Unix Timestamp: 1218240000
Saturday, August 9. 2008, 12:00:00 AM UTC

A million people are evacuated in southeastern China as Typhoon Morakot approaches. //www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/5998497/Million-flee-as-typhoon-approaches-China.html ("The Daily Telegraph") //news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-08/09/content_11851097.htm (Xinhua) //www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jFKvDArPWzZ5d5uaSisoexNPI_mQ (AFP)

The French global bank BNP Paribas in the United Kingdom blocks withdrawals from three hedge funds heavily committed in sub-prime mortgages, signaling the 2007–2012 global financial crisis.

At the Mihama Nuclear Power Plant, a pipe leaking hot water and steam kills 5 and injures 6 others, in the 2nd worst nuclear disaster in Japan.

New Jersey Governor James McGreevey announces that he is a gay American and will resign effective November 15, 2004.

Singapore's prime minister Goh Chok Tong hands over his position to Lee Hsien Loong.

US President George W. Bush announces his support for federal funding of limited research on embryonic stem cells.

Salt Lake City tornado: A very rare F2 tornado strikes Salt Lake City, killing 1.

Buford O. Furrow, Jr. wounds 5 and kills 1 during the August 1999 Los Angeles Jewish Community Center shooting.

Russian President Boris Yeltsin fires his Prime Minister, Sergei Stepashin, and for the fourth time fires his entire cabinet.

The Atlantique Incident occurs as an intruding Pakistan Navy plane is shot down in India. The incident sparks tensions between the 2 nations, coming just a month after the end of the Kargil War.

A total solar eclipse is seen in Europe and Asia.

Boris Yeltsin is sworn in at the Kremlin for a second term as President of Russia.

King Albert II of Belgium is sworn into office 9 days after the death of his brother, King Baudouin I.

Aéropostale ndash The first Aeropostale clothing store opens in New York City, New York. It is a mall-based, specialty retailer of casual apparel and accessories.

Hoddle Street Massacre: Julian Knight, 19, goes on a shooting rage in Melbourne, killing seven people and injuring 19 before surrendering to police.

Northwest Airlines Flight 255 (a McDonnell Douglas MD-82) crashes on takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Romulus, Michigan just west of Detroit killing all but one (4-year old Cecelia Cichan) of the 156 people on board.

All the children held at Kia Lama, a rural property on Lake Eildon, Australia, run by the Santiniketan Park Association, are released after a police raid.

The followers of the Harmonic Convergence claim it was observed around the world.

Major League Baseball resumes from the strike with the All-Star Game in Cleveland's Municipal Stadium.

Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Nauru, Salomon Islands and Tuvalu recognize the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).

The original Model 5150 IBM PC (with a 4.77 MHz Intel 8088 processor) is released in the United States at a base price of $1,565.

Gulf of Sidra incident (1981): Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi sends two Sukhoi Su-22 fighter jets to intercept two U.S. fighters over the Gulf of Sidra. The American jets destroy the Libyan fighters.

The military-controlled government of Uruguay announces that it will return the nation to civilian rule through general elections in 1981 for a President and Congress.

Vice President Gerald Rudolph Ford succeeds Richard Milhous Nixon as the 38th President of the United States of America.

Vietnam War – Operation Cochise: United States Marines begin a new operation in the Que Son Valley.

A United States B-29 Bomber, "Bockscar", drops an atomic bomb, codenamed Fat Man, on Nagasaki, Japan, at 11:02 a.m. (local time).

The Soviet Union begins its army offensive against Japan in the northern part of the Japanese-held Chinese region of Manchuria.

WWII:

The United States Forest Service and the Wartime Advertising Council release posters featuring Smokey Bear for the first time.

Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill meet at Argentia, Newfoundland and Labrador. The Atlantic Charter is created as a result.

Betty Boop premiers in the animated film "Dizzy Dishes".

Lassen Volcanic National Park is established in California.

Edward VII is crowned King of the United Kingdom.

Thomas Edison receives a patent for a two-way telegraph.

August 9 ndash A fire destroyed Main Building, the heart of Wells College in Aurora, NY causing a loss of $130,000.//query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F60715FA395413738DDDA90994D0405B8884F0D3 Query.nytimes.com

The Wallingford Tornado of 1878, the deadliest tornado in Connecticut history, destroys the town of Wallingford, killing 34 people and injuring 70 or more.

American Indian Wars ndash Battle of Big Hole: Near Big Hole River in Montana, a small band of Nez Percé Indians who refused government orders to move to a reservation, clash with the United States Army. The army loses 29 soldiers and Indians lose 89 warriors in a U.S. Army victory.

August Bebel and Wilhelm Liebknecht found the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Germany (SDAP).

American Civil War ndash Battle of Cedar Mountain: At Cedar Mountain, Virginia, Confederate General Stonewall Jackson narrowly defeats Union forces under General John Pope.

King Johann succeeds to the throne of Saxony.

The Aberdeen Act is signed as part of the abolition of the African slave trade.

The Webster-Ashburton Treaty is signed, establishing the United States–Canada border east of the Rocky Mountains.

France: Louis Philippe becomes King of the French.

Opening to traffic of the Wearmouth Bridge in England, designed by Thomas Paine in cast iron. Its span of 72 m (237 feet) makes it the world's longest single-span vehicular bridge extant at this date.

American Revolutionary War: Spanish admiral Luis de Córdova y Córdova captures a British convoy totalling 55 vessels amongst Indiamen, frigates and other cargo ships off Cape St. Vincent.Hattendorf, John: "Naval policy and strategy in the Mediterranean: past, present, and future."

Russian Empress Catherine II issues a decree authorizing the new way to produce vodka (by freezing).

Dutch forces under Admiral Cornelis Evertsen de Jonge recapture New York from English (regained by English in following year, 1674).

Rear Admiral Robert Holmes leads a raid on the Dutch island of Terschelling, destroying 150 merchant ships in the Vlie estuary, and pillaging the town of West-Terschelling, an act later referred to as "Holmes's Bonfire".

Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell divides England into 11 districts under major-generals.

Forty-one Spanish delegates to Japan at Nagasaki are beheaded.

Anglo-Powhatan Wars: The English launch a major attack on the Paspahegh village, capturing and executing the native queen and her children, burning houses and chopping down the corn fields the subsequent use of the term Paspahegh in documents refers to their former territory.

English explorer John Davis, commander of the "Desire", probably discovers the Falkland Islands.

The Sistine Chapel opens.

Pope Sixtus IV succeeds Pope Paul II as the 212th pope.

St Bartholomew's Hospital (Barts) is founded in London.

Siege of Deventer, conflict between Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor and Lotharius of Supplinburg, duke of Saxony.

The First Council of the Lateran confirms the Concordat of Worms and demands that priests remain celibate.

The Venetian fleet defeats the Egyptian fleet off Ascalon.

Failure of a Norman caign in North Africa, the Norman troops are massacred near Mahdia at the battle of al-Dimas.Gilbert Meynier (2010) "L'Algérie cœur du Maghreb classique. De l'ouverture islamo-arabe au repli (658-1518)". Paris: La Découverte pp.56.ref name=admin of sicily

Battle of Yibneh, a Crusader force led by Eustace Grenier crushed a Fatimid army at Yibna.

First mention of the consuls of Bologna indicating that the city of has become an independent commune.

In accordance with the decision of the First Council of the Lateran, the archbishop of Compostela, Diego Gelmirez, declares the Crusade in Iberia against the Andalusians.ref name=Fletcher Reconquista

Emperor Sutoku succeeds Emperor Toba on the throne of Japan.

The Pactum Warmundi is established between the Republic of Venice and the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Furness Abbey founded in England, once the second wealthiest and most powerful monastery in the country.

The Goths attack Adrianople they attempt to scale the city walls with ladders but are repelled by the defenders who drop lumps of masonry.

Gregory Nazianzus is ordained bishop of Constantinople.

The Goths supported by the Huns move on to Constantinople. Their progress is checked by the Saracens, recruited from Arab tribes who control the eastern fringes of the empire.

Gratian recalls his military commander Flavius Theodosius, age 31, son of the executed general Theodosius the Elder and appoints him co-emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire.

Siyah K'ak' begins to replace Mayan kings with relatives of Spearthrower Owl, emperor of Teotihuacan.

Siyah K\\'ak\\' begins to replace Mayan kings with relatives of Spearthrower Owl, emperor of Teotihuacan.

Valens completes the aqueduct of Constantinople begun by Constantine I.

Pope Damasus I is accused of adultery but is exonerated by Gratian.

Battle of Adrianople: A large Roman army is defeated by the Visigoths. Valens is killed along with two-thirds of his army.

October ndash The Greuthungi, faced with food shortages, split off and move west into Pannonia. Followed by their families they raid villages and farmland.

John I becomes the 7th Bishop of Jerusalem.

The silver content of the Roman denarius falls to 87 percent under emperor Hadrian, down from 93 percent in the reign of Trajan.

Emperor Trajan dies of a stroke at Selinus in Cilicia, age 63, while en route from Mesopotamia to Italy. Leaving the Roman Empire at its maximal territorial extent.

Hadrian, a Spaniard like Trajan, is an excellent officer who has had a brilliant career. He is well-cultured man, who as Emperor inaugurates a civil government, giving up the policy of conquest of his predecessor in order to consolidate the empire.

Hadrian, who will reign until 138, succeeds him.

Construction begins on the Pantheon in Rome.

Hadrian returns large parts of Mesopotamia to the Parthians as part of a peace settlement.