What Happened in August 2013

Historical Events

Aug 1 Jason Koumas signs a one-year deal with Tranmere Rovers after a successful trial

Mugabe Clings to Power

Aug 1 Robert Mugabe continues to maintain power after his ZANU-PF party wins 142 out of 210 seats in a Zimbabwean election declared neither free nor fair as the ruling party used the state to intimidate the opposition

Aug 2 40 people are killed after an ammunition depot explodes in Homs, Syria

Event of Interest

Aug 2 Carl Icahn sues computer giant Dell in an attempt to derail a buyout bid by the CEO, Michael Dell

Investor and business magnate Carl Icahn

Entrepreneur and Founder of Dell Michael Dell

Aug 2 Naresh Sohal's orchestral work "The Cosmic Dance" first performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra conducted by Peter Oundjian, at the Royal Albert Hall, London
Aug 3 80 people are killed in a wave of insurgency across Iraq
Aug 3 9 children are killed by a suicide bombing in Jalalabad, Afghanistan
Aug 3 Super Rugby Final, Waikato Stadium, Hamilton: Chiefs successfully defend title with a 27-22 over ACT Brumbies

Women's British Open

Aug 4 British Open Women's Golf, St. Andrews: American Stacy Lewis wins her second major, 2 shots ahead of runners-up Na Yeon Choi and Hee Young Park

Event of Interest

Aug 4 Hassan Rouhani is inaugurated as the President of Iran

Aug 5 160 people are killed by flash floods across Afghanistan and Pakistan

Sports History

Aug 5 MLB bans New York Yankees infielder Alex Rodriguez for 211 games as a result of the Biogenesis Laboratories scandal

Aug 5 Rain intervenes to end the 3rd cricket Test between Australia and England at Old Trafford; England retains the Ashes after winning the first 2 Tests

Event of Interest

Aug 5 Samantha Power becomes the 28th United States Ambassador to the United Nations

Aug 5 The world's first bovine stem cell lab-grown burger is eaten in London
Aug 6 1 person is killed and 4 are injured after a hot air balloon crash in Montbovon, Sweden
Aug 6 18 people are killed and 55 are wounded by a car bomb explosion in Damascus, Syria
Aug 6 25 people are killed and 60 are wounded by a series of car bombs in Baghdad, Iraq
Aug 6 An alleged chemical weapons attack on Damascus, Syria, is claimed by Syrian rebels
Aug 7 11 people are killed by a bombing in Karachi, Pakistan
Aug 8 14 people are killed by a bomb explosion in Nangarhar, Afghanistan
Aug 8 28 people are killed by a suicide bombing in Quetta, Pakistan
Aug 8 4 people are killed and 4 are wounded in a shooting spree in Dallas, Texas

Chennai Express

Aug 8 Hindi film "Chennai Express" premieres directed by Rohit Shetty, starring Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone. Fastest Bollywood film to earn $1 billion.

Presidential Medal of Freedom

Aug 8 Retired Washington Post journalist and editor Ben Bradlee is named as a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama

Aug 9 8 people are killed and 24 are injured after gunmen open fire on a Sunni mosque in Quetta, Pakistan
Aug 10 14th Athletics World Championships open at Moscow, Russia
Aug 10 16 Royal Guardsmen are killed in a bus accident in Al Hoceima, Morocco
Aug 10 6 people are killed after Paluweh volcano erupts in Indonesia
Aug 11 2 people are killed and 30 are injured after a bus crash in the Alps of southern France
Aug 11 22 people are killed by flash floods in Kabul, Afghanistan

PGA Championship

Aug 11 PGA Championship Men's Golf, Oak Hill CC: Jason Dufner wins first major title by 2 shots from fellow American Jim Furyk

Sports History

Aug 11 Usain Bolt of Jamaica records best time of the year (9.77s) to edge out American Justin Gatlin and win 100m at the World Athletics Championships in Moscow, Russia

Aug 12 30 people are killed by gunmen in northeast Nigeria
Aug 12 8 people are killed and 25 are injured in a suicide bomb attack in Balad, Iraq
Aug 12 Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta is elected President of Mali

Murder of Interest

Aug 12 Whitey Bulger, American organized crime boss is found guilty on 31 of 32 racketeering and firearms counts, and is found to have been involved in 11 murders

Crash My Party

Aug 13 "Crash My Party" 4th studio album by Luke Bryan is released (Billboard Album of the Year 2014)

Country Music Singer-Songwriter Luke Bryan

Aug 14 14 people are killed and 26 are injured by two roadside bombings in Baqubah, Iraq
Aug 14 638 people are killed in violent clashes between police and protesters across Egypt
Aug 15 20 people are killed and 200 are injured in an explosion in Beirut
Aug 16 61 people are killed after the ferry MV Thomas Aquinas sinks in the Philippines
Aug 17 14th Athletics World Championships: Usain Bolt wins 200m
Aug 17 15 civilians are killed by a Syrian warplane attack in Aleppo
Aug 17 18 people are killed in conflict between Boko Harem and Nigerian military
Aug 18 6 people are killed by a bomb blast on a bus in West Bengal, India
Aug 18 Solheim Cup Women's Golf, Colorado GC: Europe retain Cup for the first time in record winning margin 18-12; Sweden's Caroline Hedwall becomes first player to win 5 matches in a single competition
Aug 19 24 Egyptian policemen are killed in an attack in Rafah
Aug 19 37 pilgrims are killed in a train accident in India
Aug 19 91 people are killed by floods across China

One Direction: This Is Us

Aug 20 "One Direction: This Is Us" 3D concert film of One Direction directed by Morgan Spurlock premieres in London

Aug 20 9 Islamist militants are killed by Russian police in North Caucasus
Aug 21 21 people are killed in flash floods in Qinghai province, China
Aug 21 37 people are killed and 16 are injured in a bus crash near Chin Swee Temple, Malaysia
Aug 22 14 people are killed by a suicide bombing in Western Iraq
Aug 23 26 people are killed and 55 are injured by a suicide bombing in Baghdad, Iraq
Aug 23 50 people are killed in mosque bombings in Tripoli, Lebanon
Aug 23 UN inspectors are stopped by Syrian government from investigating a reported site of a chemical massacre
Aug 24 30 people are killed in a gang battle involving flame throwers in Palmasola prison, Bolivia
Aug 24 4 people are killed in a helicopter crash in the Shetland Islands

Video Music Awards

Aug 25 30th MTV Video Music Awards: Justin Timberlake, Taylor Swift & Bruno Mars win

Aug 25 4 people are killed and 25 are injured after a train derails in Tabasco, Mexico
Aug 25 41 people are killed in a wave of bomb attacks across Iraq

Canadian Women's Open

Aug 25 Canadian Open Women's Golf, Royal Mayfair GC: New Zealand amateur Lydia Ko successfully defends her title by 5 shots from Karine Icher

Aug 26 All 25,000 applicants to the University of Liberia fail their university entrance examination

Gravity

Aug 27 "Gravity", directed and co-written by Alfonso Cuarón and starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney premieres at the Venice Film Festival

Film & TV History

Aug 27 Dove Cameron releases a cover of "On Top of the World" by Imagine Dragons

Aug 28 51 people are killed in a series of bombings across Iraq
Aug 28 70th Venice Film Festival: "Sacro GRA" directed by Gianfranco Rosi wins Golden Lion
Aug 28 China and Russia walk out of a UN Security Council meeting after the US pushes for immediate action against Syria's use of chemical weapons
Aug 29 41 people are killed and 33 are injured in a bus accident in Kenya

Film & TV History

Aug 29 Gary Sinise is named an honorary Marine by the Commandant of the Marine Corps

12 Years a Slave

Aug 30 "12 Years a Slave" based on the memoir by Solomon Northup, directed by Steve McQueen and starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender and Benedict Cumberbatch premieres at the Telluride Film Festival (Best Picture 2014)

Aug 30 15 people are killed by a liquid ammonia leak at a cold storage plant in Shanghai, China

Events in 2013

Famous Weddings

Aug 3 Actor and model Kevin Zegers (28) weds talent agent Jaime Feld in New Jersey
Aug 10 American dancer and rapper Kevin Federline (35) weds second wife, Victoria Prince (30) at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada

Aug 31 "Blue Crush" actress Kate Bosworth (30) weds director Michael Polish (42) in Philipsburg, Montana

Famous Deaths

Aug 1 Dick Kazmaier, American College Football Hall of Fame halfback (Heisman Trophy 1951; Unanimous All-American 1951; Princeton), dies from heart and lung disease at 82
Aug 3 Farman Fatehpuri [Syed Dildar Ali], Urdu scholar, linguist, critic and author, dies of natural causes at 87
Aug 3 John Palmer, American news anchor (NBC Weekend News), dies at 77
Aug 4 Art Donovan, American football player, dies from a respiratory ailment at 89
Aug 4 Sandy Woodward [John Forster], English admiral (British Naval Task Force, Falklands War), dies at 81
Aug 5 George Duke, American Grammy Award-winning jazz and funk keyboard player, and composer, dies from chronic lymphocytic leukemia at 67
Aug 7 Kelly Garrett, American actress and singer (The Night That Made America Famous), dies of cancer at 69
Aug 8 Karen Black, American actress (5 Easy Pieces; Pyx), dies from ampullary cancer at 74
Aug 8 Regina Resnik, American operatic singer, dies at 90
Aug 9 Johnny Logan, American baseball shortstop (World Series 1957 Boston / Milwaukee Braves; MLB All Star 1955, 57, 58, 59²), dies of a kidney infection at 86
Aug 10 Eydie Gormé [Edithe Gormezano], American Grammy and Emmy Award-winning pop singer ("Blame It On The Bossa Nova"; Steve and Eydie), dies at 84
Aug 11 Lamberto Puggelli, Italian stage and opera director (Spoleto Festival), dies at 75
Aug 12 Friso, Prince of Orange-Nassau, second son of Queen Beatrix, dies in a coma, a year and a half after being buried in an avalanche, at 44
Aug 13 (Thomas Paul) "Tompall" Glaser, American country singer ("Put Another Log on the Fire"), dies at 79
Aug 13 Jon Brookes, English drummer (The Charlatans), dies of cancer at 44
Aug 14 Allen Lanier, American rock keyboardist, guitarist and vocalist (Blue Oyster Cult), dies from complications from COPD at 67

Aug 14 Lisa Robin Kelly, American actress, dies at 43
Aug 17 John Hollander, American poet and literary critic, dies at 83
Aug 18 Dezső Gyarmati, Hungarian water polo player, dies at 85
Aug 19 Cedar Walton, American hard bop jazz pianist (Jazztet; Art Blakey), and composer ("Mosaic"), dies at 79
Aug 19 José Sarria, American political activist, drag queen and 1st openly gay candidate for public office in the US (1961), dies of adrenal cancer at 90
Aug 20 Elmore Leonard, American author (Glitz, Mr Majestyk, Touch, 52 Pick-Up), dies from complications from a stroke at 87
Aug 20 Marian McPartland, British jazz pianist, and radio host (Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz), dies at 95
Aug 20 Richard Angas, British operatic bass singer (English National Opera, 1980-2000), dies at 71
Aug 21 C. Gordon Fullerton, American USMC Colonel, and NASA astronaut (STS-3; STS-51-F), dies at 76
Aug 21 Sid Bernstein, American music producer/promoter, dies at 95
Aug 22 Keiko Fuji, Japanese enka singer and actress, dies at 62
Aug 23 David Garrick [Philip Darryl Core], British singer ("Dear Mrs. Applebee"), dies at 67
Aug 23 William Glasser, American psychiatrist, dies from respiratory failure from pneumonia at 88
Aug 24 Julie Harris, American actress (The Bell Jar: I Am A Camera; East of Eden), dies of, heart failure at 87
Aug 25 Gilmar, Brazilian football player, dies from complications from a heart attack at 83
Aug 26 Ruth S. White, American electronic music composer (Flowers Of Evil), dies at 87
Aug 27 Carl Graffunder, American mid-century modernist architect in Minnesota, dies at 94
Aug 27 Zelmo Beaty, American Basketball HOF center (2 × NBA All-Star; 3 × ABA All-Star; St Louis Hawks, Utah Stars, LA Lakers), dies at 73
Aug 28 Rob du Bois, Dutch composer, dies at 79
Aug 30 Lotfollah "Lotfi" Mansouri, Persian opera director (Canadian Opera Company, 1976-88; introduced opera surtitles, 1983; San Francisco Opera, 1988-2001), dies at 84