Today in History July - 18
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64CE Jul 18, The Great Fire of
Rome began. After the fire Nero began to build his Golden House in
the center of the city.
(V.D.-H.K.p.78)(AP, 7/18/97)
1374 Jul 18, Francesco Petrarch
(69), Italian poet (Italia Mia), died.
(SSFC, 7/25/04, p.E3)
1534 Jul 18, Zacharias Ursinus,
German theologian (Heidelberger Catechism), was born.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1536 Jul 18, The authority of
the pope was declared void in England.
(AP, 7/18/97)
1552 Jul 18, Rudolf II of
Habsburg, emperor of Germany (1576-1612), was born.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1572 Jul 18, William of Orange
was recognized as viceroy of Holland, Friesland and Utrecht.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1610 Jul 18, Michelangelo
Merisi da Caravaggio (b.1571), Italian artist, died in Porto Ercole
at age 38. His paintings included “David With the Head of Goliath,”
in which he used his own image for Goliath. In 1999 Helen Langdon
authored the biography: "Caravaggio: A Life." In 2000 Peter Robb
authored the biography: "M: The Man Who Became Caravaggio." In 2010
Andrew Graham-Dixon authored “Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and
Profane.”
(Econ, 2/26/05, p.82)(WSJ, 5/4/05,
p.D8)(http://tinyurl.com/8jjs6)(SFC, 7/22/10, p.79)
1670 Jul 18, Giovanni Battista
Bononcini, Italian (opera) composer, was born.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1716 Jul 18, A decree ordered
all Jews expelled from Brussels.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1721 Jul 18, Jean Antoine
Watteau (b.1684), French rococo painter, died. His work included "Le
Mezzetin."
(WUD, 1994 p.1614)(MC, 10/10/01)(MC, 7/18/02)
1737 Jul 18, The Turkish army
beat the Austrians in the Battle at Banja Luka.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1770 Jul 18, Isabel Godin,
having traveled from Ecuador the length of the Amazon, reunited with
her husband Jean Godin in French Guiana.
(ON, 5/05, p.4)
1792 Jul 18, American naval
hero John Paul Jones died in Paris at age 45. His body was preserved
in rum in case the American government wished him back. In 1905 his
body was transported to the US and placed in a crypt in Annapolis.
In 2003 Evan Thomas authored "John Paul Jones: Sailor, Hero, Father
of the American Navy."
(AP, 7/18/97)(SSFC, 6/22/03, p.M3)
1789 Jul 18, Robespierre, a
deputy from Arras, France, decided to back the French Revolution.
(HN, 7/18/98)
1811 Jul 18, William Makepeace
Thackeray (d.1863), English novelist and satirist, was born. His
books were published as monthly serials. "Next to excellence is the
appreciation of it."
(HN, 7/18/98)(AP, 10/28/00)
1812 Jul 18, Great Britain
signed the Treaty of Orebro, making peace with Russia and Sweden.
(HN, 7/18/98)
1814 Jul 18, British capture
Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1817 Jul 18, Jane Austen
(b.1775), English writer, died at age 41. In 1869 her nephew James
Edward Austen-Leigh published “A Memoir of Jane Austen.”
(SFEC,11/9/97, BR
p.3)(www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/janelife.html)(ON, 12/09, p.8)
1830 Jul 18, Uruguay adopted a
liberal constitution.
(HN, 7/18/98)
1861 Jul 18, Union and
Confederate troops skirmished at Blackburn's Ford, Virginia, in a
prelude to the Battle of Bull Run.
(HN, 7/18/98)
1848 Jul 18, W.G. Grace
(d.1915), British cricket player, was born in Bristol. He has been
widely acknowledged as the greatest cricket player of all time.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._G._Grace)
1863 Jul 18, A 2nd assault in
the Battle of Fort Wagner, SC, left US1500 and CS174 casualties.
Union troops of the Massachusetts 54th Infantry assaulted Battery
Wagner on Morris Island in the harbor at Charleston, SC. The
ultimately unsuccessful attack, the 1st major engagement by a unit
of freed black soldiers, was later celebrated in the 1989 film
“Glory.”
(www.awod.com/cwchas/wagner.html)(LP, Spring
2006, p.58)
1863 Jul 18, William Dorsey
Pender (29), US Confederate gen-maj, died of injuries.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1864 Jul 18, President Lincoln
asked for 500,000 volunteers for military service.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1864 Jul 18, Confederate Brig.
Gen. John Bell Hood (33), commanding a corps under Gen. Johnston,
was promoted to the temporary rank of full general, and given
command of the Army of Tennessee just outside the gates of Atlanta.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bell_Hood)
1870 Jul 18, Pontifical
infallibility was proclaimed at the Vatican Council. It proclaimed
as dogma that the Pope when speaking ex cathedra can make no mistake
in solemn declarations of what must be believed in matters of faith
and morals. The 20th ecumenical council, soon adjourned due to the
outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War.
(PTA, 1980, p.510)(MC, 7/18/02)
1872 Jul 18, Britain introduced
the Ballot Act for voting by secret ballot. [see Aug. 15]
(AP, 7/18/97)(HN, 7/18/98)
1872 Jul 18, Benito Juarez
(66), general (battle of Acapulco) and Pres. of Mexico (1858-1872),
died of a heart attack in the National Palace.
(MC, 7/18/02)(WSJ, 8/13/97, p.A12)
1877 Jul 18, Thomas Edison
recorded the human voice for the first time. He shouted “Haloo” into
a mouthpiece and played back a moving tape.
(HN, 7/18/01)(ON, 2/07, p.11)
1887 Jul 18, Vidkum Quisling,
Norwegian minister of Defense, premier (1942-45), was born. He was
considered a traitor to his country for allowing an easy takeover by
Nazi Germany.
(HN, 7/18/98)(MC, 7/18/02)
1890 Jul 18, Charles Wilson,
Pres. of General Motors (1940-53), Sec. of Defense (1953-57), was
born.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1892 Jul 18, Thomas Cook (83),
English tour director (Thomas Cook & Son), died.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1894 Jul 18, Charles Marie
Leconte de Lisle (born 1818), French poet, died.
(MC, 7/18/02)(WUD, 1994, p.817)
1899 Jul 18, Horatio Alger Jr.
(67), American clergyman, author (Disagreeable Woman), died. His
books, reissued in cheaper editions, became huge bestsellers. In
1928 Herbert Mayes authored a biography that was highly fabricated.
In 1985 Gary Scharnhorst and Jack Bales authored "The Lost Life of
Horatio Alger, Jr."
(WSJ, 8/27/03, p.B1)(MC, 7/18/02)
1902 Jul 18, Charles W.J.
Mengelberg, Dutch composer, conductor, was born.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1902 Jul 18, Jessamyn West,
American author (The Friendly Persuasion), was born.
(HN, 7/18/01)
1906 Jul 18, S.I. Hayakawa,
(Sen-R-CA), educator (Language in Action), was born.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1906 Jul 17, American
playwright Clifford Odets was born in Philadelphia.
(AP, 7/18/06)
1907 Jul 18, Florenz Ziegfeld's
"Follies of 1907," premiered in NYC. [see Jul 8]
(MC, 7/18/02)
1908 Jul 18, Lupe Velez
(d.1944), film star, was born in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. Her over
40 films included “The Gaucho” (1927).
(www.imdb.com/name/nm0892473/)(www.youtube.com/watch?v=mArs7CMZYtg)
1909 Jul 18, Andrei Gromyko,
USSR diplomat and President (1985-89), was born. [see Jul 5]
(MC, 7/18/02)
1911 Jul 18, Hume Cronyn, actor
(World According to Garp, Cocoon), was born in London, Ontario.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1913 Jul 18, Richard "Red"
Skelton, legendary clown, was born in Vincennes, Ind. During a
career that stretched through medicine shows, vaudeville, motion
pictures, radio and television, the gentle Skelton created a beloved
host of characters from the silent tramp Freddie the Freeloader
(shown at left) to the Mean Widdle Kid, who coined the catch phrase,
"I dood it!" Skelton's sentimental humor, so popular in the '40s,
'50s and '60s, did not change with the times and in 1970, CBS
canceled The Red Skelton Show. Skelton refused to retire, touring
the college lecture circuit and painting clown faces that sold for
as much as $80,000. Red Skelton died at age 84 on September 17,
1997.
(HNPD, 7/18/98)(MC, 7/18/02)
1914 Jul 18, US army air
service 1st came into being as part of the Signal Corps.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1918 Jul 18, Nelson Mandela,
first black president of South Africa, was born in Qunu, S. Africa.
[see Jun 11]
(HN, 7/18/98)(MC, 7/18/02)
1918 Jul 18, During World War
I, American and French forces launched a counteroffensive against
the Germans during the Second Battle of the Marne.
(AP, 7/18/08)
1921 Jul 18, John Glenn, Jr.,
first man to orbit the Earth, was born in Cambridge, OH.
(HN, 7/18/98)(MC, 7/18/02)
1921
Jul 18, The prosecution gave its opening remarks in the trial of the
Chicago Black Sox, accused of throwing the 1919 World Series.
(www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/blacksox/chronology.html)
1922 Jul 18, A fire began at
the Manufacturers Transit Company’s 7-storey warehouse on Jane St.
in Greenwich Village, NYC. Explosions erupted and newspapers called
it “the Greenwich Village Volcano.” 2 firemen were killed. A final
eruption destroyed 2 houses on Jul 23. Assistant fire chief
“Smokey Joe” Martin (d.1945) directed the fire fighting efforts.
(ON, 4/03, p.8)
1925 Jul 18, Hitler published
"Mein Kampf" (My Struggle). It became the bible for the Nazi Party.
The book is filled with anti-Semitic writings, a disdain for
morality, worship of power, and the blueprints for world domination.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1927 Jul 18, Ty Cobb hit safely
for the 4,000th time in his career.
(AP, 7/18/97)
1929 Jul 18, Screamin' Jay
Hawkins, American blues singer, was born.
(HN, 7/18/01)
1930 Jul 18, American Sugar
Refining Company, American Tobacco B, Atlantic Refining, General
Railway Signal, Goodrich, Nash Motors and Curtiss-Wright were
removed as components of the Dow Jones. Borden, Eastman Kodak,
Goodyear, Ligget & Myers, Standard Oil of California, United Air
Transport and Hudson Motor were added to the DJIA.
(WSJ, 4/2/04, p.C1)(WSJ, 4/8/04, p.C4)
1932 Jul 18, The United States
and Canada signed a treaty to develop the St. Lawrence Seaway.
(AP, 7/18/97)
1933 Jul 18, Yevgeny
Yevtushenko, Russian poet, was born in Zima, Russia.
(HN, 7/18/01)(MC, 7/18/02)
1934 Jul 18, Cotton-mill
workers in the US south went on strike. The UTW locals in the
northern part of Alabama launched a strike in Huntsville, Alabama,
then spread to Florence, Anniston, Gadsden, and Birmingham. While
the strike was popular, it was also ineffective: many employers
welcomed it as a means of cutting their expenses, since they had
warehouses full of unsold goods. A documentary called the "Uprising
of ‘34" was made in 1995 and scheduled for PBS on 6/27/95.
(WSJ, 6/13/95,
p.A-1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textile_workers_strike_%281934%29)
1935 Jul 18, Annie Smith Peck
(b.1850), one of the world’s renowned mountain climbers, died in New
York. In 1932 she authored “Flying over South America: Twenty
Thousand Miles by Air.”
(www.britannica.com/women/articles/Peck_Annie_Smith.html)
1935 Jul 18, Ethiopian King
Haile Selassie urged his countrymen to fight to the last man against
the invading Italian army. He had previously warned the League of
Nations of the dangers of appeasement.
(HN, 7/18/98)
1936 Jul 17, Gen. Francisco
Franco was flown from the Canary Island, where he served as military
governor, to Spanish Morocco where he led a rebellion against the
elected Popular Front. This began the Spanish civil war. The first
word of the rebellion was reported by Lester Ziffren (1906-2007) of
the United Press. The rebel Nationalist movement under Francisco
Franco gained support from the fascist regimes in Italy and Germany
in opposition.
(SFC, 11/12/96, p.A12)(SFC, 7/13/01, WBb
p.3)(WSJ, 11/24/07, p.A8)
1937 Jul 18, Hunter S. Thompson
(d.2005), journalist, was born in Louisville, Ky.
(SFC, 2/21/05,
p.A8)(www.nndb.com/people/312/000022246/)
1938 Jul 18, Douglas "Wrong
Way" Corrigan arrived in Ireland. He had left NY for Calif. [see Jul
17]
(MC, 7/18/02)
1938 Jul 18, Vladimir M.
Kirshon (35), Russian playwright, was executed.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1939 Jul 18, Edwin H. Armstrong
(1890-1954), US radio engineer, started the 1st FM (frequency
modulation) radio station in Alpine, NJ.
(SSFC, 10/24/04, Par p.5)
1940 Jul 18, The Democratic
national convention in Chicago nominated President Roosevelt for an
unprecedented third term in office.
(AP, 7/18/00)
1940 Jul 18, The 1st successful
helicopter flight was made at Stratford, Ct.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1941 Jul 18, SS troops drowned
40 Jews in Dvina River in Belorussia.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1942 Jul 18, The German
Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe, the first jet-propelled aircraft to
fly in combat, made its first flight. Walter Nowotny was a rising
your star in the Luftwaffe, chosen by Hitler to be the point man to
lead the new jet fighter under the tutelage of General of Fighters
Adolf Galland who was assigned to prove the airplane in battle. The
Axis hopes were dashed when Nowotny was attacked by American pilots
during landing and crashed. Col. Edward R. "Buddy" Haydon was one of
those American pilots.
(www.fighter-planes.com/info/me262.htm)(HNQ,
9/2/02)
1943 Jul 18, The US Navy
airship K-74 was shot down by anti-aircraft fire from a German
U-boat.
(HN, 7/18/98)
1943 Jul 18, There was a
British assault on Catania, Sicily.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1944 Jul 18, U.S. troops
capture Saint-Lo, France, ending the battle of the hedgerows.
(HN, 7/18/98)
1944 Jul 18, British Mosquitos
attacked Cologne and Berlin.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1944 Jul 18, Hideki Tojo was
removed as Japanese premier and war minister because of setbacks
suffered by his country in World War II.
(AP, 7/18/97)
1947 Jul 18, President Truman
signed the Presidential Succession Act, which placed the Speaker of
the House and the Senate President Pro Tempore next in the line of
succession after the vice president.
(HFA, '96, p.34)(AP, 7/18/97)
1947 Jul 18, An African
American patient, code-named CAL-3, was unwittingly injected with
plutonium in a SF hospital as part of a treatment for apparent bone
cancer.
(SFEC, 10/31/99, BR p.3)
1947 Jul 18, King George VI
signed the Indian Independence Bill. In 2008 Peter Clarke authored
“The Lat Thousand Days of the British Empire.
(http://indiainteracts.com/columnist/2007/08/15/The-60-days-to-Aug-15-1947India-at-60/)(WSJ,
6/20/08, p.A11)
1947 Jul 18, British seized the
"Exodus 1947" ship of Jewish immigrants to Palestine. The British
Royal Navy intercepted the ship President Warfield, which had been
renamed Exodus by its passengers, forcing the 4,000 Jewish would-be
immigrants aboard back to Displaced Person camps in Germany. Britain
was still the ruling power in Palestine, which was being wracked by
conflict resulting from Jewish national aspirations. The return of
the Jewish immigrants, many of them survivors of Nazi persecution,
heightened anti-British sentiment among Jews in Palestine and
elsewhere. Yossi Harel, commander of the Exodus, died in 2008 at age
90.
(MC, 7/18/02)(HNQ, 12/4/98)(AP, 4/26/08)
1950 Jul 18, Richard Branson,
British music entrepreneur (Virgin Atlantic), was born.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Richard_Branson)
1950 Jul 18, Carl Clinton Van
Doren (b.1885), US literary critic and biographer, died in
Torrington, Connecticut.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Clinton_Van_Doren)
1951 Jul 18, Pope Pius XII
established the Archdiocese of Seattle and named Rev. Thomas A.
Connolly as its 1st archbishop.
(SFC, 7/13/01, WBb p.6)
1954 Jul 18, Coded
messages were delivered to Israeli agents via Israel
Radio to blow up a number of buildings in Egypt in order
to delay Britain’s departure from the Suez Canal. They planned to
blame the acts on Muslim radicals but the plan was uncovered. This
came to be known as the Lavan Affair after Pinhas Lavan, leader of
Unit 13, refused to accept responsibility on the grounds that the
operation was conducted without his knowledge. The events are
documented in "Ben Gurion’s Spy" (1996) by Shabtai Teveth.
(WSJ, 8/9/96, p.A5c)
1955 Jul 18, A summit opened in
Geneva, Switzerland, attended by Pres. Eisenhower, Soviet Premier
Nikolai Bulganin, British PM Anthony Eden and French Premier Edgar
Faure.
(AP, 7/18/05)
1955 Jul 18, 1st electric power
generated from atomic energy was sold commercially.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1961 Jul 18, In Spain ETA’s
first violent action tried to derail a train carrying supporters of
dictator Gen. Francisco Franco.
(AP, 3/22/06)
1964 Jul 18, Riots erupted in
the African American communities of NYC and Rochester, NY. The NYC
race riot began in Harlem and spread to Bedford-Stuyvesant in
Brooklyn.
(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.F5)(MC, 7/18/02)
1968 Jul 18, Intel was
incorporated as N M Electronics (the letters standing for Noyce and
Moore), but quickly changed its name to Intel, formed from the first
syllables of the words integrated and electronics.
(http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_gx5202/is_2004/ai_n19123399)
1968 Jul 18, The UK enacted
sanctions against Rhodesia for a 2nd time.
(WUD, 1994, p.1687)(http://tinyurl.com/c5kcs9)
1969 Jul 18, A car driven by
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (1932-2009), D-Mass., plunged off a bridge on
Chappaquiddick Island near Martha's Vineyard. His passenger,
28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne, died. Kennedy did not report the
accident until it was discovered 9 hours later.
(TMC, 1994, p.1969)(AP, 7/18/97)(Econ, 8/29/09,
p.30)
1970 Jul 18, Arthur Brown was
arrested for stripping on stage in Palermo, Sicily.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1971 Jul 18, New Zealand and
Australia announced they would pull their troops out of Vietnam.
(HN, 7/18/98)
1972 Jul 18, Egypt’s President
Sadat demanded that the USSR withdraw all military advisors from
Egypt.
(http://files.osa.ceu.hu/holdings/300/8/3/text/67-5-236.shtml)
1973 Jul 18, Jack Hawkins
(b.1910), English actor, died in London. His films included “Ben
Hur” and “Bridge Over River Kwai.” His autobiography, “Anything For
a Quiet Life,” was published after his death.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Hawkins)
1978 Jul 18, Cyrus Vance
(1917-2002), US Sec. of State, met with the Egyptian and Israeli
Foreign Ministers at Leeds Castle, England.
(www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/trvl/ls/13038.htm)
1980 Jul 18, A US Federal court
voided the Selective Service Act as it didn’t include women. The
issue was resolved on June 25, 1981, when the Supreme Court ruled in
Rostker v. Goldberg that “that Congress acted well within its
constitutional authority when it authorized the registration of men,
and not women.”
(www.american.edu/dgolash/rostker.htm)
1980 Jul 18, India became the
eighth country to demonstrate it could send a satellite to orbit
above Earth with the launch of the satellite Rohini 1 on a Satellite
Launch Vehicle (SLV) rocket in the state of Andhra Pradesh.
(www.spacetoday.org/Satellites/Iran/IranianSat.html)(NG, 5/88,
p.598)
1982 Jul 18, In Guatemala
soldiers and paramilitary troops massacred 267 people in the remote
hamlet of Plan de Sanchez. In 2001 local communities filed genocide
charges against congressional head Efrain Rios Montt, who was
the dictator at the time of the massacre. In 2005 Guatemala
apologized for the government-directed massacre of 226 people in
Plan de Sanchez.
(SFC, 6/6/01, p.C3)(SFC, 6/14/01, p.A15)(AP,
7/19/05)
1984 Jul 18, Walter F. Mondale
won the Democratic presidential nomination in San Francisco.
(AP, 7/18/99)
1984 Jul 18, James Huberty (41)
opened fire at a McDonald's fast-food restaurant in San Ysidro,
Calif., killing 21 people before being shot dead by police.
(AP, 7/18/97)(SFC, 4/17/07, p.A8)
1986 Jul 17, The world got its
first look at the remains of the Titanic as videotapes of the
British luxury liner, which sank in 1912, were released by
researchers from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
(AP, 7/18/06)
1987 Jul 18, President Reagan
used his weekly radio address to call on Congress to give more aid
to the Nicaraguan Contras.
(AP, 7/18/97)
1987 Jul 18, Molly Yard was
elected the new president of the National Organization for Women,
succeeding Eleanor Smeal.
(AP, 7/18/97)
1988 Jul 18, Texas Treasurer
Ann Richards delivered the keynote address at the Democratic
national convention in Atlanta, needling Republican nominee-apparent
George Bush as having been "born with a silver foot in his mouth."
(HN, 7/18/98)
1989 Jul 18, Actress Rebecca
Schaeffer (21) was shot to death at her Los Angeles home by obsessed
fan Robert Bardo, who was later sentenced to life in prison.
(AP, 7/18/99)
1990 Jul 18, Dr. Karl
Menninger, the dominant figure in American psychiatry for six
decades, died in Topeka, Kansas, four days short of his 97th
birthday.
(AP, 7/18/00)
1991 Jul 18, Socialist Party
leader Andre Cools was murdered. Cools had worked for more regional
autonomy for Wallonia, the French-speaking southern half of Belgium,
and the Dutch-speaking Flanders. The murder was believed to be done
by hit men after Cools threatened to reveal certain underworld
activities. 6 men were convicted for the murder in 2004.
(SFC, 9/9/96, p.A11)(AP, 1/7/04)
1991 Jul 18, Shiite Muslim
kidnappers in Lebanon demanded the release of two Lebanese brothers
being held in Germany, warning there could be "grave consequences."
(AP, 7/18/01)
1992 Jul 18, Britain's
opposition Labor Party chose John Smith as its leader, replacing
Neil Kinnock (b.1942). Kinnock had led the opposition since 1983.
(AP,
7/18/97)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Kinnock)
1992 Jul 18, In Peru 9 students
and a univ. teacher were killed at La Cantuta Univ. Later retired
Gen’l. Rodolfo Robles charged that an army death squad, the Colina
Group, was responsible. Death squad members were convicted and then
released in a 1995 general amnesty. In 2008 a former general and
three members of a military death squad were found guilty of
participating in the kidnapping and murder.
(SFC, 11/27/96, p.A13)(SFC, 12/2/96, p.A14)(SFC,
8/23/01, p.A8)(AP, 4/9/08)
1993 Jul 18, FBI Director
William Sessions continued to resist White House suggestions he step
down, saying he would resign only if President Clinton asked him to.
Sessions was fired by Clinton the next day.
(AP, 7/18/03)
1993 Jul 18, In Pakistan Shariq
and Ishaq Khan resigned under army pressure. An interim government,
headed by former world bank VP Moeen Qureshi, called for new
elections.
(SFC, 1/30/97, p.A9)
1994 Jul 18, Crayola announced
the introduction of scented crayons.
(www.nomenu.com/MDArchives/Vol17/m17d005.html)
1994 Jul 18, In Buenos Aires a
terrorist attack killed 85 people at the city’s Jewish Center, the
Argentine Israelite Mutual Aid Society (AMIA). Some 300 people were
injured. In 1996 three senior policemen and a retired officer were
charged in connection to the bombing. Iran denied any role. Police
inspector, Juan Jose Ribelli, accepted a $2.5 million several days
before the attack for providing the car in which the bomb exploded.
It was later revealed that he and his colleagues sold protection to
car thieves in return for stolen goods. In 2000 Ahmad Behbahani (32)
told a 60 Minutes journalist from a refugee camp in Turkey that Iran
was behind the 1994 bombing in Argentina. In 2002 it was reported
that Iran paid Pres. Menem $10 million to cover up Iran’s
involvement. In 2004 a federal court acquitted 5 men of being
accessories to the bombing. [see Nov 9, 2005] In 2009 a court ruled
that Carlos Alberto Telledin, accused of loading the van with
explosives, should be tried again for his participation in the
bombing.
(WSJ, 8/1/96 p.A1)(WSJ, 11/24/97,
p.A1)(SFC,12/9/97, p.B10)(HN, 7/18/98)(SFC, 6/6/00, p.A10)(SFC,
7/22/02, p.A1)(SFC, 9/3/04, p.A18)(NYT, 10/8/04, p.A12)(SSFC,
12/20/09, p.A31)
1994 Jul 18, In Rwanda the
Tutsi rebel movement (RPF) under Tutsi rebel leader Paul Kagame took
power. It promised to rebuild the courts and execute the guilty for
the slaughter of an estimated 500-800 thousand Tutsis. Two million
refugees, mostly Hutus, fled to refugee camps in Zaire and Tanzania.
Kagame studied at the US Army Command and General Staff College at
Fort Leavenworth in 1990. In 2005 Jean Hatzfeld, French journalist,
authored “Machete Season: The Killers in Rwanda Speak.”
(SFC, 417/96, p.A-9)(SFC, 8/9/96, p.A10)(SFC,
10/22/96, p.B1)(WSJ, 11/15/96, p.A16)(AP, 7/18/99)(SSFC, 6/26/05,
p.C3)
1995 Jul 18, US Senate
Republicans opened a new round of Whitewater hearings.
(AP, 7/18/00)
1995 Jul 18, Opening statements
were presented in the trial of Susan Smith, the South Carolina woman
charged with drowning her two young sons.
(AP, 7/18/00)
1996 Jul 18, Recovery efforts
continued off Long Island, N.Y., for the bodies of the 230 people
who died in the fiery crash of TWA Flight 800; President Clinton
urged Americans not to immediately assume the crash was the work of
terrorists.
(AP, 7/18/97)
1996 Jul 18, In Sri Lanka 4,000
Tamil rebels overran a military base 175 miles NE of Colombo and
overcame 1,200 defenders.
(WSJ, 7/19/96, p.A1)
1997 Jul 18, Representative
George Miller of Martinez, Ca., demanded a full accounting by the
federal EPA concerning inspections of the Central Valley dairies,
where dairy waste was threatening underground water supplies.
(SFC, 7/19/97, p.A1,13)
1997 Jul 18, Federal agents in
California arrested eight seafood importers accused of smuggling
contaminated seafood by bribing customs brokers and FDA inspectors.
(SFC, 7/19/97, p.A15,18)
1997 Jul 18, German businessman
Thomas Kramer was slapped with a record $323,000 penalty by the
Federal Election Commission for making illegal U.S. political
contributions.
(HN, 7/18/98)
1997 Jul 18, All key systems on
the Russian space station Mir returned to near-normal, about 24
hours after the already disabled spacecraft had lost power.
(HN, 7/18/98)
1997 Jul 18, Sir James
Goldsmith (b.2/26/33), British-French financier and corporate
raider, died in Spain at age 64.
(SFEC, 7/20/97, p.B6)
1997 Jul 18, In Cambodia Prince
Ranariddh called off armed resistance and proposed a caretaker
government and new elections.
(SFC, 7/19/97, p.A8)
1997 Jul 18, In Mexico police
arrested Orlando Arroyo Palaces, aka "Long Hair," in San Luis Rio
Colorado for the murder of journalist Flores Gonzalez. He had been
supposedly hired by Ishmael Guttered, brother of Jaime Gonzalez
Gutters, who was arrested last month.
(SFC, 7/19/97, p.A11)
1997 Jul 18, In Northern
Ireland the Sinn Fein party urged its allies in the IRA to call a
cease fire.
(SFC, 7/19/97, p.A8)
1997 Jul 18, In the Philippines
the government signed a general cease-fire with the Moro Islamic
Liberation Front, the country's 2nd largest Muslim rebel group.
(SFC, 7/19/97, p.A11)
1997 Jul 18, In Sierra Leone
leaders of the ruling junta pledged to implement an immediate cease
fire and to restore constitutional government.
(SFC, 7/19/97, p.A11)
1998 Jul 18, Residents along
the northern coast of Papua New Guinea were left reeling after a
23-foot-high tidal wave hit the night before, killing an estimated
3,000.
(AP, 7/18/99)
1998 Jul 18, South African
President Nelson Mandela capped his 80th birthday by marrying Graca
Machel, the widow of a Mozambican president and black liberation
leader.
(AP, 7/18/08)
1998 Jul 18, The Yugoslav army
claimed that 30 rebels were killed while infiltrating from Albania.
A 4-day battle began at Orahovac and the bodies of 58 ethnic
Albanians were buried. It was later alleged that most were buried in
a mass grave at an alleged garbage dump.
(SFEC, 7/19/98, p.A6)(SFC, 8/6/93, p.A14)
1999 Jul 18, David Cone of the
New York Yankees pitched a perfect game against the Montreal Expos,
leading his team to a 6-to-0 victory.
(AP, 7/18/00)
1999 Jul 18, Paul Lawrie won
the British Open after Jean Van de Velde triple-bogeyed on the 72nd
hole.
(AP, 7/18/00)
1999 Jul 18, Authorities
looking into the disappearance of the plane carrying John F. Kennedy
Junior, his wife and sister-in-law announced that the "search and
rescue" operation had become "search and recovery."
(AP, 7/18/00)
1999 Jul 18, US air strikes in
southern Iraq killed 14 civilians and wounded 17 others according to
the Iraqi military.
(SFC, 7/19/99, p.A10)
1999 Jul 18, British ambassador
Nick Browne presented his credentials to Pres. Khatami of Iran
following a decade-long break in relations.
(SFC, 7/19/99, p.A12)(SFC, 2/9/02, p.A9)
2000 Jul 18, Shrugging off a
veto threat from President Clinton, the Senate voted 61-to-38 in
favor of eliminating the so-called "marriage penalty" by cutting
taxes for virtually every married couple.
(AP, 7/18/01)
2000 Jul 18, Sen. Paul
Coverdell (Republican, Georgia) died in Atlanta at age 61 from a
cerebral hemorrhage.
(SFC, 7/19/00, p.A3)(AP, 7/18/01)
2000 Jul 18, In Angola rebels
abducted 14 church workers and as many as 20 civilians from the
Swiss mission of Our Lady of La Salette in Dunde.
(SFC, 7/20/00, p.C3)
2000 Jul 18, Chinese Pres.
Jiang Zemin and Russia’s Pres. Putin denounced the US proposed
missile defense program as a violation of the 1972 ABM treaty. They
also vowed to strengthen a strategic partnership between their
countries.
(SFC, 7/19/00, p.A10)
2001 Jul 18, Pres. Bush landed
in England to meet with PM Tony Blair prior to the G-8 summit in
Genoa.
(SFC, 7/19/01, p.A10)
2001 Jul 18, The FAA warned of
an overseas threat and urged the "highest" level of caution.
(SFC, 5/17/02, p.A1)
2001 Jul 18, In Baltimore a
60-car CSX freight train carrying hazardous materials derailed and
caught fire in a tunnel near Camden Yards. 54 cars burned and phone
cables were melted. The last burning car was pulled out July 23.
(SFC, 7/19/01, p.A3)(WSJ, 7/20/01, p.A1)(SFC,
7/24/01, p.A4)
2001 Jul 18, Thunderstorms in
southwestern Ohio killed 3 people.
(SFC, 7/19/01, p.A6)
2001 Jul 18, In Texas a natural
gas well exploded in Buffalo and 2 people were killed.
(SFC, 7/19/01, p.A6)
2001 Jul 18, Mimi Farina,
folksinger and founder of the Bread and Roses charity, died at age
56. She was the sister of Joan Baez. She and Richard Farina
(d.1966), her 1st husband, wrote the song "Pack Up Your Sorrows."
(SFC, 7/19/01, p.A25)
2001 Jul 18, In Egypt a trial
began for 52 men arrested on charges of obscene behavior and
contempt of religion. The men were arrested May 11 at the Queen Boat
nightclub in Cairo. On Nov 14, 23 men were sentenced up to 5 years
in prison and 29 were acquitted. In 2002 Pres. Mubarak tossed out
the verdicts against all but 2 of the 52 defendants.
(SFC, 7/18/01, p.A12)(SFC, 11/15/01, p.A19)(SFC,
5/31/02, p.A13)
2001 Jul 18, In Nigeria a
30-member robbery gang killed up to 22 people in the town of Awkuzu
in Anambra state. They began with the house of Francis Okafor, a
vigilante member.
(SFC, 7/21/01, p.E2)
2001 Jul 18, It was reported
that Osman Durmus, the Health Minister in Turkey, had introduced
regulations for state schools to expel non-virgin girls training as
health workers.
(SFC, 7/19/01, p.A11)
2002 Jul 18, Accused Sept. 11
conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui tried to plead guilty to charges that
could have brought the death penalty, but a federal judge in
Alexandria, Va., insisted he take time to think about it.
(AP, 7/18/03)
2002 Jul 18, US Army Sec.
Thomas White defended his sale of $12 million in Enron stock before
the company went bust. Records showed that he had made 77 phone
calls to Enron in the 10 months ending Feb 2002.
(SFC, 7/19/02, p.A3)
2002 Jul 18, The California
Supreme Court ruled that the state's marijuana law can help pot
smokers avoid being tried for drug offenses.
(SFC, 7/19/02, p.A1)
2002 Jul 18, It was reported
that drought in western US states was causing the biggest
grasshopper invasion in 50 years. Nebraska was among the hardest
hit.
(SFC, 7/18/02, p.A2)
2002 Jul 18, Bob Pittman
stepped down as chief operating officer of AOL Time Warner in a
shake-up at the world's largest media company.
(AP, 7/18/03)
2002 Jul 18, A Canadian Forces
helicopter crashed in a remote region of Labrador, killing two
pilots and injuring two other helicopter personnel.
(Reuters, 7/18/02)
2002 Jul 18, Rebels attacked a
central Colombian town and clashed with police in an hours long
battle, leaving four civilians and four rebels dead and destroying
dozens of houses and government buildings.
(AP, 7/18/02)
2002 Jul 18, In Germany
Chancellor Schroeder fired defense minister Rudolf Scharping for
accepting some $72,000 in payments from a public relations firm.
(SFC, 7/19/02, p.A18)
2002 Jul 18, Greek police
reported the capture of Alexandros Giotopoulos (58), the alleged
head of the November 17 terror group. Police also reported
confessions from members Christodoulos Xiros and brother Vassilis
Xiros to bombings and assassinations.
(SFC, 7/19/02, p.A14)
2002 Jul 18, In India
legislators elected Abdul Kalam, father of their nuclear missile
program, as the country's 12th president.
(WSJ, 7/19/02, p.A9)
2002 Jul 18, In India
separatist guerrillas ambushed a police convoy in Dijungmukh, Assam
state, and 7 police officers were killed.
(SFC, 7/19/02, p.A16)
2002 Jul 18, In Pakistan Anwar
Kenneth (40), a Christian, was convicted of blasphemy and sentenced
to death by hanging. He had called Islam a fake religion and said he
was Jesus Christ.
(SFC, 7/19/02, p.A16)
2002 Jul 18, In western Uganda
a fuel truck and a bus collided, killing more than 60 people in a
fiery explosion near Lutoto.
(AP, 7/19/02)(SFC, 7/19/02, p.A16)
2003 Jul 18, The Bush
administration declassified an 8-page part of the October, 2002,
National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) dubbed key judgments in the
wake of criticism on intelligence used to justify the war in Iraq.
(WSJ, 2/10/06, p.A4)
2003 Jul 18, Basketball star
Kobe Bryant was charged with sexually assaulting a 19-year-old woman
at a Colorado spa; Bryant denied the charge, saying he was guilty
only of adultery. Prosecutors later dropped the case.
(AP, 7/18/08)
2003 Jul 18, Scientists
reported the discovery of a link between a seratonin-controlling
gene and depression.
(SFC, 7/18/03, p.A23)(WSJ, 7/18/03, p.A1)
2003 Jul 18, Eight Afghan
soldiers were killed when their vehicle was blown apart by a remote
controlled mine.
(AP, 7/18/03)
2003 Jul 18, The body of
British scientist David Kelly, a weapons expert at the center of a
storm over British intelligence on Iraq, was found a day after he'd
committed suicide.
(AP, 7/18/08)
2003 Jul 18, The Philippine
government announced a cease-fire deal with a Muslim rebel group.
(AP, 7/18/03)
2003 Jul 18, Zimbabwe
government inspectors and police ordered bakeries to pay fines
Friday for violating price controls.
(AP, 7/18/03)
2004 Jul 18, The political film
“Outfoxed” premiered at over 3,000 house parties nationwide. Funding
and distribution were done by the liberal online hub MoveOn.org: “We
watch Fox so you don’t have to.”
(SFC, 7/19/04, p.A1)
2004 Jul 18, A spokesman said
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger would not apologize for
mocking certain lawmakers as "girlie men," despite criticisms from
Democrats that the remark was sexist and homophobic.
(AP, 7/18/05)
2004 Jul 18, Anne Gorsuch
Burford (62), Former Environmental Protection Agency chief, died in
Aurora, Colo.
(AP, 7/18/05)
2004 Jul 18, Bolivians voted in
favor of exporting the nation's vast natural gas reserves in a
referendum designed by the president to defuse social unrest. Voters
mandated higher taxes and greater government control over oil and
gas.
(AP, 7/19/04)(Econ, 7/24/04, p.36)(Econ, 4/23/05,
p.38)
2004 Jul 18, Idjarruri Karaja
(40), an activist who worked to include Indian rights in Brazil's
constitution, died of complications from kidney surgery.
(AP, 7/20/04)
2004 Jul 18, In Chechnya Tamara
Khadzhiyeva of United Russia, a local leader of Russia's main
pro-presidential party, was fatally shot in Shali. The region's
prosecutor said it was a contract killing linked to next month's
presidential election.
(AP, 7/18/04)
2004 Jul 18, Militants killed
Essam al-Dijaili, the head of Iraq’s military's supply department,
in a drive-by shooting as he walked into his house in Baghdad.
(AP, 7/19/04)
2004 Jul 18, American jets hit
a position in Fallujah purportedly used by foreign militants,
demolishing a house and killing 14 people.
(AP, 7/18/04)
2004 Jul 18, Mexico and Cuba
said they will reinstate ambassadors in each other's countries at
the end of the month.
(AP, 7/18/04)
2004 Jul 18, In Nepal Maoist
guerrillas abducted at least 50 students and a dozen teachers from a
school near the capital to try to force them to back a campaign
against the constitutional monarchy.
(AP, 7/19/04)
2004 Jul 18, Gunmen angry over
Yasser Arafat's overhaul of his security forces burned down
Palestinian Authority offices in Gaza.
(AP, 7/18/04)
2004 Jul 18, Pedro Santana
Lopes was sworn in as PM of Portugal's 16th constitutional
government at a ceremony with President Jorge Sampaio.
(AP, 7/18/04)
2004 Jul 18, Economists and
international donors said mismanagement in Zimbabwe by Pres. Robert
Mugabe's regime is behind an annual inflation rate now close to 400
percent.
(AP, 7/18/04)
2005 Jul 18, President Bush
told India's PM Singh he wants to expand economic and diplomatic
ties between the two countries but was expected to pledge only token
help for India's nuclear energy technology. America agreed to grant
India “full civil nuclear energy cooperation.”
(AP, 7/18/05)(Econ, 7/23/05, p.37)
2005 Jul 18, The United States
extradited a Moroccan held at Guantanamo Bay who was indicted in
Spain for his alleged links to an al-Qaida cell.
(AP, 7/19/05)
2005 Jul 18, In Alabama Eric
Rudolph was sentenced to life in prison without parole for a 1998
abortion clinic bombing in Birmingham. On Aug 22 he was sentenced to
4 life terms for the 1996 Olympics bombing in Atlanta, and 1997
attacks on an abortion clinic and gay nightclub.
(SFC, 7/19/05, p.A3)(WSJ, 8/23/05, p.A1)
2005 Jul 18, California Gov.
Schwarzenegger signed legislation to allow construction to go
forward on the new eastern half of the Bay Bridge.
(SFC, 7/19/05, p.B1)
2005 Jul 18, California
reinstated a program to issue identity cards to patients who have
been prescribed medical marijuana.
(SFC, 7/19/05, p.B1)
2005 Jul 18, San Diego acting
Mayor Michael Zucchet and councilman Ralph Inzunza were convicted in
federal court of taking illegal campaign cash from a strip club
owner. Councilwoman Toni Atkins succeeded Zucchet.
(SFC, 7/19/05, p.A10)
2005 Jul 18, News Corporation
announced it was buying Intermix Media, owner of MySpace.com, for
$580 million.
(Econ, 1/21/06,
p.68)(www.newscorp.com/news/news_251.html)
2005 Jul 18, LaToyia Figueroa,
who was five months' pregnant, was last seen in West Philadelphia.
Police recovered her remains a month later. On August 20, 2005, They
arrested Steven Poaches, her former boyfriend and the father of the
unborn child. On October 17, 2006, in a nonjury trial, Common Pleas
Judge M. Teresa Sarmina found Stephen Poaches, guilty of two counts
of first-degree murder in the deaths of 24-year-old LaToyia Figueroa
and her fetus. Poaches waived his right to appeal and, in exchange,
prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty. He was given an
automatic life sentence with no parole.
(AP,
8/20/05)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaToyia_Figueroa)
2005 Jul 18, Paul Duke (78),
former anchor of the NBC news show “Washington Week in Review,”
died. He began moderating the show in 1974.
(SFC, 7/20/05, p.B6)
2005 Jul 18, Gen. William
Westmoreland (b.1914) died. As commander of U.S. forces in Vietnam,
Westmoreland oversaw the introduction of ground troops in South
Vietnam and a dramatic increase in the number of U.S. troops there.
In vain, he sought permission to engage enemy forces in their
sanctuaries in Cambodia, Laos and North Vietnam.
(AP, 7/19/05)
2005 Jul 18, Argentina issued
dollar bonds for the 1st time since its massive default in 2001.
(Econ, 7/23/05, p.34)
2005 Jul 18, A British jury
convicted Faryadi Sarwar Zardad, a former Afghan warlord, of torture
and hostage-taking (1991-1996). It was the first trial in Britain of
a foreigner for crimes committed in his homeland. The next day
Zardad was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
(AP, 7/19/05)(AP, 7/20/05)
2005 Jul 18, China evacuated
over 600,000 people from coastal areas after typhoon Haitang slammed
into Taiwan, killing up to four people.
(Reuters, 7/18/05)
2005 Jul 18, The EU said it
will allow member countries to adopt different approaches in
patenting biotech drug innovations.
(WSJ, 7/19/05, p.A12)
2005 Jul 18, Under orders from
an international court, Guatemala apologized for the
government-directed massacre of 226 people in Plan de Sanchez on
July 18, 1982.
(AP, 7/19/05)
2005 Jul 18, Bayan Jabr, Iraq's
interior minister, accused Syria of not making a serious effort to
crack down on insurgents in its territory or prevent them from
crossing into Iraq, adding that he had pictures and addresses of
militant leaders in Syria.
(AP, 7/18/05)
2005 Jul 18, Insurgents killed
8 police and government workers in seven separate shootings across
central Iraq. Ambushes and shootings across Iraq left at least 26
people dead.
(AP, 7/18/05)(SFC, 7/19/05, p.A11)
2005 Jul 18, Lebanon's newly
elected Parliament, dominated by an anti-Syrian coalition, approved
an amnesty motion for the release of former Christian warlord Samir
Geagea, who was linked to the 1987 bombing death of PM Rashid
Karami.
(AP, 7/18/05)(SFC, 7/19/05, p.A9)
2005 Jul 18, Malaysia launched
its first bond fund on the stock exchange as part of an Asian scheme
to augment underdeveloped capital markets.
(AP, 7/18/05)
2005 Jul 18, Hurricane Emily
slammed into Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula as a powerful Category 4
storm.
(AP, 7/18/05)
2005 Jul 18, Pakistani police
arrested a man accused of killing 14 homeless people in the past
three weeks by bludgeoning them to death with bricks.
(AP, 7/19/05)
2005 Jul 18, Pakistan arrested
5 Taliban leaders.
(WSJ, 7/19/05, p.A1)
2005 Jul 18, Slobodan
Milosevic's paramilitary commander, his secret police chief and five
others were convicted and sentenced for the 2000 killing of Ivan
Stambolic, former Serbian president who was Milosevic's political
rival.
(AP, 7/18/05)
2005 Jul 18, In a program to be
screened on ABC TV, the fisheries chief of the Solomon Islands in
the South Pacific says Japan poured money into the country in
exchange for its support over whaling and cheap access to tuna.
Similar charges were made by former officials from the tiny
Caribbean nations of Dominica and Grenada.
(AP, 7/18/05)
2005 Jul 18, Suriname's
parliament was deadlocked over choosing a new president, with no
candidate securing the two-thirds majority needed to become the
leader.
(AP, 7/19/05)
2005 Jul 18, In Turkey 4
soldiers were killed when the PKK detonated a bomb in Hakkari.
(Econ, 7/23/05, p.48)
2006 Jul 18, The US Senate
voted after two days of emotional debate to expand federal funding
of embryonic stem cell research, sending the measure to President
George Bush for a promised veto.
(AP, 7/18/07)
2006 Jul 18, A doctor and two
nurses who labored at a flooded-out New Orleans hospital in
Hurricane Katrina's chaotic aftermath were arrested and accused of
killing four trapped and desperately ill patients with injections of
morphine and sedatives.
(AP, 7/18/07)
2006 Jul 18, The Club Deluxe on
Haight Street in SF celebrated the 1st anniversary of its open mike
poetry and jazz. It was initiated by New York poets Jennifer Barone
and Ingrid Keir and jazz musician Dan Heffez.
(SFC, 7/22/06, p.E1)
2006 Jul 18, The Seattle Sonics
basketball team said a group of Oklahoma businessmen had purchased
the club for $350 million. The new ownership group said it plans to
keep the team in Seattle, if it can work out a deal for a new arena
in the next 12 months. Officials in Seattle said they planned to
hold the Sonics to their lease, which expires in 2010.
(Econ, 7/29/06, p.33)(http://tinyurl.com/qga3e)
2006 Jul 18, A heat wave in the
US left at least 7 people dead including 5 in Oklahoma and 2 in
Pennsylvania.
(SFC, 7/19/06, p.A2)
2006 Jul 18, US researchers
reported that men and boys with autism have fewer neurons in the
amygdala, a part of the brain involved in emotion and memory.
(AP, 7/18/06)
2006 Jul 18, The Afghan
government announced plans to re-establish a Vice and Virtues
Ministry, but it assured the public the office would not resemble
the Taliban version that became a symbol of the brutal regime
toppled by US forces in 2001. One coalition soldier was killed in
fighting in Uruzgan province.
(AP, 7/18/06)(SFC, 7/20/06, p.A13)
2006 Jul 18, China reported its
fastest economic growth in a decade and warned that booming
construction and bank loans could fuel inflation, raising
expectations that Beijing might nudge up interest rates and possibly
the value of its currency.
(AP, 7/18/06)
2006 Jul 18, The UN said
fighting between the army and leftist guerrillas in western Colombia
has forced hundreds of civilians from their homes and trapped others
in their villages.
(AP, 7/19/06)
2006 Jul 18, Egypt and Israel
reopened the Rafah border crossing for the first time in three
weeks, triggering a rush to the border by thousands of Palestinians
who had been waiting in Egypt.
(AP, 7/18/06)
2006 Jul 18, In India
Lashkar-e-Qahhar (Army of Terror), a little-known Islamic militant
group that claimed responsibility for the Bombay train bombings,
warned that it was planning attacks against government and historic
sites in India in an e-mail to an Indian television station. Indian
police called the e-mail a hoax.
(AP, 7/18/06)(AP, 7/19/06)
2006 Jul 18, In India several
telecom operators confirmed that they had blocked a number of Web
sites on orders from India’s Dept. of Telecommunications.
(WSJ, 7/19/06, p.A8)
2006 Jul 18, In southern Iraq a
suicide car bomber detonated explosives in a crowd of laborers
gathered across the street from a major Shiite shrine in Kufa,
killing 59 people and wounding 105. National Security Adviser
Mouwafak al-Rubaie said Diyar Ismail Mahmoud (known as Abu
al-Afghani), a Jordanian who killed two U.S. soldiers last month,
was fatally wounded in a clash with security forces. The country's
largest Sunni Arab party called for a conference of all religious
and political leaders to end sectarian killing and save the country
from sliding into civil war.
(AP, 7/18/06)(WSJ, 7/19/06, p.A1)
2006 Jul 18, The UN reported
that nearly 6,000 civilians were slain across Iraq in May and June,
a spike that coincided with rising sectarian attacks. The report
said 2,669 civilians died in May and 3,149 in June, the first full
month of the al-Maliki government.
(AP, 7/19/06)
2006 Jul 18, Israel struck a
Lebanese army base outside Beirut and flattened a house near the
border, killing 31 people in a new wave of bombings. Hezbollah fired
more rockets at northern Israel, killing one Israeli and wounding
several others. Israel said its offensive in Lebanon could last
several more weeks and involve large numbers of ground forces.
(AP, 7/18/06)(WSJ, 7/19/06, p.A1)
2006 Jul 18, Authorities freed
about 100 Poles forced into virtual slavery as Italian and Polish
police arrested 25 people involved in a human trafficking ring that
brought farm workers to Italy.
(AP, 7/19/06)
2006 Jul 18, Kyrgyz police in
Osh arrested six men suspected of taking part in an uprising in
neighboring Uzbekistan last year and seized 14 ounces of TNT from
them.
(AP, 7/19/06)
2006 Jul 18, Pakistan welcomed
a move by Britain to ban one of the major rebel groups, the
Baluchistan Liberation Army. Islamabad outlawed the group in April.
In eastern Pakistan 3 men convicted of gang-raping a woman during a
robbery in 2000 were hanged after President Musharraf rejected their
plea for mercy.
(AP, 7/18/06)(AFP, 7/21/06)
2006 Jul 18, In the southern
Philippines Armando Pace (56), who often attacked corruption among
politicians and the illegal drug trade in Digos city, was gunned
down as he was riding home on a motorcycle. He was the ninth
journalist killed in the country this year and the 82nd since 1986,
based on a count by the National Union of Journalists of the
Philippines.
(AP, 7/18/06)
2006 Jul 18, In Somalia Islamic
militiamen who rule Mogadishu arrested about 60 people for watching
videos in several overnight raids.
(AP, 7/19/06)
2006 Jul 18, South Korea's
disaster agency said a fifth straight day of monsoon rains have left
19 people dead and 31 missing.
(AP, 7/18/06)
2006 Jul 18, In northern Sri
Lanka a roadside bomb killed one person and wounded six others,
including four government soldiers.
(AP, 7/18/06)
2006 Jul 18, Nearly 300
striking doctors in Zimbabwe ignored government demands for them to
return to hospital wards. The junior doctors walked out on July 13
after authorities extended their seven-year attachment to state
hospitals by another year, to be spent working at rural facilities.
(AP, 7/19/06)
2007 Jul 18, US President
George W. Bush ordered the creation of a "working group" of top
aides to review the safety of imports from China and all around the
world. Michael Leavitt, Health and Human Services Secretary, was
selected to chair the panel.
(AP, 7/18/07)(SFC, 7/19/07, p.A3)
2007 Jul 18, A massive geyser
of steam and debris erupted through a midtown Manhattan street near
Grand Central Terminal as an 83-year-old steam pipe ruptured. One
woman, identified as Lois Baumerich (57) of Hawthorne, N.J., died
from cardiac arrest.
(AP, 7/19/07)
2007 Jul 18, NYC and New Jersey
claimed $170.2 million in anti-terrorism funds, LA and Long Beach,
Ca., claimed $72.6 million, DC claimed $61.7 million, Chicago got
$47.3 million, the SF Bay Area got $34.1 million and Houston got $25
million.
(SFC, 7/19/07, p.B3)
2007 Jul 18, Jerry Hadley
(b.1952), opera tenor, died in Poughkeepsie, NY. He had been in the
hospital since July 10, when he was admitted after shooting himself
with an air rifle.
(SFC, 7/19/07, p.A2)
2007 Jul 18, Sekou Sundiata
(b.1948), black poet and activist born as Robert Franklin Feaster,
died of heart failure in Westchester, NY.
(SFC, 7/28/07, p.B5)
2007 Jul 18, Suspected Taliban
militants ambushed a convoy of Afghan police officers driving
through Zabul province, killing six. Suicide bombers in Khost killed
three police officers. Militants fatally shot two police officers in
southern Kandahar province, where four suspected Taliban were killed
in a clash with NATO and Afghan forces. In Paktia province, an
attack on a road construction crew left one person from the
Philippines dead and three guards wounded. Taliban fighters also
ambushed police in Logar province, killing six of the officers.
Armed men kidnapped two Germans and two Afghans working on a dam
project in central Afghanistan. One of the Germans, Ruediger
Diedrich, was found shot dead three days later; the others were
later released.
(AP, 7/18/07)(AP, 7/19/07)(AP, 7/18/08)
2007 Jul 18, Bosnia's war
crimes court acquitted Momcilo Mandic, the most senior ethnic Serb
official indicted by Bosnian authorities, of all charges related to
crimes during the 1992-95 war.
(Reuters, 7/18/07)
2007 Jul 18, In London 3 Muslim
men were jailed for 6 years for their role in a heated protest
outside the Danish embassy in 2006, following the publication of
cartoons in a Danish newspaper making fun of the Prophet and of
Muslims generally. A 4th man was sentenced to 4 years.
(Econ, 7/21/07, p.55)
2007 Jul 18, Eritrean state
media said Sudanese army commanders and former rebel leaders from
the east of the country have signed a military deal in Asmara,
bolstering a peace agreement signed last year. Bringing an end to 10
years of sporadic fighting, a peace deal was signed last year with
the Sudanese government, which is to allocate the Eastern groups a
total of 600 million dollars over five years for development.
(AFP, 7/18/07)
2007 Jul 18, Guatemalan police
rescued a two-month-old boy who had been stolen from his home and
arrested four people who were allegedly preparing the baby for
illegal adoption.
(AP, 7/18/07)
2007 Jul 18, In India at least
26 people were killed and 15 others injured when a seven-story
building collapsed in Mumbai.
(AP, 7/19/07)
2007 Jul 19, An armed group
killed 11 members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard in clashes in
the country's lawless southeast. A report said the Guards clashed
with drug traffickers in a mountainous area near Iran's borders with
Pakistan and Afghanistan and killed four of them.
(AP, 7/21/07)
2007 Jul 18, The Iraqi
government said Turkish artillery and warplanes bombarded areas of
northern Iraq and called on Turkey to stop military operations and
resolve the conflict diplomatically. A series of roadside bombs
exploded in separate areas of east Baghdad, killing 11 people and
wounding more than a dozen. US troops killed three al-Qaida suspects
as they tried to slip out of Baqouba. 4 US soldiers and their Iraqi
interpreter were killed in a roadside bombing in east Baghdad.
(AP, 7/18/07)(AP, 7/19/07)
2007 Jul 18, Two boats carrying
would-be migrants crossing the Mediterranean to Europe sank between
Italy and Libya, leaving five people dead, including a child. Eleven
others were missing and presumed dead. An Italian Navy ship pulled
22 survivors from the water.
(AP, 7/19/07)
2007 Jul 18, A top Nigerian
lawyer accused former president Olusegun Obasanjo of corruption and
asked the anti-graft commission (EFCC) to investigate his financial
activities while in office. A Nigerian oil official said the economy
has lost more than one billion dollars a month and hundreds of
thousands of barrels of crude a day since 2006 due to unrest in the
Niger Delta. In northern Nigeria a radical Sunni Islamic preacher
was shot dead near a mosque. Sunni Muslims in Sokoto said they
suspected members of the rival Shiite community.
(AFP, 7/18/07)(AFP, 7/19/07)
2007 Jul 18, Suspected
militants attacked security forces in northwest Pakistan, killing 16
soldiers and wounding up to 21 others in two separate strikes
against military convoys.
(AP, 7/18/07)
2007 Jul 18, An explosion tore
through a crowd of mourners at a cemetery in southern Russia,
wounding at least 10 people, including four police officers. The
funeral was for an ethnic Russian woman who had been fatally shot
along with her two grown children July 16 in Ingushetia.
(AP, 7/19/07)
2007 Jul 18, South Korea's
nuclear envoy said North Korea followed up the shutdown of its sole
operating reactor with a pledge to disclose all its nuclear weapons
programs and disable them by the end of the year.
(AP, 7/18/07)
2007 Jul 18, Telecoms giant
Ericsson said it had won a 2.0-billion-dollar order from India's
Bharti Airtel to expand its network into rural areas, the largest
order ever received by the Swedish company.
(AP, 7/18/07)
2007 Jul 18, Thailand’s
Computer Crime Act, intended to prevent cybercrimes, came into
force. Most prosecutions that followed under the act were for online
content that supposedly endangered national security.
(Econ, 2/5/11,
p.54)(www.prachatai.com/english/node/117)
2007 Jul 18, A Ukraine bus
taking vacationers to the Black Sea overturned when its brakes
failed, killing six people and injuring 46.
(AP, 7/19/07)
2008 Jul 18, The Batman sequel
"The Dark Knight" opened and set a single-day box office record by
taking in $66.4 million.
(AP, 7/19/08)
2008 Jul 18, Nebraska’s new
safe-haven law went into effect allowing parents to abandon unwanted
children, under age 19, at state-licensed hospitals with no
questions asked. The law was later amended after parents and
guardians, some from out of state, dropped off children as old as
17.
(SFC, 8/23/08, p.A4)(SFC, 10/21/08, p.A3)
2008 Jul 18, New Hampshire
decided to accept an offer from Venezuela of free heating oil for
the state’s poor.
(WSJ, 7/19/08, p.A2)
2008 Jul 18, In Houston, Texas,
one of the nation's largest mobile cranes collapsed at
LyondellBasell refinery, killing four workers. An additional 7
workers were injured when the crane collapsed during routine
maintenance at the chemical plant.
(AP, 7/19/08)
2008 Jul 18, In Afghanistan a
roadside blast the Nava district of Helmand province. Three guards
were killed and four wounded. 2 French aid workers were taken from
their guest house in the early hours in the central province of Day
Kundi, one of the poorest areas of Afghanistan. On August 2 Action
Against Hunger said the aid workers had been released.
(AP, 7/18/08)(AFP, 8/2/08)
2008 Jul 18, In Algeria the
government of Mali and ethnic Tuareg rebels reached a truce
agreement in dangerous northern Mali. One faction of the Tuareg
group refused to sign the deal, saying it did not do enough to help
the Tuaregs.
(AP, 7/22/08)
2008 Jul 18, Argentina’s
President Cristina Fernandez canceled a widely protested farm export
tax hike following months of protest and a stunning rejection by the
Senate. She issued a resolution reducing the export taxes to their
previous level.
(AP, 7/18/08)(Econ, 7/26/08, p.43)
2008 Jul 18, In Australia Pope
Benedict XVI warned Christian leaders that the push to unite
Christian churches was at a "critical juncture" and called on people
of all religions to join together against violence.
(AFP, 7/18/08)
2008 Jul 18, A border clash
triggered by a smuggling attempt left two Bangladeshi troops dead
and one Indian soldier seriously wounded.
(AP, 7/18/08)
2008 Jul 18, In Brazil police
said at least eight alleged drug traffickers were killed during a
raid in a Rio de Janeiro shantytown.
(AP, 7/18/08)
2008 Jul 18, A report of the
European Union Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) was leaked to the media.
According the report, which was sent to Bulgarian Deputy Prime
Minister Plugchieva two weeks ago, businessman Lyudmil Stoykov, who
sponsored the president's election campaign, and his associate Mario
Nikolov, who is a sponsor of Parvanov's Bulgarian Socialist Party,
were involved in large-scale abuses of EU funds.
(http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90853/6452879.html)
2008 Jul 18, Cuba’s Communist
officials decreed that private farmers and cooperatives can use up
to 100 acres (40 hectares) of idle government land, as President
Raul Castro works to revive the floundering agricultural sector.
(AP, 7/19/08)
2008 Jul 18, In Iraq two
suspected insurgents, linked to the June 26 suicide attack, were
captured in a near Tarmiyah, north of Baghdad.
(http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080801/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq)
2008 Jul 18, Israel’s Shin Bet
security service said investigators had arrested six men in June and
July suspected of trying to set up an al-Qaida-linked terror
network, including one who wanted to shoot down President Bush's
helicopter.
(AP, 7/18/08)
2008 Jul 18, Suspected Muslim
rebels threw a grenade at a crowded bus terminal in the Indian
portion of Kashmir, wounding 35 people, including seven children.
(AP, 7/19/08)
2008 Jul 18, Mexico's president
replaced a 1791 time capsule discovered atop Mexico City's cathedral
with a new one containing messages from golf star Lorena Ochoa,
novelist Carlos Fuentes and a boy genius.
(AP, 7/19/08)
2008 Jul 18, In northwestern
Pakistan, at least 10 Taliban died in fierce fighting between two
rival militant groups. The Taliban threatened to begin executing
hostages captured on July 12 unless the government releases their
comrades.
(AP, 7/19/08)(SFC, 7/19/08, p.A5)
2008 Jul 18, Senegal’s
President Abdoulaye Wade said Sudan President Omar al-Beshir has
agreed to restore relations with Chad, more than two months after
Khartoum severed ties accusing Ndjamena of backing Darfur rebels.
(AFP, 7/18/08)
2008 Jul 18, In Singapore Peter
Lloyd (41), a TV reporter for the Australian Broadcasting
Corporation (ABC), was charged with trafficking about one gram of
methamphetamine to a Singaporean for 100 Singapore dollars (73.5 US)
at a hotel early this month.
(AFP, 7/18/08)
2008 Jul 18, In Spain, a
spokesman said police in the southern city of Seville have been left
red-faced after more than 100 kilos of drugs were stolen from police
headquarters and replaced with talcum powder.
(AFP, 7/18/08)
2008 Jul 18, In Spain a
Saudi-organized conference of the world's great religions called for
an international agreement to combat terrorism, "a universal
phenomenon that requires unified international efforts."
(AFP, 7/18/08)
2008 Jul 18, South Africa’s
Pres. Thabo Mbeki announced plans to work with the UN and African
Union as he attempts to mediate a settlement in Zimbabwe.
(SFC, 7/19/08, p.A8)
2008 Jul 18, Sri Lankan
warplanes carried out air raids over the rebel-controlled northern
region of Mullaittivu, targeting a Tiger logistics base. The
military said fighting in the northern Vavuniya district left nine
rebels killed. 7 insurgents were killed along the Welioya front,
while 3 more were killed in Jaffna. Angry protesters halted trains
and clashed with policemen in Colombo as authorities began
demolishing their homes, saying they were unauthorized constructions
that encroached on government lands.
(AFP, 7/18/08)(AP, 7/18/08)(AP, 7/19/08)
2008 Jul 18, Tropical Storm
Kalmaegi wreaked havoc across Taiwan, leaving at least 19 people
dead and seven missing.
(AFP, 7/20/08)
2008 Jul 18, Thailand sent more
military reinforcements to a disputed part of the Cambodian border,
after the tense four-day standoff nearly erupted into gunfire during
the night.
(AFP, 7/18/08)
2008 Jul 18, In Tunisia 2
officials and three others were convicted of plotting terror attacks
and to overthrow the government.
(WSJ, 7/19/08, p.A1)
2008 Jul 18, In southeastern
Turkey 10 members of the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)
were killed in clashes with Turkish military forces.
(Reuters, 7/19/08)
2009 Jul 18, In southern
Tennessee 5 people were found dead in two neighboring rural homes
near Fayetteville, and a sixth body was discovered at a business
about 30 miles away in Huntsville, Ala. Jacob Shaffer (30) of
Fayetteville was charged later that day with homicide.
(AP, 7/19/09)
2009 Jul 18, In Afghanistan a
US Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet crashed in central
Ghazni, killing the two crew members. A suicide driver blew up his
explosive-laden vehicle next to an Afghan army convoy in Zabul
province, killing three soldiers and wounding three others. 35
militants were killed during a joint operation by Afghan and
coalition troops in the Shah Walk Kot district of Kandahar province.
In Nangarhar province a suicide bomber attacked the Afghan-Pakistan
border crossing at Torkham, killing a border police officer and a
civilian.
(AP, 7/18/09)(AP, 7/19/09)
2009 Jul 18, In Australian Min
Lin, his wife, two sons aged 12 and 9, and a female relative were
killed by blunt force trauma to the upper bodies and heads in their
home in a Sydney suburb. The family had run a convenience store for
more than six years after immigrating from China.
(AP, 7/19/09)
2009 Jul 18, In Canada wind and
dry conditions fueled large blazes that broke out in the rugged
hills along Okanagan Lake west of the city of Kelowna, British
Columbia, where housing subdivisions have encroached on the
surrounding forest in recent years.
(AP, 7/20/09)
2009 Jul 18, In Iraq a
government spokesman said the Iraqi Cabinet had approved a measure
to confiscate the assets of the family of toppled dictator Saddam
Hussein and 52 former close aides who had used their powers to take
over or misuse public properties or funds. A roadside bomb killed
three people, including the son of a tribal leader, near Fallujah.
In Mosul a police officer was killed after a bomb exploded at a
checkpoint. Also in Mosul a civilian was killed by unidentified
gunmen.
(AFP, 7/18/09)(SSFC, 7/19/09, p.A7)
2009 Jul 18, Mauritania held
post-coup elections. Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, a former military
general who ousted this Islamic nation's first freely elected
president, vied with 8 other candidates to become the legitimate
ruler.
(AP, 7/18/09)
2009 Jul 18, Mexican soldiers
arrested Luis Ibarra, a suspected drug trafficker in the border city
of Tijuana. He was carrying jewelry, narcotics and $3.6 million in
cash. Ibarra belonged to a cell in charge of making and trafficking
methamphetamine for alleged drug kingpin Teodoro Garcia Simental.
(AP, 7/20/09)
2009 Jul 18, Pakistani
government warplanes flattened a suspected Taliban hide-out in the
northwest, killing nine associates of Taliban leader Baitullah
Mehsud.
(AP, 7/18/09)
2009 Jul 18, Sudanese rebels
set free 60 captured government soldiers and policemen in north
Darfur. The detainees had been held by the Justice and Equality
Movement following recent armed clashes.
(AP, 7/18/09)
2010 Jul 18, Gitmo detainee
Aziz Abdul Naji (35), held for over 8 years, was transferred to
Algeria, despite his request to remain under US detention for fear
of torture and death at home. On July 25 Naji was indicted in
Algeria and placed under judicial supervision.
(SFC, 7/21/10, p.A2)(AP, 7/27/10)
2010 Jul 18, In Oakland, Ca.,
Jinghong Kang (45) of Virginia was robbed of $17 and killed. George
Huggins Jr. (24) and his girlfriend Althea Housley (33) were soon
arrested for the robbery and murder. Huggins was charged with
special-circumstances murder.
(SFC, 7/29/10, p.C2)
2010 Jul 18, In Afghanistan a
suicide bomber slipped through Kabul’s tight security ring, killing
three civilians near a busy market two days before an international
conference hosting representatives from about 60 nations. An
American service member was killed by a roadside bomb in the south.
The Taliban staged a brazen jailbreak in the western province of
Farah, where a smuggled bomb exploded at a prison, allowing 11
inmates, including suspected insurgents, to escape from the facility
that held about 350. In Kandahar city 2 police officers and a
civilian died when a roadside bomb exploded near a hospital. A car
bomb exploded near the largest US base in Afghanistan, but killed
only the suicide attacker.
(AP, 7/18/10)
2010 Jul 18, In England plane
manufacturers, airlines, government ministers and military top brass
gathered for the Farnborough International Airshow amid hopes that
the two-year downturn in the aviation and defense industry is
nearing a bottom.
(AP, 7/18/10)
2010 Jul 18, In China 16
workers were inside the shaft when water gushed into the mine in
Jinta, a county in Gansu province, and 3 men were safely lifted out.
2 bodies were found and 11 men remained trapped. An explosion at a
coal mine in northeastern Liaoning province killed four
workers and injured 13 others, who were in stable condition.
(AP, 7/18/10)(AP, 7/19/10)
2010 Jul 18, In southwestern
China a bus plunged into a river, leaving 27 people on board missing
and feared dead. Rescuers were able to save 11 others.
(AP, 7/18/10)
2010 Jul 18, In Germany some 3
million people sat at a 37-mile long table on the A40 between
Dortmund and Bochum for a cultural celebration titled "Still Life."
(AP, 7/19/10)
2010 Jul 18, In Iraq twin
suicide bombings killed 48 people, including dozens from a
government-backed, anti-al-Qaida militia lining up to collect their
paychecks near a military base southwest of Baghdad.
(AP, 7/18/10)
2010 Jul 18, In Mexico gunmen
jumped from their cars and stormed a private party in Torreon. They
simply opened fire killing 17 people with 18 wounded. On July 25
prosecutors said that guards and officials at a prison let inmates
out, lent them guns and sent them off in official vehicles to carry
out drug-related killings, including the massacre of 17 in Torreon.
(AP, 7/19/10)(AP, 7/26/10)
2010 Jul 18, Singapore arrested
Alan Shadrake (75), a British author, as part of a criminal
defamation investigation related to his book "Once a Jolly Hangman:
Singapore Justice in the Dock," on the city-state's death penalty
policy. On Nov 3 Shadrake was found guilty of contempt of court. The
Attorney-General argued that Shadrake be jailed for at least 12
weeks.
(AP, 7/19/10)(Econ, 11/6/10,
p.55)(http://tinyurl.com/2gygpa7)
2010 Jul 18, Spain said 9 more
Cuban political prisoners will fly this week to freedom in Madrid
along with around 50 of their relatives.
(AP, 7/18/10)
2010 Jul 18, Syria announced a
ban on the niqab, the face-covering Islamic veil, from the country's
universities.
(AP, 7/19/10)
2010 Jul 18, Thai police
arrested American Ronald John Fanelli (37) on charges of killing
Wanpen Satienjai (33) and concealing the crime and cause of murder.
Fanelli, who has lived on the southern resort island of Phuket for
three years, told investigators he took the victim home from a bar
on the morning of June 18 and stabbed her to death with a penknife.
(AP, 7/19/10)
2010 Jul 18, In Vietnam 17
people were left missing as the tail end of Typhoon Conson blew
ashore after battering the Philippines and China and killing dozens.
(AP, 7/18/10)(AP, 7/19/10)
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