Monday, August 31st
The 243rd day of 2009.
There are 122 days left in the year.
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Today's Highlights in History
On Aug. 31, 1997, Britain's Princess Diana died in a car crash in Paris at age 36. (Go to article.)
On Aug. 31, 1907, William Shawn, editor of The New Yorker magazine for 35 years, was born. Following his death on Dec. 8, 1992, his obituary appeared in The Times. (Go to obit. | Other Birthdays)
Editorial Cartoon of the Day
On August 31, 1861, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about a newspaper scandal during the Civil War. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.)
On this date in:
1886 An earthquake rocked Charleston, S.C., killing up to 110 people.
1888 A prostitute, Mary Ann Nichols, was found murdered in London's East End. She is generally regarded as the first victim of Jack the Ripper.
1935 President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an act prohibiting the export of U.S. arms to belligerents.
1954 Hurricane Carol hit the northeastern United States, resulting in nearly 70 deaths and millions of dollars in damage.
1962 The Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago became independent within the British Commonwealth.
1969 Boxer Rocky Marciano died in a plane crash in Iowa at age 45.
1980 Poland's Solidarity labor movement was born with an agreement signed in Gdansk that ended a 17-day strike.
1985 California's "Night Stalker" killer Richard Ramirez was captured by residents of an East Los Angeles neighborhood.
1992 White separatist Randy Weaver surrendered to authorities in Naples, Idaho, ending an 11-day siege by federal agents that claimed the lives of Weaver's wife and son and a deputy U.S. marshal.
1994 Russia officially ended its military presence in the former East Germany and the Baltics after half a century.
2002 Jazz musician and bandleader Lionel Hampton died at age 94.
2004 A woman strapped with explosives blew herself up outside a busy Moscow subway station, killing 10 people.
2005 Some 1,000 people were killed when a religious procession across a Baghdad bridge was engulfed in panic over rumors of a suicide bomber.
2006 Iran defied a U.N. deadline to stop enriching uranium.