Unix Timestamp: -62020339200
Friday, August 29. 0004, 12:00:00 AM UTC

A team of scientists, led by Neil Hall from the University of Liverpool, releases draft sequences of the wheat genome. //www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11099378 (BBC)

22 are killed after Hurricane Gustav makes landfall over Haiti. //news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080827/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/tropical_weather (AP via Yahoo! News)

The United States condemns the decision by the Russian President to recognize as independent states the Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. //rustavi2.com/news/news_text.php?id_news=27640pg=1im=mainct=0wth= (Rustavi 2)

Former Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom John Prescott announces he will retire as a Member of Parliament at the next election. //news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6965184.stm (BBC)

Pakistan increases security in Balochistan as rioting follows the killing of rebel leader Nawab Akbar Bugti.//news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5289910.stm (BBC NEWS)

Crime: A painting by Leonardo da Vinci, the "Madonna with the Yarnwinder" is stolen from Drumlanrig Castle in Scotland, the home of the Duke of Buccleuch.

An electricity blackout cuts off power to around 500,000 people living in southeast England and brings 60% of London's underground rail network to a halt.

Perihelic opposition: Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in over 50,000 years.

Bank robber Brian Douglas Wells is killed when a time bomb around his neck explodes, allegedly in an act of betrayal by his co-conspirators.

Astronomy: Mars passes Earth at a distance of under kilometers, the closest it has been in approximately 60,000 years //www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/08/23/1061529376531.html//www.space.com/spacewatch/where_is_mars.html

Crime: A body of a woman is found in a shallow grave on a beach near Dundalk in the Republic of Ireland. It is suspected to be the body of Jean McConville, a young Belfast woman and mother of ten children kidnapped and murdered by the Provisional IRA in the mid 1970s. The IRA had suggested two years ago that McConville was buried in the vicinity. Previous attempts to find her remains had failed. //www.rte.ie/news/2003/0827/remains.html

Ostankino Tower in Moscow catches fire, three people are killed.

The Ostankino Tower fire in Moscow kills 3.

Dissolution of the Soviet Union: Moldova declares independence from the Soviet Union.

Lord Mountbatten of Burma and 3 others are assassinated by the Provisional Irish Republican Army. He was a British admiral, statesman and an uncle of The Duke of Edinburgh. On the same day, the Warrenpoint ambush occurs: Provisional Irish Republican Army members attack a British convoy at Narrow Water, County Down, killing 18 British soldiers.

East Coast Wrestling Association is established.

Walt Disney's "Mary Poppins" has its world premiere in Los Angeles. It will go on to become Disney's biggest moneymaker, and winner of 5 Academy Awards, including a Best Actress award for Julie Andrews, who accepted the part after she was passed over by Jack L. Warner for the leading role of Eliza Dolittle in the film version of "My Fair Lady". "Mary Poppins" is the first Disney film to be nominated for Best Picture.

NASA launches the "Mariner 2" space probe.

Operation Argus: The United States begins nuclear tests over the South Atlantic.

First edition of the "Guinness Book of Records" is published, in London.

Reparation negotiations between West Germany and Israel end in Luxembourg: Germany will pay 3 billion Deutsche Marks.

When the French government lowers the daily bread ration to 200 grams, causing riots in Verdun and in Le Mans.

WWII ndash Pierre Laval is shot in an assassination attempt at Versailles, France.

A Heinkel 178, the first turbojet-powered aircraft, flies for the first time with Captain Erich Warsitz in command.

eneral Beck leaves office as Chief of the General Staff he is replaced by General Franz Halder.

A military junta takes over in Peru.

The Kellogg-Briand Pact is signed in Paris (the first treaty to outlaw aggressive war).

September ndash British armies and their Arab allies roll into Syria.

20,000 London policemen strike for increased pay and union recognition.

Battle of Ambos Nogales: U.S. Army forces skirmish against MexicanCarrancistas and their Germanadvisors in the only battle of World War I fought on American soil.

Russian Revolution: Vladmir Lenin is shot by Fanya Kaplan, but he survives. Moisei Uritsky, the Petrograd head of the Cheka, is assassinated the same day.

The shortest war in recorded history, the Anglo-Zanzibar War, starts at 9 in the morning and lasts for 45 minutes of shelling.

Standing ovation to Hindu monk Swami Vivekanda for his address in Response to the welcome at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago.

Swami Vivekananda delivers an inspiring speech on his paper at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago.

New Zealand becomes the first country in the world to grant women the right to vote.

The Russian ironclad \'\'Rusalka\'\' disappears in a storm en route from Tallinn to Helsinki her hulk is eventually discovered in July 2003, off Helsinki.

The Russian ironclad "Rusalka" disappears in a storm en route from Tallinn to Helsinki her hulk is eventually discovered in July 2003, off Helsinki.

The Sea Islands Hurricane hits Savannah, Charleston, and the Sea Islands, killing 1,000–2,000.

The World Parliament of Religions in Chicago opens its first meeting.

Under the pressure of a general strike, the Belgian Federal Parliament accepts a proposal to accept general multiple suffrage.

The Genoa Cricket Athletic Club, the oldest Italian football club, is formed.

France and Russia conclude a defensive alliance.

The fifth hurricane of the Atlantic season hits Florida and the Carolinas, killing about 700.

The University of Oxford win the first international boat race held on the River Thames against Harvard University.ref name=Pocket On This Day

Martin Doyle's is the last execution in Britain for attempted murder.

Edwin Drake drills the first oil well in the United States, near Titusville, Pennsylvania, starting the Pennsylvanian oil rush.

English lawyer Alfred Wills and party set out for the first ascent of the Wetterhorn in Switzerland, regarded as the start of the golden age of alpinism.

South America: Brazil and Argentina recognize the independence of Uruguay. Simón Bolívar declares himself dictator of Gran Colombia.

Bombardment of Algiers: Various European Allies ships force the Dey of Algiers to free Christian slaves.

War of the Second Coalition: Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland ndash Britain and Russia send an expedition to the Batavian Republic.

The trial of William Brodie begins in Edinburgh, Scotland he is sentenced to death by hanging.

Launching a steam powered craft on the Delaware River, John Fitch demonstrates the first U.S. patent for his design.

"Le Globe" - Jacques Charles and Les Frères Robert launched the world's first hydrogen-filled balloon in Paris.

September ndash First running of the St. Leger Stakes horse race in England.

American Revolution: Battle of Long Island: Washington\'s troops routed in Brooklyn by British under William Howe.

China and Russia sign the Treaty of Nerchinsk.

Thirty Years\\' War: Tilly defeats king Christian IV of Denmark's army in the Battle of Lutter.

Governor John White leaves the Roanoke Colony to get more supplies from England.

Oda Nobunaga drives the 15th Ashikaga shogun Ashikaga Yoshiaki out of Kyoto, effectively destroying the Ashikaga shogunate and historically ending the Muromachi and Sengoku periods. The Azuchi-Momoyama period of Japan begins.

Advice and citizenry of Hildesheim (Germany) profess themselves to the Lutheran teachings. As a pledge owner, the city Hildesheim provides for the execution of the Reformation in the city and office of Peine. The priests from the localities of Clauen, Hohenhameln, Sossmar, Schmedenstedt, Lengede and Rosenthal resume their offices in the sense of the Reformation.

Battle of the Siritsa River: Livonian Order, commanded by Wolter von Plettenberg, defeated an army of the Grand Duchy of Moscow and Pskov Republic.

John of Gaunt, the uncle of Richard II of England, makes peace with Castile and gives up his claim to the Castilian throne by allowing his daughter Katherine of Lancaster to marry Prince Henry, the eldest son of John I of Castile.

Charles VI of France takes full control of government, ending the regency of his uncle, Philip the Bold.

Goryeo Revolution: King U of Goryeo is forced from power and replaced by his son Chang.

A Chinese invasion force under General Lan Yu defeats a large Mongolian army under Khan Toghus Temur and captures 100 members of the Yuan royal family. Toghus Temur is killed whilst trying to escape and is succeeded as Khan of Mongolia by his rival, Jorightu.

The University of Cologne is established (now the largest university in Germany).

Goryeo Revolution: General Yi Seonggye begins a four year revolution in Goryeo (now Korea) after being ordered by King U of Goryeo to attack the superior Chinese army.

Omar I is succeeded by Sa'id as King of the Kanem-Bornu Empire (now east Chad and Nigeria). Sa'id is succeeded in the same year by Kade Alunu. Omar and Sa'id are both killed by Bilala invaders from the west.

Ljubostinja Monastery is built in Serbia.

An invading Chinese army destroys Karakorum, the capital city of the Mongolian Empire.

Ghiyas-ud-Din Tughluq II succeeds Firuz Shah Tughluq as Sultan of Delhi.

Tran Ngung overthrows Tran Hien as King of Vietnam.

Cozia Monastery is built in Wallacia.

Ramesuan is reinstated as King of Ayutthaya (now southern Thailand) after dethroning and executing 17 year-old King Thong Chan.

The Wyclif Bible is completed by John Purvey, and Wyclif's followers, known as the Lollards, begin to be persecuted.

Battle of Bileća: Bosnians check Ottoman advance.

Hubasa takes Alexandria after his victory on the Egyptian troops near al-Hanniyya yet Tekin, the Abbassid governor refuses to surrender and asks for reenforcements which reach him in September.