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more events on August 19
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2010
Operation Iraqi Freedom ends; the last US combat brigade, 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, leaves the country. Six brigades remain to train Iraqi troops.
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2005
Toronto Supercell: A series of thunderstorms spawn several tornadoes and cause flash floods in Southern Ontario. Losses exceed $500 million Canadian dollars, the highest ever in the province.
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2004
Google Inc. stock begins selling on the Nasdaq Stock Market, with an initial price of $85; the stock ended the day at $100.34 with more than 22 million shares traded.
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2003
Shmuel Hanavi bus bombing: suicide attack on a bus in Jerusalem kills 23 Israelis, some of them children, and wounds 130. Islamist militant group Hamas claims responsibility for the attack.
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2002
A Russian Mi-26 helicopter carrying troops is hit by a Chechen missile outside of Grozny, killing 118 soldiers.
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1991
Communist hard-liners place President Mikhail Gorbachev under house arrest in an attempted coup that failed two days later.
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1988
Cease fire begins in 8-year war between Iran and Iraq.
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1987
Hungerford Massacre in the UK; armed with semi-automatic rifles and a handgun Michael Ryan kills 16 people before committing suicide. In response, Parliament passed the Firearms (Amendment) Act of 1988 banning ownership of certain classes of firearms.
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1976
Gerald R Ford, who had become President of the United States after Richard Nixon resigned, wins Republican Party’s presidential nomination at Kansas City convention.
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1974
US Ambassador to Cyrus Rodger P. Davies assassinated by a sniper of Greek Cypriot paramilitary group EOKA-B during a demonstration outside the embassy in Nicosia.
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1966
Lee Ann Womack, Grammy-winning singer, songwriter (“I Hope You Dance”).
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1965
US forces destroy a Viet Cong stronghold near Van Tuong, in South Vietnam.
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1957
The first balloon flight to exceed 100,000 feet takes off from Crosby, Minnesota.
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1952
Jonathan Frakes, actor (Commander William T Riker, Star Trek: The Next Generation); character given same birth-date but in 2335.
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1950
Edith Sampson becomes the first African-American representative to the United Nations.