Today in history

Today’s highlight

On Aug. 27, 1883, the island volcano Krakatoa erupted with a series of cataclysmic explosions. The resulting tidal waves in Indonesia’s Sunda Strait claimed some 36,000 lives in Java and Sumatra.

On this date

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.

1894: Congress passed the Wilson-gorman Tariff Act, which contained a provision for a graduated income tax that was later struck down by the Supreme Court.

1949: A violent white mob prevented an outdoor concert headlined by Paul Robeson from taking place near Peekskill, New York.

1967: Brian Epstein, manager of the Beatles, was found dead in his London flat from an accidental overdose of sleeping pills at age 32.

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.

2001: Israeli helicopters fired a pair of rockets through office windows and killed senior PLO leader Mustafa Zibri.

2004: President George W. Bush signed executive orders designed to strengthen the CIA director’s power over the nation’s intelligence agencies and create a national counterterrorism center.

2005: Residents jammed freeways as they rushed to get out of the way of Hurricane Katrina, which was headed toward New Orleans.

Today’s birthdays

Author Lady Antonia Fraser is 91. Actor Tommy Sands is

86. Actor Tuesday Weld is

80. Actor G.W. Bailey is 79. Actor Marianne Sagebrecht is 78. Rock musician Alex Lifeson is 70. Actor Peter Stormare is 70. Actor Diana Scarwid is 68. Rock musician Glen Matlock (The Sex Pistols) is 67. Golfer Bernhard Langer is 66. Country singer Jeffrey Steele is 62.