The Chaser APEC pranks were a series of comic stunts that targeted the 2007 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders Summit, which occured from 2–9 September, in Sydney, Australia. They were coordinated and performed by the Australian satire group The Chaser for the television series The Chaser's War on Everything. The most prominent prank was the breach of an APEC restricted zone in the heart of Sydney's CBD on 6 September. Julian Morrow directed a fake Canadian motorcade, which was allowed through the restricted zone by police and not detected until Chas Licciardello alighted, dressed as Osama bin Laden. Although pranks that involved public locations, figures, and organisations were always a feature of the series, the APEC pranks yielded unprecedented local and international publicity, both positive and negative. Some team members faced charges for breaching the APEC zone, but these were dropped because police had allowed their entry in the restricted zone. Other less controversial and less publicised stunts were also shown on The Chaser's War on Everything, with ratings peaking at almost three million Australian viewers for the APEC wrap-up episode.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chaser_APEC_pranks

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1660:

The Long Parliament, originally called by King Charles I of England in 1640 following the Bishops' Wars, dissolved itself. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Parliament

1802:

U.S. President Thomas Jefferson authorized the establishment of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, today the world's largest public engineering, design and construction management agency. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army_Corps_of_Engineers

1926:

At the then-Asa Ward Farm in Auburn, Massachusetts, American scientist Robert H. Goddard launched the world's first liquid-fueled rocket, a 10-foot (3 m) cylinder that reached an altitude of about 41 feet (12 m) and flew for two-and-a-half seconds before falling to the ground. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_H._Goddard

1968:

Vietnam War: American soldiers killed hundreds of unarmed civilians in the Sơn Mỹ village in the Sơn Tịnh district of South Vietnam. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Lai_Massacre

1978:

The oil tanker Amoco Cadiz split in two after running aground on Portsall Rocks, about 3 miles (5 km) off the coast of Brittany, France, resulting in one of the largest oil spills ever. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amoco_Cadiz

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

despotic (adj): 1. Of or pertaining to a despot or tyrant.

2. Acting or ruling as a depot, tyrannical http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/despotic

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Wherever the real power in a Government lies, there is the danger of oppression. In our Governments, the real power lies in the majority of the Community, and the invasion of private rights is chiefly to be apprehended, not from the acts of Government contrary to the sense of its constituents, but from acts in which the Government is the mere instrument of the major number of the Constituents. --James Madison http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Madison