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The Almanac
(UPI Newswraps Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Today is Monday, Aug. 28, the 240th day of 2006 with 125 to follow.The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Saturn, Mercury, Venus and Uranus. The evening stars are Neptune, Mars, Jupiter and Pluto.
Those born on this date are under the sign of Virgo. They include German poet, novelist and dramatist Johann von Goethe in 1749; Elizabeth Ann Seton, first U.S.-born saint of the Roman Catholic Church, in 1774; actor Charles Boyer in 1899; psychologist Bruno Bettelheim in 1903; actor/dancer Donald O'Connor in 1925; actor Ben Gazzara in 1930 (age 76); former Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen in 1940 (age 66); singer/actor David Soul in 1943 (age 63); actor Daniel Stern in 1957 (age 49); ice skater Scott Hamilton in 1958 (age 48); actors Emma Samms in 1960 (age 46) and Jason Priestley in 1969 (age 37); and country singers Shania Twain in 1965 (age 41) and LeAnn Rimes in 1982 (age 24).
On this date in history:In 1922, a New York City realty company paid $100 for the first radio commercial, on station WEAF.
In 1955, while visiting family in Money, Miss., 14-year-old Emmett Till, an African-American from Chicago, was slain for flirting with a white woman four days earlier. His alleged killers later were acquitted.
In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous I have a dream speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial before more than 200,000 people gathered for the Freedom March in Washington.
In 1968, the Democratic Party nominated Hubert Humphrey for president as thousands of anti-Vietnam war demonstrators battled police in the streets and parks of Chicago.
In 1986, Soviet spy Jerry Whitworth was sentenced in San Francisco to 365 years in prison and fined $410,000.
In 1988, more than 50 people were killed in the Philippines in an unsuccessful coup attempt against President Corazon Aquino.
In 1990, at least 27 people died and more than 350 were injured when a tornado struck Will County, Ill., southwest of Chicago.
Also in 1990, the fourth and fifth college student victims of an apparent serial killer were found near the University of Florida at Gainesville.
In 1992, federal relief got under way for the South Florida victims of Hurricane Andrew with the arrival giant C-5A military transport at devastated Homestead Air Force Base.
In 1996, after four years of separation, Charles, Prince of Wales and heir to the British throne, and his wife, Princess Diana, were formally divorced.
In 1997, Proposition 209, California's controversial anti-affirmative action measure approved by the state's voters a year earlier, officially took effect.
In 2002, four men, three of them working at the airport, were indicted in Detroit as suspected terrorists. Another man, suspected of trying to set up a terrorist training camp in Oregon, was indicted in Seattle.
In 2003, North Korea said it would prove it had nuclear weapons by conducting a nuclear test. The warning came at the conclusion of talks in Beijing with other nations over North Korea's weapons program.
In 2004, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell canceled plans to attend closing ceremonies at the Summer Olympics in Athens after protests against U.S. foreign policy.
In 2005, Hurricane Katrina picked up strength as it roared toward the Gulf Coast, reaching the fearsome Category 5 category for a time, with winds of almost 150 miles an hour, touching off one of the largest evacuations in U.S. history. The mayor of New Orleans issued a mandatory evacuation order for his city while fleeing residents clogged highways in other parts of Louisiana and in Mississippi and Alabama.
A thought for the day: author Salman Rushdie said, "Literature is the one place in any society where, within the secrecy of our own heads, we can hear voices talking about everything in every possible way."Today is Tuesday, Aug. 29, the 241st day of 2006 with 124 to follow.The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Saturn, Mercury, Venus and Uranus. The evening stars are Neptune, Mars, Jupiter and Pluto.
Those born on this date are under the sign of Virgo. They include English philosopher John Locke in 1632; author and poet Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. in 1809; Henry Bergh, founder of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, in 1811; automotive inventor Charles Kettering in 1876; trombonist/bandleader Jack Teagarden in 1905; actor Barry Sullivan in 1912; actress Ingrid Bergman in 1915; jazz saxophonist Charlie Bird Parker in 1920; British filmmaker Richard Attenborough in 1923 (age 83); jazz and pop singer Dinah Washington in 1924; Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in 1936 (age 70); actor Elliott Gould in 1938 (age 68); filmmaker William Friedkin (The Exorcist) in 1935 (age 71); TV personality Robin Leach (Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous) in 1941 (age 65); pop singer Michael Jackson in 1958 (age 48); and actress Rebecca De Mornay in 1962 (age 44).
On this date in history:In 1533, Atahualpa, last of the Inca rulers, was strangled under orders of Spanish conqueror Francisco Pizarro. The Inca Empire died with him.
In 1949, the Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb at a remote test site at Semipalatinsk in Kazakhstan.
In 1965, astronauts Gordon Cooper and Charles Conrad landed safely to end the eight-day orbital flight of Gemini 5.
In 1973, U.S. District Judge John Sirica ordered U.S. President Richard Nixon to turn over secret Watergate tapes. Nixon refused and appealed the order.
In 1991, in Kiev, the republics of Russia and Ukraine signed an agreement to remain in the Soviet Union and negotiate a loose federation.
In 1994, Israel and the PLO signed a new agreement to shift West Bank administrative functions to the Palestinian National Authority.
In 1995, Eduard Shevardnadze, the head of state in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, was slightly injured when a bomb exploded near his motorcade in Tbilisi, the capital.
In 2003, a car bomb explosion killed more than 80 worshippers at the Imam Ali Mosque in the Iraqi Shitte holy city of Najaf.
Also in 2003, North Korea said further rounds of nuclear talks were in danger because the United States had refused to drop its hostile policy against the communist nation.
In 2004, the Summer Olympics came to a close in Athens, Greece. The United States won 103 medals, 35 of them gold, led by swimmer Michael Phelps who took home six gold and two bronze medals.
In 2005, downgraded to a Category 4 but packing high storm surges and sustained winds of more than 140 miles an hour, Hurricane Katrina slammed ashore on the Gulf Coast, its eye crossing northeast Louisiana, just east of New Orleans, inflicting severe damage along coastlines of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.
Also in 2005, the average U.S. pump price for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline rose to a record $2.60.
A thought for the day: Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote, "A moment's insight is sometimes worth a life experience."Today is Wednesday, Aug. 30, the 242nd day of 2006 with 123 to follow.The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Saturn, Mercury, Venus and Uranus. The evening stars are Neptune, Mars, Jupiter and Pluto.
Those born on this date are under the sign of Virgo. They include author Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (Frankenstein) in 1797; Louisiana Gov. Huey Long in 1893; actor Raymond Massey in 1896; journalist/author John Gunther and civil rights leader Roy Wilkins, both in 1901; actor Fred MacMurray in 1908; actresses Shirley Booth in 1898 and Joan Blondell in 1906; baseball legend Ted Williams in 1918; country music singer Kitty Wells in 1919 (age 87); singer John Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas in 1935; actress Elizabeth Ashley in 1939 (age 67); French Olympic champion skier Jean-Claude Killy in 1943 (age 63); and actors Timothy Bottoms in 1951 (age 55), Michael Chiklis in 1963 (age 43), Michael Michele in 1966 (age 40) and Cameron Diaz in 1972 (age 34).
On this date in history:In 30 BC, Cleopatra, queen of Egypt and lover of Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, committed suicide following the defeat of her forces by Octavian, the future first emperor of Rome.
In 1780, Gen. Benedict Arnold betrayed the United States when he promised secretly to surrender the fort at West Point to the British army. He later fled to England and died in poverty.
In 1941, German forces began the 900-day siege of Leningrad. When it ended, the Russian city lay in ruins and hundreds of thousands of people had died.
In 1983, Guion Bluford became the first black astronaut in space.
In 1992, at least 15 people were killed and 31 wounded when an artillery shell exploded in a crowded Sarajevo market.
In 1994, the Lockheed and Martin Marietta corporations agreed to a merger that would create the largest U.S. defense contractor.
In 1997, the Houston Comets defeated the New York Liberty, 65-51, to become the fledgling Women's National Basketball Association's first champions.
In 2003, more than 120 people, including prominent Shiite cleric Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim, were killed in a bombing attack on Iraq's Imam Ali Mosque.
In 2004, at least 240 people were arrested during a New York anti-Bush demonstration two days before the National Republican convention.
In 2005, on the day after Hurricane Katrina struck, 80 percent of New Orleans was under water. Electric, water, sewage, communication and transportation systems were out Three-fourths of all houses were reported damaged or destroyed. Many residents stayed behind, some with no choice, and a massive rescue effort was under way. Thousands were rescued, many plucked from rooftops, and most sought shelter in the Superdome stadium as conditions worsened. Many others waited for days to be rescued.
In other areas along the Gulf, meanwhile, Katrina flattened much of Gulfport and Biloxi, Miss., flooded Mobile, Ala., and heavily damaged smaller towns in between. The death toll eventually would come close to 1,800, most of those dying in New Orleans, with a reported price tag, a U.S. record $81.2 billion.
A thought for the day: it was Francis Bacon who said, "Revenge is a kind of wild justice, which the more man's nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out."Today is Thursday, Aug. 31, the 243rd day of 2006 with 122 to follow.The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Saturn, Mercury, Venus and Uranus. The evening stars are Neptune, Mars, Jupiter and Pluto.
Those born on this date are under the sign of Virgo. They include Italian educator Maria Montessori in 1870; actor Fredric March in 1897; entertainer Arthur Godfrey in 1903; writer William Saroyan in 1908; astronomer Alfred Bernard Lovell in 1913; journalist Daniel Schorr in 1916 (age 90); lyricist Alan Jay Lerner in 1918; comedian Buddy Hackett in 1924; actor James Coburn in 1928; baseball star/manager Frank Robinson, first black to manage a major league team, in 1935 (age 65); black militant Eldridge Cleaver, also in 1935; violinist Itzhak Perlman and rock singer Van Morrison, both in 1945 (age 61); actor Richard Gere in 1949 (age 57); Olympian track athlete Edwin Moses in 1955 (age 51); and singer/actress Debbie Gibson in 1970 (age 36).
On this date in history:In 1897, Thomas Edison was awarded a patent for his movie camera, the Kinetograph.
In 1888, prostitute Mary Ann Nichols became the first victim of the notorious London serial killer known as Jack the Ripper.
In 1903, a Packard automobile completed a 52-day journey from San Francisco to New York, becoming the first car to cross the nation under its own power.
In 1986, an Aeromexico DC-9 collided with a single-engine plane over Cerritos, Calif., killing 82 people, including 15 on the ground.
In 1991, the Soviet republics of Uzbekistan and Kirghizia declared independence, leaving five republics in the Soviet Union.
Also in 1991, Serbia accepted a European Community proposal that included international observers to oversee a cease-fire in Croatia.
In 1992, white separatist Randy Weaver surrendered, ending an 11-day siege of his Idaho mountain cabin that cost the lives of his wife, teenage son and a U.S. marshal.
In 1993, the Israeli government agreed in principle a plan for interim Palestinian self-rule of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of Jericho.
In 1994, the Irish Republican Army declared a cease-fire following six months of secret talks with Britain.
In 1997, Britain's Princess Diana died of injuries a few hours after a car accident in Paris that killed her companion, Dodi Fayed, and their driver. A bodyguard survived although seriously injured.
In 2003, a Russian K-159 nuclear-powered submarine was lost in the Barents Sea, claiming the lives of nine of its 10-member crew. Russian authorities blamed negligence by navy officials.
Also in 2003, U.S. and Iraqi officials began laying plans to form an Iraqi paramilitary force of several thousand to help secure the country.
In 2004, in the first major attack inside Israel in nearly six months, Palestinian suicide bombers blew up two buses almost simultaneously in Beersheba, killing at least 16 passengers and themselves and wounding more than 80.
In 2005, close to 1,000 people, largely Shiite pilgrims, died in a stampede and the partial collapse of a bridge over the Tigris River in northern Baghdad. Hundreds more were reported injured.
Also in 2005, the White House decided to release some of the 700 million barrels of crude oil it keeps against emergencies.
And in New Orleans, martial law was declared amid reports of looters running wild, food and drinking water dwindling, and bodies floating in the floodwaters. Apparently poor coordination of federal, state and city officials led to a different kind of flood, of anger and delay, with many critics blaming the Federal Emergency Management Agency for sluggish handling of the rescue and relief effort.
A thought for the day: in a final statement for publication after his death, author and playwright William Saroyan said, "Everyone has got to die, but I have always believed an exception would be made in my case. Now what?"Today is Friday, Sept. 1, the 244th day of 2006 with 121 to follow.The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Saturn, Mercury, Venus and Uranus. The evening stars are Neptune, Mars, Jupiter and Pluto.
Those born on this day are under the sign of Virgo. They include German composer Engelbert Humperdinck in 1854; Tarzan author Edgar Rice Burroughs in 1875; dancer/singer Marilyn Miller in 1898; actress Yvonne De Carlo (The Munsters) in 1922 (age 84); undefeated heavyweight boxing champ Rocky Marciano in 1923; country music singer Conway Twitty in 1933; symphony conductor Seiji Ozawa in 1935 (age 71); attorney Alan Dershowitz in 1938 (age 68); comedian/actress Lily Tomlin in 1939 (age 67); Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees pop music group in 1946 (age 60); and singer Gloria Estefan in 1957 (age 49).
On this date in history:In 1807, Aaron Burr, vice president of the United States under Thomas Jefferson, was acquitted of treason charges growing out of an alleged plot to set up an independent empire in the nation's south and west.
In 1914, the last known passenger pigeon died at the Cincinnati Zoo.
In 1923, an earthquake struck Yokohama, Japan, killing an estimated 143,000 people.
In 1939, Germany invaded Poland. Great Britain and France served an ultimatum on Adolf Hitler, but it was ignored.
In 1983, a Korean Air Lines Boeing 747 strayed into Soviet air space and was shot down by a Soviet jet fighter. All 269 people aboard died.
In 1985, scientists found the wreck of the British luxury liner Titanic, sunk by an iceberg in 1912, in the Atlantic Ocean south of Newfoundland.
In 1990, three planes left Iraq with about 500 Western and Japanese women and children in the first airlift, four days after Saddam Hussein's pledge to begin releasing some of his so-called guests.
In 1991, U.S. President George H.W. Bush established diplomatic relations with Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
In 1992, the insurance industry estimated that insured damage from Hurricane Andrew would reach $7.3 billion, making it the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history at the time.
In 1993, Bosnian Muslims refused to accept a draft of an U.N. peace agreement unless the Serbs and Croats ceded them more land.
In 1995, a peace agreement worked out among Liberia's warring militias moved forward with the swearing in of an interim ruling council.
In 1996, the United Nations suspended the permission it gave Iraq to sell oil again after Iraq took over the unofficial Kurdish capital city in violation of the cease-fire terms of the Gulf War.
In 1998, U.S. President Bill Clinton had two days of talks with Russian President Boris Yeltsin in Moscow but the deadlock over the START II treaty remained unresolved.
In 1999, U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno ordered a new investigation into the events of April 19, 1993, that ended the siege at the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas. About 80 cultists died in a compound fire.
In 2003, Libya agreed to compensate relatives of the 170 people killed in the 1989 bombing of a French airliner over the Sahara.
In 2004, a heavily armed band of 31 Chechen terrorists seized a school in Belstan in southern Russia, taking hundreds of hostages.
In 2005, U.S. President George Bush ordered a suspension of rules restricting shipments of oil and gasoline between U.S. ports to help ease hurricane-caused shortages. He called the impact of Hurricane Katrina a temporary disruption. The president also renewed his pledge of help from the U.S. federal government for victims of the storm.
Meanwhile, floodwaters were reported receding in New Orleans where many of its thousands of homeless were being sent to other states for shelter. And, engineers, who warned for years about potential disaster, grappled with closing breaches in the levees.
A thought for the day: Edward Bellamy wrote, "An American credit card ... is just as good in Europe as American gold used to be."Today is Saturday, Sept. 2, the 245th day of 2005 with 120 to follow.The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Saturn, Venus and Uranus. The evening stars are Mercury, Neptune, Mars, Jupiter and Pluto.
Those born on this date are under the sign of Virgo. They include poet Eugene Field in 1850; American inventor Hiram Maxim, who invented the first portable automatic machine gun, in 1869; authors Cleveland Amory in 1917 and Allen Drury in 1918; dancer Marge Champion in 1923 (83); Christa McAuliffe in 1948, was the school teacher who became an astronaut but was killed when the space shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after liftoff in 1986; also born in 1948, pro football star/sportscaster Terry Bradshaw (age 58); actor Mark Harmon in 1951 (age 55); tennis champion Jimmy Connors in 1952 (age 54); actors Keanu Reeves in 1964 (age 42) and Selma Hayek in 1966 (age 40).
On this date in history:In 1666, the Great Fire of London began. It destroyed 13,000 houses in four days.
In 1935, one of the worst hurricanes to hit the U.S. mainland ripped through the Florida Keys, killing more than 350 people.
In 1945, Japan signed an unconditional surrender aboard the U.S. battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay, formally ending World War II.
In 1983, Moscow admitted to the Sept. 1 shooting down of a Korean Air Lines Boeing 747, killing all 269 people aboard, but said the jumbo jet intentionally invaded Soviet air space.
In 1991, the European Community-approved plan to end the civil war in Yugoslavia was accepted by the Yugoslav federal presidency. But federal forces renewed their offensive against Croatia.
In 1992, more than 100 people were killed when earthquake-spawned tidal waves swept Pacific coast villages in Nicaragua.
In 1997, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 257.36 points for its largest one-day point gain ever, closing at 7,879.
In 1998, a Swissair jetliner en route from New York to Geneva, Switzerland, crashed off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada. All 229 people aboard were killed.
In 1999, the Clintons bought a home in the New York suburb of Chappaqua for $1.7 million, establishing residency for first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, planning a run for the U.S. Senate.
In 2003, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts formally announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination for 2004.
In 2004, President George W. Bush accepted the GOP nomination for re-election, promising to build a safer world and a more hopeful America.
Also in 2004, South Korea acknowledged it conducted secret experiments to enrich uranium to weapons-grade status but said it was solely for the domestic production of nuclear fuel.
In 2005, U.S. President George W. Bush sharply criticized relief efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and pledged the situation would improve. And, the U.S. House gave final approval to an emergency $10.5 billion hurricane relief bill, Bush called it a small down payment.
Also in 2005, the European Commission called for uniform rules for deporting illegal immigrants and refugees who are denied asylum in member countries, a move that could bring the commission into conflict with Britain and other nations.
A thought for the day: Logan Pearsall Smith said, "There are few sorrows, however poignant, in which a good income is of no avail."Today is Sunday Sept. 3, the 246th day of 2006 with 119 to follow.The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Saturn, Venus and Uranus. The evening stars are Neptune, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Pluto.
Those born on this date are under the sign of Virgo. They include teacher Prudence Crandall, controversial for her efforts to educate black girls, in 1803; architect Louis Sullivan, called the father of the skyscraper, in 1856; automobile designer Ferdinand Porsche in 1875; actor Alan Ladd in 1913; actress/singer Kitty Carlisle in 1910 (age 96); cartoonist Mort Walker (Beetle Bailey) in 1923 (age 83); actresses Anne Jackson in 1926 (age 80), Eileen Brennan in 1935 (age 71), Pauline Collins in 1940 (age 66) and Valerie Perrine in 1943 (age 63); and actor Charlie Sheen in 1965 (age 41).
On this date in history:In 1777, the U.S. flag was flown in battle for the first time, during a Revolutionary War skirmish at Cooch's Bridge, Del.
In 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed, officially ending the 7-year American Revolutionary War and recognizing U.S. independence from Britain.
In 1916, the Allies turned back the Germans in the World War I Battle of Verdun.
In 1936, Britain's Malcolm Campbell set a land-speed record on the Bonneville Salt Flats of Utah, averaging 301.129 mph in two races.
In 1939, Britain declared war on Germany. Britain was quickly joined by France, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Canada.
In 1942, Frank Sinatra began his solo singing career after leaving Tommy Dorsey's orchestra.
In 1984, a 28-year-old Chicago print shop employee won $40 million in the Illinois state lottery, largest lottery payoff to that point.
In 1991, film director Frank Capra, best known for such feel-good movies as It Happened One Night and It's A Wonderful Life, died at the age of 94.
In 1992, an Italian plane carrying eight people and nearly 10,000 pounds of blankets for Bosnian war victims crashed en route to Sarajevo. Evidence suggested it was shot down.
Also in 1992, Nobel laureate geneticist Barbara McClintock died at 90.
In 1996, the United States fired 27 missiles in Iraq, hitting air defense batteries. Despite criticism from Arab allies and some European allies, the United States fired 17 more missiles the next day.
In 1997, Arizona Gov. Fife Symington was convicted of fraud by a federal jury in Phoenix and resigned two days later, becoming the third U.S. governor in recent years to quit because of a criminal conviction.
In 1999, charges were dropped against nine photographers and a motorcyclist in connection with the 1997 crash that killed Princess Diana.
In 2001, the United States and Israel walked out of the U.N. conference on racism in Durban, South Africa.
In 2003, U.S. President George W. Bush reversed an earlier stand and called on the U.N. Security Council to shore up Iraq's peacekeeping forces.
In 2004, the 3-day Russian school crisis ended in a bloody 13-hour battle when security forces stormed the Beslan school building after Chechen terrorists opened fire on hostages. At least 350 people, including about 155 children, were reported killed. All but one of the 31 terrorists also died.
In 2005, William H. Rehnquist, the chief justice of the United States, died after a long bout with thyroid cancer at the age of 80. He had been on the court since 1971.
A thought for the day: Bert Leston Taylor said, "A bore is a man who, when you ask him how he is, tells you."
Copyright 2006 United Press International
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