It happened on this day, August 17th.
Events:
(1945–Declaration of Indonesian independence from Japanese occupation. With the return of Dutch colonial ambitions, Indonesia did not actually gain independence until 1949.
1949 – Syrian military coup leader Sami al-Hinnawi appoints Hashim al-Atassi as prime minister.
1960 – Gabon gains independence from France.
1988 – Pakistani President Muhammad Zia ul-Haq and the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan are killed in a plane crash.
1990 – U.S. President George Bush orders U.S. warships to immediately enforce United Nations trade sanctions against Iraq following the invasion of Kuwait, using force if necessary to prevent goods from flowing in and out of Iraq and Kuwait.
1993 – For the first time in history, the British government allows people to enter and visit Buckingham Palace.
1998 – US President Bill Clinton admits to having an inappropriate relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
1999 – An earthquake measuring 7.4 on the Richter scale hits northern Turkey, killing 17,000 and injuring 44,000.
2010 – Israel demolishes all homes in the Palestinian village of Al-Araqib for the fourth time after its residents rebuilt it three times.
2013 – Police forces stormed the Al-Fath Mosque after its siege and arrested protesters inside, in what is known as the Ramses II events.
2015 – A bombing in Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, kills at least 21 people and injures more than 100.
2017 – At least 13 people were killed and at least 80 others were injured following a crash that crushed pedestrians on La Rambla street in the Spanish city of Barcelona.
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Births:
1601 – Pierre de Fermat, French mathematician.
1629 – King John III Sobieski, King of Poland.
1768 – Louis Charles Antoine Douzet, French soldier.
1786 – David Crockett, American soldier
1823 – Daniel Bliss, American missionary, founder of the American University of Beirut and its first president.
1882 – Omar Taqi al-Din al-Rafi'i, Lebanese Muslim jurist, judge and poet.
1893 – Badie Khairy, Egyptian playwright.
1911 – Mikhail Botvinnik, Russian chess player.
1926 – Jiang Zemin, President of China.
1934 – Hussein Kamal, Egyptian film director.
1937 – Safi Naz Kazem, Egyptian journalist.
1939 – Diaa Al-Bayati, Iraqi actor.
1943 – Robert De Niro, American actor, director and producer.
1952 – Guillermo Vilas, Argentine tennis player.
1958 – Dhabiya Khamis, Emirati poet and short story writer.
1960 – Sean Penn, American actor.
1975 – Karim Abdel Aziz, Egyptian actor.
1976 – Rita Barsouna, Lebanese actress.
1977 – Thierry Henry, French footballer.
** William Gallas, French footballer.
** Tarja Turunen, Finnish singer.
1980 – Shannon Lucio, American actress.
1982 – Mishari Al-Arada, Kuwaiti singer.
** Phil Jagielka, English footballer.
1983 – Ali Al-Shamali, Kuwaiti footballer.
1989 – Farah Zeinab Abdullah, Turkish actress.
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Death:
1616 – Abu Turab Farqati, Iranian poet.
1786 – Frederick II, King of the Kingdom of Prussia.
1850 – José de San Martín, President of Peru.
1969 – Otto Stern, German physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics in 1943.
1977 – Mufdi Zakaria, Algerian poet.
1988 – Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, President of Pakistan.
2000 – Safwat Al-Shawadfi, Egyptian Islamic scholar and preacher.
2005 – Dr. John Bahcall, American physicist.
2006 – Ahmed Mostajir, Egyptian biologist specializing in biotechnology.
2010 – Francesco Cossiga, President of Italy.
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Public holidays and occasions:
⬅️ Independence Day in Indonesia.
⬅️ Independence Day in Gabon.
