September 5th, 2008

Today in History

1997:
1997 - The IOC picks Athens to be the host city for the 2004 Summer Olympics.

1988:
With US$2 billion in federal aid, the Robert M. Bass Group agrees to buy the United States's largest bankrupt thrift, American Savings and Loan Association.

1986:
Pan Am Flight 73 with 358 people on board is hijacked at Karachi International Airport.

1949:
A former sharpshooter in World War II, Howard Unruh kills 13 neighbors in Camden, New Jersey, with a souvenir Luger to become the first U.S. single-episode mass murderer.

1698:
In an effort to move his people away from Asiatic customs, Tsar Peter I of Russia imposes a tax on beards; All men except priests and peasants, are required to pay a tax of one hundred rubles a year and the commoners had to pay one kopek each.