[Sirius]

On This Day: August 8

Today is Friday, August 8, 2008. This is the 221st day of the year, with 145 days remaining in 2008.

Holidays:

Feast day of St. Dominic, Saints Cyriacus, Largus, and Smaragdus, St. Hormidas the Martyr, and the Fourteen Holy Helpers.

Tanzania: Farmers' Day.

Events:

117 - Hadrian became emperor of Rome following the death of his father Trajan.

1844 - Brigham Young was chosen to head The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, succeeding Joseph Smith.

1876 - Thomas A. Edison received a patent for his mimeograph.

1899 - The first household refrigerating machine was patented.

1940 - The Battle of Britain, or "The Blitz," began when the German air force waged a sustained series of daytime air attacks on Britain.

1942 - During World War II, six German saboteurs who secretly entered the United States on a mission to attack its civil infrastructure were executed by the United States for spying; two others were imprisoned.

1945 - President Harry Truman signed the United Nations Charter.

1963 - Britain's "Great Train Robbery" took place as thieves made off with 2.6 million pounds.

1974 - President Richard M. Nixon announced he would resign following new damaging revelations in the Watergate scandal.

1994 - Israel and Jordan opened the first road link between the two countries.

Lebanon's related events:

1991 - Lebanese kidnappers freed British TV producer John McCarthy, held hostage for more than five years; however, a rival group abducted Frenchman Jerome Leyraud, threatening to kill him if any more hostages were released Leyraud was freed three days later.

1997 - Fighting broke out on the Israel-Lebanon border when guerrillas fired rockets into northern Israel and Israeli warplanes struck back. 13 people have died since Aug 4 when Israeli commandos set off bombs behind the front line killing 3 guerrilla field commanders and 2 fighters.

1999 - In southern Lebanon Israeli warplanes bombed suspected rebel positions after Hezbollah guerrillas struck an Israeli outpost at Blatt.

2001 - In Lebanon up to 250 people were arrested in protests that demanded Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon.

2003 - Hezbollah guerrillas shelled Israeli positions in a disputed Lebanese border region for the first time in eight months, drawing Israeli airstrikes and artillery fire.

2006 - Israeli forces battled Hezbollah guerrillas across southern Lebanon as diplomats at the United Nations struggled to keep a peace plan from collapsing over Arab demands for an immediate Israeli withdrawal. At least 19 Lebanese civilians were killed in Israeli airstrikes. Israel reported five soldiers killed.

Births:

1865 - Matthew A. Henson, American explorer who accompanied Robert Peary to North Pole.

1879 - Emiliano Zapata, Mexican revolutionary leader.

1896 - Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, American journalist, short story writer, novelist.

1919 - Dino DeLaurentis, American film producer.

1923 - Esther Williams, American swimmer, actress.