Return to home 65CE Jun 8,
Jews revolted against Rome, capturing the fortress of Antonia in
452 Jun 8, Italy was invaded by
Attila the Hun.
632 Jun 8, Mohammed, the
founder of Islam and unifier of Arabia, died. Iqra, which means read
in Arabic, was reportedly the first word that the archangel Gabriel
spoke to Mohammed. His companions compiled his words and deeds in a
work called the Sunna. Here are contained the rules for Islam. The
most basic are The Five Pillars of Islam. These are: 1) profession
of faith 2) daily prayer 3) giving alms 4) ritual fast during
Ramadan 5) Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca. The Sunna also calls for
“jihad." The term means struggle, i.e. to do one’s best to resist
temptation and overcome evil. Four contenders stood out to succeed
Mohammad. They were Abu Bakr, his trusted father-in-law. Umar and
Uthman, long-time friends and advisers, and Ali, a cousin and blood
relative. Ali was Mohammad’s son-in-law and the father of Mohammad’s
grandsons. Abu Bakr was chosen as caliph i.e. successor. In 2001
Minou Reeves, Iranian-born scholar, authored “Muhammad in Europe: A
Thousand Years of Western Myth-Making." In 2013 Lesley Hazleton
authored “The First Muslim: The Story of Muhammad."
(ATC, p.60,63)(SFC, 12/15/98, p.A7)(AP,
6/8/03)(SFC, 10/22/98, p.C5)(WSJ, 12/12/01, p.A15)(SSFC, 1/27/13,
793 Jun 8, Vikings raided the
Northumbrian coast in England. Corfe served as a center of West
Saxon resistance to Viking invaders. Vikings plundered the monastery
and St. Cuthbert convent at Lindsfarne
(HN, 6/8/98)(AM, 7/00, p.64)(MC, 6/8/02)
Jun 8, Edward (b.1330), the "Black Prince" of Wales, son of King
Edward III of England and Queen Philippa of Hainault, died at
Westminster Palace, Middlesex.
1625 Jun 8, Giovanni Domenico
Cassini, discoverer of four satellites of Saturn, was born in
Perinaldo, Italy. Gian Domenico Cassini was an astrologer and then
became an astronomer and was known in France as Jean-Dominique
Cassini. At the Paris observatory he discovered the wide gap in the
rings of Saturn now called the Cassini division, as well as four of
the planet’s moons.
(SFEC, 10/5/97, Z1 p.4)(HN, 6/8/98)(SFCM,
1671 Jun 8, Tomaso Albinoni,
Italian composer (Adagio in G-minor), was born.
1675 Jun 8, Three Wampanoag
Indians were hanged in Plymouth, Massachusetts. On the testimony of
a Native American witness, Plymouth Colony arrested three
Wampanoags, including a counselor to Metacom, a Pokanoket sachem. A
jury among whom were some Indian members convicted them of the
recent murder of John Sassamon, an advisor to Metacom.
1724 Jun 8, John Smeaton,
English engineer, was born.
1743 Jun 8, Alessandro
Cagliostro, adventurer, was born in Palermo, Italy.
1708 Jun 8, The Spanish galleon
San Jose was trying to outrun a fleet of British warships off
Colombia's coast, when a mysterious explosion sent it to the bottom
of the sea with gold, silver, emeralds and 600 men. 14 men survived.
In 1979 Sea Search signed a deal with Colombia giving Sea Search
exclusive rights to search for the San Jose and 50 percent of
whatever they find. In 1982 Sea Search announced to the world it had
found the San Jose's resting place 700 feet below the water's
surface, a few miles from the historic Caribbean port of Cartagena.
In 1984 Colombian President Belisario Betancur signed a decree
reducing Sea Search's share from 50% to a 5% "finder's fee." By 2007
the treasure was valued at more than $2 billion. In July, 2007,
Colombia’s highest court ruled that the ship must first be recovered
before an international dispute over the fortune can be settled. In
2007 Carla Rahn Phillips authored “The Treasure of San Jose: Death
at Sea in the War of the Spanish Succession."
(AP, 6/3/07)(AP, 7/6/07)(WSJ, 1/31/07, p.D6)
1783 Jun 8, In Iceland the
Lakagicar volcano began erupting. Over the next 6 months it built a
lava dam 40 miles long and 540 feet high in a month. The Laki
volcano wiped out 75% of the crops, which led to a severe famine
that killed some 10,000 people, 20% of the population, reducing the
population to some 40,000 people. This was described by Haraldur
Sigurdson in an article titled Volcanic Pollution and Climate: Eos
63, Aug. 10, 1982. The Laki eruption sent poisonous gases across
Europe. In 2014 Alexandra Witze and Jeff Kanipe authored “Island on
Fire: The Extraordinary Story of Laki: the Volcano that Turned
Eighteenth-Century Europe Dark."
(NH, 9/97, p.38)(SFEC, 9/19/99, p.A18)(AM, 7/00,
p.40)(ON, 2/04, p.9)(Econ, 12/22/07, p.132)(Econ, 4/24/10,
p.62)(Econ, 5/29/10, p.85)(Econ, 7/19/14,p.71)
1783 Jun 8-1784 Feb, A series
of 10 eruptions from the Laki Craters on Iceland changed atmospheric
conditions in most of the Northern Hemisphere. This also generated a
cascade of events that led to record low levels of water in the Nile
River and brought famine to the region.
1794 Jun 8, Maximilian
Robespierre, French Revolutionary leader, worried about the
influence of French atheists and philosophers, staged the "Festival
of the Supreme Being" in Paris.
1795 Jun 8, In France the
Dauphin (Louis XVII), son and sole survivor of Louis XVI and Marie
Antoinette, died at age 10 after succumbing to tuberculosis in the
Temple prison. His heart was cut from his body when he died in
prison, pickled, stolen, returned, and DNA-tested two centuries
later. In 2002 Deborah Cadbury authored "The Lost King of France."
(SFC, 4/20/00, p.A14)(WSJ, 10/18/02, p.W9)(AP,
1809 Jun 8, Thomas Paine
(b.1737), British born political essayist, died in poverty and
obscurity in NYC at age 72. His revolutionary essays included
“Common Sense" (1776), "The Rights of Man" (1991/1792) and "The Age
of Reason" (1794-1796), which he started while imprisoned in France.
His body was exhumed in 1819 by William Cobbett, shipped to England,
and kept in an attic trunk till Cobbett died in 1835. Parts of his
skeleton were later said to be sold at auction. In 2006 Craig Nelson
authored “Thomas Paine" and Harvey J. Kaye authored “Thomas Paine
and the Promise of America."
(HNQ, 9/21/99)(SSFC, 4/1/01, p.A7)(WSJ, 9/22/06,
1810 Jun 8, Robert Schumann
(d.1856), German composer, was born in Zwickau, Germany.
(BLW, Geiringer, 1963 ed. p.49)(HN, 6/8/01)
1813 Jun 8, David D. Porter,
Union Admiral, was born.
1815 Jun 8, The Congress of
Vienna ended. Negotiations had begun in 1812 to rearrange Europe
following the defeat of Napoleon. The final conclave began Nov 1,
1814. In 2007 Adam Zamoyski authored “Rites of Peace: The Fall of
Napoleon and the Congress of Vienna."
(www.victorianweb.org/history/forpol/vienna.html)(WSJ, 8/1/07, p.D7)
1824 Jun 8, A washing machine
was patented by Noah Cushing of Quebec.
1829 Jun 8, John Everett
Millais, painter (Order of Release), was born in England.
1845 Jun 8, Andrew Jackson, 7th
president of the US, died in Nashville, Tenn. His health had
deteriorated over the last 30 years and in 1999 scientists cited
lead poisoning from an 1813 wound as the primary cause of his health
problems. In 1945 Arthur Schlesinger Jr. authored “The Age of
Jackson," for which he won a Pulitzer Prize. Dr. Robert Remini later
authored a 3-volume biography. In 2005 H.W. Brands authored “Andrew
Jackson: A Life and Times." In 2008 Jon Meacham authored “American
Lion: Andrew Jackson in the white House."
(AP, 6/8/97)(SFC, 8/11/99, p.A2)(SSFC, 10/30/05,
p.M3)(Econ, 3/10/07, p.85)(SSFC, 12/7/08, Books p.1)
1861 Jun 8, Tennessee voted to
secede from the Union and joined the Confederacy. [see May 6]
(AP, 6/8/97)(HN, 6/8/98)
1862 Jun 8, The Army of the
Potomac defeated the Confederates at the Battle of Cross Keys,
Virginia, during the Peninsula Campaign.
1863 Jun 8, Residents of
Vicksburg, Miss., fled into caves as Grant’s army began shelling the
1864 Jun 8, Abraham Lincoln was
nominated for another term as president during the National Union
(Republican) Party's convention in Baltimore.
1866 Jun 8, Prussia annexed the
region of Holstein.
1867 Jun 8, Frank Lloyd Wright,
American master architect and builder, was born. He created "organic
architecture" which included the Guggenheim Museum in New York and
the Robie House in Pennsylvania. [see Jun 8, 1869]
(CFA, '96, p.48)(HN, 6/8/99)
1869 Jun 8, Lloyd Wright
(d.1959), American architect. He designed Taliesin West near
Scottsdale, Arizona on 600 acres in the foothills of the McDowell
Mountains. He also designed the beehive building of the Guggenheim
Museum on 5th Ave in NYC. "Give me the luxuries of life and I will
willingly do without the necessities." [see Jun 8,1867]
(WUD, 1994, p.1647)(AAM, 3/96, p.43)(WSJ,
1869 Jun 8, Ives W. McGaffey of
Chicago patented the 1st vacuum cleaner.
Jun 8, Cochise (b.~1810), Chiricahua Apache war chief (his name
meant “his nose") and leader of the Chokonen band, died on a
reservation in the Dragoon Mountains in southeastern Arizona.
1876 Jun 8, French author
George Sand (b.1804 as Lucile Aurore Dupin Dudevant) died in Nohant,
France. In 1975 Curtis Cate published the biography: "George Sand."
French author. In 1993 Francis Steegmuller and Barbara Bray
published their translation of correspondence between Flaubert and
Sand. In 2000 Belinda Jack authored "George Sand: A Woman’s Life
Writ Large." "I would rather believe that God did not exist than
believe that He was indifferent."
(AP, 6/8/00)(AP, 10/17/98)(SFEC, 8/27/00, BR
p.5)(WSJ, 5/12/07, p.P10)
1894 Jun 8, Erwin Schulhoff
(d.1942), composer, was born in Prague. He composed a body of
jazz-inspired music that included "Rag Music" and "String Quartet
No. 1." http://www.fuguemasters.com/schulhoff.html
(WSJ, 3/14/97, p.A11)
1896 Jun 8, William Jennings
Bryan propelled himself to presidential candidacy when he stood
before the Democratic Convention and made his famous "Cross of Gold"
speech. The paramount issue in the 1896 presidential election was
one of economics--the U.S. government promised to pay the holder of
one dollar bill one dollar in gold. Democrats, farmers and
westerners demanded that the government redeem paper money in silver
as well, while Republicans and easterners protested that this policy
would destroy the economy. It was on this dull, technical issue that
36-year-old William Jennings Bryan, a former congressman from
Nebraska, launched his national political career. When he made his
"Cross of Gold" speech, the Democrats had no strong presidential
candidate. His dramatic words--"You shall not press down upon the
brow of labor this crown of thorns; you shall not crucify mankind
upon a cross of gold!"--electrified his audience and resulted in his
nomination for president in 1896.
1896 Jun 8, The 1st car was
1904 Jun 8, U.S. Marines landed
in Tangiers, Morocco, to protect U.S. citizens.
1905 Jun 8, US Pres. Theodore
Roosevelt offered to act as a mediator in the Russo-Japanese War.
1906 Jun 8, Pres. Theodore
Roosevelt signed the American Antiquities Act, first proposed in
1882. It was used to set aside American resources by executive
order. Roosevelt had urged the passage of the Antiquities Act to
allow the president to designate areas of scientific, historic or
archeological significance as national monuments without the
approval of Congress.
p.A3)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antiquities_Act)(Arch, 1/06, p.4)
1908 Jun 8, King Edward VII of
England visited Czar Nicholas II of Russia in an effort to improve
relations between the two countries.
1913 Jun 8, Emily Wilding
Davison (b.1872), a member of the Women's Social and Political Union
(WSPU), died from injuries 4 days earlier when she tried to block
the path of a racehorse owned by King George V. See link for video
1915 Jun 8, William Jennings
Bryan, Woodrow Wilson's Secretary of State, resigned in a
disagreement over U.S. handling of the sinking of the Lusitania.
[see Jun 7]
(AP, 6/8/97)(HN, 6/8/98)
1916 Jun 8, Francis Crick,
co-discoverer of the structure of DNA (Nobel 1962), was born.
(HN, 6/8/98)(MC, 6/8/02)
1917 Jun 8, Byron R. White
(d.2002), later US Supreme Court Justice (1962-1993), was born in
Fort Collins, Colo.
(SFC, 4/16/02, p.A1)
1918 Jun 8, Robert Preston,
actor (The Music Man), was born.
1921 Jun 8, Suharto (d.2008),
later dictator of Indonesia, was born.
(WP, 6/29/96, p.A20)(AP, 1/27/08)
1924 Jun 8, George Mallory
(38), a British schoolteacher, and Andrew Irvine (28), a student at
Cambridge, attempted to reach the top of Mount Everest from their
camp at 26,800 feet. The body of Mallory was found May 1, 1999 on a
ledge at 27,000 feet. Irvine’s body was not found. Two books were
published in 1999 that used parallel narratives for the 2
expeditions: "The Lost Explorer" by Conrad Anker and David Roberts,
and "Ghosts of Everest" by Jochen Hemmleb, Larry A. Johnson and Eric
R. Simonson (as told to William E. Northdurft). In 2012 Wade Davis
won Britain’s leading nonfiction book prize for “Into the Silence:
The Great War, Mallory and the Conquest of Everest."
(SFC, 5/5/99, p.A10)(WSJ, 12/16/99, p.W10)(SFC,
1925 Jun 8, Barbara Pierce
Bush, first lady to President George Bush, was born. She co-wrote
1927 Jun 8, Jerry Stiller,
comedian (Frank Constanza-Seinfeld), was born in Brooklyn, NY.
1937 Jun 8, Joan Rivers
(comedienne, talk show host: Can We Talk), was born.
1942 Jun 8, Andrew Weil,
physician and author (Spontaneous Healing), was born.
1942 Jun 8, Bing Crosby
recorded "Adeste Fideles" and "Silent Night" in Los Angeles for
1942 Jun 8, In Paris on the
first day Helene Berr was forced to wear the yellow star to
distinguish Jews: "My God, I didn't know this would be so hard. I
was very brave all day. I held my head high and looked people so
straight in the eyes they turned away. But it's hard ... This
morning, I went out with Mother. Two kids in the street pointed at
us saying 'Hey? You see? Jewish.'"
1944 Jun 8, Boz (William)
Scaggs (musician, singer: Lowdown, Lido Shuffle, Look What You've
Done To Me), was born.
1944 Jun 8, The 1st SS-Panzer
Korps counter attack was at Normandy.
1947 Jun 8, Sara Paretsky,
detective novelist, was born.
1948 Jun 8, The "Texaco Star
Theater" made its debut on NBC-TV with Milton Berle hosting the
first program. Although Berle was initially chosen to be only a
guest host, he was named the show’s permanent host the following
September. Sponsors changed and it became "The Buick-Berle Show" and
then just "The Milton Berle Show." The show lasted to 1956.
(SFEC, 5/24/98, DB p.37)(AP, 6/8/98)
1949 Jun 8, Emmanuel Ax,
pianist (Artur Rubinstein Comp-1974), was born in Lvov, Poland.
1950 Jun 8, Alex Van Halen,
drummer for the hard rock group Van Halen, was born.
1951 Jun 8, Paul Bobel, Werner
Braune, Erich Naumann, Otto Ohlendorf, Oswald Pohl, W. Schallenmair
& Otto Schmidt, last Nazi war criminals, were hanged by
Americans at Landsberg Fortress.
1953 Jun 8, The Supreme Court
ruled that restaurants in Washington, D.C. could not refuse to serve
(AP, 6/8/97)(HN, 6/8/98)
1953 Jun 8, A killer tornado
hit Flint, Mich. It killed 116 people and injured more than 850 in
Ohio and Michigan.
(SSFC, 5/11/03, Par p.A11)(Hartford Courant,
1957 Jun 8, Mao ordered an
"anti-rightist" witch hunt and Deng Xiaoping executed it.
1959 Jun 8, The NASA rocket
powered X-15 made its first glide flight.
1965 Jun 8, President Lyndon B.
Johnson authorized commanders in Vietnam to commit U.S. ground
forces to combat.
1966 Jun 8, A merger was
announced between the National and American Football Leagues, to
take effect in 1970.
1966 Jun 8, Gemini astronaut
Gene Cernan attempted to become the first man to orbit the Earth
untethered to a space capsule, but was unable to when he exhausts
himself fitting into his rocket pack.
1966 Jun 8, A tornado hit
Topeka, Kansas, killing 16 people and destroying 820 homes.
(SFC, 6/8/09, p.D8)
1967 Jun 8, On the 4th day of
the Six-Day War Israel captured the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula
from Egypt, as well as the West Bank and Eastern Jerusalem from
Jordan. Israel’s occupation of Gaza continued for the next 38 years.
(SSFC, 6/3/07, p.E6)(Econ, 1/10/09, p.9)
1967 Jun 8, Israeli forces
raided the USS Liberty, a US Navy ship stationed in the
Mediterranean. Israel called the attack a tragic mistake. The
Israeli Air Force attack on the intelligence gathering auxiliary
ship Liberty killed 34 crewmen and wounded 171. The attack took
place on the 4th day of the Six-Day War in international waters off
the coast of Israel. While still a controversy, the official
explanation was that Israel believed the Liberty was an Egyptian
vessel. Commander William L. McGonagle (d.1999 at 73) was awarded
the Medal of Honor for keeping Liberty afloat and remaining on the
bridge for 17 hours despite his own wounds. Israel apologized and
paid over $12 million in compensation.
(AP, 6/8/97)(SFC, 3/9/99, p.A22)(WSJ, 5/9/01,
p.A24)(WSJ, 5/16/01, p.A23)
1968 Jun 8, Authorities
announced the capture in London of James Earl Ray, the suspected
assassin of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
(AP, 6/8/97)(HN, 6/8/98)
1969 Jun 8, President Nixon met
with Nguyen Van Thieu, President of South Vietnam, and informed him
that US troop levels were going to be sharply reduced. During a
joint press conference with Thieu, Nixon announced a policy of
'Vietnamization' of the war and a reduction of US troops in Vietnam.
The first phase of 'Vietnamization' was to include the withdrawal of
25,000 American military personnel.
1972 Jun 8, John Plummer,
helicopter pilot and operations officer in Vietnam, ordered the
bombing of the village of Trang Bang. He did not know that villagers
had taken refuge there. AP photographer Nick Ut took a photo of
screaming children struck by napalm that showed 9-year-old Phan Thi
Kim Phuc standing naked in agony. Alan Downes (1938-1996) filmed
live TV footage of 9-year-old Kim Phuc and other children as they
fled down Highway One in South Vietnam to escape a village under US
napalm attack. On Nov 11, 1996 Plummer met with Phan Thi Kim at the
Vietnam memorial in Washington in reconciliation. It was later
disclosed that the actual pilot responsible was a South Vietnamese
air force officer. In 2000 Denise Chong authored "The Girl in the
Picture: The Story of Kim Phuc and the Photograph That Changed the
course of the Vietnam War."
(SFC, 10/11/96, p.A24)(SFC, 11/12/96, p.A3)(SFEC,
4/13/97, p.A1,12)(SFC,12/18/97, p.A3)(SFEC, 8/20/00, BR p.1)
1977 Jun 8, Protocols I and II
were added to the 1949 Geneva Conventions. They prohibited
environmental damage during int’l. and internal armed conflict.
Protocol I prohibited "widespread, long-term and severe damage to
the environment." Guerrilla warfare was affirmed as a legitimate
means of conflict by the Geneva Conventions in 1977, when prisoner
of war status was extended to guerrilla fighters.
1978 Jun 8, A jury in Clark
County, Nev., ruled the so-called "Mormon will," purportedly written
by the late billionaire Howard Hughes, was a forgery.
1978 Jun 9, Leaders of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints struck down a
148-year-old policy of excluding black men from the Mormon
priesthood. Prophet Spencer Kimball opened the Mormon priesthood to
(AP, 6/9/97)(NW, 9/10/01, p.48)
1982 Jun 8, President Reagan
became the first American chief executive to address a joint session
of the British Parliament.
1982 Jun 8, Leroy Satchel Paige
(b.1906), US baseball pitcher, died.
1986 Jun 8, Kurt Waldheim, an
alleged Nazi, was elected president of Austria.
1987 Jun 8, Fawn Hall began
testifying at the Iran-Contra hearings, describing how, as secretary
to National Security aide Oliver L. North, she helped to shred some
documents and spirit away others.
1988 Jun 8, The judge in the
Iran-Contra conspiracy case ruled that Oliver North, John
Poindexter, Richard Secord and Albert Hakim had to be tried
1989 Jun 8, Chinese Premier Li
Peng appeared on TV, praising a group of army soldiers, apparently
for their role in crushing the student-led pro-democracy movement.
1990 Jun 8, Israeli Prime
Minister Yitzhak Shamir announced he had succeeded in forming a new
right-wing coalition government, ending a three-month-old political
1991 Jun 8, Preakness winner
"Hansel" won the Belmont Stakes.
1991 Jun 8, A victory parade
was held in Washington D-C to honor the veterans of the Persian Gulf
1992 Jun 8, US Secretary of
State James A. Baker III and Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev
met in Washington to try to pave the way for a new round of
strategic arms cuts.
1992 Jun 8, In Egypt two masked
gunmen shot and killed writer Farag Foda.
1993 Jun 8, Los Angeles voters
elected their first registered Republican mayor since 1961, choosing
Richard Riordan over City Councilman Michael Woo.
1993 Jun 8, In New Jersey,
Christie Todd Whitman defeated four other Republicans for the chance
to face Governor Jim Florio in the November election.
1993 Jun 8, In Cairo, Egypt, a
bomb exploded near a tour bus on Pyramids Road killing 2 people and
wounding 22 others.
(WSJ, 10/11/04, p.A17)
1994 Jun 8, President Clinton
returned to Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes scholar, to
receive an honorary doctorate.
1994 Jun 8, Bosnia's warring
factions agreed to a one-month cease-fire.
1995 Jun 8, US Marines rescued
U.S. Air Force pilot Captain Scott O’Grady, whose F-16C fighter jet
had been shot down by Bosnian Serbs on June second.
1995 Jun 8, Mickey Mantle
received a liver transplant at a Dallas hospital; however, the
baseball great succumbed to disease two months later.
(AP, 6/8/00)(HN, 6/8/99)
1996 Jun 8, Editor's Note won
the Belmont Stakes.
1996 Jun 8, Declaring racial
hostility was behind recent church fires in the South, President
Clinton said in his weekly radio address he would devote whatever
resources were needed to "smother the fires of hatred."
1996 Jun 8, Australian
swimmer Susie Maroney began to swim the 110 miles across the Florida
Straits to Key West from Havana, Cuba.
(SFC, 6/9/96, p.A-5)
1996 Jun 8, China set off an
underground nuclear test blast. The Australian Seismological Center
reported a nuclear test by China having a body wave magnitude of
5.7, a middle range explosion, in the Lop Nor area of Xinjiang
Province. This was the 44th test since 1964.
(SFC, 6/8/96, p.A11)(AP, 6/8/06)
1996 Jun 8, General Enrique
Salgado assumed Mexico City’s top police job and indicated that he
would appoint military officers to key public security posts. He
also said that he will stress citizen participation in forming
(SFC, 6/10/96, C16)
1997 Jun 8, Jon Nakamatsu of
San Jose won the Van Cliburn Int’l. Piano Competition in Texas.
(SFC, 6/10/97, p.D1)
1997 Jun 8, Reid Shelton (71),
actor (Daddy Warbucks-Annie), died of stroke.
1997 Jun 8, Irish Prime
Minister John Bruton was defeated in elections. Opposition leader
Bertie Ahern of Fiana Fail, a populist Dubliner, was expected to be
asked to form a new government. Fiana Fail was Ireland’s largest and
traditionally most anti-British party.
(SFC, 6/9/97, p.A10)(SFC, 4/11/98, p.A8)(AP,
1997 Jun 8, In Nigeria Amos
Tutuola, folk writer, died at age 77. Born in Abeokuta his novels
included "The Palmwine Drinkard" and "My Life in the Bush of
(SFC, 6/14/97, p.C2)
1997 Jun 8, In the Republic of
Congo a private militia of 5,000 loyal to former leader Denis
Sassou-Nguesso fought to gain control of Brazzaville. Soldiers loyal
to Pres. Pascal Lissoubax were arming the citizens and looting
(SFC, 6/9/97, p.A10)
1998 Jun 8, Charlton Heston was
installed as the new head of the National Rifle Association (NRA).
(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A4)
1998 Jun 8, The US FTC filed a
suit against Intel Corp. for using its monopoly power to bully other
(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 8, Wells Fargo and
Norwest Corp. reported a merger plan valued at $30-34 billion to
form the nation’s 6th-7th largest bank.
(SFC, 6/8/98, p.A1)(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 8, In New Mexico the
$77 million Sloan Digital Sky Survey was reported to be about to
start probing the universe.
(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A3)
1998 Jun 8, The shuttle
Discovery pulled away from Mir, ending America's three-year space
partnership with Russia.
1998 Jun 8, In Haysville,
Kansas, a Debruce Grain Elevator exploded and killed 2 men. Four
people were trapped in the wreckage. The death toll rose to five
after more victims were found the next day.
(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A6)(SFC, 6/11/98, p.A3)
1998 Jun 8, In Splendora,
Texas, Don Willburn Collins (13) doused Robert Middleton with
gasoline on his 8th birthday and set him on fire. Middleton died in
2011 from skin cancer blamed on burns across 99% of his body. In
2014 a judge ruled that Collins could be tried as an adult.
(SFC, 3/7/14, p.A8)(http://tinyurl.com/mzfz6pk)
1998 Jun 8, Eritrea appealed
for direct talks with Ethiopia to end the border war.
(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A14)
1998 Jun 8, In Mexico Catholic
Bishop Samuel Ruiz resigned as chief mediator in peace negotiations
with the Zapatista guerrillas. The committee that he led also
resigned and accused the government of standing in the way of peace.
(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 8, Nigeria’s Gen’l.
Sani Abacha (54) died of a heart attack in the arms of 2 Indian
prostitutes and a local virgin. Gen’l. Abdulsalam Abubakar, the
defense chief of staff, was quickly named the new head of state.
(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A11)(Econ, 12/18/04, p.62)
1998 Jun 8, In Russia the
number of AIDS was reported to have quadrupled since 1996 to 8,313,
mainly due to intravenous drug-taking.
(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A14)
1998 Jun 8, Larisa Yudina (53),
an independent journalist in Kalmykia, was found dead in a pond with
a fractured skull and multiple stab wounds. She had pursued
investigations of corruption of Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the president of
Kalmykia. The murder was called a political killing. Two aides of
Ilyumzhinov were later arrested by the police and confessed to the
(SFC, 6/13/98, p.A10)(SFC, 6/17/98, p.C2)
1998 Jun 8, It was reported
that Turkish soldiers had killed 37 Kurdish insurgents in the
southeast provinces of Sirnak, Siirt, and Diyarbakir.
(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A14)
1999 Jun 8, President Clinton
announced new restrictions aimed at making it tougher for teens to
sneak into R-rated movies.
1999 Jun 8, The United States,
Russia and six leading democracies authorized a text calling for a
peacekeeping force in Kosovo. The G8 agreed to the context of a UN
Security Council resolution to end the conflict in Kosovo.
(SFC, 6/9/99, p.A1)(AP, 6/8/00)
1999 Jun 8, The WSJ covered the
thong as a fashion statement on page 1.
(WSJ, 6/7/99, p.A1)
1999 Jun 8, Sen. James Inhofe
(R-Okla) blocked all the civilian nominations of Pres. Clinton in
protest of the "recess appointment" of James Hormel.
(SFC, 6/9/99, p.A3)
1999 Jun 8, In Belgium 31
schoolchildren began reporting illnesses from drinking Coca Cola and
prompted the removal of Coca Cola drinks from shelves on June 15.
The problems were traced to defective carbon dioxide in an Antwerp
bottling plant and a chemical contaminant from transport palettes.
14 million cases of Coke were eventually recalled in 5 European
(SFC, 6/16/99, p.B3)(WSJ, 6/29/99, p.A1)
1999 Jun 8, In Chile five
retired army officers were indicted in connection to the executions
of 72 dissidents after a 1973 coup. Indicted were retired Gen'ls.
Sergio Arellano, Pedro Espinoza, retired Cols. Sergio Arredondo,
Marcelo Moren, and retired Capt. Patricio Diaz.
(SFC, 6/9/99, p.C2)
1999 Jun 8, India and Pakistan
agreed to hold talks on Kashmir Jun 11, while India continued
airstrikes and a ground offensive.
(WSJ, 6/9/99, p.A1)
1999 Jun 8, In Lebanon 3 judges
were killed along with a prosecutor in Sidon.
(WSJ, 6/9/99, p.A1)
1999 Jun 8, In Liberia Pres.
Charles Taylor announced that the ECOMAG intervention force would
leave for good on July 26 marking the end of the 7-year civil war.
(SFC, 6/9/99, p.C4)
1999 Jun 8, In Rwanda Charles
Muligande, head of the Rwandan Patriotic Front, said that Tutsi
dominated government had extended its mandate to rule for another 4
(SFC, 6/10/99, p.C3)
2000 Jun 8, Jeff MacNally (52),
Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist, died in Baltimore, Maryland.
2000 Jun 8, In Greece Brigadier
Stephen Saunders (53), a British diplomat, was assassinated in
Athens. The November 17 terrorist group claimed responsibility,
saying it killed Saunders because of his role in NATO airstrikes
against Yugoslavia. In 2002 Iraklis Kostaris was charged with
participating in the murder and Vassilis Xiros confessed to the
(SFC, 6/9/00, p.A14)(AP, 6/8/01)(SFC, 7/22/02,
2000 Jun 8, In Nigeria rioting
in Lagos and a nationwide strike began after a 50% increase in fuel
(SFC, 6/9/00, p.A15)
2000 Jun 8, In Russia Pres.
Putin took personal control over Chechnya. A provisional government
was planned headed by a Kremlin-appointed official.
(SFC, 6/9/00, p.A14)
2000 Jun 8, The UN voted
(Resolution 1302) to extend Iraq’s oil for food program. Over the
next 2 years the extensions were repeated every 180 days.
(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A12)
2001 Jun 8, Five Cuban men were
convicted in the US for operating as unregistered foreign agents.
Gerardo Hernandez (36) was sentenced to life in prison on Dec 12 for
conspiracy in the deaths of 4 aviators shot down by Cuba in 1996.
Antonio Guerrero (43), convicted for spying while working a Navy
base in Florida, was sentenced to life in prison on Dec 27. In 2009
Guerrero’s sentence was reduced to 20 years. Fernando Gonzalez,
known to US authorities by his alias, Ruben Campa, completed his
sentence in 2014 at a prison in Arizona and was deported to Cuba.
(SFC, 12/13/01, p.A4)(SFC, 12/28/01, p.A5)(SFC,
10/14/09, p.A4)(AP, 2/27/14)
2001 Jun 8, British Prime
Minister Tony Blair and his Labour Party swept to a second term,
winning re-election by a crushing margin.
2001 Jun 8, A knife-wielding
man killed eight children at a Japanese elementary school.
2001 Jun 8, In Guatemala 3
soldiers and a priest were found guilty of the 1998 murder of Bishop
Juan Jose Gerardi. The officers were sentenced to 30 years in prison
and Rev. Orantes was sentenced to 20 years. An appeals court in 2002
granted a new trial.
(SFC, 6/9/01, p.A8)(AP, 10/8/02)
2001 Jun 8, In Iran Pres.
Khatami was elected to a 2nd term with nearly 77% of the vote.
(SFC, 6/9/01, p.A8)(SFC, 6/11/01, p.A10)
2001 Jun 8, Irish voters
rejected the EU’s Nice treaty to pave the way for 12 new members.
The Irish reportedly feared immigrants in search of jobs and
participation in an EU Rapid Reaction Force.
(SFC, 6/9/01, p.A9)(Econ, 3/17/07, SR p.10)
2001 Jun 8, A knife-wielding
man killed eight children at a Japanese elementary school.
2001 Jun 8, In Macedonia rebels
seized Aracinovo, 5 miles from Skopje, without firing a shot.
(SFC, 6/13/01, p.D2)
2002 Jun 8, Serena Williams won
the French Open, defeating her older sister, Venus.
2002 Jun 8, "Sarava," a 70-1
shot, captured the 134th running of the Belmont Stakes; Kentucky
Derby and Preakness winner "War Emblem" finished eighth.
(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.A1)(AP, 6/8/03)
2002 Jun 8, Lennox Lewis kept
his heavyweight titles by stopping Mike Tyson in the eighth round of
their fight in Memphis, Tenn.
2002 Jun 8, Pres. Bush met with
Egypt's Pres. Hosni Mubarek at Camp David. Mubarek said Middle East
violence would continue until Israel withdraws from Palestinian
territory and hope for a future is restored to the Palestinian
people. Bush sidestepped Arab pleas to impose a deadline for
Palestinian statehood while Mubarak defended Yasser Arafat and
urged, "Give this man a chance."
(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.A12)(AP, 6/8/03)
2002 Jun 8, The Colorado Hayman
fire began and by June 16 burned 102,000 acres and destroyed at
least 24 homes. It was later reported to have been accidentally set
by Terry Lynn Barton (38), a forest service technician.
(SFC, 6/17/02, p.A1)
2002 Jun 8, A bus filled with
Afghan families returning from Pakistan plunged into the Kabul River
near Sarobi and 67 people were killed.
(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.A18)
2002 Jun 8, Colombian police in
Cali arrested John Fredy Jimenez, the alleged hired assassin who
gunned down Roman Catholic Archbishop Isaias Duarte as he left a
wedding March 16.
2002 Jun 8, Liberian troops
recaptured a northern town believed to have been used by insurgents
as a transit point for supplies and rebels fighters based in
2002 Jun 8, In Mali former
junta leader Amadou Toumani Toure was sworn in for a five-year term
as the new democratically elected president..
2002 Jun 8, Palestinians
entered a Jewish settlement in the West Bank early Saturday and
killed three Israelis in a shooting attack, the military and
paramedics said. Three Israelis and seven armed Palestinians were
(AP, 6/7/02)(AP, 6/9/02)
2002 Jun 8, From Russia it was
reported that Pres. Putin's allies in the Duma kicked out the
Communists of their governing coalition.
(SFC, 6/8/02, p.A14)
2002 Jun 8, Uganda police
reported that more than three dozen people were feared drowned after
a wooden boat capsized in Lake Victoria..
2002 Jun 8-9, A weekend meeting
was held in Tallinn, Estonia, for Baltic and Nordic defense
ministers. Donald Rumsfeld, US Sec. of Defense, attended.
(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.A13)
2003 Jun 8, "Hairspray" took
firm hold of the Tony Awards, collecting eight prizes, including
best musical. Brian Dennehy and Vanessa Redgrave won best actor and
actress for their roles in "Long Day's Journey into Night." The best
play was "Take Me Out," Richard Greenberg's play about a gay
(AP, 6/9/03)(SFC, 6/9/03, p.D9)
2003 Jun 8, A coalition of US
mayors meeting in Denver asked federal officials to bypass state
governments and give them the money they needed to beef up homeland
2003 Jun 8, Annika Sorenstam
won the LPGA Championship for her 5th major title. Spain's Juan
Carlos Ferrero won the French Open men's final over Martin Verkerk.
2003 Jun 8, George Foreman was
inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
2003 Jun 8, Toronto reported
two more SARS deaths, raising the Canadian toll from the deadly
respiratory illness to 33.
2003 Jun 8, In Chechnya the
deputy director of the region's natural gas network was shot and
killed in his home.
2003 Jun 8, China began
building one of the world's longest bridges. The 22-mile, $1.4
billion bridge across Hangzhou Bay, linking Shanghai to the port of
Ningbo, was set for completion in 2009.
(AP, 6/9/03)(SFC, 7/9/03, p.A16)
2003 Jun 8, In Germany storms
left 10 people dead.
(WSJ, 6/10/03, p.A1)
2003 Jun 8, In Quetta,
Pakistan, near the Afghan border 2 gunmen on motorcycles sprayed a
group of policemen with machine-gun fire, killing at least 11
officers and wounding 9.
2003 Jun 8, Three Palestinians
disguised as Israeli military sneaked into an army post and killed 4
soldiers before being killed by troops in the first major attack on
Israelis since last week's Mideast summit. Another Israeli soldier
was killed in Hebron. 6 Palestinians died in the violence.
(AP, 6/8/03)(SFC, 6/9/03, p.A1)
2003 Jun 8, Poland ended a
two-day referendum to join the EU. 76% of the 59.6% turnout voted in
(AP, 6/9/03)(SFC, 6/9/03, p.A7)
2003 Jun 8, In Barcelona,
Spain, more than 7,000 people gathered at daybreak and shed their
clothes to take part in artist Spencer Tunick's largest work yet, an
installation featuring a sea of nude bodies covering a central
2004 Jun 8, John Ashcroft, US
Attorney General, told Congress he would not release a 2002 policy
memo on the degree of pain and suffering legally permitted during
(SFC, 6/9/04, A1)
2004 Jun 8, U.S.-led troops
backed by jet fighters and helicopters killed 21 Taliban militants,
after rebels attacked a convoy in the mountains of southern
2004 Jun 8, Britain planned to
give an extra 15 million pounds (27 million dollars) in relief aid
to Sudan's crisis-hit Darfur region.
2004 Jun 8, In Ecuador foreign
ministers from around the Americas declared war on the deeply
ingrained corruption in the region at the end of a two-day meeting
2004 Jun 8, In Gabon a small
airliner crashed after takeoff from Libreville. At least 14 of 30
people aboard were killed.
(WSJ, 6/9/04, p.A1)
2004 Jun 8, Two volcanoes in
separate parts of Indonesia shot forth plumes of smoke and showers
of stones, killing two hikers and forcing the evacuation of 5,000
2004 Jun 8, Iraqi officials
declared that the interim government has assumed full control of the
country's oil industry.
2004 Jun 8, In Iraq 3 Italians
and a Polish contractor who'd been abducted were freed by US special
2004 Jun 8, In Iraq 2 car bombs
exploded in Mosul and Baquoba, killing at least 14 Iraqis and one
U.S. soldier. 6 coalition soldiers, two Poles, three Slovaks and a
Latvian, were killed in an explosion while defusing mines in
2004 Jun 8, In Saudi Arabia an
American citizen who worked for a US defense contractor was shot and
killed in Riyadh.
2004 Jun 8, In Venezuela,
elections officials said President Hugo Chavez must face a recall
vote on Aug 15. Should Chavez lose a recall before Aug. 19, the
completion of the fourth year of his six-year term, presidential
elections would be held within a month. After Aug 19, Chavez's vice
president, Jose Vicente Rangel, would serve out the remainder of
2004 Jun 8, The Zimbabwe
government announced that all farmland will be nationalized and
private land ownership abolished. Title deeds of farm properties
will be scrapped and replaced by 99-year leases with rent payable to
2004 Jun 8, Venus made a rare
transit across face of the sun.
2004 Jun 8, The UN voted 15-0
to accept a US and British resolution to end the formal
co-occupation of Iraq on June 30.
(SFC, 6/9/04, A1)
2005 Jun 8, The US Senate
confirmed California judge Janice Rogers Brown for the federal
appeals court, ending a two-year battle.
2005 Jun 8, Former Boston
Bruins star Cam Neely, the late Valeri Kharlamov and Murray Costello
were named to the Hockey Hall of Fame.
2005 Jun 8, Seagate introduced
a disk drive for notebook computers that stores 160 gigabytes of
data. It used new technology called perpendicular recording.
(WSJ, 6/9/05, p.B7)
2005 Jun 8, The WWF
conservation group reported that fishing nets claim the lives of
some 1,000 whales, dolphins and porpoises around the world each day.
(WSJ, 6/9/05, p.A1)
2005 Jun 8, In eastern
Afghanistan rebel rockets struck US troops unloading supplies from a
helicopter, killing two and wounding 8.
2005 Jun 8, In Brazil the top
financial officer for Pres. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's Workers’
Party denied paying off congressmen to keep the fragile governing
coalition alive, making a bid to contain political damage from an
alleged bribes-for-votes scandal. This came to be called the
mensalao (“big monthly stipend") scandal.
(AP, 6/8/05)(Economist, 9/29/12, p.42)
2005 Jun 8, Security forces
opened fire on stone-throwing demonstrators in Ethiopia, killing 26
people in a third day of protests over election results.
(AP, 6/8/05)(WSJ, 6/10/05, p.A1)
2005 Jun 8, French PM Dominique
de Villepin easily won a parliamentary vote of confidence after
announcing a job creation plan worth $5.5 billion.
2005 Jun 8, In Haiti Butteur
Metayer (34), a gang leader who started the uprising that led to the
ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, died of kidney failure.
2005 Jun 8, In India a bus hit
a high voltage wire, killing 11 passengers and injuring 15 others in
the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.
2005 Jun 8, An American-Iraqi
offensive killed at least 10 militants, including four blown apart
by their own car bomb.
2005 Jun 8, In Mexico Alejandro
Dominguez took office as police chief of Nuevo Laredo, saying he
wasn't afraid of anything. Nine hours later, he was ambushed and
killed by gunmen who fired some three dozen times.
2005 Jun 8, Nepalese police
arrested 53 journalists as they protested press restrictions.
2005 Jun 8, In Nigeria 5 men
and one woman were shot dead in the poor Apo neighborhood Abuja.
Police initially said they were armed robbers caught in the act, but
an inquiry established that they were unarmed. In Dec Nigeria
apologized to the families of the people who were shot dead and
offered them 3 million naira ($22,600) each, setting a precedent in
a country where police brutality is a fact of daily life.
2005 Jun 8, In Norway US
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and his Norwegian counterpart
on signed an agreement allowing the US military to continue storing
2005 Jun 8, In Palestine 3
workers at a Jewish settlement in Gaza were killed in a Palestinian
mortar strike, two West Bank militants were shot dead by soldiers
and an infiltrator from Egypt to Gaza was gunned down by Israeli
2005 Jun 8, A 2-day conference
on racism sponsored by the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe (OSCE) opened in Cordoba, Spain.
2006 Jun 8, The US offered a
reward of up to $5 million for information leading to the capture of
Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sanchez, a reputed Mexican drug cartel
chieftain, whose group allegedly smuggles tons of cocaine and
marijuana north each year.
2006 Jun 8, The US FDA approved
the vaccine Gardasil, developed by Merck to prevent most cases of
(SFC, 6/9/06, p.A1)
2006 Jun 8, A jury in Memphis,
Tenn., convicted former state Sen. Roscoe Dixon for his role in the
Tennessee Waltz bribery sting. He was convicted on all five counts,
which centered on accepting $9,500 in bribe money to influence
legislation that would have been beneficial to E-Cycle Management
Inc., a fake company the FBI created to orchestrate the Waltz sting.
(http://tinyurl.com/kt8od)(WSJ, 6/9/06, p.A1)
2006 Jun 8, Richard Miller,
writer, died in Monterey, Ca. His 13 books included “Bohemia: The
Protoculture Then and Now" (1977).
(SFC, 6/17/06, p.B5)
2006 Jun 8, Afghan troops
killed 13 suspected Taliban rebels including two Pakistani nationals
in an operation in southern Afghanistan. The US military released 33
Afghans from a prison at Bagram Air Base. Violence killed nine
people around Afghanistan, including a regional security director
and two Afghan aid workers.
(AFP, 6/9/06)(AP, 6/9/06)
2006 Jun 8, In Azerbaijan the
Presidents Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Valdas Adamkus of
Lithuania met in the presence of the two countries’ delegations
following a one-on-one meeting.
2006 Jun 8, Sheikha Haya Rashed
Al Khalifa, a pioneering lawyer and women's rights advocate from
Bahrain, was elected UN General Assembly president, the first woman
from the Middle East to take the post.
2006 Jun 8, A boat carrying
more than 70 people capsized in rough waters off Bangladesh's coast.
Rescuers recovered at least 16 bodies.
2006 Jun 8, In southern China
the bank of a rain-swollen river collapsed, flooding 11 villages
filled with sleeping people and causing an unknown number of deaths
2006 Jun 8, Fu Xiancai (47) was
called into the Zigui County Public Security Bureau in Hubei
province and criticized for his television appearance in which he
criticized the government's treatment of people who were forced to
relocate as a result of the Three Gorges dam project. He was
attacked after leaving the police station and was paralyzed after
assailants broke his neck. On July 26 the head of the security
bureau's forensics department and another county official said that
experts concluded the injuries were self-inflicted.
2006 Jun 8, The European
Central Bank (ECB) meeting in Madrid raised its key interest rate by
a quarter point to 2.75% amid worries that high oil prices would
spur inflation. Stock markets in Asia tumbled to their lowest levels
in months and European shares also declined amid anxiety that
possible US interest rates hikes will slow global growth.
(SFC, 6/9/06, p.D3)(AP, 6/8/06)(Econ, 6/10/06,
2006 Jun 8, It was reported
that pollution in Hong Kong is worse than Los Angeles, the most
polluted city in the United States, and claims around 2,000 lives a
2006 Jun 8, Pres. Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad said Iran was ready to discuss "mutual concerns" over
his country's nuclear program, but he refused to first suspend
2006 Jun 8, Iraq's parliament
approved three new key ministers, including a Sunni Arab to head the
defense ministry. Bombs struck a busy outdoor market and a police
patrol in a mostly Shiite area of Baghdad. At least five bombs, most
them packed in vehicles, detonated in and around Baghdad, killing at
least 40 people. Gunmen kidnapped Muthanna al-Badri, a senior Iraqi
oil official in Baghdad, as he was returning home from work. In
Ghalbiyah, near where al-Zarqawi was killed, five civilians were
killed and three were wounded in a firefight.
(AP, 6/8/06)(AP, 6/9/06)
2006 Jun 8, The Israeli
military struck a PRC training camp in the southern Gaza town of
Rafah. Abu Samhadana (43), Hamas government's top security chief,
was killed when four missiles struck. 3 other militants were also
killed and 10 wounded. Palestinians fired 2 rockets into Israel
hitting a building in Sderot.
2006 Jun 8, In Nigeria
militants released one Nigerian and five South Korean gas workers
after a plea from the jailed militant leader in whose name they were
2006 Jun 8, The Hamas-led
government's 3,000-member private militia showed no signs of
withdrawing from Gaza's streets despite a deal with the rival Fatah
movement to remove it from public areas.
2006 Jun 8, Breakaway factions
from two rebel groups that rejected last month's peace accord for
Sudan's violence-riven Darfur region signed declarations committing
themselves to the pact. Southern Sudanese leaders said they are
organizing peace talks with the rebel Lord's Resistance Army and the
Ugandan government to try to end the brutal war in northern Uganda
that has spilled across the border into their own country.
2007 Jun 8, The US froze bank
accounts of four Iran banks tied to Tehran’s nuclear efforts. Iran
confirmed for the first time that it is holding Ali Shakeri of Lake
Forest, Calif., an Iranian-American peace activist, the fourth dual
citizen it has detained in recent months.
(WSJ, 6/9/07, p.A1)(AP, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 8, US Defense
Secretary Robert Gates said that bitter divisions over the Iraq war
on Capitol Hill led the Bush administration to replace Gen. Peter
Pace with Adm. Mike Mullen, currently chief of naval operations.
2007 Jun 8, Mary Winkler, who'd
killed her preacher husband with a shotgun blast to the back as he
lay in bed, was sentenced in Selmer, Tenn., to three years in
prison. She ended up serving 67 days in custody, 12 in jail and the
rest in a mental health facility.
2007 Jun 8, Paris Hilton was
sent screaming and crying back to jail after a judge in Los Angeles
ruled she had to serve out her sentence for a probation violation
behind bars rather than under house arrest.
2007 Jun 8, A European
investigator issued a report saying the CIA ran secret prisons in
Poland and Romania from 2003 to 2005 to interrogate detainees in the
war on terror.
2007 Jun 8, Two inmates escaped
while working at the Montana State Prison ranch near Deer Lodge. On
June 13 authorities captured Kelly A. Frank and William J. Willcutt.
Frank was once accused of plotting to kidnap the son and nanny of
(SFC, 6/14/07, p.A2)
2007 Jun 8, A patched-up
Atlantis blasted off with seven astronauts on the first space
shuttle flight of 2007, an 11-day space station-building mission.
(AP, 6/8/07)(WSJ, 6/9/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 8, Thomas G. Ayers
(b.1915), former chief executive of Chicago’s Commonwealth Edison,
died. Ayers retired a year after the 1979 accident at Three Mile
(WSJ, 6/30/07, p.A4)
2007 Jun 8, Richard Rorty
(b.1931), philosophy professor, died in Palo Alto, Ca. His books
included “Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature" (1979). In 2008 Neil
Gross authored “Richard Rorty: The Making of an American
(SFC, 6/11/07, p.A2)(Econ, 6/14/08, p.103)
2007 Jun 8, Afghan Attorney
General Abdul Jabar Sabet, a critic of some of the country's
factional leaders and former warlords, was set upon in the middle of
a traffic jam just outside Kabul by Gen. Din Mohammad Jurat, a
senior official at the Interior Ministry. A roadside bomb exploded
in Kandahar's Panjwayi district, killing three police officers and
wounding four in a police vehicle. In the Spin Boldak district a
roadside bomb killed two policemen and wounded three others in a
border police vehicle.
(Reuters, 6/8/07)(AP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 8, Foreign Minister
Elmar Mammadyarov said that Azerbaijan is ready to consider proposed
joint US-Russian use of a radar facility in the country as part of a
missile defense system.
2007 Jun 8, A wild storm lashed
Australia's east coast, killing at least five people. The Pasha
Bulker, massive coal ship, was pushed onto a sand bank off the port
city of Newcastle, some 90 miles north of Sydney.
2007 Jun 8, The Royal Navy's
largest and most powerful attack submarine, the giant
nuclear-powered HMS Astute, was given a beery royal launch.
2007 Jun 8, In Chile former
Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori was put back under house arrest,
a day after a Chilean prosecutor recommended his extradition to face
charges of human rights abuses and corruption in his home country.
2007 Jun 8, In southern China
thousands of workers, mostly women, at a plastic Christmas tree
factory clashed with police after a 10-day strike.
2007 Jun 8, In Germany the
leaders of the G8 met with African leaders on their summit's
concluding day, agreeing on a $60 billion package to fight disease
in Africa as diplomats worked behind the scenes on a possible deal
with Russia over Kosovo's future. The G8 powers called for action
against "the perpetrators of atrocities" in Darfur and said it would
back UN action against the Sudanese government and rebel groups if
the conflict is not ended. President Bush was ill and stayed in his
room after meeting privately with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
(AP, 6/8/07)(AFP, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 8, It was reported
that the student wing of the Shiv Sena party, a right-wing Hindu
group, has asked public Internet centers in India to partly block
access to Orkut, and is making a software to monitor abusive
communities on the popular social networking site operated by
2007 Jun 8, In Indonesia Dago
Simamora (59), a junior high-school teacher in South Sumatra, was
shot dead by a killer on a motorcycle. It was later alleged that he
was killed because he was accused of trying to convert girls in his
class to Christianity. In 2009 ten members of the Palembang jihadist
group that killed him were jailed on terrorism charges. One member
said: “Dago Simamora was killed because he forbade his students to
wear headscarves at school."
(Econ, 9/12/09, SR
2007 Jun 8, Carloads of
attackers descended on a police chief's house outside Baqouba at
dawn, killing the official's wife, two brothers and 11 guards, and
kidnapping three of his grown children. A parked minibus exploded at
a bus terminal in the town of Qurnah, and a hospital director said
at least 16 people were killed and 32 wounded. Bombings struck a
Shiite mosque in a town near the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, killing at
least 13 people and wounding 14. Unknown gunmen speeding by in the
northern city of Kirkuk shot and killed a soldier, Adnan Mahmoud, as
he drove with his 2-year-old daughter. The child also was killed.
2007 Jun 8, In Italy the first
trial involving the CIA's extraordinary rendition program opened in
the absence of all 26 American defendants accused of kidnapping an
Egyptian terrorist suspect.
2007 Jun 8, The Japanese
government donated 9.25 million dollars (6.42 million euros) to
UNICEF to support its child survival programs in Nigeria.
2007 Jun 8, Japan’s Inamori
Foundation announced that a California-based earthquake scientist,
Japanese chemist and German choreographer have won the $410,000
Kyoto Prize for achievement in the arts and sciences. The basic
sciences award went to Hiroo Kanamori of the California Institute of
Technology for his research on major earthquakes along the Pacific
Rim; Hiroo Inokuchi at the University of Tokyo received the advanced
technology award for his work in organic electronics; German
choreographer Pina Bausch was awarded the arts and philosophy prize
for her pioneering work in developing a new genre of ballet dubbed
"Tanztheater," or dance theater. The prizes were awarded on Nov 10.
(AP, 6/9/07)(AP, 11/11/07)
2007 Jun 8, Lebanese troops
battled al-Qaida-inspired militants in a Palestinian refugee camp
where violence has raged for three weeks. The clashes in northern
Lebanon came hours after a bombing in a Christian town northeast of
Beirut killed at least one man.
2007 Jun 8, It was reported
that Libya, citing cost and liability concerns, has informed the
United States of plans to back out of a contract to destroy its
mustard gas stocks as promised under a landmark 2003 agreement.
2007 Jun 8, In Pakistan's
southwestern Baluchistan province 3 people were killed and five
wounded when a roadside bomb blasted a passing bus.
2007 Jun 8, South Korea lifted
a de facto ban on American beef imports, after the US confirmed that
only two shipments meant for domestic consumption were exported
2007 Jun 8, Spanish police
arrested Arnaldo Otegi (48), the Basque separatist movement's most
prominent politician, on a court order for him to start serving a
15-month sentence for defending terrorism. A judge indicted 32
people on charges of belonging to or collaborating with a militant
group working in Spain to recruit fighters for al-Qaida in Iraq.
(AP, 6/8/07)(AP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 8, Sri Lanka's highest
court ordered police to stop expelling Tamils from the capital.
2007 Jun 8, The Zimbabwean
government published a draft bill to amend the country's
constitution, provide for harmonized presidential and parliamentary
polls and reduce the presidential term. A party spokesman said 11
Zimbabwean opposition supporters, who had been detained for two
months for an alleged "terrorism" plot, have been released after a
court ordered the charges to be dropped.
(AFP, 6/8/07)(AFP, 6/9/07)
2008 Jun 8, The new $47.5
million SF Contemporary Jewish Museum, designed by Daniel Libeskind,
opened on Jessie Square next to St. Patrick’s Church on Mission St.
It was created in the former 1907 PG&E power station designed by
(SSFC, 6/8/08, p.A1)
2008 Jun 8, Iowa schoolteachers
John (55) and Nancy (49) Vogel set off with their two twins (10),
Daryl and Davy, on a 3-year bicycle trip from Alaska to Argentina.
They expected to complete the trip in March, 2011.
(SSFC, 8/15/10, Par
2008 Jun 8, In Ohio a small
plane crashed in a residential area of Sandusky County and all 6
people aboard were killed.
(SFC, 6/9/08, p.A5)
2008 Jun 8, In Oklahoma Taylor
Placker (13) and Skyla Whitaker (11) were murdered on an unpaved
road in Weleetka. On Dec 9, 2011, authorities announced murder
charges against Kevin Sweat (25), who was already in custody in
connection with the July 17 death of his girlfriend, Ashley Taylor
(SFC, 12/10/11, p.A6)(http://tinyurl.com/6lne9lz)
2008 Jun 8, In Texas a medical
helicopter crashed on an isolated ranch in Sam Houston National
Forest, killing a patient and three crew members.
2008 Jun 8, In the Gulf of
Mexico 4 college students from Texas and a safety officer were
rescued after spending some 26 hours in choppy seas following the
sinking of their 38-foot Cynthia Woods, which was competing in the
Regatta de Amigos. Safety officer Roger Stone died in the capsized
(SFC, 6/9/08, p.A3)
2008 Jun 8, Wicked weekend
storms pounded the US from the Midwest to the East Coast, forcing
hundreds of people to flee flooded communities, spawning tornadoes
that tore up houses and killing at least eight people in Indiana
(1), Michigan (6), Connecticut (1). Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle
declared a state of emergency in 29 counties and President Bush
declared a major disaster in 29 Indiana counties, freeing up aid.
Iowa Gov. Chet Culver declared an emergency in nearly a third of the
state's 99 counties.
2008 Jun 8, In Afghanistan the
body of Abdul Samad Rohani (25), an Afghan reporter for the BBC, was
found in Helmand province. 3 British paratroopers were killed in
Helmand province in a suicide bomb attack, bringing total British
military deaths in Afghanistan since 2001 to 100.
(AFP, 6/8/08)(AP, 6/9/08)
2008 Jun 8, In Algeria 2 bombs
exploded at a railway station east of Algiers reportedly killing 13
people. Officials the next day said only 2 people, a French engineer
and his driver, were killed in the bombings.
(Reuters, 6/8/08)(AP, 6/9/08)
2008 Jun 8, Burundi's top rebel
leader and the government's chief negotiator pledged to work to end
15 years of civil war as they arrived in South Africa for talks on
the country's peace process.
2008 Jun 8, In southwestern
Greece a strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.5
struck near the port city of Patras, killing at least two people and
injuring more than 200.
(AP, 6/8/08)(SFC, 6/10/08, p.A10)
2008 Jun 7, In Hong Kong a
routine inspection found chickens infected with H5N1 bird flu in a
poultry market. Authorities slaughtered 2,700 birds and banned live
poultry imports from China.
(WSJ, 6/9/08, p.A12)
2008 Jun 8, An unidentified
gunman shot and killed a police officer in the city of Nazran in the
province of Ingushetia.
2008 Jun 8, A blast just
outside Baghdad's Green Zone killed three civilians and wounded 10.
6 shepherds were killed execution-style before dawn by suspected
militants linked to al-Qaida masquerading as fellow herders east of
Baghdad. The US military captured six more suspected Sunni
extremists in Mosul, including an alleged al-Qaida in Iraq leader
and another man who is a wiring expert in charge of a bombing cell
there. In northern Tamim province a suicide truck bomber, with
explosives concealed under tanned animal hides, struck a US patrol
base killing one US soldier and wounding 18 other Americans.
2008 Jun 8, G8 leaders meeting
in Japan pledged to fight skyrocketing energy prices by increasing
efficiency and accelerating investment in new technologies, while
urging producers to expand production.
2008 Jun 8, In Tokyo police
arrested Tomohiro Kato, a blood-spattered 25-year-old man, who they
said drove a truck into a crowd of people, then got out and began a
frenzied knife attack stabbing 17 people leaving at least 7 dead. On
March 24, 2011, a court sentenced the former auto plant worker to
(Reuters, 6/8/08)(WSJ, 6/9/08, p.A1)(SFC,
6/10/08, p.A3)(AFP, 3/24/11)
2008 Jun 8, Malawi began its
fifth census since its 1964 independence from Britain, a decade
after the last head count was held in the AIDS-blighted and
2008 Jun 8, In the Philippines
a television news team was abducted in Sulu province by armed men,
believed to be members of Abu Sayaf. A cameraman was released on
June 12, but 2 colleagues remained captive.
(SFC, 6/11/08, p.A15)(AP, 6/13/08)
2008 Jun 8, In Somalia 12
civilians were killed in Mogadishu in a cross fire between troops
and suspected Islamic insurgents.
(SFC, 6/9/08, p.A11)
2008 Jun 8, The leaders of
Sudan's northern and southern halves signed an agreement to settle a
dispute over the oil-rich Abyei region that, if implemented, could
stop the nation's slide back into civil war.
2008 Jun 8, In Tanzania a
growing criminal trade in albino body parts was reported to have led
to 19 killings over the past year. By the end of the year at least
35 albinos were reportedly murdered to supply witch doctors with
limbs, organs and hair for their potions.
(SSFC, 6/8/08, p.A22)(Econ, 1/17/09, p.50)
2008 Jun 8, In eastern Ukraine
a powerful explosion tore through a mine, trapping at least 37
miners who had been making repairs to improve safety conditions in
the mine. 23 miners were rescued on June 9.
(AP, 6/8/08)(Reuters, 6/9/08)
2008 Jun 8, Venezuelan
President Hugo Chavez urged Colombian rebels to lay down their
weapons, unilaterally free dozens of hostages and end a decades-long
2009 Jun 8, The US border
patrol said a Mexican truck driver was arrested over the weekend at
a checkpoint in San Diego County after 73 illegal Mexican immigrants
were found in the back of his rig.
(SFC, 6/9/09, p.A5)
2009 Jun 8, Royal Dutch Shell
agreed In NYC to a $15.5 million settlement to end a lawsuit
alleging that the oil giant was complicit in the executions of
activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and other civilians by Nigeria's former
2009 Jun 8, New Jersey
officials broke ground for a new tunnel under the Hudson River
linking to NYC. The $8.7 billion project was expected to be
completed in 2017.
(SFC, 6/8/09, p.A6)
2009 Jun 8, North Carolina
State Univ. terminated former first lady Mary Easley’s
$170,000-a-year job after e-mails showed that former Gov. Mike
Easley had served as an intermediary when the school hire her.
(SFC, 6/9/09, p.A5)
2009 Jun 8, In Kansas David Lee
Gage of Wichita (52) was found dead of suicide in his jail cell. He
had faced nearly 30 years in prison for raping 3 women who had
advertised erotic services on Craigslist.
(SFC, 6/10/09, p.A5)
2009 Jun 8, Harold Norse
(b.1916 as Harold Rosen), SF-based Beat poet, died. His books
included “Beat Hotel" (1960), an experimental cut-up novel, and
“Hotel Nirvana: Selected Poems: 1953-1973)" (1974).
2009 Jun 8, Brazilian and
French ships recovered 8 more bodies from Air France Flight 447,
bringing the total recovered to 24. The tail section of the plane
was also recovered. The plane disappeared during a flight from Rio
de Janeiro to Paris on May 31 amid strong thunderstorms.
(AP, 6/9/09)(SFC, 6/9/09, p.A3)
2009 Jun 8, Final election
results showed a British far-right party won its first-ever
parliamentary seats in EU elections. The British National Party,
which does not accept nonwhite members and calls for the "voluntary
repatriation" of immigrants, won two of Britain's 72 seats in the
European Parliament. Austria's Freedom Party, which also campaigned
on an anti-Islam platform, more than doubled its share of the vote
to 13.1%. Hungary's Jobbik party, which describes itself as
Euro-skeptic and anti-immigration and wants police to crack down on
what it calls "Gypsy crime," won three of the country's 22 seats and
almost 15% of the vote. The Greater Romania Party, which is, among
other things, pro-religion, anti-gay and anti-Hungarian, made
surprise gains, winning almost 9% of the vote and taking two of
Romania's 33 seats. A bloc of center-right parties remained the
(AP, 6/8/09)(Econ, 11/14/09, p.63)
2009 Jun 8, In Britain van
maker LDV was placed in administration after the collapse of a
rescue deal by Malaysian firm Weststar collapsed. Up to 850 jobs and
thousands more in the supply chain were threatened. The company,
owned by Russian giant GAZ, applied to Birmingham County Court for
administrators to be appointed.
2009 Jun 8, The Wall Street
Journal reported that China will require all personal computers sold
in the country from July 1 to come with software that blocks access
to certain websites. The program aimed to prevent the spread of
pornography and other "unhealthy" content. On June 16 the government
backed away from the order required use of installation of the Green
Dam Youth Escort software, but the software would come pre-installed
or included with all PCs sold on the mainland as of July 1.
(AFP, 6/8/09)(AP, 6/9/09)(SFC, 6/17/09, p.C3)
2009 Jun 8, Cuba formally
rejected an offer to rejoin the Organization of American States
(OAS), echoing the sentiments of Fidel Castro who has long
maintained his island has no use for the group.
2009 Jun 8, In Egypt at least
18 factory workers were killed when their bus collided with a truck
in the Nile Delta.
2009 Jun 8, Gabon Pres. Omar
Bongo (b.1935), the world's longest-serving president, died at a
hospital in Spain. His 42-year rule reflected an era when Africa was
ruled by "Big Men." He left behind at least 66 bank accounts. The
first family owned 45 homes in France, including at least 14 in
Paris and 11 on the French Riviera. And they boasted of 19 or more
luxury cars, including a Bugatti sports model that cost the Republic
of Gabon $1.5 million.
(AP, 6/8/09)(AP, 6/20/09)(Econ, 6/20/09, p.90)
2009 Jun 8, In Hong Kong an
unidentified assailant hurled acid in the busy Mong Kok shopping
district, injuring 24 pedestrians including a 4-year old girl. It
was the third in a series of acid attacks that have hurt some 100
2009 Jun 8, In Iraq a bomb tore
through a minibus during morning rush hour in a mainly Shiite area
in Baghdad, killing at least nine people and wounding 24.
2009 Jun 8, In Indian Kashmir
security forces opened fire on protesters, wounding at least seven
people, including two critically, in the worst clash since unrest
broke out last week over the deaths of two young women.
2009 Jun 8, In Malawi an
international organization began moving more than 60 elephants from
Phirilongwe village, south of Lake Malawi, to the Majete Wildlife
Reserve. Local farmers had used violence to protect their crops from
raids by the elephants, and at least 10 people and a number of
elephants have recently died in such confrontations.
2009 Jun 8, In Mexico gunmen
launched grenades and opened fire in near simultaneous attacks on
two police stations in Acapulco, killing three officers in violence
that broke out less than 48 hours after a gunbattle in the resort
left 17 dead.
2009 Jun 8, In Nepal a strike
called by Maoist sympathizers paralyzed large swathes of Nepal,
forcing schools and businesses to shut and stranding tourists.
2009 Jun 8, North Korea
convicted Laura Ling and Euna Lee, American journalists for former
Vice President Al Gore's San Francisco-based Current TV media
venture, and sentenced them to 12 years of hard labor for crossing
into its territory, intensifying the reclusive nation's
confrontation with the United States.
2009 Jun 8, In Norway Georg
Mueller (58) stepped down as bishop in the western city of
Trondheim. On April 7, 2010, Norway’s Catholic Church said he did so
after admitting he had molested a child years earlier, when he was a
2009 Jun 8, Gaza militants
equipped with explosives-laden horses approached the Israeli border,
igniting a battle that left four gunmen dead.
2009 Jun 8, In Peru indigenous
leader Alberto Pizango sought refuge at Nicaragua's embassy in Lima.
Nicaragua granted Pizango political asylum but he remained at the
embassy, awaiting Peru's agreement to allow him safe passage out of
2009 Jun 8, Interfax news
agency reported that Russian forces have killed Doku Umarov, the
leader of the Chechen separatist movement.
2009 Jun 8, Sudan passed an
amended version of a media bill that sparked protests in Khartoum
last month, but the new version failed to allay the fears of many
2009 Jun 8, In Thailand gunmen
opened fire on a mosque in Narathiwat province’s Hoh-I-Rong district
killing at least 10 people and wounding 19 others.
(SFC, 6/9/09, p.A2)
2010 Jun 8, The US Supreme
Court derailed a key part of Arizona's campaign finance system by at
least temporarily blocking extra money for publicly funded
candidates outspent by privately financed rivals or targeted by
independent groups' spending.
2010 Jun 8, Voters in 12 states
expressed their anger with Washington and special interests by
defeating a $10 million union campaign to unseat Arkansas, Sen.
Blanche Lincoln (D), who had the courage to stand up against their
special interest legislation, promoting women outsiders who have run
public companies but never held office, and supporting candidates
aligned with Tea Party values. In the California governor’s
race, Meg Whitman’s victory over state insurance commissioner Steve
Poizner places her in a faceoff against the quintessential career
politician—Jerry Brown, governor of California from 1975 to 1983,
then mayor of Oakland and now the state attorney general.
2010 Jun 8, Nader Modanlo, a
Potomac, Md., resident, was arrested on charges he secretly brokered
the launch from Russia of the first Iranian-owned satellite in 2005,
in violation of the US sanctions against Iran. His trial was
expected to begin in October 2012.
2010 Jun 8, General Motors Co.
said it was recalling about 1.5 million vehicles worldwide to
address a problem with a heated windshield wiper fluid system that
could lead to a fire, its second recall over the issue in two years.
2010 Jun 8, In Afghanistan 2
American troops were killed by a roadside bomb and a British soldier
was shot dead on patrol. Kandahar's provincial government said in a
statement that Afghan and NATO troops had battled Taliban militants
in the Mianshen district, killing 14 insurgents. The Interior
Ministry said seven Afghan private security guards were killed two
separate attacks in eastern Ghazni province.
2010 Jun 8, In northeastern
Brazil Jose Agostinho Pereira (54) was jailed for keeping his
daughter imprisoned for 12 years in a remote fishing village. Police
said he had raped her repeatedly and had seven children with her.
The man was also accused of abusing a young girl he had with his
daughter. In Feb, 2011, Pereira was decapitated by fellow inmates
who broke into his cell in the city of Pinheiro.
(AP, 6/9/10)(AP, 2/9/11)
2010 Jun 8, Britain’s
state-owned bank Northern Rock said that it plans to cut up to 650
jobs by the end of 2010 as part of an ongoing restructuring process
after a government bailout.
2010 Jun 8, Britain’s Anglican
Communion suspended US Episcopalians from serving on ecumenical
bodies because of the election of lesbian Rev. Canon Mary Glasspool
as an assistant bishop in Los Angeles on June 5.
(SFC, 6/9/10, p.A2)
2010 Jun 8, China's Xinhua news
agency said iPhone maker Foxconn International Holdings will no
longer pay compensation to families of employees who kill themselves
to discourage further suicides. Foxconn employed some 800,000
people, half of whom worked and lived in Shenzhen’s Foxconn City.
(Reuters, 6/8/10)(Econ, 5/29/10, p.67)
2010 Jun 8, In China a couple
attacked two judges and four court officers with sulphuric acid as
they were attempting to seize their home in southern Guangxi
province over a loan dispute.
2010 Jun 8, A report by the
European Coalition on Oil in Sudan (ECOS) charged that a consortium
led by Swedish Lundin Petroleum is partly to blame for war
crimes committed in Sudan between 1997 and 2003.
2010 Jun 8, In Egypt Coptic
Pope Shenouda rejected a court ruling that Coptic men could remarry
following divorce, except in cases of separation following adultery,
saying the decision was against the church's principles and
reflected interference in its affairs.
2010 Jun 8, In France Maurice
Dufresse, a former agent for the DGSE counterintelligence agency,
was detained for questioning. The Defense Ministry had filed a
complaint against Dufresse, who wrote his book "Twenty-Five Years in
the Secret Services" under the pen-name Pierre Siramy. Among other
things, the book describes how spies recruit sources and various
2010 Jun 8, France officially
opened up its online gaming market, granting 17 licenses to 11
operators three days before the start of the soccer World Cup in
South Africa. Online betting on horses, sport and poker was
(AFP, 6/8/10)(Econ, 7/17/10, p.70)
2010 Jun 8, Hungary's new PM
Victor Orban said he would cut public wages, overhaul the tax system
and ban mortgage lending in foreign currencies as he strove to
reassure nervous investors he can contain the budget deficit. Orban
said he would introduce a flat 16 percent income tax.
2010 Jun 8, In Iraq 5 people
were killed, including a policeman and a soldier, in bomb attacks
and shootings in and around Baghdad.
2010 Jun 8, Israeli settlers
clashed with police after the demolition of two shacks built in the
West Bank settlement of Beit El.
2010 Jun 8, In Mexico six
inmates had their throats cut and died in a prison in Culiacan,
2010 Jun 8, The Pakistani
Taliban staged a public execution in front of hundreds of tribesmen
in North Waziristan after an Islamic court convicted the man of
killing two brothers.
2010 Jun 8, In the Philippines
a congressional count said Benigno Aquino III won more than 15
million votes in the May election, about 5.7 million ahead of his
closest opponent, ousted leader Joseph Estrada, who pledged to
support him. The 50-year-old bachelor and economics graduate will
officially become the nation's 15th president on June 30.
2010 Jun 8, A Russian source
close to Security Council talks told reporters that UN sanctions
against Iran over its nuclear program have been "completely agreed
2010 Jun 8, In Russia 4
soldiers were charged with stealing bank cards belonging to an
official who died in the April 10 crash that killed Poland’s Pres.
Lech Kaczynski and 95 others.
(SFC, 6/9/10, p.A2)
2010 Jun 8, Singapore launched
a global manhunt for Lloyd Dane Alexander, a Briton suspected of
involvement in a train vandalism case that raised doubts about the
security of key installations in the city state. Alexander was
accused of being the accomplice of a Swiss business consultant,
Oliver Fricker (32), who was on bail in Singapore. Both men could
face jail, fines and caning for allegedly breaking into a protected
subway depot and spray-painting elaborate graffiti on a parked train
in May. On June 25 a court sentenced Fricker to five months' jail
and three strokes of a cane.
(AFP, 6/8/10)(AFP, 6/25/10)
2010 Jun 8, South Africa opened
the continent's first high-speed rail link, just in time to whisk a
mass influx of World Cup fans Cup from the country's main airport
into uptown Johannesburg.
2010 Jun 8, A Taiwan court
acquitted the island's imprisoned former Pres. Chen Shui-bian of
embezzling from a special diplomatic fund. Prosecutors failed to
provide evidence that Chen Shui-bian gave $330,000 to son Chen
Chih-chung while he was studying in the US.
2010 Jun 8, In Thailand a
drive-by bombing near a mosque wounded 23 people in the turbulent
south. Police the next day called it an attack by Muslim insurgents.
2010 Jun 8, At the Vatican
groups that have long demanded that women be ordained Roman Catholic
priests took advantage of the Vatican's crisis over clerical sex
abuse to press their cause, demanding the Vatican open discussions
on letting women join the priesthood.
2010 Jun 8, The UN refugee
agency said it is being expelled from Libya without explanation
despite being responsible for thousands of refugees in the North
African country. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees received a
note from Libyan authorities last week ordering it to cease its work
and leave the country.
2011 Jun 8, An increasing
number of Democratic and Republican members of congress called for
scandal-plagued New York Representative Anthony Weiner to resign.
Meanwhile, sources revealed that his wife, Huma Abedin, an aide to
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is
(AP, 6/8/11)(Reuters, 6/8/11)
2011 Jun 8, The wildfire raging
in eastern Arizona, showed no signs of being under control. The
blaze now spread over 607 square miles, blackening about 389,000
acres. Authorities expressed concern that the flames could
soon disrupt power lines, which would affect not only Arizona but
parts of Texas and New Mexico.
2011 Jun 8, At Camp Shelby, a
military training base in southern Mississippi, a lightning strike
hit a power pole, near the tents of Air Force Reserve cadets. Nobody
was hit directly, but 77 cadets were sent to the hospital as a
2011 Jun 8, Meredith Vieira
ended her five year stint as co-host of the popular Today Show. The
veteran newswoman is leaving television to spend more time with her
husband, who suffers from multiple sclerosis. Vieira is being
replaced on Today by Ann Curry.
2011 Jun 8, In East Palo Alto,
CA, Fabian Zaragoza (17) was charged as an adult in the murder of a
3-month old baby and the wounding of the baby’s mother. Zaragoza
shot at a car in which he believed he saw two gang members, who had
beaten him up a few days earlier. But in a case of mistaken
identity, the car belonged to a family leaving a baby shower.
2011 Jun 8, By a wide margin,
voters in Hercules, Ca., recalled the mayor, Joanne Ward, and a city
councilman, Donald Kuehne, in a special election. Both had earned
the ire of local voters for arranging unethical business deals that
benefited friends and contributed to the city’s financial crisis;
the two also fired a city manager who was investigating their
(SFC, 6/8/11, p. C3)(Martinez CA News-Gazette, 6/9/11)
2011 Jun 8, Rap music star Ja
Rule (real name Jeffrey Atkins) left a NYC courthouse to begin
serving a two-year prison sentence for criminal gun possession. He
may also face additional jail time as a result of pleading guilty to
failure to pay taxes on more than $3 million in income.
2011 Jun 8, In Nevada, Carolyn
Goodman, wife of popular Las Vegas mayor Oscar Goodman, succeeded
him in office. She was easily elected, receiving 61% of the
(Las Vegas Sun, 6/811)(AP, 6/8/11)
2011 Jun 8, At meetings in
Vienna, Austria, OPEC failed to come to an agreement to boost oil
production, as a majority of the members voted not to do so. The
vote disappointed western nations, which had hoped an increase in
production would help to lower high oil prices.
2011 Jun 8, The government of
Iran announced it planned to continue nuclear enrichment, despite
opposition from other nations that worried Iran was planning to
build an atomic bomb.
2011 Jun 8, In Libya Khadafy
forces shelled Misrata killing 10 rebel fighters.
(SFC, 6/9/11, p.A5)
2011 Jun 8, In Pakistan Taliban
fighters launched an attack at a security checkpoint in South
Waziristan. 8 Pakistani soldiers and ten militants were killed in
the clash. Sarfraz Shah (18), an unarmed teenager, was killed in
Karachi by members of the paramilitary Rangers. 6 Rangers were
arrested in connection with the killing. On Aug 12 a court sentenced
to death Shahid Zafar, the soldier who shot and killed the unarmed
youth. Five other soldiers and a civilian who were present during
the killing were convicted of murder and handed life sentences.
(AP, 6/8/11)(SFC, 6/10/11, p.A5)(AP, 8/12/11)(SFC, 8/13/11, p.A2)
2011 Jun 8, In Sudan an
eyewitness allegedly saw 100 bodies or more put into a pit in
Southern Kordofan state, where the Arab military has been targeting
a black ethnic minority loyal to the military of the newly
independent Republic of South Sudan. On July 14 the Satellite
Sentinel Project released images showing what appeared to be freshly
dug grave sites in Southern Kordofan state. In August satellite
imagery revealed the existence more mass graves, bringing the total
number of mass graves sited there to eight.
(AP, 7/14/11)(AP, 8/24/11)
2011 Jun 8, Civil strife
continued in Syria, as elite troops, led by President Bashar Assad’s
brother Maher, were sent to the northern region of the country to
crack down on anti-government rebels, who are fighting to overthrow
the Assad regime.
2011 Jun 8, Turkey’s PM Erdogan
said he would scrap the ministry for women along with 7 other
(Econ, 6/11/11, p.59)(http://tinyurl.com/3tw6omd)
2011 Jun 8, Yemeni security
officials said opposition tribesmen have taken control of Taiz.
(SFC, 6/9/11, p.A4)
2011 Jun 8, In Zimbabwe a group
of 19 armed men made off with one ton of gold ore, beating farm
workers with hot iron bars at Chav-Chess Farm outside Kadoma.
2012 Jun 8, US federal
regulators approved pertuzumab (Perjeta), a new, less toxic breast
cancer drug made by Genentech.
(SFC, 6/9/12, p.A6)
2012 Jun 8, Pentagon
statistics showed that 154 suicides for active-duty troops in the
first 155 days of the year far outdistance the US forces killed in
action in Afghanistan — about 50 percent more.
2012 Jun 8, In NYC Christopher
“Dudus" Coke of Jamaica was sentenced to 23 years in prison for drug
(SFC, 6/9/12, p.A5)
2012 Jun 8, In Afghanistan NATO
commander General John Allen flew to Logar province "to see local
leaders and the population to apologize and offer condolences to the
families," of those killed in a June 6 airstrike.
2012 Jun 8, In Britain 6 men
were handed jail sentences for running a website, Confidential
Access, that earned millions of pounds by selling fake documents and
coaching fraudsters in how to conduct successful scams. Two
masterminds ran the site from villas in Alicante in Spain while
associates in Britain created fake documents including bank
statements, pay slips, driving licenses and bills.
2012 Jun 8, China’s central
bank cut its benchmark deposit and lending rates to help stimulate
(Econ, 6/16/12, p.81)
2012 Jun 8, In Egypt a mob of
hundreds of men assaulted women holding a march demanding an end to
sexual harassment, with the attackers overwhelming the male
guardians and groping and molesting several of the female marchers
in Cairo's Tahrir Square.
2012 Jun 8, In Gabon 2 leading
activists and some 40 others were arrested as they tried to hold a
"Counter-Forum of Indignants" alongside the New York Forum Africa
opening today in Libreville. Marc Ona, an award-winning
environmental activist, and Gregory Ngbwa Mintsa, spokesman of
Gabon's Indignants' Front, were detained before their event could
2012 Jun 8, In Iraq gunmen
opened fire on the car of a colonel in the civil defense forces,
killing him and his wife and wounding their three children in
western Baghdad. Assailants in Baghdad also killed an aide to Qusai
al-Suhail, the deputy speaker of parliament. An Iraqi soldier was
killed and four were wounded by a roadside bomb in Bala Ruz.
2012 Jun 8, In the Ivory Coast
7 UN peacekeepers from Niger were killed in an ambush. They had been
patrolling in an area between two villages after hearing rumors of
an imminent attack on communities in the region. At least 8
civilians were also killed. Deputy defense minister Paul Koffi Koffi
said the attackers had crossed over from neighboring Liberia, adding
that two Ivorian soldiers and at least one civilian may also have
2012 Jun 8, Lebanese
politician, diplomat, and press baron Ghassan Tueni (b.1926) died in
2012 Jun 8, Lesotho's new PM
Thomas Thabane (72) was sworn in after his coalition government
unseated former leader Pakalitha Mosisili in the kingdom's first
2012 Jun 8, Malawi's finance
minister said civil servants will receive an average 21-percent pay
increase, as he presented the country's $1-billion (820-million
euro) budget. The state said it will also recruit 16,000
2012 Jun 8, Mali's Tuareg
rebels clashed overnight with their former Islamist allies, after
the two groups fell out over forming a breakaway state in the
northern desert region they control.
2012 Jun 8, In western Myanmar
7 people were killed in religious clashes, where police opened fire
and the authorities declared a curfew to tackle the escalating
unrest. Rohingya rioted in Maungdaw township killing 10 Buddhists
and torching over 460 Buddhist homes. This was in reaction to a
Buddhist attack on Muslim pilgrims in southern Rakhine sparked by
rumors of a gang rape by Muslim men. In the following months
security forces, according to villagers, beat Rohingya, looted
valuables and raped women.
(AFP, 6/8/12)(AP, 6/9/12)(SFC, 11/28/13, p.A24)
2012 Jun 8, In Nigeria a
suicide blast outside police headquarters in Maiduguri killed 8
people and wounded others. Hours earlier a suspected bomber died
when an explosive went off prematurely in another part of the city.
Gunmen also shot dead a police constable outside his house in Boriya
district on the outskirts of Potiskum. A nearby drug vendor, also
hit and injured by the attackers' bullet, died later.
(AP, 6/8/12)(AFP, 6/9/12)
2012 Jun 8, In northwestern
Pakistan a bomb tore through a police bus carrying government
employees and other civilians, killing 19 people near Peshawar. The
bus was rented by the government to take staff home after work in
the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
(AFP, 6/8/12)(SFC, 6/9/12, p.A3)
2012 Jun 8, Russia’s Pres.
Putin signed into law a measure that will impose heavy fines on
people who organize or take part in unsanctioned demonstrations.
(SFC, 6/9/12, p.A2)
2012 Jun 8, Syrian troops
heavily shelled a rebel-held neighborhood in the central city of
Homs as the military appeared to be readying to storm the area.
State-run media said armed "terrorist groups" attacked military
units charged with protecting al-Omar oil field of al-Furat Oil
Company in the oil-rich city of Deir Ezzor province. SANA also said
a car bomb in the Damascus suburb of Qudsaya killed 3 policemen,
while another explosion in the northern city of Idlib killed 2
soldiers and 3 civilians. In Daraa at least 17 civilians were killed
in the shelling. Troops clashed with rebels from the Free Syrian
Army in the Kfar Souseh district of Damascus in fierce fighting
sparked when the armed fighters attacked a military checkpoint in
(AP, 6/8/12)(AP, 6/9/12)
2012 Jun 8, In Yemen Al-Qaeda
militants killed two soldiers in Yemen's Abyan province, prompting
troops to shell jihadist positions and kill nine extremists.
2013 Jun 8, In Nevada officials
of Lake Mead urged people to avoid the Overton Arm of the lake
following the appearance of a mysterious brown foam over an 8-mile
(SFC, 6/12/13, p.A5)
2013 Jun 8, In eastern
Afghanistan a man in an Afghan army uniform turned his weapon on
American trainers working with him in Paktika province, killing 3 of
them. An attacker with a grenade killed an Italian soldier in Farah
2013 Jun 8, Australian
authorities said a boat carrying up to 60 asylum seekers has
capsized in the Indian Ocean near Christmas Island. 13 bodies were
so far recovered with no survivors.
(SSFC, 6/9/13, p.A6)
2013 Jun 8, In Germany more
than 80,000 emergency personnel including firefighters and soldiers
were on duty, working aggressively to contain the most dramatic
floods in Germany in a decade. 20 people reportedly have already
died in the floods across central Europe.
2013 Jun 8, In Iraq 2 car
bombs, one in a Baghdad Shiite neighborhood and the other targeting
a police convoy in Mosul, killed five people.
2013 Jun 8, In Libya clashes
broke out between protesters and militias aligned with the military
in Benghazi. 35 people were killed and dozens wounded. Some 200
protesters were demanding that militias leave their camp and submit
to the full authority of Libya's security forces. The clashes
prompted Army Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Youssef al-Mangoush to resign
the next day.
(AP, 6/9/13)(Econ, 6/15/13, p.48)
2013 Jun 8, Pakistan's new
government summoned a top US envoy to lodge a protest over a June 7
US drone strike, suggesting that PM Nawaz Sharif's team fully
intends to make good on its promise to aggressively push for an end
to such strikes.
2013 Jun 8, Sudan's President
Omar al-Bashir ordered the closure of pipelines exporting South
Sudanese oil. Al-Bashir said that the move was in response to South
Sudan's funding of rebels fighting his regime.
2013 Jun 8, In Syria car bomb
exploded in a neighborhood outside of Homs, largely populated by
Alawites, the Shiite offshoot sect that dominates the regime,
killing 8 people including 3 women and a teenager.
2013 Jun 8, Hassan Aboud,
leader of the Syrian Islamic Front, revealed his name in an
interview with Al Jazeera. His coalition of fighters was said to
number 10-20 thousand fighters.
(Econ, 7/20/13, p.45)
2013 Jun 8, In Turkey police in
Ankara fired tear gas and used water cannons to disperse thousands
of people protesting near government buildings. Pro- and
anti-government protesters also clashed in Adana.
2013 Jun 8, In Yemen Judith
Spiegel, a Dutch journalist, was kidnapped along with her partner
Boudewijn Berendsen. Both were reported released on Dec 10.