It happened on this day, August 28th.
Events:
476 – Germanic tribes occupy Rome.
1516 – The Ottomans, led by Sultan Selim I, take control of Aleppo a few days after their victory over the Mamluks at the Battle of Marj Dabiq.
1916 – Germany declares war on Romania in World War I.
1943 – General strike in Denmark against Nazi occupation.
1963 – Martin Luther King delivers his famous I Have a Dream speech in Washington state.
1981 – The National Center for Disease Control and Epidemiology announces the increase in immunodeficiency diseases among homosexuals, which would later be called AIDS.
1984 – Muammar Gaddafi lays the foundation stone for the construction of the Great Man-Made River in Libya.
1987 – The United States announces the return to Damascus of its ambassador, William Eagleton, who had withdrawn earlier in protest at an attempted bombing of an Israeli plane in London, which it blamed on Syria.
1990 – Iraq declares Kuwait a governorate of Iraq and is named “Kazima Governorate” after its invasion on August 2.
1992 – Iran extends its full control over Abu Musa Island after having partially controlled it since 1971.
1996 – Crown Prince of the United Kingdom, Prince Charles, divorces his wife, Diana Spencer.
✴️ Ghada Shuaa wins Syria's first gold medal in Olympic history at the Atlanta Olympics in the United States.
2002 – Syrian dissident Kamal al-Labwani was sentenced to 3 years in prison, Fawaz Tallo to 5 years and Hassan al-Sadoun to two years. All three dissidents were arrested during the security crackdown on national dialogue forums during the period known as the “Damascus Spring”.
2004 – Syrian boxer Nasser Al-Shami wins the heavyweight bronze medal at the Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.
2007 – The Turkish parliament elects Abdullah Gul as president in the third round of voting and after objections from military leaders and secularists.
2009 – The historic Tahuf Palace, built during the Ottoman era in the Syrian city of Baniyas, was demolished despite objections from the General Directorate of Antiquities and Museums and the Baniyas Antiquities Division.
2014 – The second Summer Youth Olympic Games close in Nanjing, China. Recep Tayyip Erdogan succeeds Abdullah Gul as President of the Republic of Turkey and appoints Ahmet Davutoğlu as Prime Minister.
✴️ The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant announced the execution of about 250 Syrian army soldiers after the fall of the Tabqa military airport to the organization. ✴️ The organization also released a video depicting the execution of Lebanese officer Ali Al-Sayyid, kidnapped during the Battle of Arsal.
2018 – The government of Puerto Rico announces that the death toll from Hurricane Maria, which hit the country in 2017, is 2,975 instead of the previously reported 64, after a year of criticism of its disaster relief efforts.
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Births:
1728 – John Stark, American soldier during the Revolutionary War.
1749 – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German philosopher.
1878 – George Whipple, American physician who won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1934.
1892 – Henry Turner, American physician.
1910 – Tjaling Koopmans, Dutch economist, Nobel Prize in Economics in 1975.
1911 – Hussein Mu'nis, Egyptian writer and historian.
1919 – Godfrey Hounsfield, English electrical engineer who won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1979.
1921 – Ignatius IV Hazim, Syrian Christian cleric and Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East.
1943 – Jihad Al-Atrash, Lebanese actor.
1948 – Abdel Fattah Ayesh Amr, Jordanian Sharia judge and poet.
1951 – Wajanat Al-Rahbini, Saudi actress.
1953 – Jamil Abu Sobeih, Jordanian poet and journalist.
1957 – Manuel Preciado, Spanish footballer and coach.
1963 – Jennifer Coolidge, American actress.
1965 – Shania Twain, Canadian singer.
1968 – Billy Boyd, Scottish actor.
1969 – Jack Black, American actor.
1973 – Kirby Morrow, Canadian actor.
1978 – Saadoun Al-Shammari, Kuwaiti footballer.
1979 – Markus Brühl, German footballer
1981 – Daniel Gigas, Swiss footballer.
1982 – Franca, Brazilian footballer.
** Thiago Motta, Brazilian/Italian footballer.
** Ernest Scott, American basketball player.
1983 – Shahad Al-Yaseen, Iraqi actress living in Kuwait.
1985 – Iman Al-Assi, Egyptian actress.
1986 – Gilad Shalit, Israeli soldier kidnapped in the Gaza Strip in 2006.
1990 – Bojan Krkic, Spanish footballer.
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Death:
430 – Augustine, bishop of North Africa.
1938 – Khidr al-Qazwini, Iraqi poet and religious preacher.
1943 – Boris III, Tsar of Bulgaria.
1951 – Abdul Hamid Al-Jabri, Syrian Muslim jurist, poet and writer.
1981 – Béla Guttmann, Hungarian footballer.
1984 – Major General Mohamed Naguib, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt.
1995 – Nabil El-Desouki, Egyptian actor.
1996 – Hanna Jacir, Palestinian poet.
2006 – Melvin Schwarz, American physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1988.
2007 – Antonio Puerta, Spanish footballer.
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Public holidays and occasions:
Nothing
