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Friday, August 1, 1997

  • Today's Events
  • On Horizon
  • On This Day
  • Newslink
  • Holidays & more
  • Almanac archive
  • "Merger mania is making the fee-gouging big banks even bigger."

    -- Consumer Program Director Ed Mierzwinski of the Public Interest Research Group





    Today's events


  • China holds Army Day celebrations to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army.

  • Lima, Peru's, Latin American film festival opens.

  • The first jazz festival organized by the British non-governmental organization "Community Music Sarajevo" takes place in the Bosnian capital.

  • Kyoto, Japan, holds its world "ban-the-bomb" meeting.

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    On the horizon


  • On Saturday, August 2, the World Gold Council holds a seminar on Gold Banking in New Delhi.

  • On Sunday, August 3, the annual induction ceremony at Baseball's Hall of Fame is scheduled to take place in Cooperstown, New York.

  • On Monday, August 4, Los Angeles is scheduled to play San Diego in the annual Baseball Hall of Fame game in Cooperstown, New York.

  • On Tuesday, August 5, Franjo Tudjman is scheduled to be sworn in as Croatian President for another five-year term.

  • On Wednesday, August 6, the Solomon Islands hold national elections.

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    On this day


  • In 1137, Louis VI (The Fat) of France died and was succeeded by his son Louis VII, who launched the disastrous Second Crusade.

  • In 1291, the three cantons of Uri, Unterwalden and Schwyz formed the Everlasting League, a confederation from which Switzerland was formed.

  • In 1498, Christopher Columbus landed on mainland America, but thinking it was an island, called it Isla Santa.

  • In 1714, George Louis, Elector of Hanover, was named King George I of Great Britain upon the death of Queen Anne.

  • In 1774, Joseph Priestley, the British Presbyterian minister and chemist, identified a gas which he called "dephlogisticated air" -- later known as oxygen.

  • In 1778, the World's first savings bank was opened in Hamburg, Germany.

  • In 1793, France became the first country to use the metric system of weights and measures, a byproduct of the French Revolution.

  • In 1798, the British fleet under Lord Nelson defeated the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile, thwarting Napoleon's conquest of the Middle East.

  • In 1808, British troops landed on Portuguese soil to push back Napoleon's French forces who had occupied the whole of the Iberian peninsular.

  • In 1834, slavery was abolished throughout the British Empire; an estimated 770,280 slaves became free.

  • In 1876, Colorado became the 38th state of the United States.

  • In 1894, Sino-Japanese hostilities began as China and Japan declared war over the question of Korea.

  • In 1936, Adolf Hitler opened the 11th Olympic Games in Berlin.

  • In 1939, band leader Glenn Miller recorded "In the Mood" which would later become his theme tune.

  • In 1944, the 63-day Warsaw uprising began when Poles rose against the Nazi occupation.

  • In 1950, King Leopold III of Belgium abdicated in favor of Prince Baudouin, effective July 1951.

  • In 1960, Benin (formerly Dahomey) proclaimed its independence.

  • In 1962, Ghana's president Kwame Nkrumah escaped an assassination attempt when a hand grenade was thrown into a crowd greeting him.

  • In 1963, talks in London on Malta's future ended with some Maltese delegates staging a walkout and Britain announcing that independence would take place in May 1964.

  • In 1966, Yakubu Gowon assumed power in Nigeria following an army coup.

  • In 1975, the Final Act of the Helsinki Agreement on human rights was signed by the west and the Soviet Union.

  • In 1976, Trinidad and Tobago became an independent republic within the Commonwealth.

  • In 1990, a five-day coup attempt in Trinidad and Tobago ended with the surrender of the Black Muslim rebels and the release of their captives.

  • In 1994, German President Roman Herzog apologized for the suffering his nation caused Poland in World War II.

  • In 1996, Bishop Pierre Claverie was assassinated hours after meeting French foreign minister Herve de Charette in Algiers.

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    Newslink


    Visit the United States Postal Service's home page to keep up with which celebrities are available on the face of a stamp, as well as the latest postal news.


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    Holidays and more


  • Bermuda celebrates Somers Day.

  • Guyana celebrates Freedom Day.

  • Switzerland celebrates National Day.

  • Trinidad and Tobago celebrate Emancipation Day.

  • The Turks and Caicos Islands celebrate Emancipation Day.

  • Zaire celebrates Parents Day.

  • Actress Tempestt Bledsoe is 24.

  • Singer Robert Cray is 44.

  • Comedian Dom DeLuise is 64.

  • Actor Giancarlo Giannini 55.

  • Actor Arthur Hill is 75.

  • Fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent is 61.

  • Cartoonist Tome Wilson is 66.

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    Sources: Associated Press,
    Chase's Calendar of Events 1997, J.P. Morgan



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