August 1981 - August 10, 1981 (Monday)

August 10, 1981 (Monday)

• Liberia's President, Master Sergeant Samuel K. Doe, who had taken power in a bloody coup d'etat a year earlier, had five of his fellow members on the "People's Redemption Council" arrested on charges of plotting his assassination. Vice-President Thomas Weh-Syn and council members Harris Johnson, Nelson Toe, Robert Sumo and Henry Zuo, were part of the Doe's group of 17 officers and soldiers who had overthrown and killed President William R. Tolbert on April 12, 1980. Over the next few days, they were given a military trial, and executed on Friday.
• Francisco Pinto Balsemão threatened to resign as Prime Minister of Portugal unless he received unanimous approval from the ruling Social Democratic Party for his economic reforms. His ultimatum was successful in implementing austerity measures.
• Born: Taufik Hidayat, Indonesian badminton player (Olympic gold 2004, World Champion 2005, in Bandung
• Died: Jack Kiefer, 57, American mathematician, statistician, and pioneer of optimal design; and Dušan Popov, 79, Serbian-born Nazi spy who became a double agent for British intelligence