Unix Timestamp: 1217462400
Thursday, July 31. 2008, 12:00:00 AM UTC

At least 121 people are killed in a Syrian Army tank raid on the town of Hama and over 150 people are reportedly killed across the country. //english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/07/201173143432348733.html (Al Jazeera), //english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/07/2011731183142996341.html (Al-Jazeera), //english.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/07/31/160188.html (Al-Arabiya)

Flood alerts are issued for Hubei province in China as the swollen Yangtze River puts the Three Gorges Dam to the test. Another 27 people have died and Beijing's airport was closed on Monday night due to heavy rain. //www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSPEK28461320070731 (Reuters) //www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/31/AR2007073100050.html (AP via Washington Post)

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told the Syrian military on Monday to raise its readiness, pledging not to abandon support for Lebanese resistance against Israel. //today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=topNewsstoryid=2006-07-31T212727Z_01_L31883392_RTRUKOC_0_US-MIDEAST-ASSAD.xmlsrc=rssrpc=22 (Reuters)

August 3 ndash The Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania nominates George W. Bush for U.S. President and Dick Cheney for Vice President.

NASA intentionally crashes the Lunar Prospector spacecraft into the Moon, thus ending its mission to detect frozen water on the lunar surface.

A federal judge sentences Los Angeles Police Department officers Stacey Koon and Laurence Powell to 30 months in prison for violating motorist Rodney King's civil rights.

The discovery of the Tel Dan Stele, the first archaeological confirmation of the existence of the Davidic line, is announced.

King Baudouin I of Belgium dies.

Magic: the Gathering undergoes its first general release.

The Japanese government issues the Kono Statement, acknowledging the comfort women's (sex slaves) deportation.

Thirty-two people are killed and 1,674 injured when a bridge at the Sultan Abdul Halim Ferry terminal collapses in Butterworth, Malaysia.

The 1988 Malaysian constitutional crisis culminates in the ouster of the Lord President of Malaysia, Salleh Abas.

Shooting of Allama Arif Hussain Hussaini, leader of Pakistani Shia Muslims, in Peshawar.

Liberia recognizes the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).

In Beaune, France, 53 persons, 46 of them children, die in a highway accident (France's worst).

Claudy bombing (“Bloody Monday”), 10:00 smallAM/small: Three car bombs in Claudy, County Londonderry, kill nine. It becomes public knowledge only in 2010 that that a local Catholic priest was an IRA officer believed to be involved in the bombings but his role was covered up by the authorities.

Operation Motorman, 4:00 smallAM/small: British Army begins to regain control of the no-go areas established by Irish republicanparamilitaries in Belfast, Derry (Free Derry) and Newry.ref name=CAIN1972 /

The Troubles, Northern Ireland:

"Apollo 15" astronauts David Scott and James Irwin become the first to ride in a lunar rover, a day after landing on the Moon.

August ndash Camden, New Jersey erupts in race riots following the beating death of a Puerto Rican motorist by city police. Looting and arson occurred. This was a turning point in Camden's decline to one of the poorest and highest-crime municipalities in the United States. Camden was, however, the site of a 1949 shooting rage by Howard Unruh, considered by some to be the first mass murderer in the United States. The riots resulted in the demise of Camden's Sears and AP branches. Also in 1971, Philadelphia International Records was established, with Camden native Leon Huff as co-founder.

NBC anchor Chet Huntley retires from full-time broadcasting.

The halfpenny ceases to be legal tender in the UK.

Vietnam War: Operation Pierce Arrow – Aircraft from carriers USS \\'\\'Ticonderoga\\'\\' and USS \'\'Constellation\'\' bomb North Vietnam in retaliation for strikes against U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin.

The Final Looney Tune, Señorella and the Glass Huarache, is released before the Warner Bros. Cartoon Division is shut down by Jack Warner.

American civil rights movement: The bodies of murdered civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney are found.

Vietnam War: Operation Pierce Arrow – Aircraft from carriers USS "Ticonderoga" and USS "Constellation" bomb North Vietnam in retaliation for strikes against U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin.

Vietnam War: United States destroyers USS \\'\\'Maddox\\'\\' and USS \'\'C. Turner Joy\'\' are attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin. Air support from the carrier USS "Ticonderoga" sinks 1 gunboat, while the other 2 leave the battle.

Vietnam War: United States destroyers USS "Maddox" and USS "C. Turner Joy" are attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin. Air support from the carrier USS "Ticonderoga" sinks 1 gunboat, while the other 2 leave the battle.

Ranger program: Ranger 7 sends back the first close-up photographs of the moon (images are 1,000 times clearer than anything ever seen from Earth-bound telescopes).

The Simba rebel army in the Democratic Republic of the Congo captures Stanleyville, and takes 1,000 Western hostages.

Emancipation Day in Barbados, Bermuda, Guyana, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, and Jamaica – celebration of the end of slavery in these former and continuing British colonies in the Caribbean.

Tibetan resistance movement against rule by China receives support from the United States Central Intelligence Agency.

August – The exhibition "This Is Tomorrow" opens at Whitechapel Art Gallery in London.

Cricket: Jim Laker sets an extraordinary record at Old Trafford in the fourth Test between England and Australia, taking 19 wickets in a first class match (the previous best was 17).

Italian mountaineers Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni become the first successfully to reach the summit of the Himalayan peak K2.

Captain Kerans of the "HMS Amethyst" decides to make a break after nightfall, under heavy fire from the Chinese People's Liberation Army on both sides of the Yangtze River, and successfully rejoins the fleet at Woosung the next day.

Captain Kerans of the "HMS Amethyst" decides to make a break after nightfall, under heavy fire from the Chinese People\'s Liberation Army on both sides of the Yangtze River, and successfully rejoins the fleet at Woosung the next day.

At Idlewild Field in New York, New York International Airport (later renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport) is dedicated.

The Oxford Committee for Famine Relief (OXFAM) is founded.

August ndash Political Warfare Executive is formed in the United Kingdom.

WWII ndash The Holocaust: Under instructions from Adolf Hitler, Nazi official Hermann Göring orders S.S. General Reinhard Heydrich to submit to me as soon as possible a general plan of the administrative material and financial measures necessary for carrying out the desired Final Solution of the Jewish question.

The radio drama "The Shadow" airs for the first time.

Policemen in London and Liverpool strike for recognition of the National Union of Police and Prison Officers over 2,000 strikers are dismissed.

WWI: The Battle of Passchendaele: Allied offensive operations commence in Flanders.

August ndash The Green Corn Rebellion, an uprising by several hundred farmers against the WWI draft, takes place in central Oklahoma.

Mount Saint Elias, the second highest peak in the United States and Canada, is first ascended.

The Basque Nationalist Party (Euzko Alderdi Jeltzalea-Partido Nacionalista Vasco) was founded by Basque nationalist leader Sabino Arana.

Louise, Princess Royal of the United Kingdom, marries Alexander Duff, 1st Duke of Fife.

The Hebrew Moshava of Rishon Le-Zion is founded.

The first narrow gauge mainline railway in the world opens at Grandchester, Australia.

Christchurch, New Zealand is chartered as a city.

The last public whipping is carried out in Edinburgh.

A second round of elections are held in the Netherlands (Batavian Republic) no general elections this time.

Inventor Samuel Hopkins becomes the first to be issued a U.S. patent (for an improved method of making potash).

Seven Years' War ndash Battle of Warburg: The Anglo-Hanoverian army of Ferdinand of Brunswick storms Warburg, with a heroic role being played by the English commander Lord Granby.

Fire destroys 1,000 houses in Stockholm.

Second Anglo-Dutch War ndash The Treaty of Breda ends the war, and recognizes Acadia as a French possession.

After his father Shah Jahan completes the Taj Mahal, his son Aurangzeb deposes him as ruler of the Mughal Empire.

Russo-Polish War (1654–1667): The Russian army enters the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Vilnius, which it holds for 6 years.

The first engagement between the English and Spanish fleets off Plymouth results in an English victory.

On his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere, Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to discover the island of Trinidad.

The Jews are expelled from Spain 40,000–200,000 leave. Sultan Bayezid II of the Ottoman Empire, learning about the expulsion of Jews from Spain, dispatches the Ottoman Navy to bring the Jews safely to Ottoman lands, mainly to the cities of Thessaloniki (currently in Greece) and İzmir (currently in Turkey).//www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Turkey.htmlJewish virtual library.org

The three independent boroughs of Plona are united into a single town by royal decree after centuries of feuds.

According to the 1421 theory, Zheng He's fleets return to China.

Hundred Years\\' War- Battle of Cravant: The French army is defeated at Cravant on the banks of the river Yonne.

Henry V of England is informed of the Southton Plot against him he has the leaders arrested and executed before invading France.

Pisa and Genoa agree to a thirty year truce. Part of the treaty includes the end of the Pisan support to Genoa's enemies, in particular Sinucello della Rocca in Corsica.

John of England puts an embargo on wheat exported to Flanders in an attempt to force an allegiance between the states. He also puts a levy of a fifteenth on the value of cargo exported to France, and disallows the export of wool to France without a special license. The levies are enforced in each port by at least six men, including one churchman and one knight."King John" by Warren. Published by University of California Press in 1961. p. 122 John also affirms this year that judgements made by the court of Westminster are as valid as those made before the king himself or his chief justice."King John" by Warren. Published by University of California Press in 1961. p. 131

Innocent III supports Otto IV as Holy Roman Emperor, against Philip of Swabia.

The town of Riga is chartered as a city by Bishop Albert, who landed on the site of the town with 1,500 crusaders earlier that year.

Attempted usurpation of John Komnenos the Fat.

Boniface of Montferrat is elected leader of the Fourth Crusade, after the death of Theobald III of Chagne.

Pope Sergius IV succeeds Pope John XVIII as the 142nd pope.

Þorgeirr Ljósvetningagoði ends being a lawspeaker in Iceland's Althing.

Byzantine Emperor Basil II attempts to reconquer Bulgaria.

Robert II, King of France marries for the third time, with Constance Taillefer d'Arles.

Ælfgar, bishop of Elmham, is consecrated.

Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor has Charlemagne's vault opened (see Aachen Cathedral).

Khmer King Jayavarman V is succeeded by Udayadityavarman I and/or Suryavarman I.

Tao/Tayk region is annexed by the Byzantines as the theme of Iberia

Emperor Otto III confirms possessions of Ulric Manfred II of Turin and grants him privileges.

Al-Muizz begins ruling Morocco.

Founding of Lloret de Mar, Catalonian town.

Æthelric, bishop of Shepborne, is consecrated (other date is 1002).

Khazrun ben Falful from Maghrawa family Banu Khazrun begins ruling Tripoli.

Jayapala suffers defeat from Ghaznavid Empire near Peshawar.

King Edward the Martyr of England is canonized.

Vikings, led by Leif Eriksson, establish small settlements in and around Vinland in North America (approximate date).

Boleslaw I of Poland begins ruling parts of Slovakia

The First Battle of Alton: Danish invaders defeat the English.

Battle of Pinhoe: Vikings defeat Anglo-Saxons in Devon.

Baitoushan volcano on what would be the Chinese-Korean border, erupts with a force of 6.5, the fourth largest Holocene blast (approximate date).

The Buddhist ruler of Butuan in the Philippines ("P’u-tuan" in the Sung Dynasty records), "Sari Bata Shaja", makes the first tributary mission to China.

Vseslav Izyaslavich of Polotsk begins ruling Polotsk.

First reference to Khotyn, Ukrainian town ref name=kievantico and to Nyalka, Hungarian village, as to "Chimudi".

Oqropiri (Ioane I), Svimeon III and Melkisedek I are Catholicoi of Iberia within one year.

July ndash Sergius II becomes Patriarch of Constantinople

Mahmud of Ghazni, Muslim leader of Ghazni, begins a series of raids into Northern India. He will finish his conquest in 1027 with the destruction of Somnath.

Construction begins on the Liaodi Pagoda, the tallest pagoda in Chinese history (completed in 1055).

A tomb of saint Ivo (possibly) is uncovered in Huntingdonshire.

Æthelred is a bishop of Cornwall and dies shortly after that.

Rebellion Cửu Long in Thanh Hoa province

Werner I, Bishop of Strasbourg begins ruling Archbishopric of Strasbourg.

Second voyage of Ermengol I of Urgell to Rome.

Charlemagne defines the Papal territory (see Papal States).

Emperor Kammu succeeds Emperor Kōnin as Emperor of Japan.

New city of Bian (汴) constructed on the site of Kaifeng in China.

The oldest recorded eruption of Mount Fuji (Traditional Japanese date: July 6, 781).

Alcuin becomes Charlemagne's chief adviser on religious and educational matters.

Talorcan II succeeds Drest III as king of the Picts.