1914 -- German U-boats sank the British cruisers Aboukir, Hogue and Cressy in the North Sea in World War I, killing more than 1,400.

1949 -- The U.S., British and Canadian governments jointly announced they had recently detected an atomic explosion in the Soviet Union. The blast, initially denied by Moscow, was later revealed to be the first test of an atomic weapon by the Soviet Union and had occurred on August 29.

1980 -- The Persian Gulf War broke out when Iraq invaded Iran in an attempt to control the Arvand River.

1985 -- French Prime Minister Laurent Fabius admitted that French secret agents acting under orders sank the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior in New Zealand.

1989 -- U.S. songwriter Irving Berlin died aged 101. He was the author of over 1,000 songs including White Christmas and ***There's No Business Like Show Business***.

1997 -- Shoichi Yokoi, a Japanese soldier who refused to surrender at the end of World War II and stayed in the jungles of Guam for 26 years, died. He became a national hero on his return to Japan in 1972 for his dramatic tale of survival.

1999 -- The U.S. Justice Department filed a massive lawsuit accusing the tobacco industry of fraud and seeking to recover much of the cost of smoking-related illnesses.

2001 -- President George W. Bush lifted U.S. sanctions on Pakistan and India that were imposed for their 1998 nuclear tests. THOUGHT

Generosity enslaves man, but to give in order to be appreciated taints generosity.

[Imam Ali (AS)]