Summary of the Day ✨ 4 August (04/08)
A devastating explosion at Beirut’s port killed at least 220 people and injured over 5,000 when 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate detonated, while the United States reeled from back-to-back mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton that left 32 dead. Meanwhile, Syrian forces pushed ISIL from the Iraq-Syria border, Venezuelan President Maduro survived an apparent assassination attempt via drone explosion, and NASA launched its Phoenix Mars lander to explore the Red Planet.
Historical Events 📜
- 2020: Beirut Port explosion: At least 220 people are killed and over 5,000 are wounded when 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate explodes in Beirut, Lebanon.
- 2019: Nine people are killed and 26 injured in a shooting in Dayton, Ohio. This comes only 13 hours after another mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, where 23 people were killed.
- 2018: Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) expel the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) from the Iraq–Syria border, concluding the second phase of the Deir ez-Zor campaign.
- 2018: Crisis in Venezuela: Seven people are injured when two drones detonate explosives on Avenida Bolívar, Caracas while president Nicolás Maduro is giving a speech to the Venezuelan National Guard.
- 2007: NASA’s Phoenix Mars lander is launched.
- 2006: A massacre is carried out by Sri Lankan government forces, killing 17 employees of the French INGO Action Against Hunger (known internationally as Action Contre la Faim, or ACF).
- 1995: Operation Storm, the last major battle of the Croatian War of Independence begins.
- 1987: The Federal Communications Commission rescinds the Fairness Doctrine which had required radio and television stations to give equal time to opposing views.
- 1984: The Republic of Upper Volta changes its name to Burkina Faso.
- 1983: Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo, president of the military government of Upper Volta, is ousted from power in a coup d’état led by Captain Thomas Sankara.
- 1977: U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs legislation creating the United States Department of Energy.
- 1975: The Japanese Red Army takes more than 50 hostages at the AIA Building housing several embassies in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The hostages include the U.S. consul and the Swedish Chargé d’affaires. The gunmen win the release of five imprisoned comrades and fly with them to Libya.
- 1974: A bomb explodes in the Italicus Express train at San Benedetto Val di Sambro, Italy, killing 12 people and wounding 22.
- 1972: Ugandan President Idi Amin announces that Uganda is no longer responsible for the care of British subjects of Asian origin, beginning the expulsions of Ugandan Asians.
- 1969: Vietnam War: At the apartment of French intermediary Jean Sainteny in Paris, American representative Henry Kissinger and North Vietnamese representative Xuân Thuỷ begin secret peace negotiations. The negotiations will eventually fail.
Famous Births 👶
- 1998: Lil Skies, American rapper
- 1995: Bruna Marquezine, Brazilian actress
- 1994: Bobby Shmurda, American rapper
- 1992: Daniele Garozzo, Italian fencer
- 1992: Domingo Germán, Dominican baseball player
- 1992: Cole Sprouse, American actor
- 1992: Dylan Sprouse, American actor
- 1989: Jessica Mauboy, Australian singer-songwriter and actress
- 1989: Wang Hao, Chinese chess grandmaster
- 1988: Kelley O’Hara, American soccer player
- 1987: Marreese Speights American basketball player
- 1986: Nick Augusto, American drummer
- 1986: Leon Camier, English motorcycle racer
- 1986: Cicinho, Brazilian footballer
- 1986: Iosia Soliola, New Zealand-Samoan rugby league player
Notable Deaths 🕊️
- 2024: Charles Cyphers, American actor (born 1939)
- 2024: Tsung-Dao Lee, Chinese-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1926)
- 2024: Duane Thomas, American football player (born 1947)
- 2023: Dalia Fadila, Israeli educator (born 1971/1972)
- 2019: Nuon Chea, Cambodian politician and theorist for the Khmer Rouge (born 1926)
- 2015: Elsie Hillman, American philanthropist and politician (born 1925)
- 2015: Les Munro, New Zealand soldier and pilot (born 1919)
- 2015: John Rudometkin, American basketball player (born 1940)
- 2015: Billy Sherrill, American songwriter and producer (born 1936)
- 2014: James Brady, American activist and politician, 15th White House Press Secretary (born 1940)
- 2014: Chester Crandell, American lawyer and politician (born 1946)
- 2014: Jake Hooker, Israeli-American guitarist and songwriter (born 1953)
- 2013: Keith H. Basso, American anthropologist and academic (born 1940)
- 2013: Art Donovan, American football player and radio host (born 1925)
- 2013: Olavi J. Mattila, Finnish engineer and politician, Finnish Minister of Foreign Affairs (born 1918)
Holidays & Observances 🎉
- Christian feast day:
Aristarchus - Christian feast day:
Euphronius - Christian feast day:
Blessed Frédéric Janssoone - Christian feast day:
John Vianney - Christian feast day:
Molua (or Lua) - Christian feast day:
Raynerius of Split - Christian feast day:
Sithney, patron saint of mad dogs - Christian feast day:
August 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) - Coast Guard Day (United States)
- Constitution Day (Cook Islands); first Monday in August
- Matica slovenská Day (Slovakia)
- Barack Obama Day in Illinois in the United States
- 2020 Beirut explosion commemoration day in Lebanon