not guilty" to charges he killed his ex-wife and her friend.

In 1995, a military court acquitted Air Force Capt. James Wang of charges in the April 1994 downing of two U.S Army helicopters over Iraq. He was the senior director of an AWACS plane that failed to warn two U.S. jets that the choppers were friendly.

In 1997, four major U.S. tobacco companies and several state attorneys general, after months of negotiations, agreed to a $368.5 billion settlement to recover the costs of smoking-related illnesses.

In 1999, NATO formally ended its bombing campaign of Yugoslavia as Serb forces completed their withdrawal from Kosovo.

In 2000, Taiwan's new president invited his Chinese counterpart to take part in a peace effort similar to one begun by North and South Korea.

In 2003, up to 200 illegal immigrants were feared dead after their boat capsized off the coast of Tunisia on its way to Italy.

In 2004, Pakistan and India reached agreement on banning nuclear testing.

In 2006, former White House official David Saravian was convicted on four counts of lying to investigators and obstruction of justice in dealings with lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

In 2007, U.S. President George W. Bush blocked legislation to permit federal funding for stem cell studies. He vetoed a new proposal to lift restrictions on funding for the research.

Also in 2007, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered the military to allow the evacuation of busloads of fleeing Palestinians from the Gaza Strip into Israel.

In 2008, the U.S. House of Representatives passed an updated wiretapping law that includes protection from civil suits for telecommunications companies.

Also in 2008, the U.S. military appears to have misplaced hundreds of nuclear missile components, officials reported. The Financial Times said one U.S. Defense Department official cited more than 1,000 parts that cannot be accounted for.

In 2009, Iraqi insurgents, striking in a series of attacks as U.S. troops pulled out of Iraq as planned, set off a truck bomb near a Shiite mosque in northern Iraq, killing 82 people and injuring 250.

Also in 2009, authorities reported at least 19 protesters were killed as demonstrations continued in the aftermath of the Iranian presidential election.

And, U.S. President Barack Obama said drug makers and congressional leaders had agreed to a plan to reduce prescriptions drug costs for many American seniors.

Notable Birthdays for June 20
Those born on this date include:
- James VI of Scotland, later James I of England, in 1566
- French philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal in 1623
- The Duchess of Windsor, born Bessie Wallis Warfield, in 1896
- Moe Howard, leader of the Three Stooges, in 1897
- Bandleader Guy Lombardo in 1902
- Baseball legend Lou Gehrig in 1903
- Former U.S. Sen. Alan Cranston, D-Calif., in 1914
- Film critic Pauline Kael in 1919
- Actress Nancy Marchand in 1928
- Actress Gena Rowlands in 1930 (age 80)
- Author Salman Rushdie in 1947 (age 63)
- Actress Phylicia Rashad in 1948 (age 62)
- Singer Ann Wilson of Heart in 1950 (age 60)
- Actress Kathleen Turner in 1954 (age 56)
- Singer Paula Abdul in 1962 (age 48)

Copyright 2010 by United Press International

HISTORY FOR SATURDAY, JUNE 19

2010-06-19T14:23:00.000-07:00

Saturday June 19, 2010

Today is Saturday, June 19, the 170th day of 2010 with 195 to follow.

The moon is waning. The morning stars are Neptune, Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus. The evening stars are Venus and Mars.

This Day in History, June 19
On June 19th, 1870, the Confederate States of America were dissolved.

Other Notable Events, June 19
In A.D. 325, the early Christian church opened the general council of Nicaea, which settled on rules for computing the date of Easter.

In 1787, the U.S. Constitutional Convention voted to strike down the Articles of Confederation and form a new government.

In 1846, two amateur baseball teams played under new rules at Hoboken, N.J., planting the first seeds of organized baseball. The New York Nine beat the Knickerbockers, 23-1.

In 1856, the first Republican national convention ended in Philadelphia with the nomination of explorer John Charles Fremont of California for president. James Buchanan, a Federalist nominated by the Democrats, was elected.

In 1867, Austrian Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, installed as emperor of Mexico by French Emperor Napoleon III in 1864, was executed on the orders of Benito Juarez, the president of the Mexican Republic.

Also in 1867, the first running of the Belmont Stakes took place at Jerome Park, N.Y.

In 1905, Pittsburgh showman Harry Davis opened the world's first nickelodeon, showing the silent Western film "The Great Train Robbery." The storefront theater boasted 96 seats and charged 5 cents and prompted the advent of movie houses across the United States.

In 1910, Spokane, Wash., marked the first Father's Day.

In 1943, World War II's Battle of the Philippine Sea began, as Japan tried unsuccessfully to prevent further Allied advancement in the South Pacific.

In 1953, convicted spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed.

In 1977, Elvis Presley made his final live concert recordings at a series of appearances in Nebraska. He died two months later.

In 1987, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the 1981 Louisiana law that required schools to teach the creationist theory of human origin espoused by fundamentalist Christians.

In 1991, the U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a plan to prohibit the export of military supplies to Iraq.

In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that prayers led by students at public high school football games aren't permitted under the constitutional separation of church and state.

In 2005, a suicide bomber killed at least 23 people, including some Iraqi police officers, in a crowded Baghdad restaurant. The next day saw suicide car bombers kill a reported 26 policemen and security forces in Baghdad and Irbil.

Also in 2005, opponents of Syrian domination won a majority of seats in the final round of Lebanon's parliamentary elections.

In 2007, 10,000 U.S. and 3,000 Iraqi troops launched a major offensive targeting the Sunni jihadist terrorist group known as al-Qaida in Iraq in Iraq's Baquba area.

In 2008, Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, became the first at that level to bypass public financing since the program was established. Obama said he believed the move would provide better resources to defend his campaign from attacks by Republicans.

In 2009, Hawaii was placed under heightened missile and other defense fortification, including mobile and ground-based interceptors, to deter any possible North Korean attacks, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said.

Also in 2009, two U.S. service members, an Army major and an Air Force master sergeant, pleaded guilty to bribery, fraud and conspiracy charges involving defense contracts in Afghanistan.

And, British World War I veteran, Henry Allingham, who turned 114 on June 6, 2009, was recognized by the Guinness World Records as the world's oldest man. He died about six weeks later.

Notable Birthdays for June 19
Those born on this date include:
- James VI of Scotland, later James I of England, in 1566
- French philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal in 1623
- The Duchess of Windsor, born Bessie Wallis Warfield, in 1896
- Moe Howard, leader of the Three Stooges, in 1897
- Bandleader Guy Lombardo in 1902
- Baseball legend Lou Gehrig in 1903
- Former U.S. Sen. Alan Cranston, D-Calif. in 1914
- Musician Lester Flatt in 1914
- Film critic Pauline Kael in 1919
- Actress Nancy Marchand in 1928
- Actress Gena Rowlands in 1930 (age 80)
- Myanmarese Nobal Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in 1945 (age 65)
- Author Salman Rushdie in 1947 (age 63)
- Actor Phylicia Rashad in 1948 (age 62)
- Musician Nick Drake in 1948
- Musician Ann Wilson of Heart in 1950 (age 60)
- Actress Kathleen Turner in 1954 (age 56)
- Singer Paula Abdul in 1962 (age 48)
- Political commentator Laura Ingraham in 1964 (age 46)
- Actress Mia Sara in 1967 (age 43)
- Actress Robin Tunney in 1972 (age 38)
- Actor Paul Dano in 1984 (age 26)

Copyright 2010 by United Press International

Copyright 2010 by United Press International

HISTORY FOR FRIDAY, JUNE 18

2010-06-18T14:06:00.000-07:00

Friday June 18, 2010

Today is Friday, June 18, the 169th day of 2010 with 196 to follow.

The moon is waning. The morning stars are Neptune, Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus. The evening stars are Venus and Mars.

This Day in History, June 18
On June 18th, 1928, Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean.

Other Notable Events, June 18
In 1812, the United States declared war on Britain.

In 1815, England's Duke of Wellington and Prussian Field Marshal Gebhard von Blucher defeated Napoleon at Waterloo in Belgium.

In 1975, Saudi Arabian Prince Museid was publicly beheaded in Riyadh for the assassination of King Faisal.

In 1979, U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev signed a strategic arms control treaty in Vienna, Austria.

In 1983, Sally Ride became the first American woman in space as the space shuttle Challenger was launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

In 1990, James Edward Pough, 42, whose car had been repossessed, killed eight people and wounded five more before committing suicide at a General Motors Acceptance Corp. loan office in Jacksonville, Fla. He was believed to have killed two others a day earlier.

In 1996, the U.S. Senate issued its Whitewater reports. The Republican report accused first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton of obstruction of justice.

Also in 1996, Unabomber suspect Theodore Kaczynski was charged with two killings in California; he pleaded innocent. Charges from New Jersey would come later.

In 1997, Turkish Premier Necmettin Erbakan resigned under pressure after his governing coalition lost its majority in parliament.

In 2000, Ethiopia and Eritrea signed a cease-fire, ending their monthlong war.

In 2002, a suicide bomber killed himself and 19 others when he detonated explosives aboard a bus in Jerusalem.

In 2004, U.S. hostage Paul Johnson Jr., 49, was killed by his Saudi captors despite pleas from senior Muslim clerics.

In 2006, some 800 U.S. National Guard troops began working along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border as part of a federal plan to slow illegal immigration.

In 2007, the United States and the European Union announced they would resume aid to Palestinians. Meanwhile, hundreds of Palestinians waited at the Israeli border trying to escape from Hamas-controlled Gaza.

In 2008, the U.S. Congress overrode a presidential veto of the $290 billion farm bill, providing agricultural subsidies, federal food stamps, foreign food aid and other programs for a 5-year period.

Also in 2008, U.S. President George W. Bush urged Congress to rescind a law, signed by his father, President George H.W. Bush, that prohibits offshore drilling for oil.

In 2009, Texas billionaire R. Allen Stanford surrendered to the FBI after federal grand jury indicted him on charges of running a Ponzi scheme that allegedly defrauded some 30,000 investors out of $7 billion.

Also in 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that prisoners have no right to a DNA test to prove their innocence long after they are convicted of a crime.

Notable Birthdays for June 18
Those born on this date include:
- Cyrus Curtis, founder and publisher of the Ladies' Home Journal, in 1850
- Journalist and publisher Edward Scripps in 1854
- British mountain climber George Mallory in 1886
- Singer-actor Jeanette MacDonald in 1903
- Actor E.G. Marshall in 1910
- Actor Richard Boone in 1917
- Legendary Tin Pan Alley composer Sammy Cahn in 1913
- Financial journalist Sylvia Porter in 1913
- Baseball Hall of Fame member Lou Brock in 1939 (age 71)
- Singer/composer Paul McCartney in 1942 (age 68)
- Film critic Roger Ebert in 1942 (age 68)
- Actors Carol Kane in 1952 (age 58)
- Actress Isabella Rossellini in 1952 (age 58)
- Singer Jemma Griffiths in 1975 (age 35)

Copyright 2010 by United Press International

HISTORY FOR THURSDAY, JUNE 17

2010-06-17T15:05:00.000-07:00

Thursday June 17, 2010

Today is Thursday, June 17, the 168th day of 2010 with 197 to follow.

The moon is waning. The morning stars are Neptune, Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus. The evening stars are Venus and Mars

This Day in History, June 17
On June 17th, 1885, the Statute of Liberty arrived in New York Harbor.

Other Notable Events, June 17
In 1967, China announced it had successfully tested a hydrogen bomb.

In 1972, the Watergate scandal began with the arrest of five burglars inside Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington.

In 1982, Argentina's President Leopoldo Galtieri resigned in response to Britain's victory in the Falkland Islands war.

In 1986, Kate Smith, one of America's most popular singers in the '20s, '30s and '40s, died at the age of 79.

Also in 1986, Maryland basketball star Len Bias, about to enter the pro ranks, dropped dead from cocaine intoxication, focusing national attention on cocaine use by athletes.

In 1991, South African President F.W. de Klerk ended apartheid when he repealed the Population Registration Act that classified South Africans by race from birth.

In 1992, two Germans were released by their pro-Iranian kidnappers after three years in captivity in Lebanon. They were the last of the Western hostages to be freed.

In 1994, Los Angeles police charged O.J. Simpson with killing his ex-wife and her friend. The former football star and actor was acquitted in a controversial, high-profile criminal trial.

Also in 1994, members of the Branch Davidian cult were sentenced to prison on charges stemming from the 1993 federal raid on their compound near Waco, Texas.

In 1996, ValuJet Airlines shut down about a month after a crash in the Florida Everglades led to questions about the carrier's safety and maintenance records.

In 2003, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien promised legislation that would legalize same-sex marriage throughout his country.

In 2004, a massive car bomb killed at least 30 people and wounded 150 others in central Baghdad, two weeks before the handover of power to Iraqis.

In 2005, L. Dennis Kozlowski, former chief executive of Tyco, was convicted of fraud, conspiracy and grand larceny charges.

In 2006, two men died and 12,000 villagers were left without water as Indonesia's most active volcano, Mount Merapi, erupted, spewing gas, rocks and lava.

In 2007, a fire at a Charleston, S.C., furniture store killed nine firefighters when the roof collapsed.

Also in 2007, British police said they rescued 31 children from abuse when they broke up a large international pedophile ring that stretched into 35 countries.

In 2008, negotiators for Israel and Hamas, the militant group that controls the Gaza Strip, reported reaching agreement on a three-step cease-fire plan to quell the violence in the region.

In 2009, in a speech to the American Medical Association, U.S. President Barack Obama warned that without action now on healthcare reform, "the rolls of the insured will swell to include millions more Americans."

Also in 2009, investigators said there were no signs of an explosion aboard the Air France Flight 447 that crashed in the Atlantic on a Rio de Janeiro to Paris trip killing all 228 aboar

Notable Birthdays for June 17
Those born on this date include:
- John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, in 1703
- Russian-born composer Igor Stravinsky in 1882
- Actor Ralph Bellamy in 1904
- Author John Hersey in 1914
- Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., in 1943 (age 67)
- Singer Barry Manilow in 1946 (age 64)
- Comedian Joe Piscopo in 1951 (age 59)
- Actor Mark Linn-Baker ( Perfect Strangers ) in 1954 (age 56)
- Actor Greg Kinnear in 1963 (age 47)
- Speed skater-turned-sportscaster Dan Jansen in 1965 (age 45)
- Tennis star Venus Williams in 1980 (age 30)

Copyright 2010 by United Press International

HISTORY FOR WEDSNESDAY JUNE 16, 2010

2010-06-16T03:16:00.000-07:00

Today is Wednesday, June 16, the 167th day of 2010 with 198 to follow.

The moon is waning. The morning stars are Neptune, Mercury, Saturn, Jupiter and Uranus. The evening stars are Venus and Mars.

This Day in History, June 16
On June 16th, 1903, the Ford Motor Company incorporated.

Other Notable Events, June 16
In 1883, the New York Giants had the first Ladies' Day baseball game.

In 1917, the first Congress of Soviets was convened in Russia.

In 1958, the leader of the unsuccessful Hungarian uprising against Soviet rule, former Premier Imre Nagy, was executed.

In 1963, the Soviet Union put the first woman into space, cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova.

In 1977, Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev, first secretary of the Soviet Communist Party since 1964, was elected president of the Supreme Soviet, thereby becoming both head of party and head of state.

In 1986, South African blacks marked the 10th anniversary of the Soweto uprising with a 1-day strike. Eleven blacks were killed in the resulting violence.

In 1987, the last surviving dusky seaside sparrow died at Walt Disney World.

In 1992, U.S. President George H.W. Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin met at the White House for the first U.S.-Russian summit.

Also in 1992, former U.S. Defense Secretary Casper Weinberger was indicted on five felony counts of lying to Congress and investigators in connection with the Iran-Contra scandal.

In 1999, U.S. Vice President Al Gore announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination.

In 2004, the U.S. commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks said Iraq played no role in the attacks and the CIA knew of a plot in June.

In 2005, the U.S. Army awarded the first Silver Star for bravery in combat to a female soldier in the Iraq war, Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester, 23, of Bowling Green, Ky.

In 2007, the bodies of 13 members of the Iraqi Olympic tae kwon do martial arts team were found near Ramadi, over a year after the athletes were abducted while driving to a Jordan training camp.

In 2008, one month after the California Supreme Court struck down laws prohibiting gay marriage, couples flooded into city halls all over the state to get married. California was the second state, behind Massachusetts, to legalize same-sex marriage.

In 2009, U.S. Sen. John Ensign, a prominent Republican from Nevada, acknowledged a 9-month extramarital affair with a former staff member. He resigned his chairmanship of the Republican Policy Committee but remained in the Senate.

Also in 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama signed an executive order granting some healthcare benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees.

Notable Birthdays for June 16
Those born on this date include:
- Scottish golf legend Old Tom Morris in 1821
- American-Indian leader Geronimo in 1829
- Film comedian Stan Laurel (of Laurel and Hardy) in 1890
- Newspaper publisher Katharine Graham in 1917
- Author Erich Segal in 1937 (age 73)
- Author Joyce Carol Oates in 1938 (age 72)
- Country singer Billy Crash Craddock in 1939 (age 71)
- Actor Joan Van Ark in 1943 (age 67)
- Boxer Roberto Duran in 1951 (age 59)
- Singer-songwriter Gino Vannelli in 1952 (age 58)
- Actress Laurie Metcalf in 1955 (age 55)
- Professional golfer Phil Mickelson in 1970 (age 40)
- Rapper Tupac Shakur in 1971

Copyright 2010 by United Press International

This Day in History, January 10

2010-01-10T12:37:00.000-08:00

On January 10th, 1946, the first United Nations General Assembly opened in London.

Other Notable Events, Jan. 10
In 1776, "Common Sense" by political philosopher Thomas Paine was published. The pamphlet advocated independence from England.

In 1861 Florida seceded from the Union.

In 1863 London's Metropolitan, the world's first underground passenger railway, opened to the public.

In 1870 John D. Rockefeller incorporated Standard Oil.

In 1878, a constitutional amendment that would give women the right to vote was introduced into the U.S. Senate. It wasn't until 42 years later that the amendment was signed into law.

In 1901, oil was discovered at the Spindletop claim near Beaumont, Texas, launching the Southwest oil boom.

In 1920, the League of Nations came into being as the Treaty of Versailles went into effect.

In 1946, the first meeting of the U.N. General Assembly convened in London.

In 1957 Harold Macmillan became prime minister of Britain, following the resignation of Anthony Eden.

In 1964 The Beatles' first album in the United States, "Introducing the Beatles," was released.

In 1971 "Masterpiece Theatre" premiered on PBS.

In 1978 The Soviet Union launched two cosmonauts aboard a Soyuz capsule for a rendezvous with the Salyut VI space laboratory.

In 1984, the United States established full diplomatic relations with the Vatican for the first time in 116 years.

In 1994, NATO approved a plan for a limited expansion of the membership to Eastern European nations.

In 1996, rebels in the Russian republic of Chechnya holding 2,000 rebels released all but 130 and were allowed to flee. However, before they reached the border, Russian troops attacked the convoy, beginning a five-day standoff.

In 2000, America Online announced it had agreed to buy Time Warner for $165 billion, in what would be the biggest merger in history.

In 2003, North Korea announced it was withdrawing from the 1979 nuclear nonproliferation treaty. This global treaty was barring it from making nuclear bombs.

In 2005, Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip elected Mahmoud Abbas as their new president, succeeding the late Yasser Arafat.

Also in 2005, CBS News announced it had fired four employees for producing a flawed report on U.S. President George Bush's military record.

In 2006, Iran unsealed its nuclear facility at Natanz and resumed atomic research for what it claimed to be peaceful purposes but sparking international ire.

In 2007, U.S. President George Bush announced he was sending more than 20,000 additional troops to Iraq, most of them deployed in Baghdad, in what was labeled a troop "surge" and set off intense debate in Congress.

Also in 2007, the U.S. House of Representatives approved and sent to the Senate a $2.10-an-hour increase in the national minimum wage, raising the figure to $7.25.

In 2008, U.S. forces mounted a major air offensive against al-Qaida targets on the southern outskirts of Baghdad, the military said. Within 10 minutes, warplanes dropped 38 1,000-pound bombs on suspected al-Qaida safe houses.

Also in 2008, at least 23 people were killed and 60 others injured when a suicide bomber detonated outside a busy courthouse at midday in Lahore, Pakistan. Officials said police appeared to be the target.

And, Edmund Hillary, who rose to international fame as a member of the first climbing party to scale Mount Everest, died in Auckland, New Zealand, at age 88.

Famous Birthdays, January 10
Max Roach, 81, Jazz musician, born in 1924
Eddy Clearwater, 70, Blues musician, born in 1935
Ronnie Hawkins, 70, Rock singer-musician, born in 1935
Sherrill Milnes, 70, Opera singer, born in 1935
Willie McCovey, 67, Baseball hall-of-famer, born in 1938
Walter Hill, 63, Movie director, born in 1942
Donald Fagen, 57, Rock singer-musician (Steely Dan), born in 1948
George Foreman, 56, Boxer, born in 1949
Pat Benatar, 52, Rock singer, born in 1953
Michel Schenker, 50, Rock musician (The Scorpions), born in 1955
Shawn Colvin, 47, Singer, born in 1958
Curt Kirkwood, 46, Rock singer-musician (Meat Puppets), born in 1959
Evan Handler, 44, Actor, born in 1961
Mark Pryor, 42, U.S. senator, D-Ark., born in 1963
Brad Roberts, 41, Rock singer (Crash Test Dummies), born in 1964
Trini Alvarado, 38, Actress, born in 1967
Matt Roberts, 27, Rock musician (3 Doors Down), born in 1978
Chris Smith, 26, Rapper (Kris Kross), born in 1979

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

2009-12-25T00:56:00.000-08:00

At this time of the year, with pain in my heart and tears in my eyes at the loss of my best friend and soul companion, I reach out across the miles to greet all my blog readers. I promise to return in the new year with a vigor and the passion I once had. Now I wish to thank you for your support.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! GOD BLESS AND KEEP YOU ALL WELL.

ABEL MARTIN LOPEZ RODRIGUEZ

2009-10-23T23:08:00.000-07:00

NOV 14, 1955 - OCT 18, 2009

REST IN PEACE, DARLING. YOU ARE EVERYTHING TO ME!!

ABEL MARTIN LOPEZ RODRIGUEZ

2009-10-23T22:40:00.000-07:00

NOV 14, 1955 - OCT 18, 2009

REST IN PEACE, CIELO. TE AMO MAS QUE AYER Y MENOS QUE MAÑANA.
SQ? TA!!!

“La felicidad es un pensamiento que no siempre es real, pero si efectivo” (Abel Desestress)

HISTORY FOR OCTOBER 1, 2009

2009-10-01T18:17:00.000-07:00

This Day in History, October 1
On October 1st, 1908, Ford introduced the Model T.

Other Notable Events, Oct. 1
In 1903, the first World Series opened in Boston. The Boston Pilgrims of the American League closed out the Pittsburgh Pirates of the National League in the eighth game of a best-of-nine series.

In 1908, Henry Ford introduced the Model-T automobile.

In 1949, Mao Zedong and other communist leaders formally proclaimed establishment of the People's Republic of China.

In 1974, former U.S. Attorney General John Mitchell and four other Nixon administration officials went on trial on Watergate cover-up charges.

In 1991, the United States suspended economic aid to Haiti and refused to recognize the military junta that ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

In 1992, Dallas billionaire Ross Perot formally announced his candidacy for the presidency. He called his group the Reform Party.

Also in 1992, a missile accidentally fired by the U.S.S. Saratoga struck a Turkish destroyer in the Aegean Sea, killing nine Turkish sailors.

In 1995, 10 Muslims were convicted of conspiring to conduct a terrorist campaign in the New York City area aimed at forcing the United States to drop its support of Egypt and Israel.

In 2001, about 40 people were killed when a militant Muslim group attacked the legislative assembly building in the Indian province of Jammu and Kashmir.

In 2003, a report said hostility to the United States "has reached shocking levels" among Muslims and Arabs.

In 2004, the U.S. army said it killed 109 Sunni insurgents in a major offensive with Iraqi national guards against the city of Samara.

In 2005, a reported 36 people, mostly foreign tourists, died in explosions at two resort restaurants on the island of Bali. More than 100 others were reported injured.

In 2006, Brazilians voted for president following a campaign rife with corruption allegations against incumbent and favored Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

In 2007, Vladimir Putin, ineligible to seek another term as Russian president after eight years in the post, indicated to lawmakers his desire to become prime minister.

Notable Birthdays for Oct. 1
Those born on this date include:
- Navy Capt. James Lawrence, hero of the War of 1812, in 1781
- Novelist Faith Baldwin in 1893
- Pianist Vladimir Horowitz in 1903
- Jimmy Carter, 39th president of the United States, in 1924 (age 85)
- U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, also in 1924
- Former major league batting champion Rod Carew in 1945 (age 64)
- Actor Walter Matthau in 1920
- Actor James Whitmore in 1921 (age 88)
- Actor Tom Bosley in 1927 (age 82)
- Actor George Peppard in 1928
- Actor Laurence Harvey in 1928
- Actor Richard Harris in 1930
- Actress Julie Andrews in 1935 (age 74)
- Actress Stella Stevens in 1936 (age 73)
- Actor Stephen Collins in 1947 (age 62)
- Actor Randy Quaid in 1950 (age 59)
- Former home run champ Mark McGwire in 1963 (age 46)

HISTORY FOR SEPTEMBER 30, 2009

2009-09-30T18:11:00.000-07:00

This Day in History, September 30

On September 30th, 1955, screen legend James Dean died in a car crash.

Other Notable Events, Sept. 30
In 1452, the first section of the Guttenberg Bible, the first book printed from movable type, was published in Germany.

In 1630, John Billington, one of the first pilgrims to land in America was hanged for murder -- becoming the first European criminal executed in the American colonies.

In 1846, a dentist in Charleston, Mass., extracted a tooth with the aid of an anesthetic -- ether. It was the first time an anesthetic had been used.

In 1938, Germany, France, Britain and Italy met in Munich, Germany, for a conference after which British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain predicted "peace for our time." But, World War II began less than one year later.

In 1946, the verdicts were handed down in the Nuremberg war crimes trial. Twelve Nazi leaders were sentenced to death by hanging.

In 1954, the USS Nautilus, the world's first nuclear submarine, was commissioned by the U.S. Navy.

In 1955, movie idol James Dean died in a car crash at age 24.

In 1962, James H. Meredith, an African-American, was escorted onto the University of Mississippi campus by U.S. marshals, setting off a riot during which two men were killed before the racial violence was quelled by more than 3,000 soldiers. Meredith enrolled the next day.

In 1991, Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was overthrown in a military coup.

In 1992, the United States returned most of the Subic Bay Naval Base to the Philippine government after more than a century of use.

In 1999, an accident at a nuclear power plant 70 miles northeast of Tokyo released high levels of radiation in Japan's worst nuclear accident.

Also in 1999, Russia sent troops into the breakaway republic of Chechnya.

By this date in 2001, about 500 people in the United States and elsewhere had been arrested or detained in connection with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

In 2003, the U.S. Justice Department opened an investigation into the leaking of the name of a CIA operative to the media in an alleged effort to discredit a critic of the president's Iraq policy.

Also in 2003, three people working at the U.S. Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba, including a Muslim chaplain, were arrested on espionage charges.

In 2004, more than 40 people were killed, including about 35 children, when three bombs exploded in Iraq as U.S. soldiers were handing out candy.

Also in 2004, Merck & Co. announced a voluntary worldwide withdrawal of the arthritis and pain medication drug Vioxx. Clinical trials showed an increased risk of heart attack and stroke after 18 months of use.

In 2005, amid joy, sadness and speculation about the future, thousands of New Orleans residents returned home to a hobbled city, one month after Hurricane Katrina dealt them a devastating blow.

In 2006, Brazilian authorities said they found the wreckage of a missing airliner in the dense rain forest. Searchers said it was unlikely anyone had survived the crash.

Also in 2006, Congress ordered construction of a 700-mile, $1.2 billion fence along the U.S.-Mexican border in a move to control immigration. Mexico said the barrier would hurt relations between the two countries.

In 2007, roadside bombs killed or wounded 21,200 U.S. soldiers since the war in Iraq began in March 2003, The Washington Post reported. The Pentagon called the improvised explosives "the most effective weapon" against U.S. troops.

Notable Birthdays for Sept. 30
Those born on this date include:
- German physicist Hans Geiger, co-inventor of the Geiger counter, in 1882
- Film director Lewis Milestone ("All Quiet on the Western Front") in 1895
- Singer Kenny Baker in 1912
- Drummer Buddy Rich in 1917
- Novelist Truman Capote in 1924
- Actress Deborah Kerr in 1921
- Actress Angie Dickinson in 1931 (age 78)
- Singer Johnny Mathis in 1935 (age 74)
- Singer Marilyn McCoo in 1943 (age 66)
- Singer Frankie Lymon in 1942
- Actress Victoria Tennant in 1950 (age 59)
- Actor Eric Stoltz in 1961 (age 48)
- Actress/singer Crystal Bernard in 1961 (age 48)
- Actress Fran Drescher ("The Nanny") in 1957 (age 52)
- Actress Jenna Elfman ("Dharma and Greg") in 1971 (age 38)
- Tennis star Martina Hingis in 1980 (age 29)

HISTORY FOR Sunday Sept 27, 2009

2009-09-27T01:40:00.000-07:00

Today is Sunday, Sept, 27, the 271st day of 2009 with 95 to follow.

This Day in History, September 27
On September 27th, 1825, the Stockton and Darlington Railway opened, becoming the first permanent steam locomotive railway.

Other Notable Events, Sept. 27
In 1825, in England, George Stephenson operated the first locomotive to pull a passenger train.

In 1935, 13-year-old Judy Garland signed her first contract with MGM.

In 1939, after 19 days of heavy air raids and artillery bombardment, Polish defenders of Warsaw surrendered to the Germans.

In 1954, "The Tonight Show" made its television debut with host Steve Allen.

In 1964, the Warren Commission report on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy was released after a 10-month investigation, concluding that there was no conspiracy and that Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged assassin, acted alone.

In 1987, mudslides in slum areas of Medellin, Colombia, killed up to 500 people.

In 1991, U.S. President George H.W. Bush announced the United States would unilaterally eliminate tactical nuclear weapons on land and at sea in Europe and Asia.

Also in 1991, the Palestine Liberation Organization legislature voted to support U.S.- and Soviet-sponsored Middle East peace efforts.

In 1992, the Inkatha party, rival to Nelson Mandela's ANC, withdrew from talks with the South African government after a meeting between Mandela and President F.W. de Klerk.

In 1994, U.S. forces in Haiti took control of the parliament building and began paying Haitians to turn in weapons in order to reduce firepower on the streets.

In 1996, rebels seized control of Afghanistan from the previous rebel group that had taken the country from Moscow. The new rebels hanged Afghani leader Najibullah and his brother.

In 1998, Gerhard Schroeder led Germany's Social Democratic Party to victory in parliamentary elections, bringing to an end 16 years of power by Chancellor Helmut Kohl and his Christian Democratic Party.

And in 1998, St. Louis Cardinal slugger Mark McGwire set an all-time major-league season home run record when he hit his 70th home run.

In 2001, in further steps following the terrorist attacks on the United States, U.S. President George Bush asked governors to assign National Guard troops to help protect commercial airports and said armed sky marshals in plainclothes would soon begin riding some flights.

In 2003, U.S. President George Bush and Russian President Putin said they would join forces to oppose nuclear proliferation in Iran and North Korea.

In 2005, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, second in command to the al-Qaida leader in Iraq, was reported killed by Iraqi and U.S. forces in a Baghdad gun battle.

Also in 2005, French prosecutors began questioning senior officials with the former Concorde aircraft project over a crash in 2000 that killed 113 people.

In 2007, nine people were reported killed and another 100 injured as the Myanmar military junta sought to break up nine days of demonstrations by Buddhist monks and nuns in Yangon over the more than doubling of gas prices.

Also in 2007, the U.S. Senate voted to attach a measure that would extend federal hate-crime protection to sexual orientation to the defense authorization bill.

Notable Birthdays for Sept. 27
Those born on this date include:
- Patriot Samuel Adams in 1722
- Political cartoonist Thomas Nast in 1840
- Composer Joseph McCarthy ("You Made Me Love You") in 1885
- Composer Vincent

HISTORY FOR SEPTEMBER 23, 2009

2009-09-23T14:12:00.000-07:00

Wednesday September 23, 2009
Today is Wednesday, Sept. 23, the 267th day of 2009 with 99 to follow.

On September 23rd, 1806, Lewis and Clark returned from their exploration of the United States.

Other Notable Events, Sept. 23
In 1779, the USS Bonhomme Richard, commanded by John Paul Jones, defeated British frigate HMS Serapis in a battle off the coast of Scotland.

In 1806, U.S. explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark returned to St. Louis from the first recorded overland journey from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Coast and back.

In 1846, German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle discovered the planet Neptune at the Berlin Observatory. Neptune generally is the eighth planet from the sun.

In 1950, Congress adopted the Internal Security Act, which provided for the registration of communists. It was ruled later unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 1966, a Rolling Stones concert at England's Royal Albert concert hall was halted temporarily when screaming girls attacked Mick Jagger onstage. The riotous enthusiasm of the fans resulted in a ban of pop concerts at the hall.

In 1973, Juan Peron was again elected president of Argentina after 18 years in exile. His second wife, Isabel, became vice president and succeeded him when he died 10 months later.

In 1985, nine days of street fighting in Tripoli, Lebanon, left 183 people dead.

In 1991, 44 U.N. inspectors were detained in Baghdad after attempting to remove secret Iraqi plans for building nuclear weapons. They were freed five days later.

In 1992, the worst storm in years struck southeastern France, triggering flash flooding that left 34 people dead and 50 missing.

In 1993, the Israeli Knesset approved the peace agreement with the Palestinian Liberation Organization.

In 1999, Russian planes began three days of attacks on various targets in Chechnya, in response to several bombings in Moscow and other Russian cities.

In 2001, in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on the United States, the nation remained on increased alert for possible suspects in this country while troops in Afghanistan searched for Osama bin Laden and his terrorist network. The FAA halted crop-dusting activities, fearing they might be used to spread toxic substances.

In 2003, Thai police reportedly foiled an al-Qaida plot to shoot down an El Al passenger jet with a surface-to-air missile at Bangkok's airport.

In 2004, Haiti's death toll from flooding caused by Tropical Storm Jeanne could top 2,000 according to a Haitian civil defense official.

Also in 2004, a classified report for the U.S. Congress said security screeners at 15 U.S. airports missed weapons and explosives being smuggled aboard aircraft by undercover agents during a series of tests.

In 2005, a reported 24 people were killed when a bus carrying Texas nursing home evacuees from Hurricane Rita was destroyed by an explosion and fire near Dallas.

In 2006, as observance of this year's holy month of Ramadan began in Iraq, a bomb that killed at least 35 people, mostly women lined up for kerosene in Sadr City.

Also in 2006, the New York Times said a classified U.S. intelligence report claims the Iraq invasion made the world less safe from terrorism.

In 2007, Yasuo Fukuda, a long-time political force and son of a former prime minister, was chosen prime minister of Japan, succeeding Shinzo Abe, who resigned amid financial scandals.

Also in 2007, the U.S. Air Force sought to determine how six powerful nuclear warheads were accidentally shipped from North Dakota to Louisiana with no one noticing and sat unguarded for a day.

Notable Birthdays for Sept. 23
Those born on this date include:
- Roman Emperor Augustus in 63 B.C.
- Educator William McGuffey, author of the McGuffey "eclectic readers" for school children, in 1800
- Feminist and presidential candidate Victoria Woodhull in 1838
- Surgeon William Halsted, who introduced operations for hernia and breast cancer, in 1852
- Journalist Walter Lippmann in 1889
- Actor Walter Pidgeon in 1897
- Actor Mickey Rooney in 1920 (age 89)
- Jazz saxophonist John Coltrane in 1926
- Soul singer/pianist Ray Charles in 1930
- Singer Julio Iglesias in 1943 (age 66)
- Actor Paul Peterson in 1945 (age 64)
- Actress Mary Kay Place in 1947 (age 62)
- Rock star Bruce Springsteen in 1949 (age 60)
- Actor Jason Alexander in 1959 (age 50)
- Actress Elizabeth Pena in 1959 (age 50)
- Singer/songwriter Ani DiFranco in 1970 (age 39)

HISTORY FOR Monday, September 21

2009-09-21T02:17:00.000-07:00

This Day in History, September 21
In 1980, The country of Belize in Central America attained its Independence from Great Britain.This caribbean nation is the only one on main land bordered in the North by Mexico, on the West and South by Guatemala and on the East by the Caribbean Sea.

Other Notable Events, Sept. 21
In 1792, the Legislative Assembly of revolutionary France voted to abolish the monarchy and establish the First Republic, stripping King Louis XVI of most of his power.

In 1893, the first successful American-made, gasoline-operated motorcar appeared on the streets of Springfield, Mass. It was designed and built by Charles and Frank Duryea.

In 1921, following the sex scandal caused by the arrest of comedian Fatty Arbuckle, Universal announced it would require its actors to sign a "morality clause" in their contracts.

In 1938, an estimated 600 people were killed by a hurricane that battered the coast of New England.

In 1985, Western intelligence estimates said the Iran-Iraq war in five years had cost nearly 1 million lives.

In 1991, Armenia became the 12th Soviet republic to declare independence.

In 1993, Russian President Boris Yeltsin suspended the parliament and announced parliamentary elections would be in December.

In 1996, U.S. President Bill Clinton signed into law the Defense of Marriage Act, which allows states to disregard "same sex marriages" that might be official in other places.

And in 1996, John F. Kennedy, Jr., son of the late U.S. president and described by tabloids as the world's most eligible bachelor, wed Carolyn Bessette.

In 1998, U.S. President Bill Clinton's videotaped grand jury testimony, during which he admitted to an inappropriate relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, was shown on television. It ran more than four hours.

Also in 1998, Hurricane Georges began its deadly rampage through the Caribbean, killing more than 600 people.

In 1999, at least 2,300 people were killed when an earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale struck Taiwan.

In 2001, Deep Space 1 flew within 2,200 kms of Comet Borrelly

In 2001, a telecast by top movie stars and musicians raised more than $500 million for survivors of the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

In 2002, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon reportedly told the Bush administration Israel would strike back if attacked by Iraq.

In 2003, the spacecraft Galileo approached the fringes of Jupiter's atmosphere and then was directed to destroy itself in a high-speed plunge.

In 2004, two U.S. hostages were reported killed by suspected Iraqi insurgents within a day of each other. Jack Hensley and Eugene Armstrong, contractors working for a United Arab Emirates-based firm, were kidnapped from their Baghdad home.

In 2005, Texas coastal residents were ordered to evacuate, creating a mass exodus from the Houston and Galveston area as Hurricane Rita became the third-most intense hurricane on record in the Atlantic Basin. Top sustained winds were near 165 mph over the Gulf of Mexico.

In 2006, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told reporters at the United Nations that Tehran might give up its uranium enrichment program in return for unspecified concessions.

In 2007, U.S. toymaker Mattel apologized to China for blaming design flaws on Chinese manufacturing problems in most of the recalls of millions of toys made in that country this summer.

Notable Birthdays for Sept. 21
Those born on this date include:
- Louis Joliet, French-Canadian explorer of the Mississippi River, in 1645
- Author and historian H.G. Wells in 1866; composer Gustav Holst in 1874
- British publisher Allen Lane, who introduced the low-priced paperback book, in 1902
- Animator Chuck Jones (Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Wile E. Coyote) in 1912
- Actor Larry Hagman (TV's "Dallas") in 1931 (age 77)
- Actor Henry Gibson in 1935
- Comedian Fanny Flagg in 1944 (age 65)
- Author Stephen King in 1947 (age 62)
- Comedian Bill Murray in 1950 (age 59)
- Ethan Coen, one of the filmmaking Coen brothers, in 1957 (age 52)
- Actress Nancy Travis in 1961 (age 48)
- Actor Rob Morrow in 1962 (age 47)
- Actress Ricki Lake in 1968 (age 41)

HISTORY FOR Monday August 17, 2009

2009-08-17T17:22:00.000-07:00

Today is Monday, Aug. 17, the 229th day of 2009 with 136 to follow.

The moon is waning. The morning stars are Venus, Mars and Uranus. The evening stars are Neptune, Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn.

This Day in History, August 17
On August 17th, 1807, the world's first commercial steamboat service was inaugurated by Robert Fulton.

Other Notable Events, August 17
In 1807, Robert Fulton began the first American steamboat trip between Albany, N.Y., and New York City.

In 1915, a hurricane struck Galveston, Texas, killing 275 people.

In 1961, the East German government began building the Berlin Wall.

In 1978, three Americans completed the first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by balloon, landing their helium-filled Double Eagle II near Paris.

In 1987, kidnapped U.S. journalist Charles Glass escaped and was rescued after being held hostage for 62 days in Lebanon.

Also in 1987, Rudolf Hess, Hitler's former deputy, was found strangled in Berlin's Spandau Prison. He was 93.

In 1991, the Lebanese government granted amnesty to former Christian army commander Gen. Michel Aoun and allowed him to leave the French Embassy.

In 1992, filmmaker Woody Allen and Mia Farrow split up after 12 years together. Allen said he was in love with the actress' adult daughter, Soon-Yi Previn.

In 1996, the Reform Party nominated Texas businessman Ross Perot for president.

In 1998, addressing the American people, U.S. President Bill Clinton admitted he had a relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky that was "not appropriate."

In 1999, at least 16,000 people were killed and 20,000 more injured when a strong earthquake rocked Turkey.

In 2001, Ford Motor Co. announced it would dismiss up to 5,000 of its salaried employees -- 10 percent of its managers and engineers.

In 2003, a U.S. soldier killed a Reuters photographer at a prison near Baghdad after mistaking his camera for a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.

Also in 2003, loss of revenue from a fire-damaged Iraqi oil pipeline was estimated at $7 million a day with repairs expected to take a month.

In 2004, eight British men arrested with reconnaissance plans for the New York Stock Exchange and other targets have been charged with conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to use radioactive material, toxic gas, chemicals or explosives.

In 2005, reports say three suicide car bombings in the center of Baghdad killed at least 43 people and injured 80 others. Meanwhile, a series of bombs exploded simultaneously across Bangladesh killing at least 115 people.

Also in 2005, Israeli soldiers and police began moving Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip.

In 2006, a U.S. District judge in Detroit ruled that the National Security Agency wiretapping program was illegal. U.S. President George Bush ordered an appeal.

Also in 2006, several U.S. cigarette makers were convicted in a Washington civil racketeering suit of conspiring to deceive the public about the dangers of smoking.

In 2007, the FBI was reported investigating whether U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, helped arrange a $70 million contract for a company that oversaw work on his house.

In 2008, Iran reported it had tested a new rocket capable of carrying a satellite into orbit.

Also in 2008, at least 160 people were reported killed in Vietnam by torrential rain-caused flooding in Southeast Asia.

Notable Birthdays for August 17
Those born on this date include:
- Frontiersman Davy Crockett in 1786
- Movie producer Samuel Goldwyn in 1882
- Black nationalist leader Marcus Garvey in 1887
- Actors Monty Woolley in 1888 and Mae West in 1893
- Publisher/diplomat John Hay Whitney in 1904
- Actress Maureen O'Hara in 1920 (age 89)
- Actor Robert De Niro in 1943 (age 66)
- U.S. spy plane aviator Francis Gary Powers in 1929
- British poet laureate Ted Hughes in 1930
- Pop singer Belinda Carlisle in 1958 (age 51)
- Actor Sean Penn in 1960 (age 49)

Copyright 2009 by United Press International

2009-07-31T10:07:00.000-07:00

Today is Friday, July 31, the 212th day of 2009 with 153 to follow.

The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Neptune, Uranus, Jupiter, Venus and Mars. The evening stars are Mercury and Saturn.

This Day in History, July 31
On July 31st, 781, the oldest recorded eruption of Mt. Fuji took place.

Other Notable Events, July 31
In 1498, on his third voyage to the New World, Christopher Columbus discovered the island of Trinidad.

In 1556 Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order of Roman Catholic missionaries and educators, died in Rome.

In 1792, director David Rittenhouse laid the cornerstone in Philadelphia for the U.S. Mint, the first building of the federal government.

In 1964, Ranger 7, an unmanned U.S. lunar probe, took the first close-up images of the moon.

In 1974, Watergate figure John Ehrlichman was sentenced to 20 months in prison for his role in the break-in at the office of Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist. Ellsberg was the Pentagon consultant who leaked the "Pentagon Papers," documents about the war in Vietnam.

In 1991, the U.S. Senate overturned a 43-year-old law and voted to allow women to fly military warplanes in combat.

In 1992, all aboard were killed when a Thai Airways jetliner carrying more than 100 people crashed in bad weather in Nepal.

In 1995, the Walt Disney Co. announced it was buying Capital Cities/ABC for $19 billion.

In 2002, Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov, a reputed Russian crime figure, was arrested at his resort in Italy on charges he tried to fix two ice skating events at the Salt Lake City Olympic Games.

In 2003, North Korea reversed its long-standing opposition to multilateral talks on its nuclear weapons program.

In 2004, Pakistani investigators blamed al-Qaida for an assassination attempt on Prime Minister-designate Shaukat Aziz. Eight people died in the suicide bombing attack.

In 2006, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, two weeks before his 80th birthday, formally transferred power temporarily to his brother Raul in preparation for intestinal surgery.

In 2007, the U.S. House of Representatives passed, in a 411-8 vote, a bill overhauling ethics rules focused on large donations and gifts to lawmakers.

Also in 2007, the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to deploy as many as 26,000 peacekeepers to end the violence in Sudan's Darfur region that reportedly killed about 200,000 people since 2003.

And, media mogul Rupert Murdoch won approval to buy the Dow Jones & Company, publisher of The Wall Street Journal.

In 2008, Exxon Mobil announced it had broken its own record for the greatest quarterly profit for a corporation with $11.68 billion.

Also in 2008, a federal judge ruled that U.S. President George Bush's advisers cannot ignore congressional subpoenas in an inquiry into the firing of several U.S. attorneys. Bush had said they were covered by executive privilege.

Notable Birthdays for July 31
Those born on this date include:
- Author and jurist James Kent in 1763
- Confederate Army guerrilla leader William Quantrill, in 1837
- Pollster Elmo Burns Roper Jr., in 1900
- Economist Milton Friedman in 1912
- Former TV talk-show host and columnist Irv Kupcinet in 1912
- Actor Don Murray in 1929 (age 80)
- Actress France Nuyen in 1939 (age 70)
- Geraldine Chaplin in 1944 (age 65)
- Singer Gary Lewis in 1945 (age 64)
- Australian tennis player Evonne Goolagong in 1951 (age 58)
- Actor Wesley Snipes in 1962 (age 47)
- Actor Dean Cain ( Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman ) in 1966 (age 43)

Copyright 2009 by United Press International

HISTORY FOR JULY 30, 2009

2009-07-30T15:48:00.000-07:00

Today is Thursday, July 30, the 211th day of 2009 with 154 to follow.

The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Neptune, Uranus, Jupiter, Venus and Mars. The evening stars are Mercury and Saturn.

This Day in History, July 30
On July 30th, 1733, the first Freemasons lodge was opened in what would become the United States.

Other Notable Events, July 30
In 1619, in Jamestown, Va., the first elected legislative assembly in the New World -- the House of Burgesses -- convened in the choir loft of the town's church.

In 1932, Walt Disney released his first color cartoon, "Flowers and Trees," made in three-color Technicolor.

In 1936, author Margaret Mitchell sold the film rights for "Gone With the Wind" to MGM for $50,000, most ever for a first novel.

In 1974, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, by a vote of 21-17, approved a third article of impeachment against U.S. President Richard Nixon, charging him with ignoring congressional subpoenas. Nixon resigned before the issue went to trial.

In 1975, former Teamsters Union President Jimmy Hoffa was last seen outside a suburban Detroit restaurant. He was declared dead in 1982.

In 1976, Kate Smith made her last public appearance on this date, singing her signature number "God Bless America" on a TV program honoring the U.S. Bicentennial.

In 1991, a special U.N. commission to Iraq announced it had found 46,000 chemical shells and warheads and 3,000 tons of raw materials for weapons.

In 1994, the United States, Germany, Britain, France and Russia decided to tighten sanctions on the Serb-dominated government in what remained of Yugoslavia.

In 1997, suicide bombers detonated two bombs in an outdoor market in West Jerusalem, killing themselves and 13 other people.

In 1999, a Maryland grand jury indicted Linda Tripp for illegally taping her phone conversations with Monica Lewinsky.

In 2002, Pope John Paul II was present for the canonization of Pedro de San Jose Betanur of Guatemala, Central America's first saint, and Juan Diego of Mexico City, first American Indian saint.

In 2003, U.S. President George Bush indicated he would favor a law or constitutional amendment barring same-sex marriages. The Vatican also condemned gay unions.

In 2004, the U.N. Security Council adopted a U.S.-drafted resolution demanding Sudan disarm within 30 days and prosecute those responsible for thousands of deaths in Darfur.

In 2005, British police said they arrested six men and one woman in the failed July 21 London subway bombings. That brought to 13 the number of suspects in custody in the apparent, unsuccessful attempt to match the July 7 attack that killed 56.

In 2006, an Israeli air raid leveled a building housing civilians in the Lebanese village of Qana, reportedly killing at least 65 people, mostly women and children. Israeli officials said the wrong building was hit.

In 2007, federal lawmen swept across the Alaska home of seven-term Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, allegedly looking for evidence in an ongoing bribery investigation involving a convicted oil field contractor.

In 2008, while there were glimmers of hope, the overall U.S. economy continued its slump. July reports put the month's lost jobs at 51,000 when the unemployment rate rose to 5.7 percent, a four-year high. The Dow Jones industrials ended the month up 0.3 percent at 11,378.02 and crude oil prices closed at $124 a barrel, down 11 percent from June.

Also in 2008, embroiled in a corruption investigation into alleged events before he became Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert announced he was resigning his post as soon as his party chose a new leader.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International

Notable Birthdays for July 30
Those born on this date include:
- English novelist Emily Bronte in 1818
- Auto pioneer Henry Ford in 1863
- Baseball player/manager Casey Stengel in 1890
- English sculptor Henry Moore in 1898
- Baseball Commissioner Allan Bud Selig in 1934 (age 75)
- Film director Peter Bogdanovich in 1939 (age 70)
- Singer Paul Anka in 1941 (age 68)
- California governor/actor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1947 (age 62)
- Actor Ken Olin in 1954 (age 55)
- Actress Delta Burke in 1956 (age 53)
- Actor Laurence Fishburne in 1961 (age 48)
- Actress Lisa Kudrow in 1963 (age 46)
- Actress Hilary Swank in 1974 (age 35)

Copyright 2009 by United Press International

HISTORY FOR Friday June 19, 2009

2009-06-19T21:01:00.000-07:00

Today is Friday, June 19, the 170th day of 2009 with 195 to follow.

The moon is waning. The morning stars are Neptune, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Uranus. The evening star is Saturn.

This Day in History, June 19
On June 19th, 1870, the Confederate States of America were dissolved.

Other Notable Events, June 19
In A.D. 325, the early Christian church opened the general council of Nicaea, which settled on rules for computing the date of Easter.

In 1787, the U.S. Constitutional Convention voted to strike down the Articles of Confederation and form a new government.

In 1846, two amateur baseball teams played under new rules at Hoboken, N.J., planting the first seeds of organized baseball. The New York Nine beat the Knickerbockers, 23-1.

In 1856, the first Republican national convention ended in Philadelphia with the nomination of explorer John Charles Fremont of California for president. James Buchanan, a Federalist nominated by the Democrats, was elected.

In 1867, Austrian Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, installed as emperor of Mexico by French Emperor Napoleon III in 1864, was executed on the orders of Benito Juarez, the president of the Mexican Republic.

Also in 1867, the first running of the Belmont Stakes took place at Jerome Park, N.Y.

In 1905, Pittsburgh showman Harry Davis opened the world's first nickelodeon, showing the silent Western film "The Great Train Robbery." The storefront theater boasted 96 seats and charged 5 cents and prompted the advent of movie houses across the United States.

In 1943, World War II's Battle of the Philippine Sea began, as Japan tried unsuccessfully to prevent further Allied advancement in the South Pacific.

In 1953, convicted spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed.

In 1977, Elvis Presley made his final live concert recordings, at a series of appearances in Nebraska. He died two months later.

In 1987, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the 1981 Louisiana law that required schools to teach the creationist theory of human origin espoused by fundamentalist Christians.

In 1991, the U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a plan to prohibit the export of military supplies to Iraq.

In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that prayers led by students at public high school football games are not permitted under the constitutional separation of church and state.

In 2005, a suicide bomber killed at least 23 people, including some Iraqi police officers, in a crowded Baghdad restaurant. The next day saw suicide car bombers kill a reported 26 policemen and security forces in Baghdad and Irbil.

Also in 2005, opponents of Syrian domination won a majority of seats in the final round of Lebanon's parliamentary elections.

In 2006, Japan threatened "severe action" if North Korea launches a long-range missile as it was believed preparing to do.

In 2007, 10,000 U.S. and 3,000 Iraqi troops launched a major offensive targeting the Sunni jihadist terrorist group known as al-Qaida in Iraq in Iraq's Baquba area.

In 2008, Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, became the first at that level to bypass public financing since the program was established. Obama said he believed the move would provide better resources to defend his campaign from attacks by Republicans.

Notable Birthdays for June 19
Those born on this date include:
- James VI of Scotland, later James I of England, in 1566
- French philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal in 1623
- The Duchess of Windsor, born Bessie Wallis Warfield, in 1896
- Moe Howard, leader of the Three Stooges, in 1897
- Bandleader Guy Lombardo in 1902
- Baseball legend Lou Gehrig in 1903
- Former U.S. Sen. Alan Cranston, D-Calif., in 1914
- Film critic Pauline Kael in 1919
- Actress Nancy Marchand in 1928
- Actress Gena Rowlands in 1930 (age 79)
- Author Salman Rushdie in 1947 (age 62)
- Actress Phylicia Rashad in 1948 (age 61)
- Singer Ann Wilson of Heart in 1950 (age 59)
- Actress Kathleen Turner in 1954 (age 55)
- Singer Paula Abdul in 1962 (age 47)

HISTORY FOR Thursday June 18, 2009

2009-06-18T20:53:00.000-07:00

Today is Thursday, June 18, the 169th day of 2009 with 196 to follow.

The moon is waning. The morning stars are Neptune, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Uranus. The evening star is Saturn.

This Day in History, June 18
On June 18th, 1928, Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean.

Other Notable Events, June 18
In 1812, the United States declared war on Britain.

In 1815, England's Duke of Wellington and Prussian Field Marshal Gebhard von Blucher defeated Napoleon at Waterloo in Belgium.

In 1975, Saudi Arabian Prince Museid was publicly beheaded in Riyadh for the assassination of King Faisal.

In 1979, U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev signed a strategic arms control treaty in Vienna, Austria.

In 1983, Sally Ride became the first American woman in space as the space shuttle Challenger was launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

In 1990, James Edward Pough, 42, whose car had been repossessed, killed eight people and wounded five more before committing suicide at a General Motors Acceptance Corp. loan office in Jacksonville, Fla. He was believed to have killed two others a day earlier.

In 1993, eight U.S. military officers arrived in the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia to help plan the deployment of a U.N. force that would seek to prevent the Bosnia conflict from spreading.

In 1996, the U.S. Senate issued its Whitewater reports. The Republican report accused first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton of obstruction of justice.

Also in 1996, Unabomber suspect Theodore Kaczynski was charged with two killings in California; he pleaded innocent. Charges from New Jersey would come later.

In 1997, Turkish Premier Necmettin Erbakan resigned under pressure after his governing coalition lost its majority in Parliament.

In 2000, Ethiopia and Eritrea signed a cease-fire, ending their monthlong war.

In 2002, a suicide bomber killed himself and 19 others when he detonated explosives aboard a bus in Jerusalem.

In 2003, two nights of rioting left the Lake Michigan community of Benton Harbor, Mich., covered with smoldering ruins and broken glass in the aftermath of a deadly police motorcycle chase.

In 2004, U.S. hostage Paul Johnson Jr., 49, was killed by his Saudi captors despite pleas from senior Muslim clerics.

In 2006, North Korea appeared poised to test a missile after reports that satellite imagery showed fueling had been completed. The pending test drew sharp criticism from the United States and others.

Also in 2006, some 800 U.S. National Guard troops began working along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border as part of a federal plan to slow illegal immigration.

In 2007, the United States and the European Union announced they would resume aid to Palestinians. Meanwhile, hundreds of Palestinians waited at the Israeli border trying to escape from Hamas-controlled Gaza.

In 2008, Congress overrode a presidential veto of the $290 billion farm bill, providing agricultural subsidies, federal food stamps, foreign food aid and other programs for a 5-year period.

Also in 2008, U.S. President George W. Bush urged Congress to rescind a law, signed by his father, the first President Bush, that prohibits offshore drilling for oil.

Notable Birthdays for June 18
Those born on this date include:
- Cyrus Curtis, founder and publisher of the Ladies' Home Journal, in 1850
- Journalist and publisher Edward Scripps in 1854
- Legendary Tin Pan Alley composer Sammy Cahn in 1913
- Financial journalist Sylvia Porter in 1913
- Singer/composer Paul McCartney in 1942 (age 67)
- Film critic Roger Ebert in 1942 (age 67)
- Actress Carol Kane in 1952 (age 57)
- Actress Isabella Rossellini in 1952 (age 57)

HISTORY FOR Wednesday June 17, 2009

2009-06-17T20:36:00.000-07:00

Today is Wednesday, June 17, the 168th day of 2009 with 197 to follow.

The moon is waning. The morning stars are Neptune, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Uranus. The evening star is Saturn.

This Day in History, June 17
On June 17th, 1885, the Statute of Liberty arrived in New York Harbor.
Other Notable Events, June 17
In 1967, China announced it had successfully tested a hydrogen bomb.

In 1972, the Watergate scandal began with the arrest of five burglars inside Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington.

In 1982, Argentina's President Leopoldo Galtieri resigned in response to Britain's victory in the Falkland Islands war.

In 1986, Kate Smith, one of America's most popular singers in the '20s, '30s and '40s, died at the age of 79.

Also in 1986, Maryland basketball star Len Bias, about to enter the pro ranks, dropped dead from cocaine intoxication, focusing national attention on cocaine use by athletes.

In 1991, South African President F.W. de Klerk ended apartheid when he repealed the Population Registration Act that classified South Africans by race from birth.

In 1992, two Germans were released by their pro-Iranian kidnappers after three years' captivity in Lebanon. They were the last of the Western hostages to be freed.

In 1994, Los Angeles police charged O.J. Simpson with killing his ex-wife and her friend. The former football star and actor was acquitted in a controversial, high-profile trial.

Also in 1994, members of the Branch Davidian cult were sentenced to prison on charges stemming from the 1993 federal raid on their compound near Waco, Texas.

In 1996, ValuJet Airlines shut down about a month after a crash in the Florida Everglades led to questions about the carrier's safety and maintenance records.

In 2003, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien promised legislation that would legalize same-sex marriage throughout his country.

In 2004, a massive car bomb killed at least 30 people and wounded 150 others in central Baghdad, two weeks before the handover of power to Iraqis.

In 2005, L. Dennis Kozlowski, former chief executive of Tyco, was convicted of fraud, conspiracy and grand larceny charges.

In 2006, two men died and 12,000 villagers were left without water as Indonesia's most active volcano, Mount Merapi, erupted, spewing gas, rocks and lava.

In 2007, a fire at a Charleston, S.C., furniture store killed nine firefighters when the roof collapsed.

Also in 2007, British police said they rescued 31 children from abuse when they broke up a large international pedophile ring that stretched into 35 countries.

In 2008, the battle against flooding shifted to Illinois and Missouri as the Mississippi River threatened to spill over levees and flood towns in its path. Officials placed millions of sandbags atop levees along the great river in Illinois, Iowa and Missouri to prevent the rain-swollen waterway from overflowing.

Also in 2008, negotiators for Israel and Hamas, the militant group that controls the Gaza Strip, reported reaching agreement on a three-step cease-fire plan to quell the violence in the region.

Notable Birthdays for June 17
Those born on this date include:
- John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, in 1703
- Russian-born composer Igor Stravinsky in 1882
- Actor Ralph Bellamy in 1904
- Author John Hersey in 1914
- Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., in 1943 (age 66)
- Singer Barry Manilow in 1946 (age 63)
- Comedian Joe Piscopo in 1951 (age 58)
- Actor Mark Linn-Baker ( Perfect Strangers ) in 1954 (age 55)
- Actor Greg Kinnear in 1963 (age 46)
- Speed skater-turned-sportscaster Dan Jansen in 1965 (age 44)
- And tennis star Venus Williams in 1980 (age 29).

HISTORY FOR Tuesday June 16, 2009

2009-06-16T20:01:00.000-07:00

Today is Tuesday, June 16, the 167th day of 2009 with 198 to follow.

The moon is waning. The morning stars are Neptune, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Uranus. The evening star is Saturn.

Other Notable Events, June 16
In 1883, the New York Giants had the first Ladies' Day baseball game.

In 1917, the first Congress of Soviets was convened in Russia.

In 1958, the leader of the unsuccessful Hungarian uprising against Soviet rule, former Premier Imre Nagy, was executed.

In 1963, the Soviet Union put the first woman into space, cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova.

In 1977, Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev, first secretary of the Soviet Communist Party since 1964, was elected president of the Supreme Soviet, thereby becoming both head of party and head of state.

In 1986, South African blacks marked the 10th anniversary of the Soweto uprising with a one-day strike. Eleven blacks were killed in the resulting violence.

In 1987, the last surviving dusky seaside sparrow died at Walt Disney World.

In 1992, U.S. President George H.W. Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin met at the White House for the first U.S.-Russian summit.

Also in 1992, former U.S. Defense Secretary Casper Weinberger was indicted on five felony counts of lying to Congress and investigators in connection with the Iran-Contra scandal.

In 1993, the U.N. Security Council voted to impose a worldwide ban on oil shipments to Haiti.

In 1999, U.S. Vice President Al Gore announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination.

In 2004, the U.S. commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks said Iraq played no role in the attacks and the CIA knew of a plot in June.

In 2005, the U.S. Army awarded the first Silver Star for bravery in combat to a female soldier in the Iraq war, Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester, 23, of Bowling Green, Ky.

In 2007, the bodies of 13 members of the Iraqi Olympic tae kwon do martial arts team were found near Ramadi, over a year after the athletes were abducted while driving to a Jordan training camp.

Also in 2007, leaders of the Episcopal Church in the United States rejected demands they adopt a stronger stand against homosexuality.

In 2008, one month after the California Supreme Court struck down laws prohibiting gay marriage, couples flooded into city halls all over the state to get married. California is the second state, behind Massachusetts, to legalize same-sex marriage.

Notable Birthdays for June 16
Those born on this date include:
- Film comedian Stan Laurel (of Laurel and Hardy) in 1890
- Publisher Katharine Graham in 1917
- Authors Erich Segal in 1937 (age 72) and Joyce Carol Oates in 1938 (age 71)
- Actress Joan Van Ark in 1943 (age 66)
- Boxer Roberto Duran in 1951 (age 58)
- Actress Laurie Metcalf ( Roseanne ) in 1955 (age 54)

This Day in History, June 15

2009-06-15T19:37:00.000-07:00

On June 15th, 1822, Charles Babbage proposed a difference engine -- an early veOn June 15th, 1822, Charles Babbage proposed a difference engine -- an early version of a computer.rsion of a computer.

Other Notable Events, June 15
In 1215, under pressure from rebellious barons, England's King John signed the Magna Carta, a crucial first step toward creating Britain's constitutional monarchy.

In 1752, Benjamin Franklin, in a dangerous experiment, demonstrated the relationship between lightning and electricity by flying a kite during a storm in Philadelphia. An iron key suspended from the string attracted a lightning bolt.

In 1785, two Frenchmen attempting to cross the English Channel in a hot-air balloon were killed when their balloon caught fire and crashed. It was the first fatal aviation accident.

In 1846, the U.S.-Canadian border was established.

In 1877, Henry Ossian Flipper, born a slave in Thomasville, Ga., became the first African-American cadet to graduate from West Point.

In 1904, the excursion steamboat "General Slocum" caught fire on the East River in New York, killing 1,121 people.

In 1944, U.S. forces invaded the Japanese-occupied Mariana Islands in World War II action. By day's end, a beachhead had been established on the island of Saipan.

In 1987, Richard Norton of Philadelphia and Calin Rosetti of West Germany completed the first polar circumnavigation of the Earth in a single-engine propeller aircraft, landing in Paris after a 38,000-mile flight.

In 1996, 206 people were injured when a bomb exploded in a mall in Manchester, England.

In 1998, Nigeria's new military ruler ordered the release of some of the political prisoners jailed under the previous regime.

In 1999, South Korean ships sank a North Korean torpedo boat, killing all aboard. The incident followed a series of confrontations in disputed territorial waters.

In 2004, a U.S. Army general suspended after prisoner abuse was revealed at a Baghdad prison said she was ordered to treat prisoners like dogs. Brig Gen. Janis Karpinski said she was being made a scapegoat for the scandal.

In 2005, the trial of a man accused of organizing the abduction and slaying of three civil rights workers in 1964 got under way in Philadelphia, Miss., 41 years after the deed.

In 2006, at least 61 people, including 15 children, were killed when their bus hit a land mine in northern Sri Lanka.

In 2007, a Mississippi jury convicted a reputed Ku Klux Klansman in the abductions and killings of two black teenagers 43 years earlier.

In 2008, heavy rains in China killed 55 people and forced more than 1 million to flee their homes.

Notable Birthdays for June 15
Those born on this date include:
- Prince Edward of England, son of Edward III and known as the Black Prince, in 1330
- Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg in 1843
- Orchestra leader David Rose in 1910
- Artist Saul Steinberg in 1914
- Pianist Erroll Garner in 1921
- U.S. Rep. Morris Udall, D-Ariz., in 1922
- Former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo in 1932 (age 77)
- Country singer Waylon Jennings in 1937
- Singer/songwriter Harry Nilsson in 1941
- Actor Jim Varney in 1949
- Actor Jim Belushi in 1954 (age 55)
- Actress Julie Hagerty ( Airplane! ) in 1955 (age 54)
- Actress Helen Hunt in 1963 (age 46)
- Actress Courtney Cox Arquette ( Friends ) in 1964 (age 45)
- Actor Neil Patrick Harris ( Doogie Howser, M.D. ) in 1973 (age 36)

HISTORY FOR Sunday June 14, 2009

2009-06-14T07:31:00.000-07:00

Today is Sunday, June 14, the 165th day of 2009 with 200 to follow.

Today is Flag Day in the United States.

The moon is waning. The morning stars are Neptune, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Uranus. The evening star is Saturn.

On June 14th, 1775, George Washington was named Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army.

Other Notable Events, June 14
In 1623, in the first breach of promise suit in the United States, the Rev. Greville Pooley sued Cicely Jordan in Charles City, Va., for jilting him for another man.

In 1775, the Continental Congress established the army as the first U.S. military service.

In 1777, the Star and Stripes became the national U.S. flag.

In 1919, Capt. John Alcock and Lt. Arthur Brown flew a Vickers Vimy bomber 1,900 miles non-stop from St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada, to Clifden, Ireland, for the first non-stop trans-Atlantic flight.

In 1922, Warren G. Harding became the first U.S. president to broadcast a message over the radio. The occasion was the dedication of the Francis Scott Key Memorial in Baltimore.

In 1951, Univac I, the world's first commercial computer, designed for the U.S. Census Bureau, was unveiled.

In 1985, Shiite Muslim gunmen commandeered TWA Flight 847 carrying 153 passengers and crew from Athens to Rome. The ordeal ended 17 days later in Beirut, where one of the hostages, a U.S. sailor, was killed.

In 1990, flash floods around Shadyside, Ohio, killed at least 26 people and damaged or destroyed more than 800 homes in four eastern Ohio counties.

In 1991, NATO and five Eastern European nations approved a compromise, ending a dispute over a U.S.-Soviet treaty limiting conventional armies in Europe.

In 1993, U.S. President Bill Clinton nominated federal Judge Ruth Bader Ginsberg for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. She succeeded Justice Byron White.

In 1998, the Chicago Bulls won their sixth NBA title in eight years and third in a row, defeating the Utah Jazz in the championship series.

In 1999, the South African National Assembly elected Thabo Mbeki as president, succeeding the retiring Nelson Mandela. Mbeki had served as deputy president under Mandela.

In 2000, officials of North and South Korea announced an agreement to work for peace and unity and also said they agreed to allow exchange visits by divided families.

In 2002, U.S. Roman Catholic Church leaders adopted new rules for all dioceses calling for removal from active duty of any priest found to have abused a minor and the reporting of accusations to civil authorities.

In 2003, a part of central Tehran, Iran, turned into a combat zone with battles between riot police and those denouncing Iran's Islamic government.

Also in 2003, the Czech Republic voted overwhelmingly to join the European Union.

In 2005, two explosions killed at least 29 people and injured dozens of others in Iraq.

Also in 2005, a majority of the U.S. Senate apologized in a resolution for taking so long to enact anti-lynching laws. Failure to act, the measure said, contributed to the deaths of 4,700 people from 1882 to 1968, most of them black men.

In 2006, as daily acts of violence continued to pound Iraq, insurgents gunned down an Iraqi newspaper editor they had warned not to publish alleged pro-U.S. coalition copy.

In 2007, an internal FBI audit in Washington was reported to have found more than 1,000 incidents in which agents broke the law or agency rules in counter-terrorism since 2002.

Also in 2007, Massachusetts legislators came within five votes of putting the question of same-sex marriage on the November ballot as a constitutional amendment.

In 2008, heavy rains flooded Iowa and other Midwestern states, worst to hit the U.S. agriculture heartland since 1993, claiming at least 24 lives and damaging millions of acres of corn and soybeans. More than 38,000 people were forced to flee and Mississippi River traffic was disrupted.

Notable Birthdays for June 14
Those born on this date include:
- Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" in 1811
- Bookseller John Bartlett, compiler of "Bartlett's Familiar Quotations," in 1820
- Wisconsin Gov. Robert La Follette in 1855
- Singer, composer Cliff Edwards (also the voice of Jiminy Cricket in Disney's "Pinocchio") in 1895
- Photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White in 1904
- Actor/folksinger Burl Ives in 1909
- Actress Dorothy McGuire in 1916
- Cuban revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara in 1928
- Actress Marla Gibbs in 1931 (age 77)
- Real estate mogul Donald Trump, in 1946 (age 62)
- Olympic gold medal speed skater Eric Heiden in 1958 (age 50)
- Singer Boy George (George O'Dowd) in 1961 (age 47)
- Actress Yasmine Bleeth ("Baywatch") in 1968 (age 40)
- Tennis star Steffi Graf in 1969 (age 39)

This Day in History, June 13

2009-06-13T07:25:00.000-07:00

Today is Saturday, June 13, the 164th day of 2009 with 201 to follow.

The moon is waning. The morning stars are Neptune, Mercury, Jupiter Venus, Mars and Uranus. The evening star is Saturn.

On June 13th, 1898, the Yukon Territory was formed.

Other Notable Events, June 13
In 323 B.C., Alexander the Great died of fever in Babylon at age 33.

In 1944, the first German V-1 "buzz bomb" hit London.

In 1966, in Miranda vs. Arizona, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that police must read all arrested people their constitutional rights before questioning them.

In 1967, Thurgood Marshall became the first African-American on the U.S. Supreme Court. U.S. President Lyndon Johnson chose him to succeed Tom Clark.

In 1976, Arizona Republic investigative reporter Don Bolles died as a result of injuries suffered when a bomb blew up his car 11 days earlier. He had been working on an organized crime story at the time of his death.

In 1977, James Earl Ray, convicted assassin of Martin Luther King Jr., was captured in a Tennessee wilderness area after escaping from prison.

In 1983, the robot spacecraft Pioneer 10 became the first man-made object to leave the solar system. It did so 11 years after it was launched.

In 1991, revising a policy with roots to the McCarthy era, the Bush administration agreed to remove almost all 250,000 names from a secret list of unacceptable aliens.

In 1993, 20 Somalis were killed and 50 more wounded when Pakistani members of the U.N. peacekeeping forces fired into a crowd of demonstrators protesting U.N. attacks on warlord Mohammed Farah Aidid.

Also in 1993, Canada got its first woman prime minister when the ruling Progressive Conservative Party elected Kim Campbell to head the party and thus the country.

In 1994, the ex-wife of former football star O.J. Simpson and a friend were found stabbed to death outside her condominium in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles.

In 1996, members of the Freemen militia surrendered, 10 days after the FBI cut off electricity to their Montana compound. The standoff lasted 81 days.

In 1997, jurors unanimously recommended convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh be sentenced to death.

In 2002, Roman Catholic Church bishops and cardinals, meeting to discuss abuse charges against some priests, heard three men and a woman tell how their lives had been devastated by abuse and ill treatment by the church.

In 2003, Thai and U.S. officials arrested a suspected illegal arms dealer in Bangkok with radioactive material that could be used to make a "dirty bomb."

Also in 2003, thousands of protesting Tehran students ran the streets lighting fires and swinging chains in a third day of demonstrations.

In 2004, a Roman Catholic newspaper said U.S. President George Bush asked a Vatican official to help push U.S. bishops on certain cultural issues, including "the battle against gay marriage."

In 2005, pop superstar Michael Jackson was acquitted by a California jury on 10 counts of child molestation.

In 2006, U.S. President George Bush made a surprise visit to Baghdad to show support for the new Iraqi Cabinet. He said U.S. military forces wouldn't leave until the Iraqi government could stand on its own.

Also in 2006, the United States formally recognized Montenegro as a sovereign and independent state. Montenegro had been part of Serbia.

In 2007, the U.S. Defense Department said in a report that the expanded U.S.-Iraqi troop "surge" security drive had reduced violence in Baghdad and Anbar province but that attacks were up elsewhere.

Also in 2007, the Palestinian faction Hamas, elected leaders of the parliament and devoted to destroying Israel, seized control of the Gaza Strip in fierce fighting with rival faction Fatah that left about 100 reported dead.

In 2008, Taliban fighters attacked a prison in Kandahar, Afghanistan, killing 15 guards and freeing 1,200 prisoners, including about 400 Taliban members.

Notable Birthdays for June 13
Those born on this date include:
- U.S. Army Gen. Winfield Scott in 1786
- Irish poet and dramatist William Butler Yeats in 1865
- Actor Basil Rathbone in 1892
- Mexican composer Carlos Chavez in 1899
- Football star Harold Red Grange in 1903
- TV host Ralph Edwards in 1913
- Bulgarian-born artist Christo (born Hristo Yavashev) in 1935 (age 74)
- Actor Malcolm McDowell in 1943 (age 66)
- Actor Richard Thomas in 1951 (age 58)
- Comedian Tim Allen in 1953 (age 56)
- Actress Ally Sheedy in 1962 (age 47)
- Actress twins Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen in 1986 (age 23)

HISTORY FOR Friday June 12, 2009

2009-06-12T19:17:00.000-07:00

Today is Friday, June 12, the 163rd day of 2009 with 202 to follow.

The moon is waning. The morning stars are Neptune, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Uranus. The evening star is Saturn.

This Day in History, June 12
On June 12th, 1859, the Comstock Lode was discovered in Nevada.
Other Notable Events, June 12
In 1939, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum was dedicated at Cooperstown, N.Y.

In 1963, a sniper killed civil rights leader Medgar Evers in Jackson, Miss.

In 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states couldn't outlaw interracial marriages.

In 1971, Tricia Nixon, daughter of U.S. President Richard Nixon, married Edward Finch Cox in the first wedding in the Rose Garden of the White House.

In 1979, Bryan Allen, 26, pedaled the 70-pound Gossamer Albatross 22 miles across the English Channel for the first human-powered flight across that body of water.

In 1982, an estimated 700,000 people gathered in New York's Central Park to call for world nuclear disarmament.

In 1986, the South African government, faced with rising black unrest, declared a nationwide state of emergency.

In 1989, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that white workers who claim to be treated unfairly as a result of affirmative action programs can sue for remedies under civil rights legislation.

In 1990, the Russian republic's legislature, under Boris Yeltsin, passed a radical declaration of sovereignty, proclaiming Russia's laws take precedence over those of the central Soviet government in the republic's territory.

In 1991, the Russian republic had its first direct presidential elections with Boris Yeltsin winning. The event is celebrated in Russia as a national holiday known as Independence Day.

In 1992, amid extremely tight security and criticism of his administration's stand on environmental issues, U.S. President George H.W. Bush addressed the Earth Summit, urging rich nations to take specific action on a climate treaty by year's end.

In 1993, U.S. helicopters and gunships destroyed four of Somali warlord Mohammed Farah Aidid's arms depots, one week after his forces allegedly killed 23 Pakistani members of the U.N. peacekeeping forces in a series of firefights.

In 1994, special counsel Robert Fiske took sworn depositions from U.S. President Bill Clinton and first lady Hillary Clinton about the Whitewater land deal in Arkansas. It was believed to be the first time a sitting president responded directly to questions in a legal case relating to his official conduct.

In 1999, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, son of the former president, announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination for the 2000 election.

In 2000, 50 years after the Korean War began the leaders of North and South Korea met in Pyongyang for the first series of talks.

In 2003, television news pioneer David Brinkley, one half of the legendary Huntley-Brinkley evening news team and host of the long-running Sunday public affairs program This Week, died at his home in Houston. He was 82.

Also in 2003, at least 70 Iraqis were killed in a U.S. attack on a terrorist camp near Saddam Hussein's hometown.

In 2005, Time magazine reported a secret document showing the use of pressure tactics in the interrogation of a suspected al-Qaida leader by the U.S. military at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

In 2007, Sudanese government officials agreed to allow a joint peacekeeping force of about 19,000 troops from the African Union and the United Nations to be deployed in war-torn Darfur.

Also in 2007, scavengers looking for scrap metal at an old Japanese World War II base in China came across 3,500 buried bombs. Experts said the bombs, which were hauled away safely, could have caused widespread damage had they exploded.

In 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that prisoners at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba have a right to challenge their detention in federal court, another rejection of a Bush administration policy on such detainees.

Also in 2008, severe weather in the U.S. Midwest spawned a tornado that killed four Boy Scouts and injured 48 others at a scout ranch in western Iowa and the worst flooding in history at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where 8,000 were evacuated.

Notable Birthdays for June 12
Those born on this date include:
- John Augustus Roebling, designer of the Brooklyn Bridge, in 1806
- Former U.S. President George H.W. Bush in 1924 (age 85)
- Singer Vic Damone in 1928 (age 81)
- Anne Frank, whose diary told of hiding from the Nazis in occupied Holland, in 1929
- Author Rona Jaffe in 1932
- Actor/singer Jim Nabors in 1930 (age 79)
- Jazz musician Chick Corea in 1941 (age 68)
- Sportscaster Marv Albert in 1943 (age 66)
- Actor Timothy Busfield in 1957 (age 52)

HISTORY FOR JUNE 11

2009-06-11T06:46:00.000-07:00

This Day in History, June 11
On June 11th, 1184 B.C., it is believed that Troy was sacked and burned

Other Notable Events, June 11
In 1920, U.S. Sen. Warren G. Harding, R-Ohio, was chosen as the "dark horse" Republican candidate for president. That November, he was elected the 29th president of the United States.

In 1927, U.S. President Calvin Coolidge welcomed Charles Lindbergh home after the pilot made history's first non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean, New York to Paris.

In 1963, facing federalized Alabama National Guard troops, Gov. George Wallace ended his blockade of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa and allowed two African-Americans to enroll.

In 1967, the Six-Day War between Israel and its Arab neighbors ended with a United Nations-brokered cease-fire. The outnumbered Israel forces achieved a swift and decisive victory in the brief war.

In 1985, Karen Ann Quinlan died at age 31 in a New Jersey nursing home, nearly 10 years after she lapsed into an irreversible coma. Her condition had sparked a nationwide controversy over her "right to die."

In 1987, Margaret Thatcher became the first British prime minister in 160 years to win three consecutive terms.

In 1990, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down an anti-flag burning law passed by Congress in 1989, reigniting calls for a constitutional amendment.

Also in 1990, former Reagan national security adviser John Poindexter was sentenced to six months in prison, becoming the first Iran-Contra defendant to receive prison time in the arms-for-hostages scandal.

In 1993, North Korea said it would suspend its withdrawal from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

In 1994, after 49 years, the Russian military occupation of what had been East Germany ended with the departure of the Red Army from Berlin.

In 2003, a bomb explosion aboard a Jerusalem bus killed at least 13 people and injured 53 more.

In 2004, a second service was held for former U.S. President Ronald Reagan in Washington, attended by President George W. Bush, the four living ex-presidents and world leaders. The body was flown to California for burial.

In 2005, the world's richest countries agreed to a debt relief deal for the poorest nations, writing off $40 billion in debt.

In 2007, a U.S. appeals court ruled that U.S. President George Bush cannot detain indefinitely as an "enemy combatant" a foreign national arrested in the United States.

In 2008, a U.S. air and ground attack aimed at Taliban militants on the Afghan border killed 11 Pakistan paramilitary forces, angering Pakistan and increasing tension with the United States.

Notable Birthdays for June 11
Those born on this date include:
- English playwright/poet Ben Jonson in 1572
- German composer Richard Strauss in 1864
- Montana's Jeannette Rankin, the first woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, in 1880
- Undersea explorer Jacques Cousteau in 1910
- Football coach Vince Lombardi in 1913
- Author William Styron in 1925
- Actor Chad Everett in 1936 (age 73)
- Actor Gene Wilder in 1933 (age 76)
- Actress Adrienne Barbeau in 1945 (age 64)
- Scottish auto racer Jackie Stewart in 1939 (age 70)
- Former football player Joe Montana in 1956 (age 53)
- Actor Joshua Jackson ( Dawson's Creek ) in 1978 (age 31)

HISTORY FOR JUNE 10

2009-06-10T06:42:00.000-07:00

This Day in History, June 10
On June 10th, 1935, Alcoholics Anonymous was founded.

Other Notable Events, June 10
In 1652, silversmith John Hull, in defiance of English colonial law, established the first mint in America.

In 1692, in Salem Village in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Bridget Bishop, the first colonist tried in the Salem witch trials, was hanged after being found guilty of the practice of witchcraft.

In 1898, U.S. Marines invaded Cuba in the Spanish-American War.

In 1935, Alcoholics Anonymous was founded in Akron, Ohio.

In 1942, the German Gestapo burned the tiny Czech village of Lidice after shooting 173 men and shipping the women and children to concentration camps.

In 1943, Hungarian Laszlo Biro invented the ballpoint pen.

In 1989, the Rev. Jerry Falwell said his conservative lobbying group, the Moral Majority, had accomplished its goals and would be disbanded.

In 1991, Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines erupted, spewing debris as far as 20 miles away.

In 1992, Texas law officers urged a boycott of Time-Warner and Warner Bros. over a recording by rap artist Ice-T that they said encouraged the shooting of officers.

In 1994, U.S. President Bill Clinton froze most financial transactions between the United States and Haiti and suspended commercial flights to the Caribbean nation.

In 1995, Cuba announced the arrest of U.S. financier-turned-fugitive Robert Vesco on spying charges. Vesco had fled the United States in 1972 ahead of embezzlement charges.

In 1998, a jury in Jacksonville, Fla., found the Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. liable in the lung cancer death of a smoker. The jury awarded his family $950,000, including $450,000 in punitive damages -- the first such assessment in a smoking-related lawsuit.

In 1999, NATO suspended its bombing campaign against Yugoslavia.

In 2000, Syrian President Hafez Assad died from a heart attack at age 69. He had ruled Syria since 1970.

In 2003, a three-member Ontario Court of Appeal in Canada ordered that full marriage rights be extended to same-sex couples.

In 2004, Ray Charles, a 12-time Grammy-winning singer-pianist who pioneered the blending of country and R&B, died at his home in Beverly Hills. He was 73.

In 2005, in a landmark civil lawsuit against the tobacco industry, the U.S. government scaled back its demands for penalties from $130 billion to $10 billion. The government had asked for the larger sum to help 45 million U.S. smokers quit smoking.

In 2006, three detainees at the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, hanged themselves in the first reported deaths at the facility, prompting calls to close the facility.

In 2007, Israeli planes attacked Gaza, one day after a Palestinian gunman rammed the security border and opened fired in Israel.

Also in 2007, the Iranian government was reported intensifying its domestic crackdown of dissidents by targeting banks, unions and civic groups and accusing women and student groups of seeking to overthrow the government.

In 2008, a massive turnout reported to include several hundred thousand people jammed the streets of Seoul to protest South Korea's decision to resume imports of U.S. beef, which was banned in 2003 after mad cow disease was diagnosed in the United States.

Notable Birthdays for June 10
Those born on this date include:
- Actress Hattie McDaniel, the first African-American to win an Oscar (best supporting actress, Gone with the Wind ), in 1895
- Britain's Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth II, in 1921 (age 88)
- Judy Garland in 1922
- Children's author and illustrator Maurice Sendak in 1928 (age 81)
- Attorney F. Lee Bailey in 1933 (age 76)
- Actor Andrew Stevens in 1955 (age 54)
- Model/actress Elizabeth Hurley, in 1965 (age 44)
- Olympic figure skater Tara Lipinski in 1982 (age 27)
- Actress Leelee Sobieski in 1983 (age 26).

History for June 9th

2009-06-09T06:12:00.000-07:00

This Day in History, June 9
On June 9th, 1534, Jacques Cartier discovered the St. Lawerence River.

Other Notable Events, June 9
In 1534, French navigator Jacques Cartier became the first European explorer to discover the St. Lawrence River in present-day Quebec, Canada.

In 1898, Britain leased Hong Kong from China for 99 years. The territory returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

In 1934, Donald Duck made his first screen appearance in "The Wise Little Hen."

In 1943, The U.S. Congress passed an act authorizing employers to withhold income tax payments from salary checks.

In 1973, Secretariat won racing's Triple Crown with a spectacular victory in the Belmont Stakes, first horse to do so since Citation in 1948. Earlier, Secretariat had captured the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness.

In 1984, an Italian prosecutor's report linked the Bulgarian secret service to the 1981 assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II. Three Bulgarians were indicted but a trial failed to prove charges against them.

In 1989, Chinese officials continued their crackdown on pro-democracy activists with arrests and a sweeping propaganda campaign.

In 1993, Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito married former diplomat Masako Owada in Tokyo.

In 1994, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to require the Clinton administration to stop participating in the U.N.-sponsored arms embargo against the Bosnian government.

In 1995, Colombian police arrested Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela, believed to be a leader of the Cali drug cartel.

In 1998, Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar was sworn in as Nigeria's military ruler, one day after the death of Gen. Sani Abacha of a heart attack.

In 2003, former U.S. first lady Hillary Clinton's memoir "Living History" sold 200,000 copies the first day.

Also in 2003, North Korea said it needed to develop nuclear weapons to save costs by reducing conventional forces and had no plan for nuclear blackmail.

In 2004, the body of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan was flown to Washington for a state funeral. Earlier, more than 100,000 mourners paid their respects at the Reagan presidential library in California.

In 2005, after weeks of protests, Bolivian President Carlos Mesa resigned.

In 2006, the new Iraqi Cabinet was completed with the appointments of ministers of defense, interior and national security.

In 2007, thousands took to Rome's streets to protest U.S. President George Bush's visit, clashing with police who responded with tear gas. The following day, Bush was greeted with enthusiasm when he became the first U.S. president to visit Albania.

In 2008, Internet providers Verizon, Sprint and Time Warner agreed to block access nationwide to Web sites that distribute child pornography.

Also in 2008, a human rights group charged that the Zimbabwean government was responsible for at least 36 political killings ahead of a presidential runoff election between President Robert Mugabe and challenger Morgan Tsvangirai.

Notable Birthdays for June 9
Those born on this date include:
- Russian Czar Peter the Great in 1672
- Composer Cole Porter in 1891
- Composer, conductor, inventor Fred Waring in 1900
- Actor Robert Cummings in 1910
- Guitarist and recording pioneer Les Paul in 1915 (age 94)
- Robert S. McNamara, former U.S. Defense secretary and World Bank president, in 1916 (age 93)
- Journalist Marvin Kalb in 1930 (age 79)
- Comedian Jackie Mason in 1931 (age 78)
- Soul singer Jackie Wilson in 1934
- Sportscaster Dick Vitale in 1939 (age 70)
- Actor Michael J. Fox in 1961 (age 48)
- Actor Johnny Depp in 1963 (age 46)
- Actor Gloria Reuben in 1964 (age 45)
- Actor Natalie Portman in 1981 (age 28)

History for June 8

2009-06-08T06:08:00.000-07:00

This Day in History, June 8
On June 8th, 1949, celebrities such as Danny Kaye and Helen Keller were named members of the Communist party during the Red Scare.

Other Notable Events, June 8
In 1789, James Madison proposed the Bill of Rights, which led to the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

In 1861, Tennessee seceded from the Union to join the Confederacy.

In 1869, Ives McGaffney of Chicago obtained a patent for a "sweeping machine," the first vacuum cleaner.

In 1967, the USS Liberty, an intelligence ship sailing in international waters off Egypt, was attacked by Israeli jet planes and torpedo boats. Thirty-four Americans were killed in the attack, which Israel claimed was a case of mistaken identity.

In 1968, James Earl Ray, an escaped convict, was arrested in London and charged with the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.

In 1987, Fawn Hall, former secretary to Iran-Contra scandal figure Oliver North, told congressional hearings that to protect her boss, she helped him alter and shred sensitive documents and smuggle papers out of the White House.

In 1990, Israel's nearly 3-month-old government crisis ended when Yitzhak Shamir and his Likud party won support of six right-wing and religious parties to form one of the most right-wing governing coalitions in Israeli history.

Also in 1990, an explosion started a fire aboard the Norwegian tanker Mega Borg, 57 miles off Galveston, Texas. The blaze burned for days as part of tanker's load of 38 million gallons leaked into the Gulf of Mexico.

In 1992, the U.N. Security Council authorized deployment of an infantry battalion to take over the airport in Sarajevo, Bosnia, and open it to humanitarian aid flights.

In 1994, U.S. President Bill Clinton received an honorary degree from Britain's Oxford University, which he had attended as a Rhodes scholar.

Also in 1994, two of the major warring factions in Bosnia, the Muslim-Croat federation and the Bosnian Serbs, signed a cease-fire agreement.

In 1995, U.S. Marines rescued downed American pilot Scott O'Grady in Bosnia.

In 1998, EU foreign ministers urged NATO and the United Nations to consider military action against the Yugoslav Serbs in their crackdown on the rebellious province of Kosovo.

In 1999, the case of five New York City police officers accused in the 1997 torturing of a Haitian immigrant ended with the conviction of one of the officers. A second officer pleaded guilty, three others were acquitted.

In 2003, Condoleezza Rice, the U.S. national security adviser, said that U.S. President George Bush's claim in his State of the Union address that Iraq tried to buy uranium from Niger was based on documents found to be forged.

Also in 2003, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said he stands by his testimony before the United Nations that Iraq did have weapons of mass destruction before the war.

In 2004, police in Milan, Italy, arrested an Egyptian man suspected of masterminding the March 11 Madrid commuter train bombings in which 191 people were killed and more than 2,000 were injured.

In 2005, after a two-week trial, a jury in Miami found two former America West pilots guilty of operating an aircraft while drunk.

In 2006, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and seven others were confirmed killed after an airstrike on a house north of Baquba.

Also in 2006, U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and former Republican Mayor Rudy Giuliani of New York came out on top in a new poll on possible 2008 presidential candidates.

In 2007, leaders of the eight industrialized nations meeting in Heiligendamm, Germany, agreed to consider ways to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050 and to spend $60 billion to treat AIDS and other diseases in the Third World.

In 2008, the AAA reported the average cost of gasoline in the United States had reached $4 a gallon for the first time.
Notable Birthdays for June 8
Those born on this date include:
- German composer Robert Schumann in 1810
- Architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1867
- British geneticist Francis Crick, who helped determine the double helix structure of DNA, in 1916
- Actor Robert Preston in 1918
- Former first lady Barbara Bush in 1925 (age 84)
- Actor Jerry Stiller in 1927 (age 82)
- Comedian Joan Rivers in 1933 (age 76)
- Actor/singer James Darren in 1936 (age 73)
- Singer Nancy Sinatra in 1940 (age 69)
- Singer/songwriter Boz Scaggs in 1944 (age 65)
- Actress Kathy Baker in 1950 (age 59)
- Actor Griffin Dunne in 1955 (age 54)
- Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams in 1957 (age 52)
- Comedian Keenan Ivory Wayans in 1958 (age 51)
- Actress Juliana Margulies in 1966 (age 43)

History for June 7th

2009-06-07T06:02:00.000-07:00

This Day in History, June 7
On June 7th, 1099, the Siege of Jerusalem began.

Other Notable Events, June 7
In 1864, Republican delegates meeting in Baltimore renominated Abraham Lincoln as president. His running mate was Andrew Johnson.

In 1942, Japanese forces occupied Attu and Kiska in the Aleutian Islands. U.S. forces retook the islands one year later.

In 1965, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Connecticut law banning contraceptives.

In 1975, the first videocassette recorder went on sale to the public.

In 1982, Israeli jets bombed central Beirut while Israeli ground forces captured Beaufort Castle and surrounded the Lebanese city of Sidon.

In 1983, one day after Nicaragua expelled three U.S. diplomats, the Reagan administration ordered six Nicaraguan consulates closed and expelled six Nicaraguan diplomats.

In 1990, South African President F.W. de Klerk lifted a 4-year-old nationwide state of emergency in all but the strife-torn Indian Ocean province of Natal.

In 1996, Max Factor, who pioneered smudge-proof lipstick, died.

In 2002, U.S. missionary Martin Burnham, captured in the Philippines by a Muslim group more than a year earlier, was fatally shot during a rescue attempt.

In 2003, four German peacekeepers were killed and 31 others hurt when a bomb exploded near a bus in Kabul, Afghanistan.

In 2004, a classified U.S. Department of Defense report said that the United States, under national security considerations, wasn't bound by international laws prohibiting torture.

In 2005, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter called for the closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba.

In 2006, Iraq's Health Ministry reported that Baghdad's death toll due to violence in the city had surpassed 6,000 for the year.

In 2007, the U.S. House of Representatives joined the Senate in passing legislation easing restrictions on federal funds for embryonic stem cell research but U.S. President George Bush later vetoed the bill.

Also in 2007, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed a joint venture with the United States on a European missile shield.

In 2008, Sen. Hillary Clinton officially ended her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination and endorsed Sen. Barack Obama for president.

Also in 2008, a leading Israeli official warned that Israel "will attack" Iran if it maintains its current nuclear weapons program. That threat came from Shaul Mofax, the transport minister and former defense chief.

Notable Birthdays for June 7
Those born on this date include:
- British fashion-plate George Beau Brummell in 1778
- French post-Impressionist painter Paul Gauguin in 1848
- Bandleader Glen Gray in 1906
- Actor-singer Dean Martin in 1917
- Actress Jessica Tandy in 1909
- Gwendolyn Brooks, the first black woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for poetry, in 1917
- Singer Tom Jones in 1940 (age 69)
- Talk-show host Jenny Jones in 1946 (age 63)
- Actor Liam Neeson in 1952 (age 57)
- Singer/songwriter Prince in 1958 (age 51)
- Former tennis player Anna Kournikova in 1981 (age 28).

History for June 6th

2009-06-06T18:06:00.000-07:00

This Day in History, June 6
On June 6th, 1684, the Ashmoleon Museum opened as the first university museum

Other Notable Events, June 6
In 1872, feminist Susan B. Anthony was fined for voting in an election in Rochester, N.Y. She refused to pay the fine and the judge allowed her to go free.

In 1933, the first drive-in movie theater opened in Camden, N.J.

In 1944, hundreds of thousands of Allied troops began crossing the English Channel in the "D-Day" invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe. It was the largest invasion in history.

In 1966, James Meredith, who in 1962 became the first African-American to attend the University of Mississippi, was wounded by a sniper during a civil rights march through the South.

In 1972, a coal mine explosion in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, trapped 464 miners underground. More than 425 people died.

In 1982, Israeli forces invaded Lebanon.

In 1994, national leaders and World War II veterans commemorated the 50th anniversary of "D-Day."

In 2002, U.S. President George W. Bush proposed creation of a Cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security whose main responsibility would be prevention of terrorist attacks.

In 2003, the U.S. Labor Department said unemployment in May hit a 9-year-high of 6.1 percent. The report said a net total of 2.5 million jobs had been lost in a little more than two years.

Also in 2003, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft defended the Justice Department's detention of 762 illegal immigrants after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and urged Congress to give the authorities even broader power to pursue suspected terrorists.

In 2005, at least 37 people were killed and dozens more injured in southern Nepal after a crowded bus hit a land mine planted by suspected Maoist rebels.

In 2006, in a document by the Pontifical Council on the Family, the Vatican said that unless abortion is punished as a crime it will be seen as a "banal" act.

Also in 2006, Satan worshippers came out in force at dawn on this, the sixth day of the sixth month of 2006 -- 6-6-6, a number the Bible deems Satanic.

In 2007, the remains of thousands of Jews killed by Nazis during World War II were unearthed from a mass grave found by workers digging pipelines in Ukraine.

Another mass grave suspected of holding the bodies of as many as 500 ethnic Albanians killed in the Kosovo War was found in an abandoned Serbian quarry.

Also in 2007, An estimated 10,000 young protesters clad in black threw stones at riot police at the Group of Eight summit in Germany, prompting a response of tear gas and water cannon.

In 2008, the U.S. Department of Labor reports that the jobless rate increased from 5 to 5.5 percent, the biggest monthly increase in 22 years.

Also in 2008, U.S. and British diplomats report threats and other harassment in Zimbabwe amid government banning of all work by foreign aid agencies.
Notable Birthdays for June 6
Those born on this date include:
- Spanish painter Diego Velasquez in 1599
- American patriot Nathan Hale in 1755
- Russian poet Alexander Pushkin in 1799
- British Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott in 1868
- German novelist Thomas Mann in 1875
- Vaudeville bandleader Ted Lewis in 1890
- Indonesian dictator Ahmed Sukarno in 1901
- Bandleader Jimmie Lunceford in 1902
- Singer/songwriter Gary U.S. Bonds in 1939 (age 70)
- Actor David Dukes in 1945
- Comedian Sandra Bernhard in 1955 (age 54)
- Tennis player Bjorn Borg in 1956 (age 53)
- Actress Amanda Pays in 1959 (age 50)

HISTORY FOR TODAY JUNE 5

2009-06-05T23:11:00.000-07:00

Today is Friday, June 5, the 156th day of 2009 with 209 to follow.

The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Mercury, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Neptune and Uranus. The evening star is Saturn.

This Day in History, June 5
On June 5th, 1305, Clement V was elected Pope.

Other Notable Events, June 5
In 1783, the first public demonstration of a hot-air balloon occurred at Annonay, France.

In 1933, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt signed a bill abolishing the gold standard.

In 1967, the Six-Day War began between Israel and the Arab states of Egypt, Syria and Jordan.

In 1968, as he campaigned for the Democratic presidential nomination, U.S. Sen. Robert Kennedy was shot in Los Angeles by Sirhan Sirhan, a Palestine-born Arab. Kennedy, 42, died the next day.

In 1976, the Teton River Dam in Idaho collapsed as it was being filled for the first time, killing 14 people, flooding 300 square miles and causing an estimated $1 billion damage.

In 1985, General Motors agreed to buy Hughes Aircraft for more than $5 billion. At the time, it was the biggest corporate purchase outside the oil industry.

In 1986, Ronald Pelton, a former National Security Agency employee, was convicted in Baltimore of spying for the Soviet Union. The verdict came one day after former Navy intelligence analyst Jonathan Jay Pollard pleaded guilty to espionage on behalf of Israel.

In 1991, in a step away from apartheid, South African legislators repealed the Land Acts of 1913 and 1936, which reserved 87 percent of land for whites.

In 1992, on the 20th anniversary of the first U.N. environmental conference, Brazil and 11 other nations signed a controversial biodiversity treaty setting guidelines for the protection and use of plant and animal species.

In 1993, 23 Pakistani members of the U.N. peacekeeping forces were killed in a series of attacks in Mogadishu, Somalia.

In 1998, ethnic Albanian delegates pulled out of peace talks with the Yugoslav republic of Serbia because of a crackdown by Serb police in the rebellious province of Kosovo.

In 2000, Ukrainian officials announced that the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, site of the worst radiation accident in history, would be closed.

In 2003, officials say U.S. troops will withdraw from the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea, bringing an end to 50 years of guard duty.

Also in 2003, a suicide bomber killed herself and 17 others at a bus stop in northern Russia near Chechnya.

In 2004, Ronald Reagan, the 40th U.S. president, died at his Los Angeles home at the age of 93 of complications from Alzheimer's disease.

In 2005, officials said U.S. forces in Iraq discovered dozens of bunkers used to store weapons for militants, with one the size of several U.S. football fields.

In 2006, Islamist militias, fighting U.S.-supported secular warlords in Somalia, claimed to have taken control of Mogadishu after days of fighting.

In 2007, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, former chief of staff for U.S. Vice President Dick Chaney, was sentenced to 30 months in jail for lying to FBI agents and to a grand jury in the investigation of who leaked the name of a covert CIA agent to the news media.

In 2008, the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on the United States told a military court in Guantanamo, Cuba, he wanted to plead guilty to the charges to become a martyr. Khalid Sheik Mohammed said he expected to face the death penalty.

Notable Birthdays for June 5
Those born on this date include:
- Economist Adam Smith in 1723
- Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa in 1878
- English economist John Maynard Keynes in 1883
- Actor William Boyd, who played Hopalong Cassidy, in 1895
- Author/illustrator Richard Scarry in 1919
- Actor Robert Lansing in 1928
- Journalist/commentator Bill Moyers in 1934 (age 75)
- Novelist Margaret Drabble in 1939 (age 70)
- Welsh author Ken Follett in 1949 (age 60)
- Entertainer Kenny G in 1956 (age 53)
- Rapper-turned-actor Mark Wahlberg in 1971 (age 385
- Actor Chad Allen ( Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman ) in 1974 (age 35)

HISTORY FOR TODAY

2009-03-31T21:45:00.000-07:00

Today is Tuesday, March 31, the 90th day of 2009 with 275 to follow.

The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune. The evening stars are Mercury and Saturn.

This Day in History, March 31

On March 31st, 1889, the Eiffel Tower was inaugurated.

Other Notable Events, March 31

In 1889, the Eiffel Tower was dedicated in Paris in a ceremony presided over by its designer, Gustave Eiffel, during the Universal Exhibition of Arts and Manufacturers.

In 1948, the U.S. Congress passed the Marshall Aid Act, a plan to rehabilitate war-ravaged Europe.

In 1954, the U.S. Air Force Academy was established at Colorado Springs, Colo.

In 1959, the Dalai Lama fled Chinese-occupied Tibet and was granted political asylum in India.

In 1968, U.S. President Lyndon Johnson announced he wouldn't seek re-election and simultaneously ordered suspension of U.S. bombing of North Vietnam.

In 1971, U.S. Army Lt. William Calley was sentenced to life imprisonment for his part in the deaths of 22 Vietnamese civilians in what was called the My Lai massacre.

In 1987, the U.S. State Department ordered home all 28 remaining U.S. Marine guards at the Moscow embassy after two Marines were charged with espionage.

In 1991, the Warsaw Pact formally ended as Soviet commanders surrendered their powers in an agreement between pact members and the Soviet Union.

In 1992, the U.N. Security Council voted to impose air traffic and weapons sanctions against Libya for not surrendering six men wanted by the United States, Britain and France in the bombings of a U.S. jetliner and a French plane.

In 1994, a state of emergency was declared in the South African Zulu homeland of KwaZulu following deadly fighting in the weeks before the country's first universal-suffrage elections.

In 1998, the U.N. Security Council voted to impose an arms embargo on Yugoslavia after unrest in the Serbian province of Kosovo turned violent.

In 2001, Serbian police and security forces attempted to arrest former President Slobodan Milosevic at his home in Belgrade on charges of corruption while in office. Supporters forced a stand-off that lasted until the next day when Milosevic surrendered peacefully.

In 2003, Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri called on U.S. and British forces to withdraw immediately from Iraq because Iraqis were determined to "inflict the final defeat."

In 2004, the International Court of Justice ruled the United States breached the rights of 51 Mexicans on death row by not telling them they had consular access.

In 2005, Terri Schiavo, a 41-year-old Florida woman in a persistent vegetative state since 1990, died 14 days after removal of her feeding tube amid a heart-wrenching legal struggle over her fate reaching to the White House and the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 2006, rescue workers searched for more victims of a capsized cruise boat during a Persian Gulf party. Fifty-seven people were reported dead and 67 rescued.

In 2007, a U.S. air raid, car bombs and random killings reportedly killed at least 55 people across Iraq.

Also in 2007, Pakistan successfully tested its Hataf-II Abdali ballistic missile, believed capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

In 2008, U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulsen proposed long-term federal reforms aimed at overhauling regulation of the American financial system.

Also in 2008, the head of the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department, Alphonso Jackson, announced his resignation. He had been under investigation for alleged favoritism in awarding housing contracts.

And, the Dow Jones industrials closed at 12,262.89, down 7.6 percent since the end of 2007. It was the worst quarterly performance in five years.

Notable Birthdays for March 31

Those born on this date include:
- French philosopher Rene Descartes in 1596
- Austrian composer Franz Joseph Haydn in 1732
- German chemist Robert Bunsen, inventor of the Bunsen gas burner, in 1811
- Boxer Jack Johnson, the first black to hold the heavyweight title, in 1878
- Comedian Henry Morgan in 1915
- Actor/singer Richard Kiley in 1922
- Author and motivational speaker Leo Buscaglia in 1924
- United Farm Workers President Cesar Chavez in 1927
- Actor William Daniels, also in 1927 (age 82)
- Former National Hockey League star Gordie Howe in 1928 (age 81)
- Fashion designer Liz Claiborne in 1929
- Author John Jakes in 1932 (age 77)
- Actress Shirley Jones in 1934 (age 75)
- Trumpeter/bandleader Herb Alpert (The Tijuana Brass) in 1935 (age 74)
- Actor Richard Chamberlain in 1934 (age 75)
- Actor Christopher Walken in 1943 (age 66)
- Actor Gabe Kaplan in 1945 (age 64)
- Actress Rhea Perlman in 1948 (age 61)
- Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore Jr. in 1948 (age 61)
- Actor Ed Marinaro in 1950 (age 59)
- Actor Ewan McGregor in 1971 (age 38)

Copyright 2009 by United Press International

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY EVERYONE EVERYWHERE

2009-02-14T15:41:00.000-08:00

It has been hard keeping up with my job, studying at the university and having a spa so please forgive me for breaking my promise to write more often. I have just finished 2nd cuatri mester finals so I am exhausted but happy. Have a great day! PEACE, LOVE, HAPPINESS AND LOTS OF SMILES AND KISSES.

HAVE I TOLD YOU GUYS: I AM IN LOVE WITH A WONDERFUL MAN. THIS VALENTINE'S MONTH WILL BE ONE TO BE REMEMBERED.

BRENDA AURORA

HAPPY NEW YEAR, CAROLYN AND CIARRA

2009-01-02T01:02:00.000-08:00

Dearest Carolyn,
This was the first year I was unable to be with you all for Christmas and New Years Day is here and I am filled with so much love and wishes for you. Daughter, you have been and will always be the joy of my life. You have been loved from the moment I found out I was carrying you in my womb. The love your father and I had for each other and the love we had when you arrived was special.

Over the years I became a single parent and that did not stop me from seeing you through high school, Sixth Form and University. Today you are thousands of miles away in Georgia, USA but you remain in my heart as the ray of sunshine that has brightened and guided me over the years.

I wish you all the best, Bibs. If Tia Brenda and Chichi were alive I know they would be so proud of all that you have achieved. I know that I am proud of you and have always been proud of you. Your successes are my successes. Keep on attaining that star that shines in your eyes and heart.

As we move into 2009, I look forward to seeing you and being with you. Keep on smiling and joking and being the best friend a mother could ask for. Baby girl, you are my greatest achievement. You are the best poem I have ever written, the best song I have ever sung and the best speech I have ever given. Reach for the unreachable and remember that you can be all you want to be.

Just say I CAN and you will be surprised at how much you will be able to do.

I love you and always will.
Mama

Ciarra, my little princess,
From the first moment I held you in my arms I knew you were grandma's girl. You are my joy and my peace. You are my blooming lily, my walking happiness. God Bless you my little angel. You are loved and you are cared for. Keep on making us proud of you. Keep on smiling and keep on learning.

Your journey of life has just begun. You have much to achieve and you will!

I love you and I miss you.

Grandma's special little star, know this: I will always be there for you. Reach out and take my hand.

All my love and kisses,
Grandma Brenda

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!! PEACE ON EARTH!

2009-01-01T01:02:00.000-08:00

Finally 2009 is here. I love you all. Thank you for reading and for writing your comments. I hope to be back this year with more information and more love for everyone.

Have a wonderful and prospersous new year.
Love,
Brenda

IT'S THE LAST DAY OF THE YEAR!!! HOPE IT WAS A GREAT YEAR FOR YOU!

2008-12-31T09:09:00.000-08:00

Success comes to he who is willing to work hard, fight a good fight and sacrifice everything when necessary. (Brenda A. Ysaguirre)

As we near the end of another year we are faced with many new challenges. The economical situation at home and abroad dims the festive moment. If what the analysts are saying is true, we can look forward to a new year filled with more hardship as more people lose there jobs and many others graduate into a world that offers very little for them. Only the strong will survive. Only those who know the true meaning of sacrifice will succeed. Only the fearless will attain the satisfaction of a hard day's work for a well earned pay.

I do not mean to dampen the eve of New Year's Eve. I only want to make sure we all understand that there will be a lot of hardship but that we can win the battle in the New Year if we use stamina and sacrifice.

Good Luck to everyone and do have a Happy New Year. Go out or just stay at home and eat some grapes (12 actually to follow the Spanish tradition of one for each month of the year. You eat them just before midnight and our ancestors believed it would give you a good year.)

Have a Blessed New Year. Remember, we can make 2009 all it was meant to be if we work hard and sacrifice when necessary.

Brenda A. Ysaguirre

AFTER THE STORM- PLEASE HELP BELIZE

2008-10-30T08:18:00.001-07:00

For the time being the rains have stopped and now we have a cold front over Belize. However, all is not over. Now is the time of recovery. The people in the areas that had the flooding ae still suffering. Many are still not in their homes and many have lost most of their personal properties.

NOW IS THE TIME WHEN WE HAVE TO GIVE A HELPING HAND.

PLEASE GIVE GENEROUSLY TO THE RELIEF ORGANIZERS WHO ARE GOING TO TAKE FOOD, MEDICINES AND CLOTHING ( AMONG OTHER THINGS) TO THOSE WHO NOW NEED OUR HELP.

In an effort to assist our brothers and sisters who have suffered so much in the past weeks, the YO PUEDO GROUP OF COROZAL and CCC ACE and CJC ACE have initiated a drive to collect non-persishable goods and clothing. THIS IS THE TIME WHEN WE NEED TO COME TOGETHER. LET US GIVE FROM THE HEART.

TO MY READERS ABROAD, YOU TOO CAN HELP. YOUR MONETARY DONATIONS CAN BE SENT TO THE RED CROSS OF BELIZE OR GET IN CONTACT WITH ME AT 501-607-8315 (3pm to 31am Belize time) OR AT 00521-983-131-5669 FROM 7AM TO 11AM (Mexico time).

Thank you and God Bless.

HISTORY FOR AUGUST 20

2008-08-20T07:48:00.000-07:00

Today is Wednesday, Aug. 20, the 233rd day of 2008 with 133 to follow.

The moon is waning. The morning star is Uranus. The evening stars are Neptune, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.

This Day in History, August 20
On August 20th, 1977, the United States launched the Voyager II spacecraft.

Other Notable Events, August 20
In 1741, Danish navigator Vitus Jonas Bering discovered what is now Alaska.

In 1968, approximately 200,000 Warsaw Pact troops and 5,000 tanks invaded Czechoslovakia to crush the "Prague Spring" -- a brief period of liberalization in the communist country.

In 1977, the first U.S. Voyager spacecraft was launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla., bound for Jupiter and Saturn.

In 1982, U.S. President Ronald Reagan announced that a contingent of U.S. Marines would join French and Italian troops as peacekeepers in Beirut.

In 1986, postal worker Patrick Henry Sherrill killed 14 fellow workers and wounded six others in the Edmond, Okla., post office before killing himself.

In 1990, U.S. President George H.W. Bush declared that Americans and other foreigners held by Iraq are "hostages" and warned he will hold Iraq responsible for their "safety and well-being."

In 1996, U.S. President Bill Clinton signed into law an increase in the minimum wage in two steps from $4.25 to $5.15 an hour.

In 1997, NATO forces seized thousands of weapons being kept at police stations in Serbian Bosnia's largest city.

In 1998, U.S. missiles struck sites in Afghanistan and Sudan said to be linked with terrorists. The attacks were in response to the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania 13 days earlier.

In 2002, a group of Iraqis opposed to the regime of Saddam Hussein took over the Iraqi Embassy in Berlin for five hours before releasing their hostages and surrendering.

In 2003, in the aftermath of the bombing of its Iraq headquarters in Baghdad, the United Nations said it would continue its work but would reduce its staff.

Also in 2003, Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore was suspended after refusing to comply with a federal court order to remove a rock inscribed with the Ten Commandments from the lobby of the state supreme court building.

In 2005, in his first visit to his German homeland since becoming pope, Benedict XVI told a group of Muslims that Islam and Christianity must work together to defeat terrorism.

In 2006, schoolteacher John Mark Karr was returned to the United States for questioning in the decade-old death of 6-year-old Colorado beauty queen Jon Benet Ramsey. Karr confessed to the killing but said it was an accident. He was later determined not to have a role in the girl's death.

In 2007, the governor of Iraq's southern al-Muthana province and five of his aides were killed when a roadside bomb struck their convoy. Mohammed Ali Hassan Al-Hassani was a member of the largest Shiite political group in parliament.

Also in 2007, fall term classes started at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg on a day after a memorial service for the 32 people gunned down by a student on campus in April.

Notable Birthdays for August 20
Those born on this date include:
- Benjamin Harrison, 23rd president of the United States, in 1833
- Poet Edgar Guest in 1881
- Horror writer H.P. Lovecraft in 1890
- Architect Eero Saarinen in 1910
- Author Jacqueline Susann in 1921
- Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic in 1941
- Former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1944
- Singer/songwriter Isaac Hayes in 1942
- Journalist Connie Chung in 1946 (age 62)
- Rock star Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin fame in 1948 (age 60)
- TV personality Al Roker in 1954 (age 54)
- Actress Joan Allen in 1956 (age 52)

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

HISTORY FOR AUGUST 19

2008-08-19T07:44:00.000-07:00

Today is Tuesday, Aug. 19, the 232nd day of 2008 with 134 to follow.

The moon is waning. The morning star is Uranus. The evening stars are Neptune, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.

This Day in History, August 19
On August 19th, 1768, St. Isaac's Cathedral was founded in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Other Notable Events, August 19
During the War of 1812, the U.S. Navy frigate Constitution defeated the British frigate Guerriere in a furious engagement off the coast of Nova Scotia and earned its nickname of "Old Ironsides." Witnesses said the British shot seemed to bounce off its sides.

In 1915, two Americans were killed when a German U-boat torpedoed the British liner Lusitania in the Atlantic Ocean, an incident that helped move the United States into World War I.

In 1955, floods hit the northeastern United States, killing 200 people.

In 1960, U-2 spy plane pilot Francis Gary Powers was convicted in a Moscow court and sentenced to 10 years in prison. He was released 18 months later and exchanged for Soviet spy Rudolf Abel.

In 1977, one of the most powerful earthquakes in recorded history hit the eastern Indian Ocean between Australia and Indonesia, rattling buildings in Perth, Australia, 1,000 miles to the south.

In 1987, gun enthusiast Michael Ryan went on a shooting rampage in Hungerford, England, killing 16 people.

In 1991, Soviet President Gorbachev was detained at his vacation dacha as military and KGB hard-liners staged a coup that ultimately failed.

In 1992, delegates to the Republican National Convention nominated President George H.W. Bush and Vice President Dan Quayle for re-election. They were defeated in November by Democrats Bill Clinton and Al Gore.

In 1993, former contra rebels in Nicaragua took a government delegation hostage. In retaliation, ex-Sandinista soldiers seized political leaders in Managua, the capital. All hostages were released by both groups by Aug. 25.

In 1994, U.S. President Bill Clinton announced he was ending the 28-year U.S. policy of letting Cuban refugees take up U.S. residency if they reached the country.

In 1995, three U.S. negotiators, including U.S Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Robert Frasure, were killed when their vehicle plunged from a mountain road near Sarajevo, Bosnia.

In 1996, the Green Party nominated Ralph Nader as its presidential candidate.

In 2003, the U.N. representative to Iraq was among the 22 people killed when a cement mixer truck loaded with 1,500 pounds of explosives blew up at the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad.

Also in 2003, a suicide bomber exploded a device aboard a Jerusalem bus killing and injuring more than 100 people.

In 2004, the price of oil hit a record high of $48.70 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In 2005, Merck & Co, said it would appeal a Texas jury's award of $253 million in a wrongful death suit over the company's Vioxx painkiller. It was the first civil trial for the drug, pulled from the market after a study showed it could increase a risk of heart attack or stroke. In all, some 4,000 lawsuits were filed in the case.

In 2006, the Democratic National Committee voted to penalize 2008 presidential candidates and states that defy the DNC nomination calendar.

Also in 2006, more than 30 people were feared dead after a boat carrying up to 200 illegal immigrants capsized and sank near Sicily, the Italian coast guard said.

In 2007, voters in Thailand approved a new constitutional referendum by the military-backed government which seized power the previous year.

Also in 2007, rescue workers were reported ending their search for six miners trapped in a Utah coal mine for nearly two weeks. Three would-be rescuers were killed in a second cave-in.

And, officials said intense heat gripping the U.S. Midwest and South contributed to the deaths of at least 47 people. Memphis endured the brunt with 10 dead.

Notable Birthdays for August 19
Those born on this date include:
- English poet John Dryden in 1631
- Connecticut clockmaker Seth Thomas in 1785
- Statesman Bernard Baruch in 1870
- Aviation pioneer Orville Wright in 1871
- French fashion designer Coco Chanel in 1883
- Actor Alfred Lunt in 1892
- Humorist Ogden Nash in 1902
- Pioneer television engineer Philo Farnsworth in 1906
- Singing Mills Brother Harry Mills in 1913
- Publisher Malcolm Forbes in 1919
- Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry in 1921
- Jockey Willie Shoemaker in 1931
- Actress Diane Muldaur in 1938 (age 70)
- Actress Jill St. John in 1940 (age 68)
- Bill Clinton, 42nd president of the United States, in 1946 (age 62)
- Actor Gerald McRaney in 1947 (age 61)
- Actor Adam Arkin in 1956 (age 52)
- Actor John Stamos in 1963 (age 45)
- Actor Matthew Perry in 1969 (age 39)

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

HISTORY FOR AUGUST 18

2008-08-18T07:40:00.000-07:00

Today is Monday, Aug. 18, the 231st day of 2008 with 135 to follow.

The moon is waning. The morning star is Uranus. The evening stars are Neptune, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.

This Day in History, August 18
On August 18th, 1877, the Martian moon Phobos was discovered.

Other Notable Events, August 18
In 1227, Genghis Khan, the Mongol leader who forged an empire stretching from the east coast of China west to the Aral Sea, died in camp during a campaign against the Chinese kingdom of Xi Xia.

In 1587, Virginia Dare, the first child of English parents to be born in the New World, was born at Roanoke Island, part of what would become North Carolina.

In 1920, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing women the right to vote, was ratified by Tennessee, giving it the two-thirds majority of state ratification necessary to make it the law of the land.

In 1940, the United States and Canada established a World War II plan of joint defense against possible enemy attacks.

In 1960, the first commercially produced oral contraceptives went on the market.

In 1963, James Meredith graduated from the University of Mississippi. He was the first African-American to attend the school and his enrollment touched off deadly riots, necessitating the use of armed guards.

In 1976, U.S. President Gerald Ford was nominated in Kansas City, Mo., to head the Republican presidential ticket but lost to Democrat Jimmy Carter in November.

In 1977, comedian Julius "Groucho" Marx, leader of the wacky Marx Brothers, died at the age of 87.

In 1982, Lebanon and the Palestine Liberation Organization approved a plan for withdrawal of PLO fighters from besieged West Beirut. Israel approved it the following day.

In 1990, U.S. warships fired warning shots over the bows of two Iraqi tankers, the first salvos of the U.S. embargo.

In 1992, a convoy of 17 buses carrying 1,000 women and children left war-torn Sarajevo in the second such evacuation from Bosnia in a week.

In 1998, in the wake of his admission of an affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, U.S. President Bill Clinton was urged to resign by several members of Congress and more than 100 daily newspapers.

In 2002, Abu Nidal, one of the most feared of the Palestinian terrorists, was found shot to death, an apparent suicide.

In 2003, authorities estimated as many as 10,000 people had died in heat-related deaths in France during a European heat wave.

In 2005, Dennis Rader, the Kansas man who called himself the BTK killer -- for bind, torture, kill -- and confessed to slaying 10 people, was sentenced to 10 consecutive life-in-prison terms.

In 2007, more than 1,000 soldiers were sent to Peru's earthquake-devastated region to deal with looting gangs and to bring order out of chaos. More than 500 people died in the quake.

Notable Birthdays for August 18
Those born on this date include:
- American explorer Meriwether Lewis in 1774
- Chicago department store founder Marshall Field in 1834
- Songwriter Otto Harbach ( Smoke Gets In Your Eyes ) in 1873
- Former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger in 1917
- Actress Shelley Winters in 1920
- Former first lady Rosalynn Carter in 1927 (age 81)
- Film director Roman Polanski in 1933 (age 75)
- Baseball star Roberto Clemente in 1934
- Actor Robert Redford in 1937 (age 71)
- Actor Martin Mull in 1943 (age 65)
- Actor Patrick Swayze in 1952 (age 56)
- Actress Madeleine Stowe in 1958 (age 50)
- Actor Christian Slater in 1969 (age 39)
- Actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner in 1970 (age 38)

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

HISTORY FOR AUGUST 17

2008-08-17T07:35:00.000-07:00

Today is Sunday, Aug. 17, the 230th day of 2008 with 136 to follow.

The moon is waning. The morning star is Uranus. The evening stars are Neptune, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.

This Day in History, August 17
On August 17th, 1807, the world's first commercial steamboat service was inaugurated by Robert Fulton.

Other Notable Events, August 17
In 1807, Robert Fulton began the first American steamboat trip between Albany, N.Y., and New York City.

In 1915, a hurricane struck Galveston, Texas, killing 275 people.

In 1961, the East German government began building the Berlin Wall.

In 1978, three Americans completed the first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by balloon, landing their helium-filled Double Eagle II near Paris.

In 1987, kidnapped U.S. journalist Charles Glass escaped and was rescued after being held hostage for 62 days in Lebanon.

Also in 1987, Rudolf Hess, Hitler's former deputy, was found strangled in Berlin's Spandau Prison. He was 93.

In 1991, the Lebanese government granted amnesty to former Christian army commander Gen. Michel Aoun and allowed him to leave the French Embassy.

In 1992, filmmaker Woody Allen and his leading lady, Mia Farrow, split up after 12 years together. Allen said he was in love with the actress' adult daughter, Soon-Yi Previn.

In 1996, the Reform Party nominated Texas businessman Ross Perot for president.

In 1998, addressing the American people, U.S. President Bill Clinton admitted he had a relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky that was "not appropriate."

In 1999, at least 16,000 people were killed and 20,000 more injured when a strong earthquake rocked Turkey.

In 2001, Ford Motor Co. announced it would dismiss up to 5,000 of its salaried employees -- or 10 percent of its managers and engineers.

In 2003, a U.S. soldier killed a Reuters photographer at a prison near Baghdad after mistaking his camera for a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.

Also in 2003, loss of revenue from a fire-damaged Iraqi oil pipeline was estimated at $7 million a day with repairs expected to take a month.

In 2004, eight British men arrested with reconnaissance plans for the New York Stock Exchange and other targets have been charged with conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to use radioactive material, toxic gas, chemicals or explosives.

In 2005, reports say three suicide car bombings in the center of Baghdad killed at least 43 people and injured 80 others. Meanwhile, a series of bombs exploded simultaneously across Bangladesh killing at least 115 people.

Also in 2005, Israeli soldiers and police began moving Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip.

In 2006, a U.S. District judge in Detroit ruled that the National Security Agency wiretapping program was illegal. U.S. President George Bush ordered an appeal.

Also in 2006, several U.S. cigarette makers were convicted in a Washington civil racketeering suit of conspiring to deceive the public about the dangers of smoking.

In 2007, the FBI was reported investigating whether U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, helped arrange a $70 million contract for a company that oversaw work on his house.

Notable Birthdays for August 17
Those born on this date include:
- Frontiersman Davy Crockett in 1786
- Movie producer Samuel Goldwyn in 1882
- Black nationalist leader Marcus Garvey in 1887
- Actors Monty Woolley in 1888 and Mae West in 1893
- Publisher/diplomat John Hay Whitney in 1904
- Actress Maureen O'Hara in 1920 (age 88)
- Actor Robert De Niro in 1943 (age 65)
- U.S. spy plane aviator Francis Gary Powers in 1929
- British poet laureate Ted Hughes in 1930
- Pop singer Belinda Carlisle in 1958 (age 50)
- Actor Sean Penn in 1960 (age 48)

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

HISTORY FOR AUGUST 16

2008-08-16T07:32:00.000-07:00

Today is Saturday, Aug. 16, the 229th day of 2008 with 137 to follow.

The moon is full. The morning star is Uranus. The evening stars are Neptune, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.

This Day in History, August 16
On August 16th, 1896, gold was discovered in the Klondike.

Other Notable Events, August 16
In 1812, British forces foiled plans for a U.S. invasion of Canada by capturing the city of Detroit.

In 1896, the North Country gold rush began with the discovery of gold in the Klondike region of Canada's Yukon Territory.

In 1939, New York's famous vaudeville house, the Hippodrome, closed after 34 years.

In 1948, baseball legend Babe Ruth died in New York of cancer at age 53.

In 1977, Elvis Presley, the king of rock 'n' roll, died of heart failure at his home in Memphis at age 42.

In 1987, a Northwest Airlines jet bound for Phoenix crashed on takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, killing 156 people. A 4-year-old girl was the sole survivor.

In 1990, U.S. naval forces were ordered to prevent ships from reaching or leaving the ports of Iraq and Iraqi-occupied Kuwait.

In 2004, as many as seven helicopters were pressed into service to rescue hundreds of flood victims stranded on roof and car tops near Cornwall, England. Rescue workers called the situation "horrendous."

In 2005, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake hit northern Japan triggering a tsunami alert along the Pacific coast.

In 2006, authorities in Bangkok, Thailand, arrested American John Mark Karr for the widely publicized 1996 slaying of JonBenet Ramsey, a 6-year-old beauty queen from Boulder, Colo. Karr publicly confessed but said it was an accident. He was later cleared of any involvement.

Also in 2006, flooding in Ethiopia, which already had killed hundreds and stranded thousands, spread across the country as more rivers burst through their banks.

In 2007, Jose Padilla, accused of plotting to explode a dirty bomb in the United States, was convicted by a federal jury of conspiracy to commit terror and giving material support to al-Qaida.

Notable Birthdays for August 16
Those born on this date include:
- The French physicist Gabriel Lippman, inventor of color photography, in 1845
- Amos Alonzo Stagg, basketball, football hall of fame coach in 1862
- Labor leader George Meany in 1894
- Former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin in 1913
- Actor Fess Parker in 1924 (age 84)
- Actor Ann Blyth in 1928 (age 80)
- Actor Robert Culp in 1930 (age 78)
- Football star and sports commentator Frank Gifford in 1930 (age 78)
- TV personality Kathie Lee Gifford (wife of Frank Gifford) in 1953 (age 55)
- Singer Eydie Gorme in 1931 (age 76)
- Actress Julie Newmar in 1933 (age 75)
- Actress Lesley Ann Warren in 1946 (age 62)
- Actor Reginald VelJohnson in 1952 (age 56)
- Director James Cameron ( Titanic ) in 1954 (age 54)
- Actor Jeff Perry in 1955 (age 53)
- Actress Angela Bassett in 1958 (age 50)
- Singer Madonna in 1958 (age 50)
- Actress Laura Innes in 1959 (age 49)
- Actor Timothy Hutton in 1960 (age 48)

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

HISTORY FOR AUGUST 15

2008-08-15T07:28:00.000-07:00

Today is Friday, Aug. 15, the 228th day of 2008 with 138 to go.

The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Neptune and Uranus. The evening stars are Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.

This Day in History, August 15
On August 15th, 1519, Panama City was founded.

Other Notable Events, August 15
In 1914, a U.S. ship sailed from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, officially opening the Panama Canal.

In 1935, humorist Will Rogers and pilot Wiley Post were killed when their plane crashed in Alaska.

In 1947, India and Pakistan won their independence from Great Britain.

In 1969, the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival opened on Max Yasgur's farm near Bethel, N.Y., drawing an estimated 400,000 people for three days of music.

In 1985, South African President P.W. Botha, rejecting Western pleas to abolish apartheid, declared, "I am not prepared to lead white South Africans and other minority groups on a road to abdication and suicide."

In 1987, more than 13.5 inches of rain drenched the Chicago area, causing more than $100 million in damage.

In 1991, the United Nations allowed Iraq to sell up to $1.6 billion worth of oil to obtain money for food and medicine.

In 1993, Pope John Paul II conducted mass for up to 400,000 people at the World Youth Day festival south of Denver.

In 1995, the Justice Department agreed to pay $3.1 million to white separatist Randall Weaver, whose wife and teenage son were killed by FBI sharpshooters during a standoff at his Idaho cabin three years earlier.

In 1998, a bomb blast in Omagh, Northern Ireland, killed 28 people and injured more than 300 others. A 29th victim died a month later. It was the worst attack in 29 years of paramilitary violence in Ulster.

Also in 1998, Pakistan handed over to Kenya a suspect who reportedly confessed to involvement in the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi eight days earlier.

In 2003, Libya admitted responsibility for the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, that claimed 270 lives and agreed to pay reparations that reports say could total $2.7 billion.

In 2004, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Anan called on Central Africa governments to curb militias in the border areas of Burundi, Congo, Rwanda and Uganda following the massacre of more than 150 Congolese refugees, mostly women and children, in Burundi.

Also in 2004, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez survived a referendum to oust him.

In 2006, heavy fighting was reported between Sri Lankan government forces and separatist Tamil Tiger rebels in the northern part of the island country.

Also in 2006, Britain sought swift extradition from Pakistan of the reported mastermind in the alleged plot to blow up trans-Atlantic airliners on flights to and from the United States.

In 2007, an 8.0-magnitude earthquake struck 90 miles southeast of Lima, Peru, killing an estimated 500 people and injuring hundreds more.

Also in 2007, recovery workers in China found five more bodies at the site of a collapsed river bridge, raising the death toll to 34, reports said.

Notable Birthdays for August 15
Those born on this date include:
- Napoleon Bonaparte in 1769
- Scottish novelist Walter Scott in 1771
- Longtime Chicago White Sox owner Charles Comiskey in 1859
- Actress Ethel Barrymore in 1879
- Novelist Edna Ferber in 1885
- British soldier and writer T.E. Lawrence ( Lawrence of Arabia ) in 1888
- Songwriter Charles Tobias ( Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree ) in 1898
- Composer Ned Washington in 1901
- Bandleader Hugo Winterhalter in 1909
- Chef Julia Child in 1912
- Conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly in 1924 (age 84)
- Actor Mike Connors in 1925 (age 83)
- Civil rights leader Vernon Jordan Jr. in 1935 (age 73)
- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer in 1938 (age 70)
- Journalist Linda Ellerbee in 1944 (age 64)
- Songwriter Jimmy Webb in 1946 (age 62)
- Britain's Princess Anne in 1950 (age 58)
- Actress Debra Messing in 1968 (age 40)
- Actor Ben Affleck in 1972 (age 36)

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

HISTORY FOR AUGUST 14

2008-08-14T07:23:00.000-07:00

Today is Thursday, Aug. 14, the 227th day of 2008 with 139 to follow.

The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Neptune and Uranus. The evening stars are Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.

This Day in History, August 14
On August 14th, 1808, the Cologne Cathedral in Germany was completed.

Other Notable Events, August 14
In 1784, Grigory Shelikhov, a Russian fur trader, founded the first permanent Russian settlement in Alaska on Kodiak Island.

In 1900, some 2,000 U.S. Marines joined with European forces to capture Beijing, ending the Boxer Rebellion against the Western presence in China.

In 1935, the U.S. Congress passed the Social Security Act and U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt immediately signed it into law.

In 1945, U.S. President Harry Truman announced that Japan had accepted terms for unconditional surrender, ending World War II.

In 1966, the unmanned U.S. Orbiter 1 spacecraft began orbiting the moon.

In 1991, the Justice Department accused General Electric of fraud for billing the Pentagon $30 million for the non-existent sale of F-16 parts to the Israeli military.

In 1994, the notorious international terrorist known as "Carlos the Jackal" was captured in Sudan. He was extradited to France the next day.

In 1995, following a long legal battle, Shannon Faulkner was admitted to the cadet corps of the previously all-male Citadel. She resigned from the South Carolina military school four days later.

In 1996, the Republican Party nominated Bob Dole for president to face incumbent Bill Clinton in the November election.

In 2003, a massive power failure spread through Ohio, Michigan, the Northeastern U.S. and eastern Canada, leaving 50 million people in eight states and the province of Ontario without electricity for as long as two days.

Also in 2003, the French Health Ministry said sweltering heat in Europe could be responsible for as many as 3,000 deaths in France.

In 2004, Hurricane Charley raked the coast of the Carolinas and moved back ashore at Georgetown, S.C., with 75 mph winds. Meanwhile, Florida, hard hit the day before, searched for more victims and assessed damage.

Also in 2004, at least 115 people were reported killed by Typhoon Rananim, the 14th typhoon to hit China that year.

And, Hutu gunmen killed at least 130 Congolese Tutsi refugees at a camp in Burundi where they came for safety from just such assaults.

In 2005, North Korea's top nuclear envoy said the country would be "fully prepared" to prove it has no uranium-based weapons program.

Also in 2005, authorities say the crash of a Helios Airways plane in Greece with 121 people aboard could have been caused by a sudden drop in cabin pressure. A report from the scene said there were no survivors.

In 2006, the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon ended in a truce, effective on this date, after 34 days of fighting.

In 2007, at least 500 people were reported killed and hundreds more were hurt when two pairs of truck bombs exploded about five miles apart in the remote, northwestern Iraqi towns of Qahtaniya and Jazeera.

Also in 2007, Mattel, the world's largest toy company, announced it was recalling nearly 19 million toys made in China, about half of them in the United States. Included were more than 400,000 toy cars said to be coated with lead.

And, in 2007 sports, Tim Donaghy, a former National Basketball Association referee, pleaded guilty to charges growing from a U.S. betting scandal. He was accused of selling inside game information to bettors.

Notable Birthdays for August 14
Those born on this date include:
- Pioneer psychologist Richard von Krafft-Ebing in 1840
- Naturalist Ernest Thompson Seton in 1860
- Writer Ernest Thayer ( Casey at the Bat ) in 1863
- English novelist John Galsworthy in 1867
- Writer Russell Baker in 1925 (age 83)
- Actor Alice Ghostley in 1926
- Singer Buddy Greco, also in 1926 (age 82)
- Rock musician David Crosby in 1941 (age 67)
- Comedian Steve Martin in 1945 (age 63)
- Actress Susan Saint James in 1946 (age 62)
- Author Danielle Steele in 1947 (age 61)
- The Far Side cartoonist Gary Larson in 1950 (age 58)
- Former basketball star Earvin Magic Johnson in 1959 (age 49)
- Actress Halle Berry in 1966 (age 42)

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

HISTORY FOR AUGUST 13

2008-08-13T07:16:00.000-07:00

Today is Wednesday, Aug. 13, the 226th day of 2008 with 140 to follow.

The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Neptune and Uranus. The evening stars are Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.

This Day in History, August 13
On August 13th, 1913, Harry Brearly invented stainless steel.

Other Notable Events, August 13
In 1889, William Gray patented the coin-operated telephone.

In 1930, Capt. Frank Hawkes set an air speed record by flying from Los Angeles to New York in 12 hours, 25 minutes.

In 1961, East Germany closed the Brandenburg Gate and prepared to start building the Berlin Wall.

In 1980, U.S. President Jimmy Carter was nominated for a second term by the Democratic National Convention in New York but lost in November to Ronald Reagan.

In 1990, singer/songwriter Curtis Mayfield was left paralyzed when he was hit by a wind-blown lighting rig on an outdoor stage in New York. He died in 1999.

In 1992, a gunman dressed in military fatigues went on a shooting spree in a plant nursery in Watsonville, Calif., killing three and wounding four others before killing himself.

In 1993, Israel agreed for the first time to negotiate with a Palestinian delegation whose members belonged officially to the PLO.

In 1994, North Korea agreed to allow U.N. monitors to inspect a secret nuclear laboratory.

In 2002, U.S. President George Bush told an economic forum that he was concerned but optimistic about the future of the U.S. economy.

In 2003, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said the removal of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat from all positions of influence was the key to Middle East peace.

In 2004, Hurricane Charley slammed into Florida's West Coast with winds of up to 145 mph, striking Punta Gorda and offshore islands, causing around 30 deaths and destroying or damaging 16,000 homes. The massive storm earlier hit Jamaica and Cuba, killing seven.

In 2004 sports, the Summer Olympic Games opened in Athens, Greece, with a record 202 countries and 10,500 athletes taking part.

In 2005, the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States decided not to allow homosexuals into the clergy.

Also in 2005, U.S. troops in Mosul, Iraq, found a suspected chemical-weapons factory containing 1,500 gallons of chemicals.

In 2006, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, who spent his 80th birthday in a Havana hospital after surgery for gastro-intestinal bleeding, urged optimism but warned he might not recover. He promised Cubans he would "fight for it."

In 2007, Karl Rove, a controversial figure who had been U.S. President George Bush's chief political strategist for 13 years, announced his retirement.

Notable Birthdays for August 13
Those born on this date include:
- Social reformer Lucy Stone in 1818
- Sharpshooter Annie Oakley in 1860
- Scottish inventor John Baird, a pioneer in television technology, in 1888
- Comic actor Bert Lahr (Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz ) in 1895
- Actor Regis Toomey in 1898
- Film director Alfred Hitchcock in 1899
- Bandleader Skinnay Ennis in 1909
- Golfer Ben Hogan in 1912
- Actor Neville Brand in 1920
- Cuban leader Fidel Castro in 1926 (age 82)
- Actor Pat Harrington Jr. in 1929 (age 79)
- Singer Don Ho in 1930
- Former U.S. Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders in 1933 (age 75)
- Opera singer Kathleen Battle in 1948 (age 60)
- Pop singer Dan Fogelberg in 1951 (age 57)
- Actor/announcer Danny Bonaduce ( The Partridge Family ) in 1959 (age 49)

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

HISTORY FOR AUGUST 12

2008-08-12T07:12:00.000-07:00

Today is Tuesday, Aug. 12, the 225th day of 2008 with 141 to follow.

The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Neptune and Uranus. The evening stars are Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.

This Day in History, August 12
On August 12th, 1851, Isaac Singer was granted a patent for his sewing machine.

Other Notable Events, August 12
In 1851, Isaac Singer was granted a patent for his sewing machine. He set up business in Boston with $40 in capital.

In 1898, a peace protocol was signed, ending the Spanish-American War. The United States acquired Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines and annexed Hawaii.

In 1966, as the Beatles were beginning their last tour, John Lennon apologized for saying the Beatles were more popular than Jesus Christ.

In 1984, the 23rd Olympic Games ended in Los Angeles with a record attendance of 5.5 million people despite a Soviet-led boycott.

In 1985, in aviation's worst single-plane disaster, 520 people died when a Japan Air Lines Boeing 747 slammed into a mountain in central Japan. Four passengers survived.

In 1987, U.S. President Ronald Reagan, in his first television address since the Iran-Contra hearings, said he had been "stubborn" in pursuing a policy "that went astray."

In 1973, Jack Nicklaus won the Professional Golfers' Association championship for his 14th major title, surpassing Bobby Jones' record of 13 majors.

In 1992, U.S. President George H.W. Bush signed a free trade pact with Mexico and Canada, creating the world's largest free trade bloc.

In 1997, Hudson Foods, Inc., a meat processor in Rogers, Ark., announced it was recalling 20,000 pounds of beef due to possible contamination by the E.coli bacterium. The recall ultimately was expanded to 25 million pounds of beef.

In 1998, the two largest Swiss banks and representatives of Holocaust survivors and their heirs agreed on a settlement of claims against the banks.

In 2002, monsoons in Asia claimed more than 1,600 lives while floodwaters tore through central Europe and in southwestern Russia, killing 58.

In 2003, a U.N. report said Afghanistan has re-emerged as the world's leading source for opium and heroin.

In 2004, New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey announced his resignation after revealing a homosexual affair.

Also in 2004, the California Supreme Court invalidated more than 4,000 same-sex marriage licenses issued earlier in San Francisco.

In 2005, Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga imposed a state of emergency following the assassination of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar.

In 2006, the Lebanese Cabinet voted unanimously to accept a U.N. resolution aimed at ending the fighting between Hezbollah and Israel.

In 2007, a high tension wire brushed a bus in Mumbai igniting a fire that trapped passengers inside. Eleven people were reported killed and 40 others were injured.

Also in 2007, papers once belonging to East Germany's Stasi security ministry allegedly offered key evidence the government ordered attempted defectors to be shot, despite earlier denials.

Notable Birthdays for August 12
Those born on this date include:
- English poet laureate Robert Southey in 1774
- American painter Abbott Thayer, credited with noting camouflage in the animal world, in 1849
- Educator and poet Katherine Lee Bates, who wrote America the Beautiful, in 1859
- Mystery writer Mary Roberts Rinehart in 1876
- Christy Mathewson, baseball Hall of Fame pitcher, in 1880
- Moviemaker Cecil B. DeMille in 1881
- Mexican comic actor Cantinflas, born Mario Moreno Reyes, in 1911
- Actress Jane Wyatt in 1911
- Actor John Derek in 1926
- Country singer Buck Owens in 1929
- Country singer Porter Wagoner in 1927
- Author William Goldman in 1931 (age 77)
- Former national security adviser John Poindexter in 1936 (age 72)
- Actor George Hamilton in 1939 (age 69)
- Author Ann Martin ( The Babysitter's Club series) in 1955 (age 53)
- Tennis star Pete Sampras in 1971 (age 37)

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

HISTORY FOR AUGUST 11

2008-08-11T07:02:00.000-07:00

Today is Monday, Aug. 11, the 224th day of 2008 with 142 to follow.

The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Neptune and Uranus. The evening stars are Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.

This Day in History, August 11
On August 11th, 1711, the first race was held at Ascot.

Other Notable Events, August 11
In 1877, Thomas Edison described the fundamentals of the phonograph to an assistant and instructed him to build the first one.

Also in 1877, American astronomer Asaph Hall discovered the two moons of Mars, which he named Phobos and Deimos.

In 1934, the first group of federal prisoners classified as "most dangerous" arrived at Alcatraz Island, a 22-acre rocky outcrop 1.5 miles offshore in San Francisco Bay.

In 1954, a formal announcement ended the seven-year war in Indochina between France and forces of the communist Viet Minh.

In 1965, riots began in the Watts section of Los Angeles. In six days of violence, 34 people were killed.

In 1984, in an off-air radio voice check picked up by TV cameras, U.S. President Ronald Reagan joked, "My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes." The Kremlin wasn't amused.

In 1991, a Lebanese terrorist group, the Revolutionary Justice Organization, released U.S. hostage Edward Tracy, held captive since October 1986.

In 1992, an electrical fire in the 62-story John Hancock office tower forced more than 3,000 workers in Boston's tallest building to flee down smoky, darkened stairwells.

In 1993, U.S. President Bill Clinton endorsed the "Brady Bill" handgun control measure and signed an executive order banning the import of semiautomatic assault-style handguns.

Also in 1993, U.S. President Bill Clinton named Army Gen. John Shalikashvili to be the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, succeeding the retiring Gen. Colin Powell.

In 1994, major league baseball players went on strike following the conclusion of the day's games.

In 1995, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a request by The Citadel to overturn a federal appeals court ruling that ordered the all-male South Carolina military college to admit female students.

In 1997, U.S. President Bill Clinton became the first president to use the line-item veto, a power granted by Congress the year before.

In 1998, two boys were found to be "delinquent," or guilty, of murder in the fatal March shootings of four students and a teacher at their middle school in Jonesboro, Ark.

Also in 1998, British Petroleum announced it would merge with Amoco Corp. in what would be the largest takeover of an American company by a foreign company.

In 1999, U.S. President Bill Clinton offered to commute the prison sentences of 16 Puerto Rican terrorists if they agreed to renounce violence and comply with other parole requirements.

Also in 1999, the Kansas State Board of Education voted to drop the theory of evolution from the public school curriculum.

In 2002, US Airways, the nation's sixth-largest airline, filed for bankruptcy.

In 2003, as peacekeepers entered Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, to try to stop fighting between government and rebel troops, President Charles Taylor stepped down and flew into exile in Nigeria, ending a bloody chapter of African history. He vowed he would return.

In 2004, fighting in the holy Iraqi city of Najaf raged for the sixth straight day between forces loyal to radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr and U.S.-backed Iraqi troops.

In 2005, right-wing activists staged one of the biggest demonstrations in Israel's history at Tel Aviv. An estimated 350,000 people protested the impending withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and the evacuation of four settlements in the northern West Bank.

Also in 2005, Salva Kit Mayandit was sworn in as Sudan vice president succeeding John Garang, whose death in a helicopter crash touched off violent rioting in which 130 people were killed.

In 2006, the U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution calling for "full cessation of hostilities" between Israel and Hezbollah forces in Lebanon.

In 2007, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America voted to refrain from disciplining members of the clergy involved in same-sex relationships.

Also in 2007, the Taliban reportedly promised to release two of the 21 South Korean missionaries held in Afghanistan as a gesture of good faith but later reneged on its offer.

Notable Birthdays for August 11
Those born on this day include:
- Author Robert Ingersoll in 1833
- Songwriter Carrie Jacobs Bond ( I Love You Truly ) in 1862
- Art collector Joseph Hirshhorn in 1899
- Actor Lloyd Nolan in 1902
- Author Alex Haley in 1921
- Singer June Hutton in 1920
- TV host Mike Douglas in 1925
- Actress Arlene Dahl in 1928 (age 80)
- Columnist Marilyn vos Savant, listed in the Guinness Book of Records as having the world's highest IQ (reported at 228), in 1946 (age 62)
- Pop singer Eric Carmen, formerly of the Raspberries, in 1949 (age 59)
- Apple computer co-founder Stephen Wozniak in 1950 (age 58)
- Professional wrestler/actor Hulk Hogan, born Terry Gene Bollea, in 1953 (age 55)

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

HISTORY FOR AUGUST 10

2008-08-10T07:06:00.000-07:00

Today is Sunday, Aug. 10, the 223rd day of 2008 with 143 to follow.

The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Neptune and Uranus. The evening stars are Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.

This Day in History, August 10
On August 10th, 1954, the groundbreaking ceremony for Saint Lawrence Seaway was held at Massena, New York.

Other Notable Events, August 10
In 1776, a committee of Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson suggested the United States adopt "E pluribus unum" -- "Out of many, one" -- as the motto for its Great Seal.

In 1821, Missouri entered the United States as the 24th state and the first located entirely west of the Mississippi River.

In 1977, the United States and Panama reached agreement in principle to transfer the Panama Canal to Panama by the year 2000.

Also in 1977, 24-year-old postal employee David Berkowitz was arrested and charged with being the "Son of Sam," the serial killer who terrorized New York City for more than a year, killing six young people and wounding seven others.

In 1984, Nevada's chief U.S. district judge, Harry Claiborne, was convicted on tax evasion charges. It was the first conviction of a sitting federal judge.

In 1990, District of Columbia Mayor Marion Barry was convicted on one misdemeanor cocaine possession charge and acquitted on another. The jury deadlocked on the 12 other counts and a mistrial was declared.

In 1991, China agreed in principle to sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

In 1993, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was sworn in as the U.S. Supreme Court's 107th justice and second female member.

In 1994, lawyers for U.S. President Bill Clinton sought the dismissal, for the duration of his presidency, of a sexual harassment lawsuit brought against him by a former Arkansas state worker.

In 1996, Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole selected former congressman, Cabinet secretary and NFL quarterback Jack Kemp as his running mate.

In 1999, a white supremacist gunman wounded five people, including three children, when he opened fire in the lobby of a Los Angeles Jewish community center. Police said Buford Furrow Jr. killed a letter carrier as he fled, surrendering the next day in Las Vegas.

In 2001, about 250 people were killed in a train wreck in Albania, caused by a mine set on the tracks by rebels.

In 2003, more than 80 prisoners tunneled their way out of Brazil's Joao Pessoa prison, one of the nation's top security facilities.

In 2004, U.S. Rep. Porter Goss, R-Fla., a former CIA clandestine operative, was nominated by U.S. President George Bush to head the spy agency.

In 2005, U.S. President George Bush signed a 6-year, $286.4 billion transportation bill to build highways, bridges and other public works and contains also a reported $24 billion in "pork barrel" projects.

Also in 2005, the head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said he supports pre-screening airline passengers and providing them with special identification cards.

In 2006, Britain and the United States strengthened security after foiling an alleged plot to blow up airplanes flying between the two countries with liquid explosives. Police said as many as 10 aircraft had been targeted. U.S. officials banned the transportation of liquids and gel in carry-on luggage.

In 2007, the U.S. Federal Reserve put a reported $72 billion into the American financial system over two days to steady the volatile markets that fell in response to losses in the U.S. mortgage market.

Also in 2007, the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution unanimously expanding the United Nation's role in Iraq, focused on helping promote reconciliation and safety of citizens.

Notable Birthdays for August 10
Those born on this day include:
- Edmund Jennings Randolph, the first U.S. attorney general, in 1753
- Herbert Hoover, 31st president of the United States, in 1874
- Actor Jack Haley (the Tin Woodsman in The Wizard of Oz ) in 1898
- Actress Norma Shearer in 1902
- Actress Rhonda Fleming in 1923 (age 85)
- Guitar maker Leo Fender in 1909
- Singer Jimmy Dean in 1928 (age 80)
- Singer Eddie Fisher in 1928 (age 80)
- Rock musician Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull in 1947 (age 61)
- Actress Rosanna Arquette in 1959 (age 49)
- Actor Antonio Banderas in 1960 (age 48)

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

HISTORY FOR AUGUST 9

2008-08-09T06:58:00.000-07:00

Today is Saturday, Aug. 9, the 222nd day of 2008 with 144 to follow.

The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Neptune and Uranus. The evening stars are Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.

This Day in History, August 9
On August 9th, 1483, the Sistine Chapel was opened.

Other Notable Events, August 9
In 480 B.C., after one of history's most famous battles, Persian forces overran the heavily outnumbered Spartan defenders of the narrow pass at Thermopylae in Greece.

In 1936, American track star Jesse Owens won his fourth Olympic gold medal in Berlin.

In 1945, a U.S. B-29 bomber dropped an atomic bomb nicknamed "Fat Man" on the Japanese city of Nagasaki.

In 1969, actress Sharon Tate and four other people were slain in Los Angeles by the followers of Charles Manson in the first of two nights of bizarre killings.

In 1974, U.S. President Richard Nixon's resignation became effective at noon and Vice President Gerald Ford was sworn in as the nation's 38th chief executive.

In 1991, Vietnamese Prime Minister Do Muoi resigned. He was succeeded by Vo Van Kiet, who vowed to transform Vietnam into a market economy.

In 1995, the 50th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of Nagasaki was observed in the Japanese city.

In 1996, a Florida jury ordered $750,000 be paid to lung cancer patient Gracy Carter, whose suit against the maker of Lucky Strikes was based on company memos indicating knowledge of tobacco's addictiveness when the company said otherwise in public.

Also in 1996, an ill-looking Boris Yeltsin attended a brief swearing-in ceremony for his new term as president of Russia.

In 1997, Elvis Week began in Memphis as fans commemorated the 20th anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley.

In 2001, U.S. President George Bush announced he would allow federal funding for limited stem-cell research using human embryos.

In 2003, more than 150 candidates signed up to try to replace California Gov. Gray Davis if he lost his recall vote. Davis was voted out of office and replaced by actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, an Austrian-born Republican.

In 2004, Terry Nichols was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole for his role in the Oklahoma City federal building bombing, worst act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history.

In 2005, hundreds of Iraqi women staged a sit-in in a central Baghdad square to press for political rights in Iraq's new constitution.

In 2006, British authorities reported the arrest of 25 people believed involved in a major terrorist plot to blow up airplanes flying from Britain to the United States.

In 2007, U.S. investigators looking into the deadly bridge collapse in Minneapolis said there was a possible design flaw and issued a national alert for other bridges. A 2006 federal report cited more than 70,000 U.S. bridges as structurally deficit.

Notable Birthdays for August 9
Those born on this day include:
- English author and angler Izaak Walton in 1593
- Pioneer Swiss child psychologist Jean Piaget in 1896
- Violinist Zino Francescatti in 1902
- English actor/playwright Robert Shaw in 1927
- Hall of Fame basketball player Bob Cousy in 1928 (age 80)
- Australian tennis star Rod Laver in 1938 (age 70)
- Comedian David Steinberg in 1942 (age 66)
- Actor Sam Elliot in 1944 (age 64)
- Heavyweight boxer Ken Norton in 1945 (age 63)
- Actress Melanie Griffith in 1957 (age 51)
- Actress Amanda Bearse in 1958 (age 50)
- Pop singer Whitney Houston in 1963 (age 45)
- Actress Gillian Anderson ( The X-Files ) in 1968 (age 40)

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

HISTORY FOR AUGUST 8

2008-08-08T06:34:00.000-07:00

Today is Friday, Aug. 8, the 221st day of 2008 with 145 to follow.

The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Neptune and Uranus. The evening stars are Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.

This Day in History, August 8
On August 8th, 1930, Betty Boop appeared in her first cartoon.

Other Notable Events, August 8
In 1911, the newsreel became a standard feature at U.S. movie screenings when the French film company Pathe began releasing weekly black-and-white features to theaters.

In 1940, the German Luftwaffe began a series of daylight air raids on Britain.

In 1945, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan, two days after the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and seven days before Tokyo surrendered.

In 1968, Richard Nixon won the Republican nomination for president. He was elected in November, defeating Democrat Hubert Humphrey and independent George Wallace.

In 1974, facing expected impeachment over the Watergate scandal, Richard Nixon became the first U.S. president to announce his resignation. He left office the next day.

In 1990, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein annexed Kuwait.

In 1991, the U.N. Security Council unanimously approved membership applications from North and South Korea.

Also in 1991, British TV journalist John McCarthy was freed in Lebanon by the Islamic Jihad, a Shiite Muslim faction, after being held since 1986.

In 1995, the regime of Iraq's Saddam Hussein was shaken when his two eldest daughters, their husbands and other senior army officers defected.

In 2003, U.S. leaders of the Episcopal Church approved a landmark local option resolution on the issue of same-sex marriages, leaving it to local dioceses whether to bless unions of gay and lesbian couples. Church leaders earlier in the week approved their first openly gay bishop.

In 2005, U.S. President George Bush signed a major energy bill as oil and gas prices climbed to record levels. The measure sought to stimulate domestic production in traditional and alternative energy sources.

In 2006, Israel announced the evacuation of 15,000 civilians in the northernmost part of the country. About 250,000 had fled their homes because of the fighting with Hezbollah troops.

In 2007, Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct on a charge of making sexual advances to an undercover police officer at a Minneapolis airport restroom.

Also in 2007, the first tornado recorded in the New York City borough of Brooklyn touched down, damaging some houses.

Notable Birthdays for August 8
Those born on this date include:
- The United States' first professional architect, Charles Bulfinch in 1763
- American black explorer Matthew Henson in 1866
- Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata in 1879
- Poet Sara Teasdale in 1884
- Author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings ( The Yearling ) in 1896
- Film music composer/conductor Victor Young ( Around The World in 80 Days ) in 1900
- Musician Benny Carter in 1907
- Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg in 1908
- Actress Sylvia Sidney in 1910
- Movie producer Dino De Laurentiis in 1919 (age 88)
- Actor Rory Calhoun in 1922
- Aquatic actress Esther Williams in 1922 (age 86)
- Country singer Mel Tillis in 1932 (age 76)
- Actor Dustin Hoffman in 1937 (age 71)
- Singer Connie Stevens in 1938 (age 70)
- Actor Keith Carradine in 1949 (age 59)
- Writer/journalist Randy Shilts in 1951
- TV personality Deborah Norville in 1958 (age 50)
- Beatrice, Princess of York, in 1988 (age 20)

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

HISTORY FOR AUGUST 7

2008-08-07T06:42:00.000-07:00

Today is Thursday, Aug. 7, the 220th day of 2008 with 146 to follow.

The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Neptune and Uranus. The evening stars are Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.

This Day in History, August 7
On August 7th, 1927, the Peace Bridge opened between Fort Erie, Ontario, and Buffalo, New York.

Other Notable Events, August 7
In 1782, the Order of the Purple Heart was established by Gen. George Washington to honor Americans who fought in the Revolutionary War.

In 1942, U.S. Marines launched America's first offensive in World War II, landing on the Pacific island of Guadalcanal.

In 1959, the satellite Explorer-6 transmitted man's first view of the Earth from space.

n 1963, Jacqueline Kennedy became the first wife of a president since the days of Grover Cleveland to give birth while in the White House. The infant, a boy, died two days later.

In 1990, U.S. President George H.W. Bush sent U.S. troops and air power to protect Saudi Arabian oil fields from possible Iraqi attack.

In 1998, bombs detonated within minutes of each other outside U.S. embassy buildings in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, killing 224 people.

In 2001, Uribe Velez was sworn in as president of Colombia in ceremonies interrupted by rebel shelling that killed 15 and wounded 60.

In 2004, Iraqi militants released a video reportedly showing the beheading of a U.S. citizen.

Also in 2004, two former top East German officials were convicted by a Berlin state court of failing to stop the killing of people trying to escape across the Berlin Wall.

In 2005, U.S. scientists announced they have successfully tested a vaccine to protect against bird flu.

Also in 2005, Peter Jennings, anchor and senior editor of ABC News "World News Tonight," who said in April he had lung cancer, died at his New York home at age 67.

In 2006, the usually secretive North Korea government announced 549 people had been killed by recent flooding and 295 remained missing.

In 2007, Amnesty International charged that China appeared to be cracking down on its human rights activists and journalists and using detention without trial as a pretext for getting ready for the 2008 Olympics.

Notable Birthdays for August 7
Those born on this date include:
- Carl Ritter, the German co-founder of modern geographical science, in 1779
- The World War I Dutch spy and courtesan known as Mata Hari (Margaret Gertrude Zelle) in 1876
- Actress Billie Burke in 1885
- British archaeologist and anthropologist Louis Leakey in 1903
- American statesman and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ralph J. Bunche in 1904
- Film director Nicholas Ray in 1911
- Comedian/producer Stan Freberg in 1926 (age 82)
- Actor Carl Switzer (Alfalfa in the Our Gang and Little Rascals movie comedies) in 1927
- Singer B.J. Thomas in 1942 (age 66)
- Humorist Garrison Keillor ( Prairie Home Companion ) in 1942 (age 66)
- Actor John Glover in 1944 (age 64)
- Actor David Duchovny ( The X-Files ) in 1960 (age 48)
- Actress Charlize Theron in 1975 (age 33)

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

HISTORY FOR AUGUST 6

2008-08-06T06:37:00.000-07:00

Today is Wednesday, Aug. 6, the 219th day of 2008 with 147 to follow.

The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Neptune and Uranus. The evening stars are Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.

This Day in History, August 6
On August 6th, 1806, Francis II abdicated, ending the Holy Roman Empire.

Other Notable Events, August 6
In 1890, the first execution by electric chair was carried out. William Kemmler was put to death at Auburn Prison in New York for the ax murder of his girlfriend.

In 1926, Gertrude Ederle of New York became the first American to swim the English Channel.

In 1940, Italy invaded British Somaliland, starting the Battle of North Africa in World War II.

In 1945, an atomic bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Three days later, after Nagasaki also was bombed, Japan surrendered, ending World War II.

In 1978, Pope Paul VI died at the age of 80 after a heart attack. He had led the Roman Catholic Church for 15 years.

In 1986, William Schroeder died of a stroke in Louisville, Ky., after 620 days with the Jarvik-7 mechanical heart. He was the longest-living permanent artificial heart patient.

In 1990, the U.N. Security Council voted to impose worldwide economic and military embargo on Iraq as punishment for its invasion of Kuwait.

In 1993, Morihiro Hosokawa was elected prime minister of Japan.

In 1995, some 100,000 people attended a memorial service in Hiroshima, Japan, to mark the 50th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing that helped end World War II.

Also in 1995, police in Colombia captured Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela, the reputed co-leader of the Cali drug cartel.

In 1996, NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin announced the discovery of evidence of a primitive life form on Mars.

In 1997, the Dow Jones industrial average closed at an all-time high of 8,259.31.

In 2003, actor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced his candidacy for governor of California on NBC-TV's "The Tonight Show."

In 2005, Cindy Sheehan, mother of a soldier killed in Iraq, set up camp outside U.S. President George Bush's Texas ranch, bitterly criticizing the war and demanding to see him.

Also in 2005, a Newsweek poll gave U.S. President George Bush his lowest ratings on his handling of the war in Iraq. Sixty-one percent of those surveyed said they disapproved of the president's actions and 34 percent approved.

In 2006, at least 200 people watching floods in Mardan, Pakistan, plunged into the water when the 30-foot-high bridge they were standing on was swept away.

Also in 2006, a U.N. report said a huge shipload of smuggled bomb-making uranium uncovered by customs officials in Tanzania was headed for Iran.

In 2007, six coal miners were trapped 1,500 feet below ground after a shaft collapsed at the Crandall Canyon Mine in Utah. Despite several days of intense rescue efforts, mine officials reported no survivors.

Also in 2007, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission was reported considering a formal ban on lead in children's jewelry. Federal officials said China was responsible for 95 percent of the nearly 18 million pieces of children's jewelry pulled off the market in the past two years.

Notable Birthdays for August 6
Those born on this date include:
- English poet Alfred Lord Tennyson in 1809
- Hollywood gossip columnist Louella Parsons in 1881
- Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of penicillin, also in 1881
- Movie cowboy star Hoot Gibson in 1892
- Comedian Lucille Ball in 1911
- Actor Robert Mitchum in 1917
- Former airline executive Freddie Laker in 1922
- Artist Andy Warhol in 1928
- Actress Catherine Hicks in 1951 (age 57)
- Film director M. Night Shyamalan in 1970 (age 38)

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

HISTORY FOR AUGUST 5

2008-08-05T06:34:00.000-07:00

Today is Tuesday, Aug. 5, the 218th day of 2008 with 148 to follow.

The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Neptune and Uranus. The evening stars are Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.

This Day in History, August 5
On August 5th, 1884, the cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty was laid.

Other Notable Events, August 5
In 1833, Chicago was incorporated as a village with a population of about 200.

In 1858, after several unsuccessful attempts, the first telegraph line across the Atlantic Ocean was completed.

In 1861, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signed into law the first federal income tax. A wartime measure, it was rescinded in 1872.

In 1957, Dick Clark's "American Bandstand" began airing nationally.

In 1962, actress Marilyn Monroe died of an overdose of barbiturates. She was 35.

In 1963, the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union signed a treaty outlawing nuclear tests in the Earth's atmosphere, in space or under the sea.

In 1974, U.S. President Richard Nixon admitted ordering the Watergate investigation halted six days after the break-in. Nixon said he expected to be impeached.

In 1981, U.S. President Ronald Reagan began firing 11,359 air-traffic controllers striking in violation of his order for them to return to work. The executive action, regarded as extreme by many, significantly slowed air travel for months.

In 1990, the United States sent a Marine company into Monrovia, Liberia's capital, to evacuate U.S. citizens because of a rebel threat to arrest Americans to provoke foreign intervention in the civil war.

In 1991, the Democrats ordered inquiries into allegations that Ronald Reagan's 1980 campaign team delayed release of the U.S. hostages in Iran until after the election.

Also in 1991, Iraq admitted it misled U.N. inspectors about secret biological weapons and also admitted extracting plutonium from fuel at a nuclear plant.

In 1994, opponents of Fidel Castro clashed with police in Havana as thousands of Cubans took to the high seas trying to reach the United States.

Also in 1994, U.S. fighter jets acting under NATO orders attacked Bosnian Serb positions after the Serbs seized weapons from a U.N depot. The weapons were returned.

In 1997, North Korea opened talks with the United States, China and South Korea aimed at negotiating a permanent treaty to replace the armistice agreed to after the Korean War.

In 1998, Iraq announced it would no longer cooperate with U.N. weapons inspectors and demanded the lifting of the U.N. sanctions imposed in 1991.

In 2003, U.S. Episcopal officials approved election of their first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, a move that threatened to create a schism within the church in the United States.

Also in 2003, a series of explosions rocked an international hotel in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, killing 14 people and injuring 150.

In 2004, twin Filipino boys joined at the top of their heads were listed in critical but stable condition after U.S. doctors surgically separated them.

In 2005, North Korea's refusal to give up its nuclear programs bogged down multinational disarmament talks, now in their 11th day in Beijing.

In 2006, the United States and France agreed on a cease-fire proposal for Lebanon, ending a week of intense negotiations in the Israel-Hezbollah fight. Hezbollah initially opposed the proposal and Israeli ministers said they would study it.

Also in 2006, the Los Angeles Times said newly declassified Army files confirm U.S. atrocities in Vietnam were more extensive than reported with at least 320 alleged incidents.

In 2007, U.S. President George Bush signed into law a bill to allow government eavesdropping of telephone conversations and e-mails of American citizens and people overseas without a warrant if there's "reasonable belief" that one party is not in the United States.

Also in 2007, at least 240 people were reported dead and millions more suffering from food and clean water shortages in monsoon flooding in India, Nepal and Bangladesh. Officials estimated 14 million people in India and 7 million in Bangladesh were in need of help.

Notable Birthdays for August 5
Those born on this date include:
- French novelist Guy de Maupassant in 1850
- Poet and critic Conrad Aiken in 1889
- Film director John Huston in 1906
- Actor Robert Taylor in 1911
- Astronaut Neil Armstrong, first man on the moon, in 1930 (age 78)
- Actor John Saxon in 1935 (age 73)
- Actress Loni Anderson in 1946 (age 62)
- Actor Jonathan Silverman in 1966 (age 42)

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

HISTORY FOR AUGUST 4

2008-08-04T06:30:00.000-07:00

Today is Monday, Aug. 4, the 217th day of 2008 with 149 to follow.

The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Neptune and Uranus. The evening stars are Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.

This Day in History, August 4
On August 4th, 1902, the Greenwich Foot Tunnel under the River Thames opened.

Other Notable Events, August 4
In 1735, freedom of the press was established in the American colonies when John Peter Zenger, publisher of a New York City newspaper, was acquitted of libel charges.

In 1914, Britain declared war on Germany, touching off World War I. The United States initially declared itself neutral.

In 1944, acting on a tip from a Dutch informer, the Nazi Gestapo captured 15-year-old Jewish diarist Anne Frank and her family in a sealed-off area of an Amsterdam warehouse.

In 1949, more than 6,000 people were killed when an earthquake leveled 50 towns in Ecuador.

In 1958, Billboard magazine introduced its "Hot 100" chart, covering the 100 most popular pop singles in the country. The first No. 1 was Ricky Nelson's "Poor Little Fool."

In 1964, the remains of three slain civil rights workers whose disappearance on June 21 garnered national attention were found buried in an earthen dam near Philadelphia, Miss.

In 1972, Arthur Bremer was found guilty of shooting and severely wounding Alabama Gov. George Wallace who was campaigning for president. Bremer was sentenced to 63 years in prison.

In 1984, the African Republic of Upper Volta changed its named to Burkina Faso, which means "the land of upright men."

In 1991, the PLO agreed to attend a regional peace conference and offered to compromise with Israel on the make-up of the Palestinian delegation.

Also in 1991, the Greek liner Oceanos sank off the South Africa coast in heavy seas. All 571 on board were rescued but the captain and crew were reported to have abandoned ship.

In 2003, The Los Angeles Times reported it had evidence that Iran was close to possessing a nuclear bomb.

In 2004, opponents of Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., launched a lengthy attack on his war record with a TV ad blitz that Republican Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., called "dishonest and dishonorable."

In 2004, three former detainees at the U.S. Guantanamo Bay prison claimed they were beaten until they finally gave false confessions.

In 2005, in a videotape broadcast, al-Qaida threatened Britain and the United States with attacks if their armies did not quit "the land of Islam," in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In 2006, authorities in Phoenix arrested two men in 24 "serial shooter" attacks that killed a reported 14 people in Arizona over the previous year.

In 2007, The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation calling on most utilities to produce 15 percent of their electricity from renewable energy sources, such as wind or solar power.

In 2007 sports, Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants hit his 755th career home run tying Hank Aaron's all-time major league record. He broke the record three days later and finished the season at 762 homers. His achievements, however, were clouded by accusations of using performance-enhancing steroids.

Notable Birthdays for August 4
Those born on this date include:
- English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1792
- Scottish comedian Harry Lauder in 1870
- Queen Elizabeth, mother of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, in 1900
- Legendary jazz musician Louis Armstrong in 1901
- Swedish architect Raoul Wallenberg, credited with saving 100,000 Jews from the Nazis during World War II, in 1912
- Former UPI White House reporter Helen Thomas, in 1920 (age 88)
- Actor Richard Belzer in 1944 (age 64)
- Actor Billy Bob Thornton in 1955 (age 53)

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

HISTORY FOR AUGUST 3

2008-08-03T06:25:00.000-07:00

Today is Sunday, Aug. 3, the 216th day of 2008 with 150 to follow.

The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Neptune and Uranus. The evening stars are Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.

This Day in History, August 3
On August 3rd, 1958, the USS Nautilus traveled under the Arctic ice cap.

Other Notable Events, August 3
In 1492, Christopher Columbus set sail from Spain for the New World with a convoy of three small ships -- the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria -- and fewer than 100 crewmen.

In 1914, Germany declared war on France and invaded Belgium. The following day, Britain declared war on Germany and World War I was under way.

In 1958, the U.S. nuclear submarine "Nautilus" crossed under the North Pole.

In 1981, U.S. air traffic controllers went on strike. The strikers were fired within one week.

In 1990, the prime ministers of East and West Germany agreed to move up unification to early fall and rescheduled all-German elections for Oct. 14.

In 1991, Japanese Finance Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto publicly apologized but refused to resign for involvement in loans worth $10 million to three friends.

In 1997, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced he wouldn't honor agreements with the Palestine National Authority unless it cracked down on terrorism.

In 1998, talks broke down between Iraqi officials and Richard Butler, the head of the U.N. team overseeing the dismantling of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

In 2004, Missouri voters approved an amendment to the state constitution banning same-sex marriages.

Also in 2004, the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor was opened to the public for the first time since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

In 2005, in the first emergency repair conducted in space, astronauts fixed a potentially dangerous problem by removing two strips of protruding cloth from the underside of the space shuttle Discovery that could have overheated during re-entry.

Also in 2005, South Korea scientists reported the first successful cloning of a dog, considered one of the most difficult animals to copy.

In 2006, Gen. John Abizaid, commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, told Congress that sectarian violence in Baghdad was "probably as bad as I've seen it" and predicted a possible civil war.

Also in 2006, Ukrainian leaders reached a coalition agreement after President Victor Yushchenko nominated his archrival as prime minister.

In 2007, the U.S. Congress passed a bill allowing the National Security Agency to monitor e-mail and telephone communications between the United States and foreign countries without a court warrant if terrorism was believed to be involved.

Notable Birthdays for August 3
Those born on this date include:
- Elisha Graves Otis, inventor of the modern elevator, in 1811
- World War II correspondent Ernie Pyle in 1900
- Orchestra leader Ray Bloch in 1902
- Actress Dolores del Rio in 1905
- Band leader Les Elgart in 1917
- Author Leon Uris in 1924
- Singer Tony Bennett in 1926 (age 82)
- TV personality and lifestyle consultant Martha Stewart in 1941 (age 67)
- Actor Martin Sheen in 1940 (age 68)
- Actor Jay North in 1951 (age 57)

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

HISTORY FOR AUGUST 2

2008-08-02T06:16:00.000-07:00

Today is Saturday, Aug. 2, the 214th day of 2007 with 151 to follow.

The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Neptune and Uranus. The evening stars are Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.

This Day in History, August 2
On August 2nd, 1870, the Tower Subway, the world's first underground railway, opened in London.

Other Notable Events, August 2
In 1776, the Declaration of Independence, adopted on July 4, was signed by members of the Continental Congress.

In 1923, U.S. President Warren G. Harding, on a tour of Alaska and the West Coast, died of a stroke in a San Francisco hotel at the age of 58 as rumors of a potential corruption scandal swirled in Washington. He was succeeded by Vice President Calvin Coolidge.

In 1934, with the death of German President Paul von Hindenburg, Chancellor Adolf Hitler became absolute dictator of Germany under the title of fuehrer, or "leader."

In 1968, a major earthquake in the Philippines rocked Manila, killing 307 people.

In 1974, John Dean, counsel to U.S. President Richard Nixon, was sentenced to 1-to-4 years in prison for his part in the Watergate cover-up.

In 1988, U.S. military investigators concluded that crew errors led to the shooting down on July 3 of an Iranian passenger jet by the USS Vincennes in the Persian Gulf.

In 1990, Iraq invaded and overran neighboring Kuwait after weeks of tension over disputed land and oil production quotas.

In 1994, Rwanda's new coalition government said it would prosecute those responsible for the massacres in recent months.

In 1999, in a magazine interview, first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton said her husband lied at first about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky to protect her, his wife.

In 2000, the Republican Party nominated George W. Bush and Dick Cheney to head its ticket for the November elections.

In 2001, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the "patients' bill of rights" proposal, sending it to a conference committee with the Senate, which already had passed its own version.

Also in 2001, former Bosnian Gen. Radislav Krstic was found guilty of genocide in the massacre of 7,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys.

In 2003, the Saudi government issued a formal denial that two Saudi figures reportedly linked to Sept. 11 terrorists were intelligence agents.

In 2004, U.S. President George Bush, giving qualified support to a report from a commission investigating the 2001 terrorist attacks, said he favored the appointment of a national intelligence director.

Also in 2004, crude oil prices rose sharply after the terror alert in the United States was hiked over an al-Qaida threat, posting a record $43.92 a barrel before slipping back.

In 2005, U.S. President George Bush signed the Central America Trade Agreement with six countries, granting greater access for U.S. products.

Also in 2005, an Air France jumbo jet caught fire after skidding off the runway at Toronto's international airport but all 297 passengers and 12-member crew survived.

In 2006, Pope Benedict XVI renewed his call for a cease-fire in the Middle East fight between Israel and Hezbollah, saying nothing "can justify the spilling of innocent blood."

Also in 2006, at least 12 people, mostly children and athletes, were killed and 14 wounded when two bombs in gym bags exploded near a soccer field in Baghdad.

Notable Birthdays for August 2
Those born on this date include:
- Singer Helen Morgan in 1900
- Actress Myrna Loy in 1905
- Actress Beatrice Straight in 1914
- Band leader Johnny Long in 1915
- Author James Baldwin in 1924
- Actor Carroll O'Connor in 1924
- Filmmaker Wes Craven in 1939 (age 69)
- Actor Peter O'Toole in 1932 (age 76)
- Actress Joanna Cassidy in 1945 (age 63)
- Actress Kathryn Harrold in 1950 (age 58)
- Actress Victoria Jackson in 1959 (age 49)
- Actress Mary Louise Parker in 1964 (age 44)
- Actor Edward Furlong in 1977 (age 31)
- Writer/director/actor Kevin Smith in 1970 (age 38)

Copyright 2007 by United Press International

HISTORY FOR AUGUST 1

2008-08-01T04:38:00.000-07:00

Today is Friday, Aug. 1, the 213th day of 2006 with 152 to follow.

The moon is waning. The morning stars are Neptune and Uranus. The evening stars are Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.

This Day in History, August 1
On August 1st, 1831, the London Bridge opened.

Other Notable Events, August 1
In 1498, Italian explorer Christopher Columbus set foot on the American mainland for the first time, at the Paria Peninsula in present-day Venezuela.

In 1790, the first U.S. census showed a population of 3,929,214 people in 17 states.

In 1907, an Aeronautical Division was added to the Army Signals Corps, and this forerunner of the U.S. Air Force bought its first airplane, a craft built by the Wright brothers.

In 1977, Francis Gary Powers, pilot of a U-2 pilot spy plane shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960, was killed when his weather helicopter crashed in Los Angeles.

In 1981, MTV premiered with the Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star."

In 1990, Muslim rebels surrendered in Trinidad and Tobago, five days after a coup in which Prime Minister Arthur Robinson and dozens of others were taken hostage.

In 1991, Israel agreed to attend a Middle East Peace conference, but only if the Palestinian Liberation Organization was excluded.

In 1993, the rain-bloated Mississippi River crested in St. Louis at 49.4 feet, 2.5 feet below the top of the floodwall protecting the central part of the city.

In 1994, Lisa Marie Presley confirmed rumors that she had married pop star Michael Jackson May 26 in the Dominican Republic. The couple divorced less than two years later.

Also in 1994, Haiti declared a state of siege following passage of a U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing an invasion of the Caribbean nation.

In 1995, Westinghouse Electric Corp. announced it was buying CBS, one day after Disney announced its purchase of Capital Cities/ABC.

In 1996, Mohammed Farah Aidid, who had controlled much of Somalia during its civil war, died of wounds suffered during a skirmish with another faction.

In 2002, the United Nations said it found no evidence to back up claims by the Palestinians that the Israeli army had massacred Palestinian refugees at a camp in Jenin.

In 2003, the U.N. Security Council approved a multinational force to make peace in civil war-torn Liberia. The resolution made no mention of U.S. troops.

Also in 2003, a suicide bomber killed at least 35 people at a military hospital in Chechnya, Russia.

In 2004, U.S. Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge said five buildings housing financial institutions in New York City; Newark, N.J.; and Washington, including the New York Stock Exchange, were reported to be terrorist targets.

Also in 2004, more than 400 people perished in a supermarket fire on the outskirts of Asuncion, Paraguay.

In 2005, bypassing U.S. Senate opposition with a recess appointment, U.S. President George W. Bush named John Bolton to be the United States envoy to the United Nations.

Also in 2005, Saudi Arabian King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz, who had ruled since 1982, died in a Riyadh hospital after a long illness at the age of 83. He was succeeded by his half-brother, Crown Prince Abdullah.

Notable Birthdays for August 1
Those born on this date include:
- Claudius I, born in 10 B.C.
- French naturalist Jean Baptiste Lamarck, known for his theory of evolution, in 1744
- Explorer William Clark in 1770
- Francis Scott Key, composer of "The Star-Spangled Banner," in 1779
- Lawyer and writer Richard Henry Dana Jr., author of "Two Years Before the Mast," in 1815
- Author Herman Melville ("Moby Dick") in 1819
- Actor Arthur Hill in 1922
- Actor Geoffrey Holder in 1930 (age 78)
- Comic actor Dom DeLuise in 1933 (age 75)
- French fashion designer Yves St. Laurent in 1936 (age 73)
- Jerry Garcia, co-founder of the Grateful Dead rock group, in 1942
- Actress Tempestt Bledsoe in 1973 (age 35)

Copyright 2006 by United Press International

HISTORY FOR JULY 31

2008-07-31T04:30:00.000-07:00

Today is Thursday, July 31, the 213th day of 2008 with 153 to follow.

The moon is waning. The morning stars are Neptune and Uranus. The evening stars are Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.

This Day in History, July 31
On July 31st, 781, the oldest recorded eruption of Mt. Fuji took place.

Other Notable Events, July 31
In 1498, on his third voyage to the New World, Christopher Columbus discovered the island of Trinidad.

In 1556 Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order of Roman Catholic missionaries and educators, died in Rome.

In 1792, director David Rittenhouse laid the cornerstone in Philadelphia for the U.S. Mint, the first building of the federal government.

In 1964, Ranger 7, an unmanned U.S. lunar probe, took the first close-up images of the moon.

In 1974, Watergate figure John Ehrlichman was sentenced to 20 months in prison for his role in the break-in at the office of Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist. Ellsberg was the Pentagon consultant who leaked the "Pentagon Papers," documents about the war in Vietnam.

In 1991, the U.S. Senate overturned a 43-year-old law and voted to allow women to fly military warplanes in combat.

In 1992, all aboard were killed when a Thai Airways jetliner carrying more than 100 people crashed in bad weather in Nepal.

In 1995, the Walt Disney Co. announced it was buying Capital Cities/ABC for $19 billion.

In 2002, Alimzan Tokhtakhounov, a reputed Russian crime figure, was arrested at his resort in Italy on charges he tried to fix two ice skating events at the Salt Lake City Olympic Games.

In 2003, North Korea reversed its long-standing opposition to multilateral talks on its nuclear weapons program.

In 2004, Pakistani investigators blamed al-Qaida for an assassination attempt on Prime Minister-designate Shaukat Aziz. Eight people died in the suicide bombing attack.

In 2006, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, two weeks before his 80th birthday, formally transferred power temporarily to his brother Raul in preparation for intestinal surgery.

In 2007, the U.S. House of Representatives passed, in a 411-8 vote, a bill overhauling ethics rules focused on large donations and gifts to lawmakers.

Also in 2007, the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to deploy as many as 26,000peacekeepers to end the violence in Sudan's Darfur region that reportedly killed about 200,000 people since 2003.

And, media mogul Rupert Murdoch won approval to buy the Dow Jones & Company, publisher of The Wall Street Journal.

Notable Birthdays for July 31
Those born on this date include:
- Author and jurist James Kent in 1763
- Confederate Army guerrilla leader William Quantrill, in 1837
- Pollster Elmo Burns Roper Jr., in 1900
- Economist Milton Friedman in 1912
- Former TV talk-show host and columnist Irv Kupcinet in 1912
- Actor Don Murray in 1929 (age 79)
- Actress France Nuyen in 1939 (age 69)
- Actress Geraldine Chaplin in 1944 (age 64)
- Singer Gary Lewis in 1945 (age 63)
- Australian tennis player Evonne Goolagong in 1951 (age 57)
- Actor Wesley Snipes in 1962 (age 46)
- Actor Dean Cain ( Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman ) in 1966 (age 42)

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

HISTORY FOR JULY 30

2008-07-30T04:19:00.000-07:00

Today is Wednesday, July 30, the 212th day of 2008 with 154 to follow.

The moon is waning. The morning stars are Neptune and Uranus. The evening stars are Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.

This Day in History, July 30
On July 30th, 1733, the first Freemasons lodge was opened in what would become the United States.

Other Notable Events, July 30
In 1619, in Jamestown, Va., the first elected legislative assembly in the New World -- the House of Burgesses -- convened in the choir loft of the town's church.

In 1932, Walt Disney released his first color cartoon, "Flowers and Trees," made in three-color Technicolor.

In 1936, author Margaret Mitchell sold the film rights for "Gone With the Wind" to MGM for $50,000, most ever for a first novel.

In 1974, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, by a vote of 21-17, approved a third article of impeachment against U.S. President Richard Nixon, charging him with ignoring congressional subpoenas. Nixon resigned before the issue went to trial.

In 1975, former Teamsters Union President Jimmy Hoffa was last seen outside a suburban Detroit restaurant. He was declared dead in 1982.

In 1976, Kate Smith made her last public appearance on this date, singing her signature number "God Bless America" on a TV program honoring the U.S. Bicentennial.

In 1991, a special U.N. commission to Iraq announced it had found 46,000 chemical shells and warheads and 3,000 tons of raw materials for weapons.

In 1994, the United States, Germany, Britain, France and Russia decided to tighten sanctions on the Serb-dominated government in what remained of Yugoslavia.

In 1995, negotiators for Russia and the breakaway republic of Chechnya agreed to stop fighting.

In 1997, suicide bombers detonated two bombs in an outdoor market in West Jerusalem, killing themselves and 13 other people.

In 1999, a Maryland grand jury indicted Linda Tripp for illegally taping her phone conversations with Monica Lewinsky.

In 2002, Pope John Paul II was present for the canonization of Pedro de San Jose Betanur of Guatemala, Central America's first saint, and Juan Diego of Mexico City, first American Indian saint.

In 2003, U.S. President George Bush indicated he would favor a law or constitutional amendment barring same-sex marriages. The Vatican also condemned gay unions.

In 2004, the U.N. Security Council adopted a U.S.-drafted resolution demanding Sudan disarm within 30 days and prosecute those responsible for thousands of deaths in Darfur.

In 2005, British police said they arrested six men and one woman in the failed July 21 London subway bombings. That brought to 13 the number of suspects in custody in the apparent, unsuccessful attempt to match the July 7 attack that killed 56.

In 2006, an Israeli air raid leveled a building housing civilians in the Lebanese village of Qana, reportedly killing at least 65 people, mostly women and children. Israeli officials said the wrong building was hit.

In 2007, U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts was reported hospitalized after suffering a seizure. A Supreme Court spokesman said Roberts had "fully recovered" by the next day.

Also in 2007, federal lawmen swept across the Alaska home of seven-term Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, allegedly looking for evidence in an ongoing bribery investigation involving a convicted oil field contractor.

Notable Birthdays for July 30
Those born on this date include:
- English novelist Emily Bronte in 1818
- Auto pioneer Henry Ford in 1863
- Baseball player/manager Casey Stengel in 1890
- English sculptor Henry Moore in 1898
- Baseball Commissioner Allan Bud Selig in 1934 (age 74)
- Film director Peter Bogdanovich in 1939 (age 69)
- Singer Paul Anka in 1941 (age 67)
- California governor/actor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1947 (age 61)
- Actor Ken Olin in 1954 (age 54)
- Actress Delta Burke in 1956 (age 52)
- Actor Laurence Fishburne in 1961 (age 47)
- Comedienne Lisa Kudrow in 1963 (age 45)
- Actress Hilary Swank in 1974 (age 34)

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

HISTORY FOR JULY 29

2008-07-29T04:15:00.000-07:00

Today is Tuesday, July 29, the 211th day of 2008 with 155 to follow.

The moon is waning. The morning stars are Neptune, Mercury and Uranus. The evening stars are Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.

This Day in History, July 29
On July 29th, 1836, the Arc de Triomphe in France was inaugurated.

Other Notable Events, July 29
In 1588, off the coast of Gravelines, France, Spain's "Invincible Armada" was defeated by an English naval force under the command of Charles Howard and Francis Drake.

In 1848, at the height of the potato famine in Ireland, an abortive nationalist revolt against English rule was crushed by government police in Tipperary.

In 1900, Italian King Umberto I was shot to death by Gaetano Bresci, an Italian-born anarchist who resided in America before returning to his homeland to kill the king.

In 1914, the first transcontinental telephone linkup was completed between San Francisco and New York City.

In 1968, Pope Paul VI upheld the prohibition of all artificial means of birth control for Roman Catholics.

In 1981, Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, married Diana Spencer at St. Paul's Cathedral in London.

In 1991, the Federal Reserve sought a $200 million penalty against bank BCCI for violating U.S. banking laws. It was the largest fine in the Federal Reserve's history.

In 1992, former U.S. Secretary of Defense Clark Clifford and his law partner, Robert Altman, were indicted on charges of lying about their roles in the BCCI bank scandal.

In 1993, the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approved Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Also in 1993, the Israeli Supreme Court overturned the conviction and death sentence of retired U.S. autoworker John Demjanjuk, accused of being a World War II Nazi death camp guard known as "Ivan the Terrible."

In 1994, the Senate approved the nomination of federal Judge Stephen Breyer to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 1996, China conducted an underground atomic test, then declared a moratorium on such explosions.

In 1998, U.S. President Bill Clinton agreed to give videotaped testimony at the White House to be viewed by a federal grand jury investigating his alleged affair with former intern Monica Lewinsky.

In 1999, a federal judge in Little Rock, Ark., fined U.S. President Bill Clinton $89,000 for lying about his relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky in his deposition in the Paula Jones sexual harassment case.

Also in 1999, a securities trader who suffered heavy losses killed nine people and wounded 11 others in Atlanta before taking his own life. Police later found the bodies of his wife and two children at his home.

In 2004, Pakistan announced the capture of a Tanzanian al-Qaida member sought by the United States in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

In 2005, the U.S. Congress gave final legislative approval to a energy bill that included incentives, including tax breaks, for development of alternate fuels and nuclear energy.

Also in 2005, authorities said heavy rains and flooding in Mumbai and surrounding areas had killed 1,000 people.

In 2006, the United Nations and the African Union condemned the Sudanese army and Janjaweed militias for attacking rebels in Darfur's Jebel Moon area during a cease-fire agreement.

In 2007, Pakistani officials warned that an estimated 600 students who disappeared after the crackdown on the Red Mosque may be planning suicide attacks in Islamabad.

Notable Birthdays for July 29
Those born on this date include:
- Grigori Rasputin, born in 1871
- French historian Alexis de Tocqueville in 1805
- Novelist Booth Tarkington in 1869
- Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in 1883
- Composer Sigmund Romberg ( Lover Come Back to Me, When I Grow Too Old to Dream ), in 1887
- Actors William Powell in 1892 and Richard Egan in 1921
- Bluegrass star Henry D. Homer Haynes, member of Homer and Jethro, in 1920
- U.S. Labor Secretary and Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., in 1936 (age 72)
- TV anchorman Peter Jennings in 1938
- Actor David Warner in 1941 (age 67)
- Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns in 1953 (age 55)
- Country singer Martina McBride in 1966 (age 42)
- Actor Wil Wheaton ( Star Trek: The Next Generation ) in 1972 (age 36)

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

HISTORY FOR JULY 28

2008-07-28T04:10:00.000-07:00

Today is Monday, July 28, the 210th day of 2008 with 156 to follow.

The moon is waning. The morning stars are Neptune, Mercury and Uranus. The evening stars are Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.

This Day in History, July 28
On July 28th, 1794, Robespierre was sent to the guillotine as punishment for doing the same to thousands of others before him.

Other Notable Events, July 28
In 1868, the ratified 14th Amendment was adopted into the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing citizenship and all its privileges to African-Americans.

In 1932, during the Great Depression, U.S. President Herbert Hoover ordered the Army under Gen. Douglas MacArthur to evict by force the Bonus Marchers from the nation's capital.

In 1914, Austria declared war on Serbia, leading to World War I.

In 1945, the U.S. Senate ratified the United Nations.

Also in 1945, an Army B-25 bomber lost in the fog crashed into the side of the Empire State Building in New York City, killing 13 people.

In 1976, an earthquake struck China's Tangshan Province, killing an estimated 1 million people.

In 1984, U.S. President Ronald Reagan opened the Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles. A Soviet-led bloc of 15 nations, as well as Iran, Libya, Albania and Bolivia, boycotted the games.

In 1990, the collision of a freighter and two barges spilled 500,000 gallons of oil in the Houston Ship Channel near Galveston, Texas.

In 1992, Warner Bros. removed the controversial song "Cop Killer" from Ice-T's "Body Count" album by request of the rapper.

In 1998, in return for immunity, former White House intern Monica Lewinsky agreed to testify before a federal grand jury investigating a possible relationship between her and U.S. President Bill Clinton.

In 2000, Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori was sworn in for a third term amid violent protests by his opponents, who said the election was fraudulent.

In 2003, J.P. Morgan Chase and Citigroup, the two largest U.S. banks, agreed to pay nearly $300 million in fines and penalties to settle charges they had aided Enron in deceiving investors.

In 2004, Democrats nominated Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts to oppose Republic incumbent George W. Bush in the November presidential election.

Also in 2004, a massive suicide car bomb tore through a crowd of Iraqis trying to enlist in the Baquba police force, killing a reported 70 people and injuring more than 50 others.

In 2005, the Irish Republic Army said it was ending violence as a political tactic against Great Britain in Northern Ireland after a 36-year campaign. The IRA promised to disarm and cease terrorist activity.

In 2006, very hot summer weather swept across much of the United States and parts of Europe, leaving a growing death toll in its wake. By late July, California reported 126 heat-related deaths. The heat reached as far north as Bismarck, N.D., which reported 112 degrees.

In 2007, a poll indicated the percentage of American voters who said they think the U.S. Supreme Court is too conservative jumped from 19 to 31 percent in two years after the addition of John Roberts and Samuel Alito.

Notable Birthdays for July 28
Those born on this date include:
- Beatrix Potter, author and illustrator of the Peter Rabbit stories, in 1866
- Surrealist artist Marcel Duchamp in 1887
- Comedian Joe E. Brown in 1892
- Singer/actor/band leader Rudy Vallee in 1901
- Conductor Carmen Dragon in 1914
- Former U.S. first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in 1929
- Peter Duchin, pianist, bandleader, in 1937 (age 71)
- Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori in 1938 (age 70)
- Former U.S. Senator and basketball star Bill Bradley in 1943 (age 65)
- Garfield creator Jim Davis in 1945 (age 63)
- Actress Linda Kelsey in 1946 (age 62)
- Actress Sally Struthers in 1948 (age 60)
- Former baseball pitcher Vida Blue in 1949 (age 59)
- Actress Lori Loughlin in 1964 (age 44)

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

HISTORY FOR JULY 27

2008-07-27T04:03:00.000-07:00

Today is Sunday, July 27, the 209th day of 2008 with 157 to follow.

The moon is waning. The morning stars are Neptune, Mercury and Uranus. The evening stars are Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.

This Day in History, July 27
On July 27th, 1866, the Transatlantic Telegraph Cable was completed.

Other Notable Events, July 27
In 1794, Maximilien Robespierre, architect of the French Revolution's Reign of Terror, was overthrown and arrested by the National Convention. Robespierre who encouraged the execution, mostly by guillotine, of more than 17,000 enemies of the revolution, was himself guillotined the following day.

In 1909, Orville Wright set a world record by staying aloft in a plane for 1 hour, 12 minutes, 40 seconds.

In 1921, at the University of Toronto, Canadian scientists Frederick Banting and Charles Best successfully isolated insulin -- a hormone they believed could prevent diabetes -- for the first time.

In 1953, after two years and 17 days of truce negotiations, an end was declared to the war in Korea.

In 1980, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, deposed shah of Iran, died in an Egyptian military hospital of cancer at age 60.

In 1986, Greg LeMond, 25, of Sacramento, Calif., became the first American to win cycling's toughest contest, the Tour de France.

In 1989, a Korean Air DC-10 crashed in heavy fog while attempting to land at Tripoli airport in Libya, killing 82 people, four of them on the ground.

In 1993, IBM announced the elimination of 35,000 jobs as part of a restructuring program.

In 1995, the leaders of the three largest industrial labor unions in the United States -- the United Automobile Workers, the United Steel Workers of America and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers -- voted to merge by the year 2000.

In 1996, a bomb exploded at Olympic Park in Atlanta during the Summer Games. One woman was killed and more than 100 people were injured.

In 2002, nine coal miners were trapped 240 feet underground in southwest Pennsylvania when a wall collapsed, inundating them with water. A daring three-day rescue operation saved them all.

Also in 2002, in one of the worst air show tragedies, 83 people were killed near Lviv, Ukraine, when a jet fighter crashed amid spectators.

In 2003, legendary comic Bob Hope died of pneumonia at his home in Toluca Lake, Calif., He was 100 years old.

In 2003 sports, Lance Armstrong became the second cyclist to win the Tour de France for a fifth consecutive year.

In 2004, a major U.S. Muslim charity and seven officers were charged with providing millions of dollars to Hamas, a Palestinian terrorist group blamed for dozens of suicide bombings in Israel.

In 2006, a bipartisan congressional report accused the U.S. Homeland Security Department of mismanaging millions of dollars in contracts.

In 2006 sports, American Floyd Landis, who won the Tour de France cycling classic, tested positive for high levels of testosterone, a banned steroid, his Swiss team announced.

In 2007, forensic experts exhumed remains of 131 Bosnian Muslims massacred by Bosnians Serbs and buried in a mass grave at Srebrenica in 1995.

Notable Birthdays for July 27
Those born on this date include:
- French novelist Alexander Dumas the Younger, author of Camille, in 1824
- Baseball player and manager Leo Durocher in 1905
- Actor Keenan Wynn in 1916
- Television producer Norman Lear in 1922 (age 86)
- Actor Jerry Van Dyke in 1931 (age 77)
- Actor Don Galloway in 1937 (age 71)
- Singer/songwriter Bobbie Gentry in 1944 (age 64)
- Figure skater Peggy Fleming in 1948 (age 60)
- Actress/director Betty Thomas in 1948 (age 60)
- Singer Maureen McGovern in 1949 (age 59)

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

HISTORY FOR JULY 26

2008-07-26T03:58:00.000-07:00

Today is Saturday, July 26, the 208th day of 2008 with 158 to follow.

The moon is waning. The morning stars are Neptune, Mercury and Uranus. The evening stars are Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.

This Day in History, July 26
On July 26th, 1956, Egyptian leader Gamal Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal.

Other Notable Events, July 26
In 1847, Liberia became a republic and Africa's first sovereign, black-ruled democratic nation.

In 1908, the Federal Bureau of Investigation was born when a group of newly hired investigators were ordered to report to the Justice Department. It didn't become the FBI officially until 1935.

In 1941, U.S. Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur was named commander of U.S. forces in the Philippines.

In 1956, Egypt created a crisis by nationalizing the British and French-owned Suez Canal.

In 1984, "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" became the first network television show to be broadcast in stereo.

In 1990, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 408-18 to reprimand Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., for actions he took on behalf of a male prostitute.

In 1992, under pressure, Iraq backed down and agreed to allow a U.N. inspection team to look for documentation on weapons of mass destruction.

Also in 1992, Motown singer/songwriter Mary Wells died of cancer at age 49.

In 1994, Congress opened hearings into the Whitewater affair, an Arkansas land deal involving U.S. President Bill Clinton and first lady Hillary Clinton.

In 1995, the U.S. Senate passed a bill that would end U.S participation in the arms embargo against the Bosnian government.

In 2003, about 100 heavily armed gunmen believed to be rogue soldiers seized a large mall complex in Manila's financial district.

In 2004, an Egyptian diplomat held hostage by militants in Iraq for three days was released after successful negotiations.

In 2005, the United States roared back into space as the shuttle Discovery lifted off from Cape Canaveral in the first launch since the 2003 Columbia tragedy.

In 2006, the Bush administration drafted a bill that would allow hearsay evidence to be used in terrorism trials unless it was found to be "unreliable."

In 2007, the U.S. Congress overwhelmingly passed anti-terrorism legislation that enhances screening of air and sea cargo and allocates more funds to states deemed at risk of attack.

Notable Birthdays for July 26
Those born on this date include:
- Artist George Catlin, painter of American Indian scenes, in 1796
- Playwright George Bernard Shaw in 1856
- Carl Jung, founder of analytic psychology, in 1875
- Novelist Aldous Huxley in 1894
- U.S. Sen. Estes Kefauver, D-Tenn., who led the 1950-51 Senate investigation of organized crime, in 1903
- Comedian Gracie Allen in 1895
- Actress Vivian Vance in 1909
- Erskine Hawkins, trumpet, band leader, in 1914
- Actor Jason Robards in 1922
- Movie producer Blake Edwards in 1922 (age 86)
- Filmmaker Stanley Kubrick in 1928
- Storyteller Jean Shepherd in 1921
- Rock star Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones in 1943 (age 65)
- Actress Helen Mirren in 1945 (age 63)
- Tennis player Vitas Gerulaitis in 1954
- Actor Kevin Spacey in 1959 (age 49)
- Actress Sandra Bullock in 1964 (age 44)

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

HISTORY FOR JULY 25

2008-07-25T03:53:00.000-07:00

Today is Friday, July 25, the 207th day of 2008 with 159 to follow.

The moon is waning. The morning stars are Neptune, Mercury and Uranus. The evening stars are Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.

This Day in History, July 25
On July 25th, 1894, the first Sino-Japanese War began.

Other Notable Events, July 25
In 1832, one man was killed and three others injured in the first recorded railroad accident in U.S. history. The four were thrown from an otherwise vacant car on the Granite Railway near Quincy, Mass.

In 1898, during the Spanish-American War, U.S. forces launched their invasion of Puerto Rico, the island that was one of Spain's two principal possessions in the Caribbean.

In 1909, French pioneer aviator Louis Bleriot became the first person to fly a "heavier-than-air machine" across the English Channel. It took him 36 minutes.

In 1917, Mata Hari, the archetype of the seductive female spy, was sentenced to death in France as a German spy.

In 1952, Puerto Rico became a self-governing U.S. commonwealth.

In 1956, the Italian luxury liner Andrea Doria sank off Long Island, N.Y., after colliding with the Swedish liner Stockholm.

In 1965, folk legend Bob Dylan performed for the first time with electric instruments, so upsetting his fans they booed him.

In 1972, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, U.S. Sen. Thomas Eagleton of Missouri, disclosed he had undergone psychiatric treatment in the 1960s. Presidential nominee George McGovern replaced him on the ticket with Sargent Shriver.

In 1978, the world's first "test-tube" baby, Louise Brown, was born in Oldham, England.

In 1986, former Navy radioman Jerry Whitworth was convicted of selling U.S. military secrets to the Soviets through the John Walker spy ring. The government called it the most damaging espionage case since World War II.

In 1991, the South African government admitted donating $35 billion in 1989 to support political parties opposing the South-West Africa People's Organization.

In 1992, the Summer Olympics opened in Barcelona, Spain.

In 1994, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Jordan's King Hussein signed a declaration that ended the 46-year state of war between their two countries.

In 1997, captured Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot was sentenced to life imprisonment in a trial by his former comrades in Cambodia.

In 1999, cyclist Lance Armstrong, having overcome cancer, became the first American on a U.S. team to win the Tour de France.

In 2000, an Air France Concorde supersonic jet crashed on takeoff from Paris, killing all 113 people aboard. It was the first crash of a Concorde.

In 2004, Lance Armstrong won the grueling Tour de France bicycle race for a record sixth consecutive year.

Also in 2004, the harshest cold spell in 30 years struck the Andes Mountains in Peru causing the deaths of at least 46 children.

In 2005, two major unions, the Teamsters and the Service Employees International, announced they were pulling out of the AFL-CIO.

In 2006, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, while also criticizing Hezbollah for its actions against Israel, said that Israeli "arrogance" threatened to plunge the region into war.

Also in 2006, U.S. forces made 19 raids against death squads responsible for the deaths of hundreds of civilians in Iraq as part of a new crackdown.

In 2007, a bipartisan presidential commission, set up in response to the inadequate treatment of troops at Washington's Walter Reed Medical Center, called for an overhaul the system of determining disability and compensation determinations and improving treatment for brain injuries and post traumatic stress.

Also in 2007, as Iraqis celebrated their national soccer team's victory over South Korea in the Asian Cup semifinals, panic took over when two suicide bombers attacked crowds in Baghdad, killing at least 50 people and injuring about 140.

Notable Birthdays for July 25
Those born on this date include:
- Revolutionary War Gen. Henry Knox in 1750
- Artist Thomas Eakins in 1844
- Artist Maxfield Parrish in 1870
- Actor Walter Brennan in 1894
- Actor Jack Gilford in 1907
- Actresses Estelle Getty in 1923 (age 85)
- Actresses Barbara Harris in 1935 (age 73)
- Folk singer/songwriter Steve Goodman in 1948
- Model/actress Iman in 1955 (age 53)
- Actor Matt LeBlanc in 1967 (age 41)
- Louise Joy Brown, the first test-tube baby, in 1978 (age 30)
- Actor Brad Renfro in 1982 (age 26)

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

HISTORY FOR JULY 24

2008-07-24T03:57:00.000-07:00

Today is Thursday, July 24, the 206th day of 2008 with 160 to follow.

The moon is waning. The morning stars are Neptune, Mercury and Uranus. The evening stars are Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.

This Day in History, July 24
On July 24th, 1847, Brigham Young and 148 Mormon pioneers arrived in Salt Lake Valley.

Other Notable Events, July 24
In 1679, New Hampshire became a royal colony of the British crown.

In 1847, After 17 months and many miles of travel, Brigham Young led 148 Mormon pioneers into Utah's Valley of the Great Salt Lake.

In 1956, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis performed together for the last time.

In 1969, Apollo 11 returned to Earth after the historic moon-landing mission.

In 1974, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that U.S. President Richard Nixon should surrender White House tapes for the criminal trials of his former associates.

In 1987, the U.S.-escorted and re-flagged Kuwaiti oil tanker Bridgeton was damaged by an Iranian mine in the first such incident in the Persian Gulf.

In 1989, the Exxon Corp. estimated that its cleanup of the Alaskan oil spill would cost $1.28 billion.

In 1997, the Scottish scientists who produced Dolly the cloned sheep announced they had cloned a sheep with human genes.

In 1998, a gunman opened fire at the Capitol in Washington, killing two police officers and wounding a tourist. Police shot the gunman, who survived and was later charged with murder.

In 2002, the U.S. House of Representatives expelled Rep. James Traficant, an Ohio Democrat, by a vote of 420-1. Traficant, who had been convicted of racketeering, bribery and corruption, was the second House member expelled since the Civil War.

In 2003, House and Senate intelligence committees said the FBI and CIA had disregarded warnings before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that al-Qaida planned to strike directly at the United States.

In 2005, a powerful car bomb blast targeting a Baghdad police station killed at least 40 people and injured another 30.

And, in 2005 sports, cyclist Lance Armstrong won his seventh consecutive Tour de France and retired.

In 2006, deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was hospitalized on a forced feeding tube in Baghdad as his massacre trial resumed without him.

In 2007, a new national minimum wage increase raised the hourly figure to $5.85 from $5.15. The wage goes up 70 cents each of the next two years when it will be $7.25 an hour.

Also in 2007, U.S. Attorney Gen. Alberto Gonzales was roundly criticized during a Senate Judiciary Committee appearance as he denied pressuring his ailing predecessor to sign off on a controversial warrantless wiretap program.

Notable Birthdays for July 24
Those born on this date include:
- South American revolutionary and statesman Simon Bolivar in 1783
- French novelist Alexandre Dumas the Elder, author of The Three Musketeers, in 1802
- Air pioneer Amelia Earhart in 1897
- Poet/author Robert Graves in 1895
- Feminist and former U.S. Rep. Bella Abzug, D-N.Y., in 1920
- Comedian Ruth Buzzi in 1936 (age 72)
- Actor Chris Sarandon in 1942 (age 66)
- Actor Robert Hays in 1947 (age 61)
- Actor Lynda Carter ( Wonder Woman ) in 1951 (age 57)
- Pro basketball star Karl Malone in 1963 (age 45)
- Actress/singer Jennifer Lopez in 1969 (age 39)
- Actress Anna Paquin in 1982 (age 26)

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

HISTORY FOR JULY 23

2008-07-23T03:51:00.000-07:00

Today is Wednesday, July 23, the 205th day of 2008 with 161 to follow.

The moon is waning. The morning stars are Neptune, Mercury and Uranus. The evening stars are Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.

This Day in History, July 23
On July 23rd, 1962, Telstar relayed the first live trans-Atlantic signal.

Other Notable Events, July 23
In 1829, William Burt of Mount Vernon, Mich., patented the "typographer," believed to be the first typewriter.

In 1948, legendary pioneer movie director D.W. Griffith, maker of several silent classics including the controversial groundbreaker "Birth of a Nation," died at the age of 73.

In 1967, one of the worst riots in U.S. history broke out on 12th Street in the heart of Detroit's predominantly African-American inner city. By the time it was quelled four days later by 7,000 National Guard and U.S. Army troops, 43 people were dead, 342 injured.

In 1973, Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox served subpoenas on the White House after U.S. President Richard Nixon refused to turn over requested tapes and documents.

In 1982, actor Vic Morrow and two child actors were killed when a helicopter disabled by special effects explosives crashed on the set of "The Twilight Zone" movie.

In 1990, U.S. President George H.W. Bush nominated federal appeals Judge David Souter of New Hampshire to replace retiring U.S. Supreme Court Justice William Brennan.

In 1991, the Soviet government applied for full membership to the IMF and World Bank after the Group of Seven recommended a limited "special association" for the U.S.S.R.

In 1998, a second grand jury impaneled by independent counsel Kenneth Starr began hearing testimony about U.S. President Bill Clinton's alleged affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

In 1999, U.S. Air Force Col. Eileen Collins became the first woman to command a space shuttle flight with the launch of Columbia on a four-day mission.

Also in 1999, Morocco's King Hassan II, an influential leader in the Arab world, died at age 70.

In 2002, a laser-guided bomb fired from an Israeli warplane hit the Gaza home of Sheik Salah Shehada, founder of the military wing of Hamas, killing him and 14 others and wounding more than 140.

Also in 2002, Pope John Paul II, though weakened by Parkinson's disease, began an 11-day trip in Toronto where he attended World Youth Day, a weeklong Roman Catholic festival.

In 2003, the Massachusetts attorney general said an investigation indicated nearly 1,000 cases of abuse by Roman Catholic priests and other church personnel in the Boston diocese over a span of 60 years.

In 2004, the Iraqi army began patrolling its own country for the first time.

In 2005, three synchronized terrorist bombings struck Sharm el-Sheik, an Egyptian resort, killing at least 90 people and injuring 240.

In 2006, an earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale struck Indonesia's Sulawesi island, one week after another quake triggered a tsunami that killed almost 700 people on the Indonesian island of Java. There was no such deadly follow-up reported from the second tremor, however.

In 2007, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair made his first visit to the Middle East as special envoy for "the Quartet," made up of the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations.

Also in 2007, former Afghanistan King Zahir Shah, a monarch admired for his reforms who reigned for 40 years before being forced into exile in Italy and who returned in 2002, died at the age of 92.

Notable Birthdays for July 23
Those born on this date include:
- Detective novelist Raymond Chandler in 1888
- Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie in 1892
- Actor Michael Wilding in 1912
- Broadway restaurateur Vincent Sardi Jr. in 1915
- Actress Gloria DeHaven in 1925 (age 83)
- Baseball pitcher Don Drysdale in 1936
- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy (age 72) in 1936
- Actor Ronny Cox in 1938 (age 70)
- Radio talk show host Don Imus in 1940 (age 68)
- Actor Edie McClurg in 1951 (age 57)
- Actor Woody Harrelson in 1961 (age 47)
- Actor Eriq La Salle in 1962 (age 46)
- Monica Lewinsky in 1973 (age 35)

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

HISTORY FOR JULY 22

2008-07-22T03:45:00.000-07:00

Today is Tuesday, July 22, the 204th day of 2008 with 162 to follow.

The moon is waning. The morning stars are Neptune, Mercury and Uranus. The evening stars are Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.

Today is Tuesday, July 22, the 204th day of 2008 with 162 to follow.

The moon is waning. The morning stars are Neptune, Mercury and Uranus. The evening stars are Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.

This Day in History, July 22
On July 22nd, 1587, the Colony of Roanoke was re-established.

Other Notable Events, July 22
In 1376, according to German legend, a piper -- having not been paid for ridding the town of Hamelin of its rats -- led the town's children away, never to be seen again.

In 1620, Dutch pilgrims started for America. Their ship -- called the "Speedhaven" -- set sail from Delfshaven, Holland.

In 1793, Canadian explorer Alexander Mackenzie reached the Pacific.

In 1864, in the first battle of Atlanta, Confederate troops under Gen. John Hood were defeated by Union forces under Gen. William Sherman.

In 1916, a bomb hidden in a suitcase exploded during a Preparedness Day parade on San Francisco's Market Street, killing 10 people and wounding 40. The parade was in support of the United States' entrance into World War I.

In 1933, Wiley Post completed his first solo flight around the world. It took him 7 days, 18 hours and 45 minutes.

In 1934, bank robber John Dillinger died in a hail of bullets from federal agents outside Chicago's Biograph Theater.

In 1983, the military government of Poland lifted martial law.

In 1991, Milwaukee police arrested Jeffrey Dahmer as a suspect in the deaths of at least 15 people.

In 1992, Pablo Escobar, the boss of the Medellin cocaine cartel, and nine henchmen vanished from a Colombian prison. Many months later, Escobar was surrounded and shot dead.

In 1994, U.S. President Bill Clinton ordered the Pentagon to begin a major relief effort in Rwanda.

Also in 1994, a U.S. federal judge ordered The Citadel, a state-financed military college in Charleston, S.C., to open its doors to women.

And, at his arraignment, O.J. Simpson declared himself "100 percent not guilty" in the killings of his ex-wife and her friend.

In 1999, the ashes of John F. Kennedy, Jr., his wife and her sister were buried at sea off the coast of Massachusetts. The three had died in a plane crash off Martha's Vineyard six days earlier.

Also in 1999, China outlawed the Falun Gong, or Buddhist Law, religious sect and began detaining thousands of its members.

In 2003, Saddam Hussein's sons, Uday and Qusai, were killed by U.S. forces in a fierce, six-hour firefight at a house in Mosul in northern Iraq.

Also in 2003, former prisoner of war Jessica Lynch returned to her West Virginia hometown to a hero's welcome.

And, at least 600 people were reported dead in a series of clashes in the Liberian civil war.

In 2004, the Sept. 11 commission recommended a radical overhaul of the way the nation's intelligence and counter-terror agencies were run and criticized Congress and two administrations for failing to stop the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States.

In 2005, a suspected suicide bomber was shot to death by London police after he vaulted a security barrier and tried to board a subway train. It was discovered later that the man had no connection with the transit system bombings.

In 2006, Afghanistan was "close to anarchy" with Western military forces "running out of time," the head of NATO's international security force in that country said.

Also in 2006, China's death toll from Tropical Storm Bilis topped 500 -- more than double the original estimate.

In 2007, the moderate Islamic party ruling Turkey added to its majority in parliamentary elections with 47 percent of the vote, largest share of Turkish votes for any party since 1965.

Also in 2007, at least 26 people died when a bus carrying Roman Catholic pilgrims from Poland fell into a ravine near Grenoble in the French Alps.

Notable Birthdays for July 22
Those born on this date include:
- Austrian monk and pioneering botanist Gregor Johann Mendel in 1822
- Poet Emma Lazarus in 1849
- U.S. political family matriarch Rose Kennedy in 1890
- U.S. psychiatrist Karl Menninger in 1893
- Poet Stephen Vincent Benet in 1898
- Sculptor Alexander Calder in 1898
- Former U.S. Sen. Robert Dole, R-Kan., in 1923 (age 85)
- Actor Orson Bean in 1928 (age 80)
- R&B singer Keith Sweat in 1961 (age 47)
- Fashion designer Oscar De La Renta in 1932 (age 76)
- Actor Terence Stamp in 1939 (age 69)
- Jeopardy! game show host Alex Trebek in 1940 (age 68)
- Actor/singer Bobby Sherman in 1943 (age 65)
- Comedian/actor Albert Brooks in 1947 (age 61)
- Actor Danny Glover in 1947 (age 61)
- Rock musician Don Henley in 1947 (age 61)
- Composer Alan Menken in 1949 (age 59)
- Actor Willem Dafoe in 1955 (age 53)
- Comedian John Leguizamo in 1964 (age 44)
- Comedian David Spade in 1964 (age 44)

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

HISTORY FOR JULY 21

2008-07-21T03:42:00.000-07:00

Today is Monday, July 21, the 203rd day of 2008 with 163 to follow.

The moon is waning. The morning stars are Neptune, Mercury and Uranus. The evening stars are Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.

This Day in History, July 21
On July 21st, 1969, Neil Armstrong because the first person ever to walk on the moon.

Other Notable Events, July 21
In 1861, the first major military engagement of the Civil War occurred at Bull Run Creek, Va.

In 1873, Jesse James held up the Rock Island express train at Adair, Iowa, and escaped with $3,000.

In 1925, the so-called Monkey Trial in Dayton, Tenn., which pitted Clarence Darrow against William Jennings Bryan in one of the great confrontations in legal history, ended with John Thomas Scopes fined $100 for teaching evolution in violation of state law.

In 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin lifted off from the surface of the moon.

In 1970, after 11 years of construction, the massive billion-dollar Aswan High Dam across the Nile River in Egypt was completed, ending the cycle of flood and drought in the Nile River region but triggering an environmental controversy.

In 1991, Jordan joined Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and Saudi Arabia in agreeing to regional peace talks.

In 1992, a judge in Pontiac, Mich., dismissed murder charges against euthanasia advocate Jack "Dr. Death" Kevorkian.

In 2000, a report from special counsel John Danforth cleared U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno and the government of wrongdoing in the April 19, 1993, fire that ended the Branch Davidian siege near Waco, Texas.

In 2003, physicians at Vienna General Hospital in Austria say they performed the world's first successful tongue transplant on a human, a 42-year-old man.

Also in 2003, Canadian authorities expanded their search for the remains of 63 Vancouver women missing for 20 years. Pig farmer Robert Pickton was charged with killing 26 women, most of whom were drug-addicted prostitutes.

In 2004, the Sept. 11 commission said it had found that the Clinton and Bush administrations had missed as many as 10 opportunities to thwart terror attacks.

In 2005, a second suicide bombing attack on London within two weeks misfired when the bombs, again in three subway cars and a bus, failed to detonate.

In 2006, medication errors harm 1.5 million people and kill several thousand annually in the United States, a study by the Institute of Medicine said. Additionally, such errors were said to cost the nation at least $3.5 billion a year.

In 2007, Italian police said they had uncovered a bomb school for Islamist militants and arrested three suspects in a raid on a mosque in Perugia. Found, along with evidence of training in explosives and poisons, were instructions for flying a Boeing 747.

Also in 2007, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," the seventh and final installment in the best-selling series, sold more than 8.3 million copies on its first day on the bookshelves.

Notable Birthdays for July 21
Those born on this date include:
- Composer Chauncey Olcott ( When Irish Eyes Are Smiling ) in 1860
- Author Ernest Hemingway in 1899
- Poet Hart Crane in 1899
- Canadian communications theorist Marshall McLuhan in 1911
- Violinist Isaac Stern in 1920
- Singer Kay Starr in 1922 (age 86)
- Producer Norman Jewison in 1926 (age 82)
- Actor/comedian Don Knotts in 1924
- Actor/comedian Robin Williams in 1952 (age 56)
- Former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno in 1938 (age 70)
- Actor Edward Herrmann in 1943 (age 65)
- Former singer Cat Stevens, known as Yusef Islam, in 1948 (age 60)
- Cartoonist Garry Trudeau ( Doonesbury ) in 1948 (age 60)
- Actor Jon Lovitz in 1957 (age 51)

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

HISTORY FOR JULY 20

2008-07-20T03:37:00.000-07:00

Today is Sunday, July 20, the 202nd day of 2008 with 164 to follow.

The moon is waning. The morning stars are Neptune, Mercury and Uranus. The evening stars are Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn

This Day in History, July 20
On July 20th, 1948, President Truman issued the first peacetime military draft in the United States.

Other Notable Events, July 20
In 1859, American baseball fans were charged an admission fee for the first time when 1,500 spectators each paid 50 cents to see Brooklyn play New York.

In 1881, five years after U.S. Army Gen. George A. Custer's defeat at the Battle of Little Bighorn, Sioux leader Sitting Bull surrendered to the army which promised amnesty for him and his followers.

In 1945, the U.S. flag was raised over Berlin as the first U.S. troops moved in to take part in the post-World War II occupation.

In 1940, Billboard magazine published its first "Music Popularity Chart," topped by "I'll Never Smile Again" by the Tommy Dorsey orchestra with Frank Sinatra.

In 1951, while entering a mosque in the Jordanian sector of east Jerusalem, King Abdullah of Jordan was assassinated by a Palestinian nationalist.

In 1968, the first Special Olympics Games were contested at Soldier Field in Chicago.

In 1969, U.S. astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin became the first men to set foot on the moon.

In 1976, the Viking 1 lander, an unmanned U.S. planetary probe, became the first spacecraft to successfully land on the surface of Mars.

In 1985, treasure hunter Mel Fisher located a Spanish galleon sunk by a 1622 hurricane off Key West, Fla. It contained $400 million worth of treasure.

In 1989, U.S. President George H.W. Bush called for the United States to organize a long-range space program to support an orbiting space station, a moon base and a manned mission to Mars.

In 1991, Peruvian evidence showed former President Alan Garcia transferred as much as $50 million in government funds to the Panamanian branch of the BCCI bank for private use.

In 1992, seven people were killed when a test model of the Marine Corps' V-22 Osprey transport aircraft crashed into the Potomac River.

In 1993, White House Deputy Counsel Vincent Foster was found shot to death in a park in northern Virginia. His death was ruled a suicide.

Also in 1993, the Senate Judiciary Committee opened hearings into the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She was later confirmed.

In 1994, the Bosnian Serb leadership rejected a plan backed by the major countries that would've given them 49 percent of Bosnian territory.

In 1995, the California Board of Regents voted 14-10 to end consideration of race, sex, religion, color or national origin to the admission of students to state colleges and universities.

In 2003, on the 34th anniversary of his historic feat, Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon, paid homage to Orville and Wilbur Wright, in a ceremony saluting the 100th anniversary of their legendary flight.

In 2005, China said it planned to stop tying the value of its currency, the yuan, to the U.S. dollar.

Also in 2005, the U.S. Justice Department activated its online National Sex Offender Public Registry, linking the registries of 22 states.

In 2006, U.S. President George Bush received a kind reception and applause from the NAACP in his first address to the nation's oldest civil rights organization as president. He had turned down five previous invitations to speak.

In 2007, U.S. President George Bush issued an executive order allowing the CIA to resume some harsh interrogation methods. The practice had been suspended after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that all U.S.-held detainees must be treated in accord with Geneva Convention restrictions. The resumption did not include the controversial waterboarding method.

Notable Birthdays for July 20
Those born on this date include:
- Silent movie queen Theda Bara in 1885
- New Zealand explorer Edmund Hillary, who in 1953 conquered Mount Everest, in 1919
- Elliot Richardson, U.S. attorney general under U.S. President Richard Nixon, in 1920
- Actress Sally Ann Howes in 1930 (age 78)
- Actress Diana Rigg (age 70)
- Actress Natalie Wood, both in 1938
- Singer Kim Carnes in 1945 (age 63)
- Guitarist Carlos Santana in 1947 (age 61)
- Actress Donna Dixon in 1957 (age 51)

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

HISTORY FOR JULY 19

2008-07-19T03:28:00.000-07:00

Today is Saturday, July 19, the 201st day of 2008 with 165 to follow.
The moon is waning. The morning stars are Neptune, Mercury and Uranus. The evening stars are Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.

This Day in History, July 19
On July 19th, 1870, France declared war on Prussia.

Other Notable Events, July 19
In 1799, during Napoleon Bonaparte's Egyptian campaign, a French soldier discovered a black basalt slab inscribed with ancient writing near the town of Rosetta, about 35 miles north of Alexandria. The Rosetta Stone, as it was called, held the key to solving the riddle of hieroglyphics, a long dead written language.

In 1848, "bloomers," a radical departure in women's clothing, were introduced to the first women's rights convention in Seneca Falls, N.Y. They were named after Amelia Jenks Bloomer.

In 1911, Pennsylvania became the first U.S. state to pass laws censoring movies.

In 1918, the end of World War I approached as the German army began retreating across the Marne River in France.

In 1946, Marilyn Monroe was given her first screen test at Twentieth Century-Fox Studios. Even without sound, the test was enough to earn Monroe her first contract.

In 1969, John Fairfax of Britain arrived at Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to become the first person to row across the Atlantic alone.

In 1984, U.S. Rep. Geraldine Ferraro, D-N.Y., was chosen as Walter Mondale's vice presidential running mate at the Democratic National Convention. She was the first woman on a major ticket.

In 1989, a crippled DC-10 jetliner crash-landed in a cornfield in Sioux City, Iowa. Amazingly, 181 of the 293 people aboard survived.

In 1990, baseball record holder Pete Rose was sentenced to five months in prison for tax evasion.

In 1991, nine days of combat between Tamil rebels and Sri Lankan soldiers left 78 soldiers and 600 rebels dead in the fiercest fighting since 1983.

In 1993, the Pentagon unveiled its "don't ask, don't tell, don't pursue" policy toward homosexuals in the U.S. military.

In 1996, the Summer Olympics opened in Atlanta with a record 197 nations taking part.

In 1997, the IRA declared a cease-fire in its long war to force Britain out of Northern Ireland.

Also in 1997, Liberia's first peaceful presidential election following a seven-year civil war was won by Charles Taylor, a rebel leader with a reputation for brutality.

In 1999, hot weather settled in over the eastern United States, lasting through the end of the month and causing at least 200 deaths -- 80 of them in Illinois.

In 2003, leading Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada Sadr announced plans in Iraq to form an independent "Islamic army" and denounced the Iraqi governing council as illegitimate.

In 2004, Sandy Berger, former national security adviser to former U.S. President Bill Clinton and campaign adviser to Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, admitted taking classified documents from the National Archives but said he did so inadvertently.

In 2005, U.S. Appeals Court Judge John Roberts was nominated by U.S. President George Bush to the U.S. Supreme Court, replacing the resigned Sandra Day O'Connor.

In 2006, U.S. President George Bush issued his first veto of a bill passed by Congress when he rejected a measure to end restrictions on federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research.

Also in 2006, as the fighting intensified between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, the United States began evacuating some of the approximately 25,000 Americans in Lebanon. The first load of 1,100 left by sea and air for Cyprus with thousands more scheduled the next few days.

In 2007, on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average closed above the 14,000 mark for the first time.

Also in 2007, rescue workers searched through the rubble of a partially collapsed seven-story building in India's financial capital Mumbai looking for more survivors. The death toll stood at 25 with dozens more reported still trapped beneath the debris.

Notable Birthdays for July 19
Those born on this date include:
- American firearms inventor Samuel Colt in 1814
- French painter Edgar Degas in 1834
- Accused ax murderer Lizzie Borden in 1860
- Dr. Charles H. Mayo, co-founder of the Mayo Clinic, in 1865
- Author A.J. Cronin in 1896
- Former Sen. George McGovern, D-S.D., in 1922 (age 86)
- Former CIA agent-turned-author Philip Agee in 1935 (age 73)
- Singer Vikki Carr in 1941 (age 67)
- Former tennis star Ilie Nastase in 1946 (age 62)
- Actor Anthony Edwards in 1962 (age 46)

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

HISTORY FOR JULY 18

2008-07-18T03:17:00.000-07:00

This Day in History, July 18
On July 18th, 1938, Douglas "Wrong Way" Corrigan arrived in Ireland after departing from New York -- he was attempting to fly to California.

Other Notable Events, July 18
In 64, fire destroyed nearly two-thirds of Rome.

In 1925, seven months after he was released from jail, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler published the first volume of his personal manifesto, "Mein Kampf."

In 1939, MGM had a sneak preview of "The Wizard of Oz" after which producers debated about removing one of the songs because it seemed to slow things down. They finally decided to leave it in. The song: "Over the Rainbow."

In 1969, a car driven by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., plunged into a pond on Chappaquiddick Island, Mass., killing his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne.

In 1977, Vietnam was admitted to the United Nations.

In 1984, a gunman opened fire at a McDonald's restaurant in San Ysidro, Calif., killing 21 people.

In 1991, the first Ibero-American Summit Conference opened in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Also in 1991, the Yugoslav federal presidency began withdrawing troops from Slovenia.

In 1992, youths rampaged for a second night in southwest England following the deaths of two young men on a stolen police motorcycle.

In 1994, a car bombing in Buenos Aires, Argentina, killed some 100 people in or near a building that housed Jewish organizations.

In 2003, NBA superstar Kobe Bryant was charged with one count of sexual assault stemming from an incident involving a 19-year-old female employee of an Edwards, Colo., hotel.

Also in 2003, British scientist David Kelly, a government adviser and former weapons inspector in Iraq, was found dead, an apparent suicide.

In 2004, the Philippines pulled its troops from Iraq, meeting a demand by kidnappers holding a Filipino hostage.

In 2005, Eric Rudolph was sentenced to two life terms for a deadly 1998 bombing at an abortion clinic in Birmingham, Ala. He also faced later sentencing in Atlanta for bombings at the 1996 Olympics and two other sites.

Notable Birthdays for July 18
Those born on this date include:
- English novelist William Makepeace Thackeray in 1811
- Actor Chill Wills in 1903
- Playwright Clifford Odets in 1906
- Composer, arranger, pianist Lou Busch (a.k.a. Joe "Fingers" Carr) in 1910
- Actor Hume Cronyn in 1911
- Comedian Red Skelton in 1913
- Actress Harriet Hilliard Nelson in 1914
- South African black leader Nelson Mandela in 1918 (age 88)
- Astronaut-turned-Sen. John Glenn, D-Ohio, in 1921 (age 85)
- Journalist/author Hunter S. Thompson in 1939
- Pop singer Dion Di Mucci in 1939 (age 67)
- Actor James Brolin in 1941 (age 65)
- Singer Martha Reeves in 1941 (age 65)
- Publisher Steve Forbes in 1947 (age 59)
- Country singer Ricky Skaggs in 1954 (age 52), and actress Elizabeth McGovern in 1961 (age 45).

HISTORY FOR JULY 17

2008-07-17T03:04:00.000-07:00

Today is Thursday, July 17, the 199th day of 2008 with 167 to follow.

The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Neptune, Mercury and Uranus. The evening stars are Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.

This Day in History, July 17
On July 17th, 1816, the Klondike gold rush began.

Other Notable Events, July 17
In 1918, Russian Czar Nicholas II, his wife and their five children were executed by a firing squad in the Ural Mountains of Siberia.

In 1936, the Spanish Civil War began with an army revolt led by Gen. Francisco Franco.

In 1938, Douglas Corrigan took off from Floyd Bennett Field in New York for a return flight to California but lost his bearings in the clouds, he said, and flew instead to Ireland. He became an instant celebrity and was forever after known as "Wrong Way" Corrigan.

In 1955, Arco, Idaho, a town of 1,300 people, became the first community in the world to receive all its light and power from atomic energy.

Also in 1955, Disneyland opened in Anaheim, Calif.

In 1975, three U.S. and two Soviet spacemen linked their orbiting Apollo and Soyuz spacecraft for historic handshakes 140 miles above Earth.

In 1981, 114 people were killed and 200 injured when two suspended walkways collapsed at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Kansas City, Mo.

In 1993, the Midwest flood knocked out the Bayview Bridge connecting Quincy, Ill., with West Quincy, Mo., the last remaining crossing over the Mississippi River for about 200 miles.

In 1996, TWA Flight 800, New York to Paris, crashed off the Long Island coast, killing all 230 people aboard.

In 1998, U.S. President Bill Clinton became the first sitting U.S. president to be subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury as independent counsel Kenneth Starr continued his investigation into the Monica Lewinsky affair.

In 2003, an attack on a convoy in Iraq killed one soldier and pushed the death toll of U.S. troops in the Iraqi conflict to 148, one more than died in the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

In 2005, a reported 59 people were killed and 86 wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up next to a gas tanker in Musayyib, south of Baghdad, in one of the deadliest attacks since the U.S. invasion.

In 2006, an earthquake under the Indian Ocean triggered a tsunami that struck the Indonesian island of Java, killing close to 700 people. Around 200 were reported missing and thousands were rendered homeless. A second quake hit the area two days later.

Also in 2006, the fierce fighting between Israel and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon continued almost steadily. At one point, Hezbollah shelling of Israel was reported running at a clip of a missile a minute while Israel's air force stepped up bombing runs.

In 2007, a Brazilian airliner skidded off the runway as it landed at San Paulo's Congonhas airport and crashed into a nearby building. Authorities placed the death toll at 200, reportedly the worst airline crash in Brazil's history.

Also in 2007, a U.S. National Intelligence Estimate report indicated that the terrorist network al-Qaida had gained strength in the past two years, posing a "persistent and evolving terrorist threat" for the United States in the near future.

Notable Birthdays for July 17
Those born on this date include:
- English clergyman and author Isaac Watts in 1674
- Financier John Jacob Astor in 1763
- Mystery writer Erle Stanley Gardner in 1889
- Actor James Cagney in 1899
- TV personality Art Linkletter in 1912 (age 96)
- Comedian Phyllis Diller in 1917 (age 91)
- Actor Donald Sutherland in 1934 (age 74)
- Actress/singer Diahann Carroll in 1935 (age 73)
- Rock musician Spencer Davis in 1941 (age 67)
- Actress Lucie Arnaz in 1951 (age 57)
- Actor David Hasselhoff in 1952 (age 56)
- Singers Nicolette Larson (age 55) in 1952
- Singer Phoebe Snow (age 55) in 1952

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

HISTORY FOR JULY 16

2008-07-16T02:58:00.000-07:00

Today is Wednesday, July 16, the 198th day of 2008 with 168 to follow.

The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Neptune, Mercury and Uranus. The evening stars are Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.

This Day in History, July 16
On July 16th, 1769, Father Junipero Serra founded Mission San Diego de Alcala in California.

Other Notable Events, July 16
In 1769, the first Roman Catholic mission in California was dedicated at the site of present-day San Diego.

In 1790, the U.S. Congress designated the District of Columbia as the permanent seat of the U.S. government.

In 1945, the first test of the atom bomb was conducted at a secret base near Alamogordo, N.M.

In 1959, Billie Holiday, considered one of the greatest jazz singers of all time despite a tragic life, died of cardiac failure at age 44.

In 1969, Apollo 11, the first moon-landing mission, was launched from the Kennedy Space Center, carrying astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Michael Collins.

In 1980, Ronald Reagan was unanimously nominated as the Republican candidate for president at the GOP National Convention in Detroit. He chose George Bush as his running mate after former U.S. President Gerald Ford declined to join the ticket.

In 1990, Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev dropped his objections to a unified Germany in NATO.

In 1991, at its London summit, the Group of Seven agreed to support the Soviet Union's economic reforms and its admission to the International Monetary Fund.

In 1999, John F. Kennedy, Jr., his wife and her sister were killed when their single-engine plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off Martha's Vineyard. The son of former U.S. President John Kennedy was 39.

In 2004, Martha Stewart was sentenced to five months in prison and five months of house arrest for after being found guilty of conspiracy, obstruction of an agency proceeding, and making false statements to federal investigators.

Also in 2004, at least 75 children were killed in a fire that engulfed a school in India's southern state of Tamil Nadu.

In 2005, British police said a powerful explosive had been found in an apartment in the English town of Leeds, possibly related to the previous week's London bombings of three subway trains and a double-decker bus in which 54 people died and more than 700 were injured.

In 2006, leaders of the Group of Eight major economic powers criticized Israel and Hezbollah forces in Lebanon for their fighting and urged them to stop. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Hezbollah had to be disarmed.

Also in 2006, North Korea said the U.N. Security Council resolution sanctioning Pyongyang for its recent missile tests was a prelude to a new Korean war.

In 2007, a reported 85 people died when a suicide bomber drove an explosives-laden truck into a Kirkuk compound that housed offices of Kurdish politicians in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Also in 2007, International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors verified that North Korea had shut down its nuclear reactor at Yongbyon.

Notable Birthdays for July 16
Those born on this date include:
- English painter Joshua Reynolds in 1723
- Mary Baker Eddy, founder of the Christian Science Church, in 1821
- Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen in 1872
- Percy Kilbride ( Pa Kettle ) in 1888
- Vaudeville great Blossom Sealey in 1891
- Actress Barbara Stanwyck in 1907
- Actress/dancer Ginger Rogers in 1911
- Actor Barnard Hughes in 1915
- Former Miss America Bess Myerson in 1924 (age 84)
- Singer/actor Ruben Blades in 1948 (age 60)
- Violinist Pinchas Zukerman in 1948 (age 60)
- Actress Phoebe Cates in 1963 (age 45)
- Actor Corey Feldman in 1971 (age 37)

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

HISTORY FOR JULY 15

2008-07-15T02:47:00.000-07:00

Today is Tuesday, July 15, the 197th day of 2008 with 169 to follow.

The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Neptune, Mercury and Uranus. The evening stars are Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn.

This Day in History, July 15
On July 15th, 1799, the Rosetta Stone was discovered by Pierre-Francois Bouchard.

Other Notable Events, July 15
In 1806, Zebulon Pike began an expedition to explore the American Southwest.

In 1912, led by all-round athlete Jim Thorpe, the U.S. team took more medals than any other nation at the Summer Olympic Games in Stockholm, Sweden.

In 1945, Italy declared war on Japan, its former Axis partner.

In 1965, the unmanned spacecraft Mariner 4 passed over Mars at an altitude of 6,000 feet and sent to Earth the first close-up images of the red planet.

In 1968, a Soviet Aeroflot jetliner landed at New York's JFK Airport, marking the beginning of direct commercial flights between the United States and the Soviet Union.

In 1971, U.S. President Richard Nixon disclosed plans to make an unprecedented visit to the People's Republic of China. He made the historic trip in February 1972.

In 1986, Britain and the Soviet Union settled accounts on $75 million in bonds that were issued under Russia's czars and defaulted on after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. The settlement ended a 60-year financial dispute.

In 1987, former national security adviser John Poindexter told the Iran-Contra congressional panels he personally authorized the transfer of Iran arms sale profits to the Nicaraguan rebels.

In 1992, the Democratic National Convention nominated Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton as its presidential candidate.

Also in 1992, Pope John Paul II underwent surgery to remove what doctors said was benign tumor the "size of orange" in his colon.

In 1997, Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace was shot to death in front of his Miami mansion. The prime suspect was Andrew Cunanan, already wanted in four other slayings who was found dead a week later, an apparent suicide.

In 1999, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, who already had raised more money than any previous candidate for a presidential nomination, announced he wouldn't accept matching federal funds, freeing him from spending caps.

In 2002, John Walker Lindh, a 21-year-old American captured by the U.S. military in Afghanistan while with Taliban forces, admitted he had fought as a soldier with them. After cooperating in the investigation of the terrorist network, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Also in 2002, for the first time in two years, the euro came out ahead of the slumping U.S. dollar, reaching $1.0055.

In 2003, the U.S. budget was running a deficit 50 percent higher than the Bush administration forecast five months earlier, affected by war, tax cuts and a third year of a flagging economy.

In 2004, a U.N. report showed Miami, with its large Cuban presence, to have the highest percentage of foreign-born population in the world, reaching 59 percent of its residents.

In 2005, several California utilities said they settled claims against Enron Corp. for overcharges in the state's 2000-01 energy crisis, including a $47.3 million cash payment.

In 2006, the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to impose limited sanctions on North Korea in response to its launching of nuclear missiles. North Korea said, however, it would continue its nuclear program.

In 2007, the Los Angeles Roman Catholic Archdiocese agreed to a $600 million settlement with 508 people who claimed they had been sexually abused by members of the clergy.

Notable Birthdays for July 15
Those born on this date include:
- Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn, in 1606
- Poet Clement Clarke Moore, author of A Visit from St. Nicholas ( 'Twas the Night Before Christmas ) in 1779
- Roman Catholic nun Frances Xavier Cabrini, the first U.S. citizen to be made a saint, in 1850
- Lyricist Dorothy Fields in 1905
- Country singer Cowboy Copas in 1913
- Irish author Iris Murdoch in 1919
- Actor Alex Karras in 1935 (age 73)
- Actor Ken Kercheval in 1935 (age 73)
- Actor Jan-Michael Vincent in 1944 (age 64)
- Singer Linda Ronstadt in 1946 (age 62)
- Former pro wrestler and Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura in 1951 (age 57)
- Actor Forest Whitaker in 1961 (age 47)
- Actor Brian Austin Green ( Beverly Hills 90210 ) in 1973 (age 35)

Copyright 2008 by United Press International