1297 Battle at Stirling Bridge, Scottish rebel William Wallace defeats the English

1609 Expulsion order announced against the Moriscos of Valencia; beginning of the expulsion of all Spain’s Moriscos

1697 Battle of Zenta: forces of Prince Eugen of Savoye defeat the Turks, ending Ottoman control of large parts of Central Europe

1708 Great Northern war: Charles XII of Sweden stops his march to conquer Moscow outside Smolensk, marking the turning point in the war

2001 Two passenger planes hijacked by Al Qaeda terrorists crash into New York’s World Trade Towers causing the collapse of both and deaths of 2,606 people

2001 Terrorists hijack a passenger plane and crash it into the Pentagon causing the deaths of 125 people

2001 Attempt by passengers and crew of United Airlines Flight 93 to retake control of their hijacked plane from terrorists causes plane to crash in Pennsylvania field killing all 64 people on board

Historical Events Today
Today in Film & TV
1928 1st ever TV drama WGY’s “Queens Messenger” broadcast in the New York area starring Izetta Jewell

Today in Music
1914 W. C. Handy “Father of the Blues” publishes his most famous composition “St Louis Blues”

Today in Sport
1985 Sri Lanka score their 1st Test Cricket victory, by 149 runs v India

MORE FACTS…
1773 Benjamin Franklin writes “There never was a good war or bad peace”

Famous Weddings
1878 German philosopher Friedrich Engels (57) marries Lizzie Burns (51), hours before her death in London

1930 Mystery writer Agatha Christie (39) weds archaeologist Max Mallowan (26)

1941 Belgium King Leopold secretly marries Lilian Baels

A tropical storm off the Pacific Coast brought cooler temperatures and much needed rain to Southern California on Saturday, ending a scorching heat wave and easing fears that a massive wildfire could threaten more residents.

Officials had warned that high winds from the remnants of Tropical Storm Kay could fan the flames of the Fairview Fire, which as of Friday had consumed about 27,000 acres in Riverside County, east of Los Angeles, and was only 5% contained. Heavy rain from the storm, meanwhile, raised the possibility of flash flooding and mudslides.

But steady rain helped firefighters make significant progress overnight, according to Rob Roseer, a spokesman for Cal Fire, the state’s firefighting agency. As of 10:50 a.m. (1750 GMT), the fire was 40% contained, and there were no reports of flash flooding or debris flows, Roseer said.

“Thankfully, the rain from Tropical Storm Kay came through earlier than expected and provided a lot of relief for firefighters,” he said.

Thousands of residents have been ordered to leave their homes, though some people who live west and northwest of the fire have been allowed to return since Friday, Roseer said. Two people have died as a result of the fire.

The Mosquito Fire east of the state capital of Sacramento continued expanding overnight, however. As of Saturday morning, the blaze had burned through more than 33,000 acres and was 0% contained, Cal Fire said.

Highs in southern California were mostly expected to stay under 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius), according to forecasters, after days of oppressive heat across much of the state. Temperatures hit a record 101 degrees at Los Angeles International Airport on Friday, the National Weather Service said.

Officials had considered implementing rolling electricity outages earlier in the week, when power demand hit an all-time high.

One of the world’s oldest preserved human settlements has been significantly damaged by torrential rain in Pakistan as the country battles the worst floods in its history.

Moenjodaro (also styled Mohenjo-daro), a World Heritage site in the Indus River Valley 508 kilometers (316 miles) from Karachi, was built in the Bronze Age, some 5,000 years ago.

“Unfortunately we witnessed the mass destruction at the site,” reads a letter from the Cultural, Tourism, & Antiquities Department of Singh state sent to UNESCO and signed by curator Ihsan Ali Abbasi and architect Naveed Ahmed Sangah.

The letter adds the site was being used as temporary accommodation for surrounding residents whose own homes had flooded.

“On humanitarian grounds we gave them shelter in our quarters, parking areas, shops (and) ground floor of the museum,” the letter explains.

Currently, an estimated one-third of Pakistan is underwater after monsoon downpours combined with water from melting glaciers.

Most of Moenjodaro’s structures, which were discovered in the 1920s, are above ground and susceptible to environmental damage. Images included in the letter from the site’s guardians show collapsed brick walls and layers of mud covering the site.

The letter explains some of the immediate actions the site team has taken to mitigate the flood damage, like bringing in water pumps, repairing brickwork and cleaning drains.

But it’s clear that these measures will not be enough.

Abbasi and Sangah ended their letter by asking for 100 million Pakistani rupees ($45 million) to cover the costs of full repairs.

UNESCO has responded to the request for help, allocating $350,000 from its emergency fund for damaged historic sites in Pakistan during UN Secretary General António Guterres’s visit to the flood-ravaged country this week.

The funds will go to Moenjodaro and other sites including the Sehwan folk and craft museum, the Amri Museum — which looks after another ancient site in Singh state — and the historical monuments at Makli.

While the sum is far less than will be needed to fully repair and maintain the sites, it will pay for urgent work while both UNESCO and the Cultural, Tourism, & Antiquities Department consider the best way forward.

Sadly, the conservators of Moenjodaro have known for some time that flooding could pose a serious risk to the site.

Its official UNESCO listing notes that Singh state — which is officially tasked with maintaining Moenjodaro — has flagged the issue before and warned that “a breach of the dam upstream would cause catastrophic damage.”

Moenjodaro’s significance as a historical and architectural site cannot be underestimated. When it was added to UNESCO’s register in 1980, the organization wrote that Moenjodaro “bears exceptional testimony to the Indus civilization,” comprising “the most ancient planned city on the Indian subcontinent.”

During its heyday, the city was a bustling metropolis. There were markets, public baths, a sewage system, and a Buddhist stupa, mostly constructed out of sun-baked brick.

In their letter, Abbasi and Sangah express concern that Moenjodaro could be added to the list of UNESCO sites in danger, which the preservation body updates periodically to highlight historic places that are at severe risk of ruin.

Sites currently on this list include Florida’s Everglades National Park, which is facing significant environmental challenges, and the city of Liverpool, England, whose historic city center is considered at risk from urbanization.

Two more U.S. military planes loaded with tons of aid for Pakistanis affected by flooding from deadly monsoon rains landed Sunday in southern Sindh province, one of the worst-affected regions in the impoverished country.

Saif Ullah, spokesman for the country’s Civil Aviation Authority, said each plane was loaded with about 35 tons of relief aid that would be distributed in the province by the World Food Program.

The aircraft landed at Sukkur Airport in Sindh and Ullah said the U.S. operation that began Thursday would continue until Sept. 16.

Pakistan has suffered under extremely heavy monsoon rains that started early this year — in mid-June.

Multiple officials and experts have blamed the rains and resulting floodwaters on climate change. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last week called on the world to stop “sleepwalking” through the dangerous environmental crisis.

He has called repeatedly on the international community to send massive amounts of aid to Pakistan.

Ullah said Sunday that two more flights bringing relief goods from the United Arab Emirates landed at Karachi airport. So far, U.N. agencies and several countries have sent multiple planeloads of aid, and authorities say the UAE has been one of the most generous contributors.

Oke Idanre hill consists of high plain with spectacular valleys interspersed with inselbergs of about 3,000 ft above sea level.

It also has diverse and variegated eco-systems of flora and fauna.

Oke Idanre contains very important bio-physical and land form features whose interaction with the physical features created an enduring cultural landscape within the setting.

Idanre hill is one of the most awesome and beautiful natural landscapes in Ondo State and Nigeria.

Added to its beauty which fires human curiosity is the fact that the entire people of Idanre lived on these boulders for almost a millennium.

Since emigration down hill in 1923, the topography, vegetation as well as the fauna and floral life have remained undistributed.

There is a special species of tailless animal called Hyrax that lives on the rocks which because of hunting are becoming extinct and there are special monkeys sported near Orosun hills.

The hill is also plays host to a group of scientists and field researchers.

The site is home to a group of bats and the people hold a unique festival of bats every year.

The hill is being used by filmmakers as location for many of their films.

In addition, the one and only Noble Prize Winner for Literature in Africa Professor Wole Soyinka wrote his longest poem titled “Idanre and other Poems”.

Most settlements in Nigeria have, by nature and tradition, been around or attached to groves and hills.

Majority of these groves and hills have either been abandoned or are now limited to very small areas.

Idanre hill, however, like Dala hill in Kano North West Nigeria has retained its qualities as the central moderating influence of the settlement pattern of Idanre people.

Like Dala hill which started as an iron ore prospecting settlement and provided the foundation for the growth of Kano city, Idanre hill forms the nucleus for the peopling Idanre .