CNN Interactive - Almanac - August 21, 1998

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There will be no sanctuary for terrorists. We will defend our people, our interests and our values.

-- President Clinton, in a televised address to the American people on Thursday

Cuban President Fidel Castro is to visit the Dominican Republic.

On Sunday, August 23, the World Conference on Volunteerism is scheduled to begin in Edmonton, Alberta.
On Monday, August, 24, a trial is scheduled to be held in Kansas City, Missouri, for a woman claiming a radio talk show host defamed her by reporting that former Sen. Bob Dole helped her get an abortion in the early 1970s.
On Tuesday, August 25, a pretrial conference is scheduled in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for Stephen Fagan, the father charged with kidnapping his two daughters nearly 20 years ago.
On Wednesday, August 26, President Jacques Chirac receives ambassadors is scheduled to make his annual policy speech.
On Thursday, August 27, the Smithsonian is set to unveil Minerva, an intelligent mobile robot that will give tours at the National Museum of American History in Washington.

NEWSLINK:		NOTABLE:
Ever wondered why the Mona Lisa is smiling. Leonardo da Vinci probably wasn't smiling 87 years ago when his painting of the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre in Paris by an Italian waiter, Vicenzo Perruggia. To find out more about the artist and his legendary portrait, click here.		Britain's Princess Margaret is 68. Actor-director Melvin Van Peebles ("Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death") is 66. Basketball Hall-of-Famer Wilt Chamberlain is 62. Singer Kenny Rogers is 60. Actor Clarence Williams III ("The Mod Squad") is 59. Singer Harold Reid (The Statler Brothers) is 59. Actress Kim Cattrall ("Police Academy") is 42. Football quarterback Jim McMahon is 39. Rock musician Liam Howlett (Prodigy) is 27. Actress Alicia Witt ("Cybill") is 23.

In 1808, Arthur Wellesley, later Duke of Wellington, and his British troops defeated French at the Battle of Vimiero in the Iberian Peninsular War.
In 1810, one of Napoleon's generals, Marshall Bernadotte, was elected Crown Prince of Sweden using the name Charles John.
In 1911, Leonardo da Vinci's painting of the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre in Paris by an Italian waiter, Vicenzo Perruggia. It was recovered in 1913.
In 1944, representatives of the U.S., Britain, Russia and China met at Dumbarton Oaks near Washington to plan for the formation of the United Nations.
In 1959, Hawaii was admitted as the 50th state of the United States.
In 1959, the Baghdad Pact was formally renamed the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO) after Iraq's withdrawal earlier in the year.
In 1960, Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's nationalist leader of the Mau Mau, was released after nine years detention.
In 1961, U.S. and El Salvador signed the first Food for Peace agreement.
In 1963, martial law was declared in South Vietnam following raids on Buddhist pagodas and the arrest of hundreds of Buddhist monks.
In 1965, the U.S. spacecraft Gemini 5 was launched from Cape Kennedy, with Gordon Cooper and Charles Conrad on board.
In 1968, forces from the Soviet Union and four other Warsaw Pact states marched towards Prague after invading Czechoslovakia shortly before midnight on the 20th.
In 1982, following Israel's June 6th invasion of Lebanon, the evacuation of thousands of Palestinians from the country began under the supervision of a multinational force.
In 1988, an earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale killed about 1,000 people on India's border with Nepal.
In 1990, British conservationist George Adamson, whose work featured in the film "Born Free," was murdered by bandits in Kenya.
In 1990, the Indian parliament approved presidential rule in Jammu and Kashmir and gave the armed forces special powers in the riot-torn state.
In 1990, the first pictures from Venus by the space probe Magellan showed features similar to volcanoes and valleys on Earth.
In 1991, Latvia declared its independence from the Soviet Union.
In 1991, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev declared he was back in full control after a 60-hour coup by Communist hardliners crumbled under popular resistance.
In 1995, a suicide bomber killed four people and wounded 100 in a morning rush-hour bus attack in Jerusalem. The Islamic Hamas movement said it was behind the bombing.
In 1997, the newly-appointed prime minister of Afghanistan, Abdur Rahim Gaffurzai, was killed along with 13 others in a plane crash.