Friday, August 1, 1997
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
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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