Moments in Time – August 7, 2024

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• On Aug. 19, 1967, the Soviet Union’s communist newspaper, Pravda, accused China of making attacks on the Soviet embassy in Peking and straining relations between Russia and China, claiming that, “Literally not a single day passes without a malicious invention about the Soviet Union.”
• On Aug. 20, 1959, actor Hugh O’Brian met his idol, Dr. Albert Schweitzer, in Africa at the physician’s hospital after being ferried up the Ogooue River by natives with leprosy. Following that initial encounter, O’Brian referred to Schweitzer as “a living saint.” The 83-year-old doctor strongly urged the abolition of nuclear testing and war, and O’Brian returned to the U.S. with the same conviction.
• On Aug. 21, 2006, South Korea sent over $230 million worth of humanitarian aid to North Korea after it was hit by severe flooding. North Korea claimed hundreds of people were killed or lost as a result, but South Korean aid agencies believed the number was more likely around 58,000. Seoul had suspended regular aid to the North because of Kim Jong Il’s missile tests, but elected to make this disaster a special exception.
• On Aug. 22, 1948, Belgium’s Charles Theodore Henri Antoine Meinrad acted as regent of the kingdom on behalf of his exiled brother, Leopold, who was exiled to Switzerland due to accusations of being too friendly with the Germans during Belgium’s occupation. Charles did not, however, move into the palace, nor did he access the 30 million Belgian francs that he was entitled to as king, seldom even leaving his own apartments and maintaining a low profile.
• On Aug. 23, 1926, silent film heartthrob Rudolph Valentino died at just 31 from complications following surgery for appendicitis and gastric ulcers.
• On Aug. 24, 1814, British troops led by General Robert Ross entered Washington, D.C., and burned down many public buildings, including the White House and the Capitol building.
• On Aug. 25, 1992, The Sun newspaper published a phone conversation with an unknown woman who may have been Britain’s Princess Diana, talking with an unknown man about her unhappy marriage. Thousands paid up to $22 to listen to the full recording on a paid phone service.

© 2024 King Features Synd., Inc.