Today is the 217th day of 2013. There are 148 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT1992: Nelson Mandela leads 100,000 blacks in Pretoria in a protest to end white rule.OTHER EVENTS1772: In St Petersburg, rulers of Russia, Prussia and Austria sign the first of three partitions ending Poland’s sovereign rule until 1918.1810: Napoleon Bonaparte imposes tax on all colonial imports into France.1861: The U.S. federal government levies an income tax for the first time.1884: Cornerstone of the Statue of Liberty is laid at entrance to New York harbour.1949: US aid to Nationalist China ceases; Earthquake in Ecuador takes about 6,000 lives.1954: Iran and eight Western oil companies agree to reactivate Iran’s frozen oil industry, ending a three-year battle that bankrupted Iran and its relations with Britain.1962: Anti-apartheid fighter Nelson Mandela is arrested at a police roadblock; US movie star Marilyn Monroe is found dead in bedroom of her Los Angeles home.1963: United States, Britain and Soviet Union sign a treaty outlawing nuclear tests in atmosphere, in space and under water.1965: Cook Islands in South Pacific granted internal self-government by New Zealand.1969: The US space probe Mariner 7 flies by Mars, sending back unprecedented photographs and scientific data.1973: Palestinian “Black September” guerrillas attack a line of travellers at Greece’s Athens airport with grenades and machine guns, killing three and wounding 55.1977: Ten family members of the late Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie escape from house arrest in Addis Ababa and reach Sweden. There are reprisals against Selassie’s family and political associates since his overthrow in 1974.1991: Iraq admits to UN inspection team that it carried out germ warfare research for four years, but claims it abandoned research shortly after 1990 invasion of Kuwait.1996: US President Bill Clinton signs a bill to punish foreign businesses that invest in Iran and Libya.1997: Korean Air jumbo jet carrying 254 people slams into a mountain in Guam while trying to land during a nighttime thunderstorm. Only 26 people survive.2001: Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban jail eight foreign aid workers for allegedly preaching Christianity in the Muslim nation.2008: An American woman receives five puppies cloned from her beloved late pitbull, becoming the inaugural customer of a South Korean company that says it is the world’s first successful commercial canine cloning service.2011: Italy pledges to work swiftly for a constitutional amendment requiring the government to balance its budget, as Rome feverishly tries to assure domestic and foreign investors its finances are sound and calm nervous markets in Europe.Today’s Birthdays:Ilya Repin, Russian painter (1844-1930); Guy de Maupassant, French writer (1850-1893); John Huston, US film director (1906-1987); Neil Armstrong, US astronaut and first man to set foot on Moon (1930-2012); Loni Anderson, US actress (1946-); Tawny Kitaen, US actress (1961-); Maureen McCormick, US actress (1956-).On this day in 1962 antiapartheid fighter Nelson Mandela is arrested at a police roadblock. Thirty years later, to the day, he leads 100,000 blacks in protest to end white rule.
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This Day in History - August 5