This day in history

[August 27, 2011]  (AP)  Today is Saturday, Aug. 27, the 239th day of 2011. There are 126 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On Aug. 27, 1883, the island volcano Krakatoa blew up; the resulting tidal waves in Indonesia's Sunda Strait claimed some 36,000 lives in Java and Sumatra.

On this date:

In 1776, the Battle of Long Island began during the Revolutionary War as British troops attacked American forces, who ended up being forced to retreat two days later.

In 1859, Edwin L. Drake drilled the first successful oil well in the United States, at Titusville, Pa.

In 1908, Lyndon Baines Johnson, the 36th president of the United States, was born near Stonewall, Texas.

In 1928, the Kellogg-Briand Pact was signed in Paris, outlawing war and providing for the peaceful settlement of disputes.

In 1939, the first turbojet-powered aircraft, the Heinkel He 178, went on its first full-fledged test flight over Germany.

In 1949, a violent white mob prevented an outdoor concert headlined by Paul Robeson from taking place near Peekskill, N.Y. (The concert was held eight days later.)

In 1957, the USS Swordfish, the second Skate Class nuclear submarine, was launched from the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine.

In 1962, the United States launched the Mariner 2 space probe, which flew past Venus in Dec. 1962.

In 1979, British war hero Lord Louis Mountbatten and three other people, including his 14-year-old grandson Nicholas, were killed off the coast of Ireland in a boat explosion claimed by the Irish Republican Army.

In 1989, the first U.S. commercial satellite rocket was launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla. -- a Delta booster carrying a British communications satellite, the Marcopolo 1.

Ten years ago: Israeli helicopters fired a pair of rockets through office windows and killed senior PLO leader Mustafa Zibri. Peru's Congress voted to lift the constitutional immunity of former President Alberto Fujimori, so that prosecutors could charge him with crimes against humanity. (Fujimori, who had fled to Japan, was extradited to Peru from Chile in 2007 and was later tried and convicted; he is serving a 25-year prison sentence.)

Five years ago: A Comair CRJ-100 crashed after trying to take off from the wrong runway in Lexington, Ky., killing 49 people and leaving the co-pilot the sole survivor. Two Fox News journalists, Steve Centanni and cameraman Olaf Wiig, were freed by militants nearly two weeks after being kidnapped in Gaza City. The action series "24" won Emmys for best drama series and best actor for Kiefer Sutherland; "The Office" was honored as best comedy.

One year ago: Aijalon Gomes (EYE'-jah-lahn gohms), an American held seven months in North Korea for trespassing, stepped off a plane in his hometown of Boston accompanied by former President Jimmy Carter, who had flown to Pyongyang to negotiate his freedom. Cuba issued a pair of surprising free market decrees, allowing foreign investors to lease government land for at least 99 years and loosening state controls on commerce to let citizens grow and sell their own fruits and vegetables.

Today's birthdays: Cajun-country singer Jimmy C. Newman is 84. Author Antonia Fraser is 79. Actor Tommy Sands is 74. Bluegrass singer-musician J.D. Crowe is 74. Musician Daryl Dragon is 69. Actress Tuesday Weld is 68. Rock singer-musician Tim Bogert is 67. Actress Marianne Sagebrecht is 66. Ex-porn star Harry Reems is 64. Country musician Jeff Cook is 62. Actor Paul Reubens is 59. Rock musician Alex Lifeson (Rush) is 58. Actor Peter Stormare is 58. Actress Diana Scarwid is 56. Rock musician Glen Matlock (The Sex Pistols) is 55. Pro golfer Bernhard Langer is 54. Country singer Jeffrey Steele is 50. Gospel singer Yolanda Adams is 49. Country musician Matthew Basford (Yankee Grey) is 49. Writer-producer Dean Devlin is 49. Rock musician Mike Johnson is 46. Rap musician Bobo (Cypress Hill) is 43. Country singer Colt Ford is 42. Actress Chandra Wilson is 42. Rock musician Tony Kanal (No Doubt) is 41. Actress Sarah Chalke is 35. Actor RonReaco (correct) Lee is 35. Rapper Mase is 34. Actor Aaron Paul is 32. Rock musician Jon Siebels (Eve 6) is 32. Actor Shaun Weiss is 32. Contemporary Christian musician Megan Garrett (Casting Crowns) is 31. Actor Kyle Lowder is 31. Singer Mario is 25. Actress Alexa Vega ("Spy Kids") is 23.

Thought for today: "Genuine tragedies in the world are not conflicts between right and wrong. They are conflicts between two rights." -- Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, German philosopher (born this date in 1770, died 1831)

[Associated Press]

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