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Friday, August 15, 1997

  • Today's Events
  • On Horizon
  • On This Day
  • Newslink
  • Holidays & more
  • Almanac archive
  • "Introducing a person like Mohajerani, who seeks relations with America, is an insult to the Majlis."

    -- Iranian deputy Mehdi-Reza Darvishzadeh





    Today's events


  • India celebrates the 50th anniversary of independence from Britain.

  • Astronauts aboard Russia's Mir space station will use a Soyuz spacecraft to do a fly-around survey of the damaged extraterrestrial outpost.

  • South Korean President Kim Young-sam's addresses the nation to mark the 52nd anniversary of the liberation of the Korean peninsula from 35-years of Japanese colonial rule.

  • The Japanese government holds a memorial service to mark the 52nd anniversary of the end of World War II.

  • In Switzerland, Leaders of the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities hold the final scheduled day of a second round of talks on a settlement for the divided island

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    On the horizon


  • On Saturday, August 16, President Suharto is scheduled to give the state-of-the-nation Independence Day address in Jakarta, Indonesia.

  • On Sunday, August 17, the "first-ever Elvis Conference cruise" of the Caribbean leaves port, hosted by the International Conference on Elvis Presley.

  • On Monday, August 18, the first female cadets are scheduled to arrive at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia.

  • On Tuesday, August 19, U.S. President Bill Clinton celebrates his 51st birthday. Second Lady Tipper Gore celebrates her 49th birthday.

  • On Wednesday, August 20, Morocco's King Hassan addresses the nation ahead of legislative elections scheduled for October.

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    On this day


  • In 1057, Macbeth, King of Scotland whose life was the basis for Shakespeare's play, was killed by Malcolm Canmore at Lumphanan, near Aberdeen.

  • In 1534, the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) was founded in Paris by St. Ignatius of Loyola.

  • In 1537, the Spanish conquistador Juan de Salazar founded Nuestra Senora Santa Maria de la Asuncion, now the capital of Paraguay.

  • In 1684, the Truce of Ratisbon was signed between the Holy Roman Empire and France, guaranteeing peace for 20 years.

  • In 1834, the British parliament passed an act allowing for the colonization of South Australia.

  • In 1867, the Second Reform Act in Britain extended suffrage to householders and land owners, nearly doubling the electorate.

  • In 1914, the Panama Canal opened with passage of the vessel Ancon, although it was not formally inaugurated until July 1920.

  • In 1917, the deposed Russian Czar Nicholas II and his family were moved from their residence at Tsarskoe Selo to further imprisonment in Siberia.

  • In 1918, the United States severed diplomatic relations with Russia in wake of Bolshevik takeover.

  • In 1935, American aviator Wiley Post was killed in a plane crash in Alaska along with his passenger, American humorist Will Rogers.

  • In 1944, the U.S. Seventh Army began Operation Dragoon, a landing on the French Riviera to open up a second front after the Normandy landings of June.

  • In 1945, millions worldwide celebrated VJ (Victory in Japan) Day, the day after it was announced the Japanese had surrendered.

  • In 1947, the Indian Independence Bill came into force, setting up the two independent states of India and Pakistan.

  • In 1948, South Korea became independent and was formally proclaimed as the Republic of Korea, with Syngman Rhee as its first president.

  • In 1960, the Republic of the Congo was proclaimed an independent nation within the French Community.

  • In 1965, a crowd of 55,600 attended a Beatles concert at Shea Stadium in New York City, setting world attendance and revenue records for a pop concert.

  • In 1969, the legendary Woodstock Music and Arts Fair began in Bethel, New York.

  • In 1971, Bahrain became a separate independent state.

  • In 1974, the wife of South Korean President Park Chung-Hee was shot dead by an assassin in an attempt on Park's life. Park himself was assassinated in October 1979.

  • In 1975, the president of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was killed by army officers in a dawn coup which overthrew his government.

  • In 1979, two Soviet Aeroflot airliners collided in mid-air over Ukraine, killing 173.

  • In 1990, President Mikhail Gorbachev restored Soviet citizenship to Nobel prize-winning author Alexander Solzhenitsyn, expelled to the West in 1974 for his harrowing novels attacking Stalinism.

  • In 1994, Sudanese security agents, tipped off by Paris, captured wanted international guerrilla Illich Ramirez Sanchez, known popularly as "Carlos the Jackal."

  • In 1995, 50 years after World War II ended in the Pacific, Japan made its first clear-cut apology for the country's wartime actions.

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    Newslink


    Scientists have just revealed the existence of 117,000 year old footprints near Cape Town, South Africa. The study of ancient man, and his antecedents, captures the imagination of academics and the public alike. The Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History is one place where the two groups come together to revel in their need to know where we come from.


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    Holidays and more


  • Much of the Christian world celebrates Assumption Day.

  • Bangladesh celebrates its National Mourning Day.

  • The Cape Verde Islands celebrate National Day.

  • Costa Rica celebrates Mother's Day.

  • Equatorial Guinea celebrates Constitution Day.

  • Georgia celebrates its Day of National Reconciliation.

  • India celebrates Independence Day.

  • Korea celebrates Liberation Day.

  • The Vatican City State takes its Mid-August Holiday.

  • Actor Mike Connors is 72.

  • Journalist Linda Ellerbee is 53.

  • Civil rights leader Vernon Jordan is 62.

  • Actress Debra Messing is 29.

  • Author Phyllis Schafly is 73.

  • Union executive Eugene Upshaw is 52.

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



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