Today in History - September 15
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1514 Sep 15,
Selim I entered Tabriz, Persia, and massacred much of the
population.
(PCh, 1992, p.168)
1525 Sep 15, Jan de Bakker
(26), Roman Catholic priest also known under the name Pistorius, was
burned during the Reformation in the Netherlands.
(www.bautz.de/bbkl/p/pistorius_joh.shtml)
1613 Sep 15, Francois, duc de
la Rochefoucauld (d.1680), writer (Memoires), was born in Paris,
France. "When we cannot find contentment in ourselves it is useless
to seek it elsewhere."
(AP, 12/2/98)(www.bookrags.com)
1613 Sep 15, Thomas Overbury
(b.1581), Elizabethan poet, died in London. He was murdered by his
wife, Florence Maybrick, who used an enema of arsenic. The murder
was arranged by Frances Howard, Lady Essex, who felt attacked by
Overbury’s poem “A Wife.”
(WSJ, 6/24/05,
p.W9)(http://search.eb.com/shakespeare/micro/445/8.html)
1776 Sep 15, British forces
occupied New York City during the American Revolution. British
forces captured Kip's Bay, Manhattan, during the American
Revolution.
(AP, 9/15/97)(HN, 9/15/99)
1788 Sep 15, An alliance
between Britain, Prussia and the Netherlands was ratified at the
Hague.
(HN, 9/15/99)
1789 Sep 15, James Fenimore
Cooper (d.1851), American novelist, was born in Burlington, NJ. He
is best known for "The Pioneers" and "Last of the Mohicans." "The
press, like fire, is an excellent servant, but a terrible master."
(AP, 6/25/97)(HN, 9/15/99)
1789 Sep 15, The U.S.
Department of Foreign Affairs was renamed the Department of State.
(AP, 9/15/97)
1807 Sep 15, Former Vice
President Aaron Burr was acquitted of a misdemeanor charge two weeks
after he was found innocent of treason.
(AP, 9/15/07)
1814 Sep 15, The words of the
“Star-Spangled Banner,” written by Francis Scott Key following the
Sep 13 attack on Fort Henry, was printed on a handbill without the
name of Francis Scott Key and originally known as "The Defense of
Fort McHenry.”
(HNQ, 2/16/02)
1821 Sep 15, Independence was
proclaimed for Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and El
Salvador.
(NG, 6/1988, p.781)(AP, 9/15/97)
1830 Sep 15, British MP William
Huskisson (b.1770) was killed under the wheels of the “Rocket” train
at the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. He was the
1st person to be run-over by a railroad train.
(SFEC,12/21/97, Z1
p.5)(www.wordiq.com/definition/William_Huskisson)
1835 Sep 15, HMS Beagle and
Charles Darwin reached the Galapagos Islands, a scattering of 19
small islands and scores of islets.
(SFC, 12/4/94, p.
T-5)(www.gct.org/darwinfact.html)
1857 Sep 15, William Howard
Taft was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He served as 26th president (R)
of the United States (1909-1913) and as chief justice. He is most
remembered for his "dollar diplomacy."
(AP, 9/15/97)(HN, 9/15/99)
1857 Sep 15, Mormon leader
Brigham Young called out the Nauvoo Legion to fight the U.S. Troops
if they enter Utah Territory.
(www.wordiq.com/definition/Utah_War)
1857 Sep 15, Timothy Alden of
NYC patented a typesetting machine.
(www.todayinsci.com/)
1858 Sep 15, The third debate
between senatorial candidates Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas
was held in Jonesboro, Ill.
(AP, 9/15/08)
1858 Sep 15, The Butterfield
Overland Mail Company began delivering mail from St. Louis to San
Francisco. The company's motto was: "Remember, boys, nothing on
God's earth must stop the United States mail!"
(HN, 9/15/99)
1858 Sep 15, Charles E Vicomte
de Foucauld (d.1916), French explorer and hermit, was born in
Strasbourg, France.
(www.manntaylor.com/foucauld.html)
1859 Sep 15, Isambard Brunel
(b.1806), engineer of England’s Thames Tunnel, died. He was the son
of Marc Brunel, the engineer who initiated the project. Isambard is
best known for the creation of the Great Western Railway, a series
of famous steamships, including the first with a propeller, and
numerous important bridges and tunnels. In 2002 R. Angus
Buchanan authored “Brunel: The Life and Times of Isambard Kingdom
Brunel.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isambard_Kingdom_Brunel)(ON, 8/07,
p.7)
1862 Sep 15, Confederates
captured the Union weapon arsenal at Harpers Ferry, WV, securing the
rear of Robert E. Lee's forces in Maryland.
(HN, 9/15/99)
1862 Sep 15, John T. Wilder,
the Union commander at Munfordville, used unconventional methods to
stall Confederate General Braxton Bragg’s advance through Kentucky.
On September 15, Bragg arrived to find some 4,000 men behind
well-built defenses--far more than he had anticipated. He brought up
more units and surrounded the area, but instead of pressing his
advantage, agreed to a suggestion made by his subordinate, Maj. Gen.
Simon Bolivar Buckner. Buckner suggested that he be allowed to
parley with the garrison and convince them of the hopelessness of
their position. Bragg grudgingly acquiesced.
(HNQ, 4/26/01)
1864 Sep 15, British explorer
John Speke (b.1827) died in England by his gun own during in an
alleged hunting accident. In 2006 W.B. Carnochan authored “The Sad
Story of Burton, Speke, and the Nile; or Was John Hanning Speke a
Cad.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hanning_Speke)(WSJ, 5/20/06,
p.P9)
1876 Sep 15, Bruno Walter
(d.1962), [B W Schlesinger], conductor (NY Phil), was born in
Berlin, Germany.
(www.britannica.com)
1881 Sep 15, Ettore Arco
Isidoro Bugatti (d.1947), race car builder (Amaz Bugattis), was born
in Milan, Italy.
(www.britannica.com)
1885 Sep 15, Juliusz Zarebski,
Polish composer, died at 31.
(www.dolmetsch.com/cdefsz.htm)
1889 Sep 15, Robert Benchley,
humorist, was born.
(HN, 9/15/00)
1890 Sep 15, Agatha Christie,
English writer of mystery novels, was born. Her books included
"Death on the Nile" and "And Then There Were None."
(HN, 9/15/99)
1890 Sep 15, Claude McKay, poet
and novelist, was born. He was part of the Harlem Renaissance.
(HN, 9/15/00)
1891 Sep 15, The Dalton gang
held up a train and took $2,500 at Wagoner, Okla.
(HN, 9/15/99)
1894 Sep 15, Jean Renoir
(d.1979), French film director, was born. He was the son of Pierre
Renoir (1841-1919), the impressionist painter. His work included
“Grand Illusion” and “The Rules of the Game.” “When a friend
speaks to me, whatever he says is interesting.”
(HN, 9/15/00)(AHD, p.1215)(AP, 10/11/00)
1894 Sep 15, Japan defeated
China in the Battle of Ping Yang (Pyongyang).
(http://24.1911encyclopedia.org/C/CH/CHINKIANG.htm)
1901 Sep 15, Sir Howard Bailey,
British engineer, was born. He gave his name to a prefabricated
bridge used extensively during World War II.
(HN, 9/15/99)
1904 Sep 15, Wilbur Wright made
his 1st controlled half-circle while in flight.
(www.centennialofflight.gov/user/fact_sept.htm)
1907 Sep 15, Fay Wray (d.2004),
film actress, was born in Alberta, Canada. She became best known for
her 1933 performance in “King Kong.”
(SFC, 8/10/04, p.B7)
1911 Sep 15, SF Police Chief
D.A. White abolished the “dead line” designed to keep the women of
the underworld within the confines of Chinatown. The line was first
instituted by Police Chief Biggy had been irregularly enforced.
(SSFC, 9/11/11, DB p.46)
1913 Sep 15, John Mitchell
(d.1988), Pres. Nixon's attorney general (1969-1972), was born.
Under Nixon he was a central figure in the Watergate scandal and
served time in jail.
(http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/mitchell5.html)
1914 Sep 15, President Woodrow
Wilson ordered the Punitive Expedition out of Mexico. The
Expedition, headed by General John Pershing, had been searching for
Pancho Villa, a Mexican revolutionary.
(HN, 9/15/99)
1916 Sep 15, The British
introduced armored tanks during the Battle of the Somme.
(HN, 9/15/00)
1917 Sep 15, Russia was
proclaimed a republic by Alexander Kerensky, the head of a
provisional government.
(AP, 9/15/97)
1923 Sep 15, Gov. Walton
(b.1881) of Oklahoma declared a state of siege because of KKK
terror. Walton was elected governor in 1922 and impeached in 1923.
(www.cga.state.ct.us/2004/rpt/2004-R-0184.htm)
1926 Sep 15, Bobby Short,
singer and pianist (Carlisle Hotel), was born in Danville, Ill.
(HN,
9/15/00)(www.delafont.com/music_acts/bobby-short.htm)
1933 Sep 15, Rafael Fruhbeck de
Burgos, conductor, was born in Burgos, Spain.
(http://wkar.org/90.5/page.php?content=history)
1935 Sep 15, In Berlin, the
Reich under Adolf Hitler adopted The Nuremberg Laws which deprived
German Jews of their citizenship, made the swastika the official
symbol of Nazi Germany and established gradations of "Jewishness."
"Full Jews," people with four "non-Aryan" grandparents, were
deprived of German citizenship and forbidden to marry members of the
"Aryan race." German Jews, had been barred since 1938 from
government, medical, and legal professions, and shut out from every
area of German public life. After the war Gen'l. Patton gave the
documents to a friend and they were stored in the Huntington Museum
in Cal.
(AP, 9/15/97)(HN, 9/15/99)(SFC, 6/26/99, p.A3)
1937 Sep 15, Prime Minister of
England Neville Chamberlain flew to Germany to discuss the future of
Czechoslovakia with Adolf Hitler.
(HN, 9/15/99)
1938 Sep 15, Thomas Wolfe
(b.1900), US writer (Look Homeward Angel), died in Baltimore.
(www.britannica.com)
1938 Sep 15, There was a
conference at Berchtesgaden between Adolf Hitler and British Prime
Minister Neville Chamberlain.
(WUD, 1994, p.1682)
1939 Sep 15, The Polish
submarine Orzel arrived in Tallinn, Estonia, after escaping the
German invasion of Poland.
(HN, 9/15/99)
1940 Sep 15, The tide turned in
Battle of Britain in WW II. A reported 185 German planes were shot
down by Royal Air Force (RAF) pilots, forcing Nazi leader Adolf
Hitler to abandon his invasion plans.
(AP, 9/15/97)
1940 Sep 15, Sergeant Ray
Holmes (1915-2005) slammed his Hurricane into a German Dornier
bomber to prevent it attacking Buckingham Palace. The date of 15
September has come to be known as Battle of Britain Day and has been
commemorated every year since.
(AP, 11/1/05)
1941 Sep 15, Nazis killed 800
Jewish women at Shkudvil, Lithuania.
(www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/shkudvil/shkudvil.html)
1942 Sep 15, The USS Wasp was
torpedoed by a Japanese submarine at Guadalcanal; the US Navy ended
up sinking the badly damaged aircraft carrier.
(www.b-26marauderarchive.org/PM/PM2105/PM4223.htm)(AP, 9/15/07)
1944 Sep 15, British bombers
hit the German pocket battleship Tirpitz with Tallboy bombs.
(www.history.navy)
1944 Sep 15, US troops landed
on Palau and Morotai Islands.
(www.navalhistory.flixco.info/H/135367/8330/a0.htm)
1945 Sep 15, Jesse Norman,
soprano, was born.
(HN, 9/15/00)
1946 Sep 15, Tommy Lee Jones,
actor (Executioner's Song, Bloody Monday, Fugitive), was born in San
Saba, Texas.
(www.britannica.com)
1946 Sep 15, Oliver Stone, film
director and screenwriter, was born. His work included “Platoon” and
“JFK.”
(HN, 9/15/00)
1948 Sep 15, Gerald Ford upset
Rep. Bartel J. Jonkman in the Michigan 5th Dist Rep. primary.
(www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov)
1949 Sep 15, "The Lone Ranger"
premiered on ABC television with Clayton Moore (d.1999) as the
masked hero and Jay Silverheels (1912-1980) as Tonto. Their 169
[221] episodes ran to 1957. Moore was replaced by John Hart for the
1952-1953 season due to a salary dispute.
(AP, 9/15/99)(SFC, 12/29/99, p.A1,11)(SSFC,
6/19/05, Par p.2)
1949 Sep 15, Congress extended
the Reciprocal Trade Agreement for 2 years.
(EWH, 1968, p.1207)
1950 Sep 15, During the Korean
conflict, United Nations forces landed at Inchon in the south and
began their drive toward Seoul. Considered the greatest amphibious
attack in history, it was the zenith of General Douglas MacArthur's
career. The newly organized X Corps under the command of General
Douglas MacArthur launched an amphibious invasion of Korea’s western
coast at Inchon, the port of the Korean capital, Seoul. After two
days of naval bombardment, U.S. Marines seized the offshore island
of Wolmi-do and proceeded inland against surprisingly light
resistance. By September 26, American forces had captured Seoul.
(AP, 9/15/97)(HN, 9/15/99)(HNPD, 9//99)
1950 Sep 15, US troop landed on
Wolmi-Do island off of Seoul.
(www.history.navy.mil)
1951 Sep 15, "Gentlemen Prefer
Blondes" closed at Ziegfeld NYC after 740 performances.
(www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=1845)
1953 Sep 15, Eric Mendelsohn
(b.1887), German-born Jewish expressionist architect, died. From
1941 he lived in the US and established himself in San Francisco.
The Russell at 3778 Washington St. in SF is the only house he
designed in SF.
(SSFC, 3/8/09, p.B2)
1958 Sep 15, A commuter train
crashed through a drawbridge, killing 48 in Newark, NJ.
(www.emergency-management.net/traincrash.htm)
1959 Sep 15, Soviet Premier
Nikita Khrushchev arrived in the United States to begin a 13-day
visit.
(AP, 9/15/97)
1961 Sep 15, The US resumed
underground nuclear testing. Operation Nougat began a series of 45
nuclear tests conducted (with one exception) at the Nevada Test
Site.
(SSFC, 6/9/02,
p.F4)(www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Operation_Nougat)
1963 Sep 15, The Alou
brothers-Felipe, Matty, & Jesus-appeared in the San Francisco
outfield for 1 inning.
(www.baseball-fever.com/showthread.php?t=20238)
1963 Sep 15, The Ku Klux Klan
bombed the 16th St. Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Four
young black girls (Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, Addie Collins,
and Cynthia Wesley) were killed in the bombing as they prepared
their Sunday school lesson on "The love that forgives." Later on the
same day James Ware,16, and his brother Virgil, 14, were shot at
while bicycling home. Virgil was killed. Another James Ware went on
to become a US district judge and falsely used the James and Virgil
Ware story for self promotion. Judge Ware withdrew from a new
appointment to the SF 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in 1997 after he
admitted that he was not the same James Ware. In Birmingham,
Alabama, police dogs were set on peaceful, Black demonstrators. The
1997 film "Four Little Girls" by Spike Lee was a documentary of the
church burning in Alabama. In 1977 Robert Chambliss (d.1985) was
tried and convicted of murder. Suspect Herman Cash died in 1994. In
2000 Thomas E. Blanton Jr. and Bobby Frank Cherry (d.2004) turned
themselves in after they were indicted by a state grand jury. In
2001 Thomas Blanton was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in
prison. Cherry was convicted May 22, 2002, and sentenced to life in
prison.
(SFC, 4/14/96, p.Z1, p.1)(SFC, 8/16/96,
p.D11)(SFEC, 3/16/97, p.T5)(SFEC, 5/18/97, DB p.45)(SFC,11/6/97,
p.A9)(AP, 9/15/97)(SFC, 5/18/00, p.A1)(SFC, 5/2/01, p.A1)(SFC,
5/23/02, p.A1)(NW, 5/27/02, p.43)
1965 Sep 15, The TV show “I
Spy” premiered. Bill Cosby and Roger Culp (1930-2010) starred in the
series which ran for 82 episodes until 1968.
(SFEC, 1/12/97, p.C10)(SFEC, 5/24/98, DB
p.39)(www.imdb.com/title/tt0058816/)
1965 Sep 15, The TV show "Lost
in Space," with its Space Family Robinson and robot premiered on
CBS. It was set in the year 1997 and cancelled in 1968. The CBS TV
show featured Guy Williams, June Lockhart, Billy Mumy and Jonathon
Harris (d.2002 at 87).
(SFC, 8/27/96, p.B2)(AP, 9/15/97)(SFEC, 1/3/99,
DB p.28)(SFC, 11/6/02, p.A34)
1970 Sep 15, Pres. Nixon
authorized a US-backed coup in Chile.
(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.F7)
1970 Sep 15, The Jordanian army
attacked Palestinian positions and expelled PLO officials and
commandos from Jordan. The PLO was driven out of Jordan and forced
to move to Lebanon.
(www.nmhschool.org/tthornton/mehistorydatabase/arabisraeliwars.php)(SFC,
2/8/99, p.A6)
1971 Sep 15, The 1st broadcast
of "Columbo" on NBC-TV.
(www.xmoppet.org/tv/columbo.html)
1971 Sep 15, A group of
activists set sail on the Phyllis Cormack for Alaska from Vancouver,
Canada, to stop a US nuclear weapons test in the Aleutian Islands.
Panels reading Green and Peace dangled from the bridge. Bob Hunter
(d.2005), one of the activists, became the 1st president of
Greenpeace (1973-1977).
(GQ, summer ‘96, p.18)(SFC, 4/30/97, p.A9)(Econ,
5/14/05, p.89)
1973 Sep 15, Victor Jara
(b.1932), one of the best-known members of Latin America's "New
Song" folk movement, died. He had been arrested after the Chilean
military coup that overthrew Allende and taken to a soccer stadium
used as a detention camp. Court papers indicate Jara was tortured,
his hands smashed with rifle butts, and then was shot to death. In
2008 a court charged retired Col. Mario Manriquez in the case,
saying he was "responsible" for the death. In 2009 Jara’s body was
exhumed for a proper autopsy. Army draftee, Jose Paredes, later
described the murder and named the officers he said were
responsible. Paredes told interrogators that a lieutenant known as
"El Loco," the Crazy One, held Jara against a dressing room wall and
played Russian roulette until a bullet blasted through the singer's
skull.
(AP,
5/15/08)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Jara)(AP, 11/26/09)
1978 Sep 15, Willy
Messerschmitt (b.1898), German aircraft builder, died in Munich.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willy_Messerschmitt)
1978 Sep 15, In Thailand PM
Kriangsak Chomanan submitted an amnesty bill for the "Bangkok 18"
left-wing students and labor activists jailed in connection with the
1976 crackdown. He also initiated an amnesty program for former
members of the Communist Party, a reconciliation policy that
eventually helped quash its insurgency.
(AP, 12/23/03)(http://tinyurl.com/2w4xdx)
1980 Sep 15, A B-52H bomber
carrying nuclear-armed AGM-69 missiles experienced a fuel leak in
its number three main wing tank and caught fire on the ground at
Grand Forks AFB in North Dakota.
(www.willthomasonline.net/willthomasonline/Broken_Arrows.html)
1980 Sep 15, Bill Evans
(b.1929), jazz pianist, died. In 1998 Peter Pettinger published
“Bill Evans: How My Heart Sings.”
(SFEC, 11/10/96, DB p.35)(WSJ, 8/28/98,
p.W7)(SFC, 10/16/00, p.B1)
1981 Sep 15, The US Senate
Judiciary Committee voted unanimously to approve the Supreme Court
nomination of Sandra Day O'Connor.
(AP, 9/15/01)
1982 Sep 15, The 1st issue of
"USA Today" was published by Gannett Co., Inc.
(www.usatoday.com/media_kit/pressroom/pr_justfacts_usatoday.htm)
1982 Sep 15, Pope John Paul II
received PLO leader Yasser Arafat.
(http://religion-cults.com/pope/religions.htm)
1982 Sep 15, The Israeli army
reoccupied Beirut.
(SFC, 5/24/00,
p.A15)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabra_and_Shatila_massacre)
1982 Sep 15, Sadegh Ghotbzadeh,
Iran's former foreign minister, was executed after he was convicted
of plotting against the government.
(AP, 9/15/97)
1983 Sep 15, New York City Cops
beat to death Michael Stewart for graffiting the subway.
(http://shs.westport.k12.ct.us/jwb/Collab/CivRts/StewartRslt.htm)
1983 Sep 15, Israel’s premier
Begin (d.1992) resigned.
(www.cnn.com/almanac/9809/15/)
1984 Sep 15, Henry Charles
Albert David, Prince of Wales, 3rd in British succession, was born.
(www.princeofwales.gov.uk)
1985 Sep 15, In Sweden Olof
Palme (1927-1986) formed a minority government.
(www.brandt21forum.info/Bio-Palme.htm)
1986 Sep 15, The 1st pilot of
"LA Law" was broadcast NBC-TV.
(http://epguides.com/LALaw/)
1987 Sep 15, On the opening day
of his confirmation hearing, US Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork
told the Senate Judiciary Committee his philosophy was "neither
liberal nor conservative."
(AP, 9/15/97)
1989 Sep 15, Pulitzer
Prize-winning author Robert Penn Warren (b.1905), the first poet
laureate of the United States, died in Stratton, Vt., at age 84. He
authored 16 poetry collections and 10 novels that included the 1946
"All the King’s Men."
(WSJ, 2/27/97, p.A15)(AP, 9/14/99)
1990 Sep 15, France announced
it would send 4,000 more soldiers to the Persian Gulf and expel
Iraqi military attaches in Paris in response to Iraq’s raids on
French, Belgian and Canadian diplomatic compounds in Kuwait.
(AP, 9/15/00)
1991 Sep 15, Iowa Sen. Tom
Harkin entered the Democratic presidential race, promising to “take
back government from the privileged few.”
(AP, 9/15/01)
1991 Sep 15, Andre Baruch
(b.1908), radio and TV announcer, died at 83.
(www.findagrave.com/)
1992 Sep 15, FBI Director
William S. Sessions promised a new national campaign to stem a
recent wave of carjackings.
(AP, 9/15/97)
1992 Sep 15, Washington state
Sen. Patty Murray defeated former Congressman Don Bonker to win the
Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by
Brock Adams.
(AP, 9/15/97)
1993 Sep 15 Katherine Ann
Power, former 60s radical who spent 23 years in hiding, surrendered
to authorities at Boston College law school in Newton. She faced
charges stemming from a 1970 bank robbery in which Boston police
officer Walter Schroeder Sr. (42) was killed. Power pleaded guilty
to charges of armed robbery and the reduced charge of manslaughter.
On October 6, 1993, she received a five-year federal term, to run
concurrently with an 8-12 year state sentence. She was released in
1999.
(AP, 9/15/98)(www.holysmoke.org/sdhok/dep11.htm)
1994 Sep 15, In a terse
ultimatum from the Oval Office, President Clinton told Haiti's
military leaders in a prime-time address: "Your time is up. Leave
now or we will force you from power."
(AP, 9/14/99)
1994 Sep 15, An Arab Charter on
Human Rights was adopted by the Council of the League of Arab
States.
(www.al-bab.com/arab/docs/international/hr1994.htm)
1995 Sep 15, The TV series
“Xena: Warrior Princess” featured Lucy Lawless as Xena.
(LSA, Spring, 2009,
p.45)(www.imdb.com/title/tt0112230/)
1995 Sep 15, Hurricane
“Marilyn,” the third major storm to batter the Caribbean in less
than a month, hit the Virgin Islands with heavy rains and 100
mile-an-hour winds.
(AP, 9/15/00)
1995 Sep 15, The UN Fourth
World Conference on Women adjourned in Beijing after approving a
wide-ranging platform running the gamut from promoting inheritance
rights to condemning rape in wartime. The Beijing Platform, signed
by 189 states, urged a review of all laws that punish women for
having abortions.
(AP, 9/15/00)(Econ, 5/19/07, p.65)
1995 Sep 15, A Muslim-Croat
offensive won 1,500 square miles of land. More than 150,000 Serbs
fled, many to Eastern Slovonia.
(SFC,10/16/97, p.A12)
1996 Sep 15, Defense Secretary
William Perry was making the rounds among American allies in the
Persian Gulf region, seeking additional support for the U.S. stance
against Iraq. Bahrain agreed to play host to 26 American F-16 jet
fighters.
(AP, 9/15/97)
1996 Sep 15, In Germany it was
reported that rival Vietnamese gangs were battling a vicious turf
war for trading untaxed cigarettes smuggled in by organized crime.
The country was trying to coax Vietnam to accept the return of
thousands of men in exchange for aid and future credits.
(SFC, 9/15/96, p.A14)
1996 Sep 15, In Guatemala
crime boss Alfredo Moreno, a former army intelligence officer, was
arrested on charges of an enormous smuggling operation.
(SFC, 9/25/96, p.A9)
1996 Sep 15, In Italy Umberto
Bossi, populist politician and leader of the Northern League,
planned to declare the independence of the Federal Republic of
Padania.
(WSJ, 9/13/96, p.A6)
1996 Sep 15, In Italy Lorenzo
Necci, head of the state-run railroad, was arrested for corruption,
embezzlement, abuse of office, falsification of balance sheets and
fraud.
(SFC, 9/17/96, p.A12)
1996 Sep 15, In Mexico Federal
police officer Ernesto Ibarra Santes (50) was gunned down in Mexico
City. He was in charge of drug trafficking in Baha California del
Norte, the center of operations for the narcotics cartel of the
Arellano Felix brothers. He had only taken the position on Aug 16.
(SFC, 9/16/96, p.A9)
1996 Sep 15, In North Korea the
Rajin-Sonbong Free Economic and Trade Zone, a 288 sq. ml. area with
a local population of 140,000, was being established behind barbed
wire in the northeast corner.
(SFC, 9/15/96, p.A15)
1996 Sep 15, In Singapore all
120,000 internet subscribers will have to go through proxy servers
which will screen them from dozens of sites that contain nudity and
sexual topics.
(SFC, 8/15/96, p.B2)
1997 Sep 15, Former
Massachusetts Gov. William Weld gave up his battle to be U.S.
ambassador to Mexico.
(AP, 9/15/98)
1997 Sep 15, Two of the
nation's most popular diet drugs -- dexfenfluramine and fenfluramine
-- were pulled off the market because of new evidence they could
seriously damage patients' hearts.
(AP, 9/15/98)
1997 Sep 15, In Oman a US Navy
F/A-18 crashed and the pilot was killed.
(WSJ, 9/16/97, p.A1)(SFC, 9/20/97, p.A7)
1997 Sep 15, A Marine F/Aa-18
Hornet fighter jet crashed in North Carolina’s Pamlico sound and its
2 pilots were killed.
(SFC, 9/20/97, p.A7)
1997 Sep 15, From Afghanistan
it was reported that the Taliban has prohibited the cultivation of
opium poppies. Some 200,000 families produced a record 2,800 tons of
opium in 1997, a 25% increase over 1996.
(SFC, 9/15/97, p.A14)
1997 Sep 15, In Algeria 7
people were killed in Saida by masked assailants and four people had
their throats cut in Medea.
(SFC, 9/16/97, p.A12)
1997 Sep 15, In India at the
port city of Visakhapatnam a fire raged at the Hindustan Petroleum
Corp. and 37 were reported dead.
(SFC, 9/16/97, p.A12)
1997 Sep 15, The IRA allied
Sinn Fein party entered Northern Ireland's peace talks for the first
time. All party talks for peace were to begin in Belfast.
(SFC, 7/5/97, p.A8)(AP, 9/15/98)
1997 Sep 15, In North Korea it
was reported that about 15% of people in the towns and villages of
the country may be dying of starvation and famine-related diseases
in a survey conducted by Korean-American organizations.
(SFC, 9/15/97, p.A10)
1997 Sep 15, In Norway Prime
Minister Thorbjoern Jagland said he would step down after support in
national elections reached only about 35%.
(SFC, 9/16/97, p.A12)
1997 Sep 15, In Oman a US Navy
F/A-18 crashed and the pilot was killed.
(WSJ, 9/16/97, p.A1)
1997 Sep 15, From Thailand it
was reported that layoffs, salary cuts and downsizing was spreading
across the economy under an expensive foreign debt load and a 40%
fall in the value of the baht.
(SFC, 9/15/97, p.A10)
1998 Sep 15, Mark McGuire of
the St. Louis Cardinals hit his 63rd home run against the Pittsburgh
Pirates.
(WSJ, 9/16/98, p.A1)(AP, 9/14/99)
1998 Sep 15, Nine states and
the District of Columbia held primaries. In New York, Rep. Charles
Schumer, a liberal, won the Democratic nod to challenge Republican
Sen. Alfonse D'Amato. (Schumer won.) In Washington state, Republican
Rep. Linda Smith won the right to challenge Sen. Patty Murray, a
Democrat. (Murray was re-elected).
(AP, 9/14/99)
1998 Sep 15, Pres. Clinton and
the G-7 nations agreed to work together to deal with the world
economic crises.
(USAT, 9/15/98, p.1A)
1998 Sep 15, John That Luong
(27), convicted of smuggling Chinese immigrants into the US, was
sentenced to 3 years and 9 months in Federal prison. Testimony at
the 9-week trial linked the smuggling to an international crime
syndicate involved in microchip robberies, extortion, gambling,
prostitution, drug trafficking and murder.
(SFC, 3/16/98, p.A1)(http://tinyurl.com/3yjamo)
1998 Sep 15, BankAmerica
announced trading losses of about $330 million so far in the 3rd
quarter.
(WSJ, 9/16/98, p.A1)
1998 Sep 15, In Albania Sali
Berisha surrendered 2 tanks posted outside his headquarters
following threats of force. The government declared the unrest an
attempted coup and ordered a criminal investigation.
(SFC, 9/16/98, p.A11)
1998 Sep 15, For Argentina a
World Bank loan of some $4.5 billion was almost completed to help
stabilize the economy.
(WSJ, 9/16/98, p.A19)
1998 Sep 15, In Congo Pres.
Kabila restored four generals from late dictator Mobutu’s regime.
Government forces were said to be moving on Goma.
(WSJ, 9/16/98, p.A1)
1998 Sep 15, In the Galapagos
Islands the Cerro Azul volcano on Isabela Island began erupting and
threatened turtle colonies.
(SFC, 9/18/98, p.D8)
1998 Sep 15, In Indonesia a 2nd
week of looting and rioting continued.
(WSJ, 9/16/98, p.A19)
1998 Sep 15, Italian police
arrested Mariano Troia (65), one of the Mafia’s most notorious
figures, near Palermo.
(USAT, 9/16/98, p.14A)
1998 cSep 15, In Peru
archeologist found 6 frozen mummies sacrificed to Inca gods over 500
years ago near the crater of the 19,100 foot El Misti volcano, 465
miles southeast of Lima.
(SFC, 10/3/98, p.C1)
1999 Sep 15, Daimler-Chrysler
unveiled its new Java show car at the Frankfurt auto show.
(WSJ, 9/16/99, p.A25)
1999 Sep 15, In Oregon a leak
at the Umatilla Chemical Depot overcame 34 workers, who were
building a new incinerator. The depot contained over 3,000 tons of
deadly nerve and mustard agents, scheduled for incineration upon
completion of the project in October 2001.
(SFC, 8/1/00, p.A5)
1999 Sep 15, Hurricane Floyd
hit North Carolina and dropped 13-16 inches of rain. Extensive
damaged was reported in the Bahamas on the islands of Abaco,
Eleuthera, Cat and San Salvador. Damages from Floyd were later
estimated at over $800 million and 45 deaths were attributed to the
storm.
(SFC, 9/16/99, p.A1,15)(WSJ, 9/20/99, p.A1)
1999 Sep 15, In New Jersey
Mario Ruiz Massieu (48), former Mexican top drug prosecutor,
committed suicide. He had been indicted on drug charges a month
earlier. He left a suicide note that implicated Pres. Zedillo in the
1994 killing of his brother and presidential candidate Luis Donaldo
Colosio.
(SFC, 9/16/99, p.A12)(WSJ, 9/17/99, p.A1)(AP,
9/15/00)
1999 Sep 15, In Fort Worth,
Texas, lone gunman Larry Gene Ashbrook (47) of Forest Hill killed 7
people, aged 14-36, at the Wedgewood Baptist Church before killing
himself.
(SFC, 9/16/99, p.A1)(USAT, 9/17/99, p.1,3A)
1999 Sep 15, It was reported
that AIDS killed 2 million Africans in 1998.
(SFC, 9/16/99, p.A13)
1999 Sep 15, Algeria held a
referendum on Pres. Bouteflika's amnesty law. Voters endorsed the
plan.
(SFC, 9/15/99, p.C3)(SFC, 9/17/99, p.D6)
1999 Sep 15, The UN authorized
an int'l. peacekeeping force in East Timor led by Australia with
some 8,000 troops from a number of nations.
(SFC, 9/15/99, p.A15)(WSJ, 9/16/99, p.A1)
1999 Sep 15, In southern Russia
a truck exploded next to a 9-story apartment building in the Rostov
region and at least 11 people were killed. Chechen terrorists were
again blamed. The bomb in Volgodonsk killed at least 17 and wounded
500.
(SFC, 9/16/99, p.A12)(WSJ, 9/17/99, p.A1)(SFC,
9/17/99, p.A10)
2000 Sep 15, The new San
Francisco Int’l. Terminal opened at a cost of $950 million. SFO
operations at Terminal 2 ceased in December as part of a $2.5
billion airport master plan.
(SFC, 9/16/00, p.A15)(SFC, 5/13/08, p.D4)
2000 Sep 15, In Australia the
XXVII Olympic Games opened in Sidney. The 2000 Summer Olympics
opened with a seemingly endless parade of athletes and coaches and a
spectacular display that included wild fantasy, blazing color, and
booming cheers; Aborigine runner Cathy Freeman ignited an Olympic
ring of fire.
(SFC, 9/16/00, p.A1)(AP, 9/15/01)
2000 Sep 15, Truckers across
Europe blocked highways to protest high fuel costs. Protests hit
Spain, Germany, Ireland, Poland and the Czech Republic.
(SFC, 9/16/00, p.A10)
2000 Sep 15, In Indonesia Pres.
Wahid called for the arrest of Hutomo Mandala Putra, aka Tommy
Suharto, in connection with the recent terrorist bombing. Putra met
with police on his own accord.
(SFC, 9/16/00, p.A10)
2000 Sep 15, In Italy the Mafia
was reported to be engaged in a $500 million business of illegal dog
fighting. An estimated 5,000 dogs died annually from the fighting.
(SFC, 9/15/00, p.A16)
2000 Sep 15, In Uganda the
chimpanzee population was estimated at about 3,000 and declining due
to refugees from Congo eating small apes.
(SFC, 9/15/00, p.D2)
2001 Sep 15, Pres. Bush stated:
“We are planning a broad and sustained campaign to secure our
country and eradicate the evil or terrorism.” Bush ordered US troops
to get ready for war and braced Americans for a long, difficult
assault against terrorists to avenge the Sept. 11 attacks. US
Congress approved a resolution authorizing Bush to use “all
necessary and appropriated force” against anyone associated with the
9/11 terrorist attacks.
(SSFC, 9/16/01, p.A1)(AP, 9/15/06)(SSFC, 3/16/08,
p.A8)
2001 Sep 15, In Mesa, Arizona,
Balbir Singh Sodhi, an Indian immigrant gas station owner, was shot
to death. A Lebanese clerk was targeted but not injured. Police
later arrested Frank Roque (42) for 2 shootings but not the 1st
murder. Roque was convicted of murder Sep 30, 2003.
(SFC, 9/17/01, p.A8)(SFC, 9/29/03, p.A3)
2001 Sep 15, Continental
Airlines said it would immediately furlough 12,000 of 56,000
workers. Total air carrier capacity was expected to shrink 20%.
(WSJ, 9/17/01, p.A1)
2001 Sep 15, In Texas 4 barges
smashed into the Queen Isabella Causeway between South Padre Island
and the mainland. At least 5 people were killed.
(SSFC, 9/16/01, p.A28)(SFC, 9/17/01, p.A18)
2001 Sep 15, Fred De Cordova
(90), executive producer of "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny
Carson," died in Woodland Hills, Calif.
(AP, 9/15/02)
2001 Sep 15, As many as 300,000
Afghans reportedly had fled Kandahar in fear of US air strikes
against their Taliban rulers who were harboring Osama bin Laden.
(SFC, 9/17/01, p.A8)(AP, 9/15/02)
2001 Sep 15, Iran ordered its
security forces to seal off its 560-mile border with Afghanistan.
(SSFC, 9/16/01, p.A7)
2001 Sep 15, Gunfire between
Israelis and Palestinians in Gaza and Jerusalem left 3 Palestinians
dead and 2 Israelis wounded.
(SSFC, 9/16/01, p.A28)
2001 Sep 15, North and South
Korea began a 4-day series of meetings.
(SSFC, 9/16/01, p.A28)
2001 Sep 15, Pakistan agreed to
close its border with Afghanistan and pledged full support to combat
int’l. terrorism.
(SSFC, 9/16/01, p.A7)
2001 Sep 15, In Zimbabwe 2
ruling party militants were killed during clashes with workers on
the Bibby family farm. John Bibby (70) was arrested the next day as
an accessory to the murders.
(SFC, 9/17/01, p.A18)
2002 Sep 15, U.S. and British
warplanes bombed Iraqi installations in the southern no-fly zone.
Major air defense sites were being targeted.
(AP, 9/15/02)(SFC, 9/17/02, p.A12)
2002 Sep 15, In Knoxville,
Tennessee, a Norfolk Southern train derailed near and one car with
93,000 pounds of sulfuric acid ruptured. The liquid acid vaporized
creating a toxic cloud.
(SFC, 9/16/02, p.A7)
2002 Sep 15, Thousands of
Muslims gathered at a radical Islamic conference in London to
confront what organizers said was a choice between accepting life
under a "colonialist world view" or being labeled terrorists.
(AP, 9/15/02)
2002 Sep 15, Jews in Israel
marked Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year.
(AP, 9/15/02)
2002 Sep 15, In Macedonia the
opposition led by Branko Crvenkovski swept the ruling coalition from
power in the country's first elections since last year's armed
uprising. Premier Ljubco Georgievski confirmed the nationalists'
defeat.
(AP, 9/16/02)(WSJ, 9/16/02, p.A1)
2002 Sep 15, At least 5 Iraqi
agents graduated from a 2-week course in surveillance techniques at
the "Special Training Center" in Moscow.
(SSFC, 4/13/03, p.A1)
2002 Sep 15, Sweden's voters
bucked the conservative trend in Europe, reaffirming support for the
country's generous welfare system. The ruling Social Democrats
claimed victory in the national elections.
(AP, 9/16/02)
2002 Sep 15, Derek Davies (71),
who ran the Far Eastern Economic Review for 25 years and turned the
magazine into a leading source of English-language news and analysis
about Asia died in France.
(AP, 9/17/02)
2003 Sep 15, US professional
women's soccer folded due to low attendance. The WUSA soccer league
shut down operations five days before the Women's World Cup, saying
it didn't have enough money to stay in business for a fourth season.
(WSJ, 9/16/03, p.A1)(AP, 9/15/04)
2003 Sep 15, In California a
judicial panel postponed the Oct 7 recall balloting because old
ballot equipment could deprive voters of their right to be counted.
On Sep 23 the 9th Circuit Court ruled that the recall be held on Oct
7.
(AP, 9/16/03)(SFC, 9/16/03, p.A1)(SFC, 9/20/03,
p.A1)(SFC, 9/24/03, p.A1)
2003 Sep 15, A new human rights
report on Brazil said summary executions and killings by death
squads, often formed by police officers, are commonplace and
frequently tolerated by authorities.
(AP, 9/16/03)
2003 Sep 15, The Colombian army
reported that its forces in Operation Scorpion killed at least 17
suspected members of a rebel special forces unit.
(AP, 9/15/03)
2003 Sep 15, In India
rain-swollen rivers began receding in the state of Uttar Pradesh but
the death toll there from monsoon rains rose to 190 after 34 more
people were reported killed.
(AP, 9/15/03)
2003 Sep 15, In Iraq guerrillas
killed a US soldier in a rocket-propelled grenade attack in central
Baghdad.
(AP, 9/15/03)
2003 Sep 15, In Kenya gunmen
burst into the home of a senior delegate to a constitutional
convention and shot him to death.
(AP, 9/15/03)
2003 Sep 15, More than 100
South Korean tourists flew to North Korea's capital on the first
commercial flight between the two countries since they were divided
nearly six decades ago.
(AP, 9/15/03)
2003 Sep 15, In Ingushetia,
Russia, a truck filled with explosives blew up outside a government
security building, killing at least three people and wounding at
least 22.
(AP, 9/15/03)(WSJ, 9/16/03, p.A1)
2003 Sep 15, In Saudi Arabia a
fire that swept through el-Haer prison in Riyadh and 94 were
reported killed.
(AP, 9/16/03)
2003 Sep 15, Over 360 Somali
delegates in Kenya adopted a transitional charter that outlines a
future government for the troubled African nation.
(AP, 9/16/03)
2004 Sep 15, Pres. Bush
requested shifting $3.46 billion in reconstruction money for Iraq to
security.
(WSJ, 9/16/04, p.A1)
2004 Sep 15, National Hockey
League owners agreed to lock out the players.
(AP, 9/15/05)
2004 Sep 15, Amazon unveiled a
new search engine called A9.com.
(Econ, 9/25/04, p.76)
2004 Sep 15, Johnny Ramone
(55), guitarist and co-founder of the seminal punk band "The
Ramones," died of cancer in Los Angeles.
(AP, 9/16/04)(Econ, 9/25/04, p.100)
2004 Sep 15, Three Americans
accused of torturing Afghans in a private jail were found guilty in
a Kabul court after a trial denounced by the defense as failing to
meet basic international standards of fairness.
(AP, 9/15/04)
2004 Sep 15, The Egyptian and
Syrian presidents linked calls by the UN and fellow Arab leaders for
Syrian troops to leave Lebanon to past UN resolutions demanding that
Israeli pull out of the West Bank and Golan Heights.
(AP, 9/15/04)
2004 Sep 15, In England the
number of people seeking unemployment benefits fell by 6,100 to
830,200, the lowest level since July 1975.
(AFP, 9/15/04)
2004 Sep 15, Eight French
speaking African countries began retiring over 1 billion in decaying
currency with new CFA francs. Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau,
Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo had until Dec 31 to turn
in old bills for new ones.
(SFC, 9/15/04, p.C8)
2004 Sep 15, India and
Bangladesh ended a two-day meeting in Dhaka without any
breakthroughs on the sharing of water from common rivers.
(AP, 9/15/04)
2004 Sep 15, Security forces
discovered three beheaded bodies on a road north of Baghdad, and a
car bomb exploded in a town south of the capital, killing two
people.
(AP, 9/15/04)
2004 Sep 15, Malaysia declared
its entire northern Kelantan state a quarantine zone to halt the
spread of bird flu.
(AP, 9/15/04)
2004 Sep 15, In Pakistan Pres.
Musharraf backed out of his pledge to give up his post as army
chief.
(WSJ, 9/16/04, p.A1)
2004 Sep 15, Tropical Storm
Jeanne lashed Puerto Rico with damaging winds and rain that knocked
out power, flooded roads and killed two people. It soon strengthened
from a tropical storm into the 6th hurricane of the season.
(AP, 9/16/04)
2004 Sep 15, In Saudi Arabia
Edward Stuart Muirhead-Smith (55) was killed at the Max shopping
center in eastern Riyadh.
(AP, 9/16/04)
2004 Sep 15, A rebel faction
said peace talks with the Sudanese government and rebels from the
troubled Darfur region collapsed after three weeks without an
accord.
(AP, 9/15/04)
2004 Sep 15, South Africa
formally recognized the pro-independence government in the annexed
Moroccan territory of Western Sahara (Sahrawi statehood), prompting
Rabat to recall its ambassador from Pretoria in protest.
(AP, 9/16/04)(Econ, 10/30/04, p.53)
2005 Sep 15, Pres. Bush gave a
speech from New Orleans outlining government plans to rebuild the
region devastated by Hurricane Katrina, as the disaster death toll
passed the 700 mark. His proposals included the creation of a “Gulf
Opportunity Zone” and “Worker Recovery Accounts.”
(AP, 9/15/05)(SFC, 9/16/05, p.A1)
2005 Sep 15, The US government
agreed to stockpile $100 million worth of inoculations against bird
flu under a contract with French vaccine maker Sanofi-Pasteur.
(SFC, 9/16/05, p.A4)
2005 Sep 15, In the 4th and
final day of Senate confirmation hearings on John Roberts’
appointment as chief justice, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) said “You
may very well possess the most powerful intellect of any person to
come before the Senate for this position.”
(SFC, 9/16/05, p.A1)
2005 Sep 15, The American
Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (Fincen) branded
Banco Delta Asia of Macau as a willing pawn for the North Korean
government to engage in corrupt financial activities. This cause a
$38 million run on the bank. The ploy persuaded other lenders to
sever ties with North Korea and dealing a significant blow to North
Korea’s financial system.
(Econ, 9/24/05, p.90)(WSJ, 2/13/06, p.A7)
2005 Sep 15, California’s Gov.
Schwarzenegger signed a bill to reduce obesity in schools.
(SFC, 9/16/05, p.A1)
2005 Sep 15, New York Attorney
General Eliot Spitzer announced indictments against 8 former senior
executives of Marsh & McLennan for bid rigging and price fixing
in the insurance industry.
(SFC, 9/16/05, p.C1)
2005 Sep 15, The Massachusetts
state Legislature voted to override Gov. Mitt Romney's veto of a
measure that will expand access to emergency contraception.
(AP, 9/15/05)
2005 Sep 15, Yahoo introduced a
search feature for instant answers at www.next.yahoo.com.
(SFC, 9/15/05, p.C2)
2005 Sep 15, Hurricane Ophelia
weakened slightly as it crawled along the North Carolina coast.
Early indications were that the storm had not caused the severe
flooding many feared.
(AP, 9/15/05)
2005 Sep 15, Guy Green (91),
who won an Academy Award for cinematography for the 1946 film "Great
Expectations," died of heart and kidney failure at his Beverly Hills
home.
(AP, 9/16/05)
2005 Sep 15, Producer Sid Luft
(89), who was credited with reviving the career of his then-wife,
Judy Garland, died in Santa Monica, Calif.
(AP, 9/15/06)
2005 Sep 15, Suspected Taliban
gunmen in Helmand province shot and killed Abdul Hadi, a candidate
in Afghanistan's legislative elections after dragging him from his
house.
(AP, 9/16/05)
2005 Sep 15, British police
arrested Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, leader of the oil-rich
southern Nigerian state of Bayelsa, as part of a money laundering
investigation.
(AP, 9/16/05)
2005 Sep 15, China’s Pres. Hu
Jintao spoke at the UN and called for a “harmonious world.”
(Econ, 11/19/05, p.23)
2005 Sep 15, Colombian
authorities seized $4.5 million worth of counterfeit American
currency during a raid on a clandestine printing workshop in south
Bogota. The network had been sending the money to Ecuador and
Venezuela, where the U.S. dollar is widely accepted as legal tender.
(AP, 9/15/05)
2005 Sep 15, In the eastern
Indian state of Bihar a fire engulfed three illegal firecracker
factories in a village, killing at least 30 people.
(AP, 9/15/05)
2005 Sep 15, In northeastern
India a fire broke out in a damaged oil well, and Russian experts
were summoned to inspect the site.
(AP, 9/15/05)
2005 Sep 15, Separatist rebels
in Indonesia's Aceh province started handing over weapons to
international monitors.
(AP, 9/15/05)
2005 Sep 15, Iran's Pres.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran is willing to provide nuclear
technology to other Muslim states. Hours later, European nations
renewed an offer of economic incentives if the Mideast nation would
halt its uranium enrichment.
(AP, 9/15/05)
2005 Sep 15, Iraq’s PM Ibrahim
al-Jaafari, speaking at a news conference in Dearborn, Mich.,
condemned the latest round of bombings that left scores of his
countrymen dead, and vowed that his government's "rational,
political struggle" would prevail over "criminal acts."
(AP, 9/15/05)
2005 Sep 15, Two suicide car
bombers struck within a minute of each other and a half-mile apart
in southern Baghdad, killing 7 policemen and raising the day's death
toll from blasts in the capital to at least 31.
(AP, 9/15/05)
2005 Sep 15, A US Marine was
killed in an “indirect fire explosion” at Camp Ramadi in the western
province of al-Anbar.
(AP, 9/16/05)
2005 Sep 15, Israel called for
wider meetings with Arab nations and said efforts were under way to
arrange summit talks with Qatar, a day after Qatar urged the Arab
world to open up to the Jewish state following its Gaza Strip
withdrawal.
(AP, 9/15/05)
2005 Sep 15, Israel's Supreme
Court upheld the legality of Israel's West Bank security barrier,
rejecting a ruling by the International Court of Justice that the
barrier violates Palestinian rights and should be torn down. It also
ruled that part of the barrier imposed major hardship on Palestinian
villagers and must be rerouted.
(AP, 9/15/05)(SFC, 9/16/05, p.A7)
2005 Sep 15, A Russian Su-27
fighter bomber crashed in Lithuania during a flight across the
former Soviet republic to the Russian Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad.
(AP, 9/15/05)
2005 Sep 15, A fire engulfed
Mexico's most famous fireworks market, setting off a chain of
explosions in Tultepec, a town northeast of the nation's capital.
The fire destroyed hundreds of open-air stands just ahead of
Independence Day celebrations.
(AP, 9/15/05)
2005 Sep 15, North Korea said
it won't give up its nuclear weapons without receiving a reactor for
generating power, stalling six-nation talks on Pyongyang's atomic
programs.
(AP, 9/15/05)
2005 Sep 15, Russia launched
experimental broadcasts of a 24-hour English-language satellite TV
news channel aimed at polishing its image abroad and presenting
foreign audiences with its view of the world.
(AP, 9/15/05)
2005 Sep 15, The Saudi
government ordered a Jiddah chamber of commerce to allow female
voters and candidates.
(AP, 9/16/05)
2005 Sep 15, In Serbia a judge
ordered the arrest of the wife of former Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic for failing to attend her corruption trial in Belgrade.
(AP, 9/15/05)
2005 Sep 15, The UN General
Assembly adopted the concept of “responsibility to protect” (R2P)
during its World summit in NYC.
(Econ, 6/28/08, p.51)(http://tinyurl.com/669gvu)
2005 Sep 15, Venezuelan Pres.
Hugo Chavez took Pres. Bush to task in front of a global summit for
waging war in Iraq without UN consent and won rousing applause for
his critique.
(AP, 9/16/05)
2006 Sep 15, The US joined with
the EU and Canada charging that China has erected illegal barriers
to the sale of U.S. and other foreign-made auto parts there.
(AP, 9/15/06)
2006 Sep 15, US Rep. Bob Ney,
R-Ohio, agreed to plead guilty to two criminal charges in the
congressional corruption probe spawned by disgraced lobbyist Jack
Abramoff.
(AP, 9/15/07)
2006 Sep 15, In Costa Mesa,
Ca., the new $200 million Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall
opened. It was designed by Cesar Pelli (79).
(www.ocpac.org/about/PressDetail.asp?PressReleaseID=509)
2006 Sep 15, In California Gov.
Schwarzenegger signed legislation requiring the driver use of
hands-free devices for cell phones starting in 2008.
(SFC, 9/15/06, p.B1)
2006 Sep 15, In East St. Louis,
Ill., Jimella Tunstall (23) bled to death after sustaining an
abdominal wound caused by a sharp object. Her body was found Sep 21.
On Sep 23 investigators found Tunstall’s 3 dead children in a washer
and dryer. Prosecutors charged Tiffany Hall (24), a family friend,
with the murder of Tunstall and her fetus.
(AP, 9/24/06)
2006 Sep 15, In Jackson,
Mississippi, Mayor Frank Melton was indicted along with 2 police
bodyguards on numerous felony charges stemming from his
crime-fighting tactics.
(SFC, 9/16/06, p.A3)
2006 Sep 15, In Missouri
Stephenie Ochsenbine (21) was slashed in the throat and had her
week-old baby stolen. Police recovered the baby on Sep 19. On Sep 20
Shannon Torrez (36) was charged with kidnapping and assault and
ordered held on $1 million bond. On September 12, 2008, Torrez was
sentenced to 30 years in prison.
(AP, 9/20/06)(http://tinyurl.com/3mgvbe)
2006 Sep 15, US automaker Ford
Motor Co. unveiled sweeping job cuts and plant closures to stem
losses and said it has no intention of selling its luxury brand
Jaguar. Ford said it would cut 10,000 more white-collar positions,
up from a previous goal of 4,000, and offer buyout and early
retirement to all 75,000 hourly employees. Ford stock closed at
$8.02.
(AFP, 9/15/06)(SFC, 9/16/06, p.C1)(WSJ, 9/16/06,
p.A1)
2006 Sep 15, A large
diabetes-prevention study found that the drug Rosiglitazone
(Avandia), made by GlaxoSmithKline, can help keep “pre-diabetics”
from developing Type 2 diabetes. The drug was already being used to
treat the disease, which afflicted over 200 million worldwide.
(SFC, 9/16/06, p.A3)
2006 Sep 15, In southern
Afghanistan about 60 suspected Taliban militants attacked a police
checkpoint in Uruzgan province, starting a battle in which four
militants died.
(AP, 9/16/06)
2006 Sep 15, China denounced
accusations by top US officials that it was selling weapons to Iran
and North Korea amid nuclear tensions with the two regimes. State
media said at least four children, among the hundreds of people
sickened by emissions from a lead smelter in western China, are
likely to suffer permanent brain damage.
(AP, 9/15/06)
2006 Sep 15, Cuba took over the
leadership of the Nonaligned Movement from Malaysia, with Defense
Minister Raul Castro standing in for his ailing brother Fidel.
(AP, 9/15/06)
2006 Sep 15, Iraq’s Interior
Minister said the government will ring Baghdad with a series of
trenches and traffic checkpoints to control movement. Police
found 30 bodies bearing signs of torture in Baghdad. A US Marine was
killed in Anbar province just hours after an American soldier was
killed by a roadside bomb northwest of Baghdad. In central Baghdad,
a gunman opened fire from the top of an abandoned building in a
Sunni Arab neighborhood, killing an Iraqi civilian and wounding five
others. Sheik Muhanad al-Gharairi was a spokesman for the Conference
of People of Iraq, a Sunni Arab party headed by Adnan al-Dulaimi,
was killed by gunmen.
(AP, 9/15/06)(SFC, 9/16/06, p.A1)
2006 Sep 15, Oriana Fallaci
(76), the Italian writer and journalist best known for her abrasive
interviews and provocative stances, died in Florence.
(AP, 9/15/06)(Econ, 9/23/06, p.97)
2006 Sep 15, Ivory Coast
protesters beat up the transport minister in response to the Aug 19
toxic sludge shipment that sickened 30,000 people.
(WSJ, 9/16/06, p.A1)
2006 Sep 15, Latvian President
Vaira Vike-Freiberga joined the race to become the next UN
secretary-general, becoming the first woman vying for the UN's top
post.
(AP, 9/15/06)
2006 Sep 15, Mexico’s President
Vicente Fox backed down from a confrontation with thousands of
leftist sympathizers of Manuel Lopez Obrador, moving the annual
Independence Day celebration away from Mexico City's main square to
avoid protesters. Fox decided to move the ceremony to the central
town of Dolores Hidalgo, where Miguel Hidalgo made the first call
for independence from Spain in 1810. Supporters of leftist Andres
Manuel Lopez Obrador ended the street protest that clogged the heart
of the capital for nearly seven weeks, but they vowed to find other
ways to resist the incoming conservative president.
(AP, 9/15/06)
2006 Sep 15, Palestinian gunmen
opened fire on a car in Gaza City carrying Brig. Gen. Jad Tayeh, a
top Palestinian security officer, in a drive-by shooting that killed
Tayeh and four of his bodyguards.
(AP, 9/15/06)
2006 Sep 15, In Singapore Paul
Wolfowitz, the chief of the World Bank, took a hard line on
corruption. Rodrigo de Rato, his counterpart at the IMF, said
policy-makers need to be ready to adapt to a more difficult economic
environment in the coming year as delegates gathered for the sister
institutions' annual meetings. Wolfowitz said that Singapore had
damaged its own reputation by imposing "authoritarian" restrictions
on the entry of activists for the World Bank/IMF meetings.
(AP, 9/15/06)
2006 Sep 15, Alberto Linero
(27) and Alberto Sanchez (24) both privates in the Spanish air
force, exchanged vows in a reception room at Seville's town hall, in
the first known wedding among same-sex members of the military since
Spain legalized gay marriage last year.
(AP, 9/15/06)
2006 Sep 15, More than 100,000
chanting protesters marched through downtown Taipei, trying to
pressure Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian to resign over a series
of corruption scandals.
(AP, 9/15/06)
2006 Sep 15, Tanzania’s energy
minister said ongoing drought in east Africa has forced Tanzania to
impose power cuts seven days a week.
(AP, 9/15/06)
2006 Sep 15, Over strong
opposition from China, the UN Security Council put Myanmar on its
agenda in what US officials called a "major step forward" in
American efforts to increase pressure on the country's military
dictatorship.
(AP, 9/15/06)
2006 Sep 15, The World Health
Organization declared its support for indoor use of DDT to control
mosquitoes in regions where malaria is a major health problem.
(SFC, 9/16/06, p.A5)
2006 Sep 15, In Yemen suicide
bombers tried to strike two oil facilities with explosives-packed
cars. Al-Qaida later claimed responsibility for the attempted
suicide attacks and vowed more strikes against the United States and
its allies.
(AP, 9/15/06)(AP, 11/7/06)
2006 Sep 15, Zimbabwe said its
annual inflation rate has reached a new record high of more than
1,200% in August despite the conversion to a new currency designed
to halt the upwards spiral.
(AFP, 9/15/06)
2007 Sep 15, In his Saturday
radio address, President Bush said while "formidable challenges"
remained in Iraq, the United States would start shifting more troops
into support roles. Several thousand anti-war demonstrators marched
through downtown Washington, DC, clashing with police at the foot of
the Capitol steps where more than 190 protesters were arrested.
(AP, 9/16/07)(AP, 9/15/08)
2007 Sep 15, Sarah Thomas
became the first female official to work a game in the Football Bowl
Subdivision, formerly I-A, serving as the line judge in the
Jacksonville State-Memphis game.
(AP, 9/15/08)
2007 Sep 15, Live music
returned Treasure Island in SF Bay for the first time in almost 70
years as a 2-day festival organized by Noise Pop and Another Planet
Entertainment.
(SSFC, 9/16/07, p.B3)
2007 Sep 15, Brett Somers
(b.1924), Canada-born actress-comedian, died in Westport, Conn. She
was best known as a panelist on the 1970s game show, Match Game.
(AP,
9/15/08)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Somers)
2007 Sep 15, An estimated 40
insurgents armed with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades attacked
an Afghan police and coalition patrol in the Musa Qala district of
nearby Helmand province. The joint forces repelled the attack and
called in airstrikes, leaving a dozen suspected militants dead. A
Bangladeshi development worker was kidnapped by unknown men in a
brazen daytime attack on his office in Pul-i-Alam, about 30 miles
south of Kabul.
(AP, 9/16/07)
2007 Sep 15, In China Zhao Yan
(45), a Chinese researcher for the NY Times, was released from
prison after serving three years of a fraud conviction that was
strongly criticized by the international community.
(AFP, 9/15/07)
2007 Sep 15, EU finance
ministers and central bankers agreed in Portugal to step up
co-operation among themselves to improve their handling of
cross-border financial crises.
(AP, 9/15/07)
2007 Sep 15, Officials said
nearly 13.5 million people have been marooned or displaced by floods
in India and Bangladesh. The flooding in South Asia caused by the
June-to-September monsoon has been described as the worst in
decades, with more than 3,300 people killed. Landslides and floods
in Nepal killed at least another 185 people since the start of
monsoon.
(AP, 9/15/07)
2007 Sep 15, An al-Qaida front
group warned it will hunt down and kill Sunni Arab tribal leaders
who cooperate with the US and its Iraqi partners, saying the
assassination of the leader of the revolt against the terror
movement was just a beginning. Anti-US cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's
followers announced their withdrawal from the Shiite alliance in
parliament. Al-Sadr's followers hold 30 of the 275 parliament seats.
An Iraqi soldier was killed when gunmen attacked a checkpoint in
Baqouba. Police and army officials said eight civilians also were
killed and five others wounded in attacks in and around Baqouba. A
car bomb struck a Baghdad bakery crowded with customers lining up
for bread, killing at least 11 people as they ended their daytime
Ramadan fast. The leader of al-Qaida in Iraq offered money for the
murder of a Swedish cartoonist and his editor who recently produced
images deemed insulting to Islam. Fallah Khalifa Hiyas Fayyas
al-Jumayli, an Iraqi also known as Abu Khamis, was seized. The
al-Qaida linked militant was believed responsible for the Sep 13
death of Sheik Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha.
(AP, 9/15/07)(AP, 9/16/07)
2007 Sep 15, Yasuo Fukuda (71),
the front-runner to become Japan's next prime minister, vowed to
extend his nation's support for US-led operations in Afghanistan.
The Sept. 23 Liberal Democratic Party ballot to replace PM Shinzo
Abe, who abruptly resigned earlier this week, will pit the liberal
Fukuda against the more hawkish former Foreign Minister Taro Aso
(66). Both candidates have said Japan cannot afford to drop out of
the global war on terrorism.
(AP, 9/15/07)
2007 Sep 15, Lebanese troops
captured Abu Salim Taha, the spokesman for Fatah Islam, and 3 other
militants.
(AP, 9/15/07)
2007 Sep 15, In western Mexico
a bus carrying tourists including passengers of a flight from
Phoenix crashed, killing at least 17 people.
(AP, 9/16/07)
2007 Sep 15, Pakistan's ruling
party assured President Gen. Pervez Musharraf he will be elected to
a new five-year term, and the vote will likely take place the first
week of October. Maulana Hassan Jan, a prominent pro-Taliban cleric,
was shot and killed by assailants in a car in Peshawar. He was a
senior leader of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, a religious party that
controls the provincial government of the Northwest Frontier
province.
(AP, 9/15/07)(SSFC, 9/16/07, p.A17)
2007 Sep 15, A meteorite made a
fiery crash to Earth in southern Peru and villagers were soon struck
by a mysterious illness.
(AFP, 9/17/07)
2007 Sep 15, Former world rally
champion Colin McRae (39) and his five-year-old son were among four
people killed in a helicopter crash in southern Scotland.
(AFP, 9/16/07)
2007 Sep 15, In Sierra Leone
with three-quarters of the vote counted opposition leader Ernest Bai
Koroma held a commanding lead in the presidential runoff.
(AP, 9/15/07)
2007 Sep 15, Hundreds of
thousands of Taiwanese took to the streets in support of the
island's latest bid for UN membership, which has been criticized by
China and the US.
(AP, 9/15/07)
2007 Sep 15, In Thailand a
roadside bomb planted by suspected separatist rebels killed one
soldier and wounded five others in the insurgency-torn south. 2 men
were killed in a drive-by shooting by suspected militants in Pattani
province.
(AP, 9/15/07)
2008 Sep 15, Lehman Brothers,
burdened by $60 billion in soured real-estate holdings, filed a
Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition after attempts to rescue the
158-year-old firm failed. Bank of America Corp. said it is snapping
up Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. in a $50 billion all-stock
transaction. In 2009 Lawrence G. McDonald and Patrick Robinson
authored “A Colossal Failure of Common Sense: The Inside Story of
the Collapse of Lehman Brothers.” With over $600 billion in assets
Lehman was America’s largest and most complex corporate failure.
(AP, 9/15/08)(Econ, 9/12/09, p.91)(Econ, 9/11/10,
p.86)
2008 Sep 15, Oil prices plunged
to a seven-month low as the Gulf Coast energy infrastructure
appeared relatively unharmed after Hurricane Ike and traders bet
that Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy could ignite a massive liquidation
of commodities. Oil closed at $95.71, its first close below $100
since March 4.
(AP, 9/15/08)(WSJ, 9/16/08, p.A12)
2008 Sep 15, Hewlett-Packard
said it will cut 24,600 jobs as part of its plan to integrate
Electronic Data Systems Corp. (EDS).
(WSJ, 9/16/08, p.B1)
2008 Sep 15, An Australian jury
found Abdul Benbrika (48), a Muslim cleric, and five of his
followers guilty of planning to stage a "violent jihad" in Melbourne
in 2005 to force Australian troops out of Iraq. A 7th man was
convicted the next day. In 2009 Benbrika was sentenced to at least
12 years in prison.
(Reuters, 9/15/08)(AP, 9/16/08)(AP, 2/3/09)
2008 Sep 15, South American
presidents agreed to work urgently to prevent a political collapse
in Bolivia, where the government said it would charge a rebellious
governor with genocide for allegedly ordering the machine-gunning of
peasants.
(AP, 9/16/08)
2008 Sep 15, According to a new
UN report Brazilian police carried out a "significant proportion" of
the 48,000 murders that swept Brazil last year, casting doubt on the
government's ability to curtail drug violence and reign in vigilante
militias.
(AP, 9/15/08)
2008 Sep 15, In London the sale
of pickled sharks, butterfly paintings and other pieces by Damien
Hirst (43), the provocative British artist, raised some US$127
million. The sale continued the next day. Total sales reached $199
million. In 2009 his total auction sales shrunk to $19 million.
(AP, 9/16/08)(Econ, 9/20/08, p.73)(Econ, 9/11/10,
p.99)
2008 Sep 15, Richard Wright
(65), a founding member of the rock group Pink Floyd, died. Pink
Floyd's spokesman, Doug Wright, who is not related to the artist,
said Wright died after a battle with cancer at his home in Britain.
The band released a series of commercially and critically successful
albums including 1973's "Dark Side of the Moon," which has sold more
than 40 million copies.
(AP, 9/16/08)
2008 Sep 15, China’s central
bank cut interest rates for the first time in over 6 years. Its
benchmark one year lending rate will fall .27% to 7.2% effective Sep
16.
(WSJ, 9/16/08, p.A10)
2008 Sep 15, Cuba said
hurricanes Gustav and Ike together delivered the worst
hurricane-related blow in Cuba's storm-battered history, causing
"around US$5 billion" in collective damage.
(AP, 9/16/08)
2008 Sep 15, In Egypt a
speeding truck collided with a tourist bus in Egypt's Sinai
peninsula, killing 12 people and injuring 33.
(AP, 9/15/08)
2008 Sep 15, Europe's major
central banks moved quickly to calm markets, pumping billions of
euros and pounds into the financial system to shore up confidence in
the aftermath of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s bankruptcy filing
in the United States.
(AP, 9/15/08)
2008 Sep 15, In Indonesia at
least 23 people were killed in a stampede as they crowded an alley
to receive $4.25 in cash handouts for the Muslim holy month of
Ramadan.
(AFP, 9/15/08)(WSJ, 9/16/08, p.A20)
2008 Sep 15, A new
International Atomic Energy Agency report said that Iran has
repeatedly blocked a UN investigation into allegations it tried to
make nuclear arms and the probe is now deadlocked.
(AP, 9/15/08)
2008 Sep 15, A suicide bomber
blew herself up among police officers who were celebrating the
release of a comrade from US custody, killing at least 22 people.
Separate bombings in Iraq killed 13 other people. A member of
a Sunni group allied with US forces was killed by a bomb stuck to
his car in a mainly Sunni neighborhood in northern Baghdad.
(AP, 9/15/08)(AP, 9/16/08)
2008 Sep 15, In Mauritania
suspected al-Qaeda militants killed 12 soldiers. The terror group
had promised to avenge the country’s recent coup.
(SFC, 9/16/08, p.A3)
2008 Sep 15, Mexican police and
soldiers quelled a riot at a Tijuana prison that left 4 inmates dead
and at least 31 prisoners and officials injured.
(AP, 9/16/08)(AP, 9/19/08)
2008 Sep 15, In Oaxaca, Mexico,
Omar Yoguez Singu (32) allegedly had consensual sex with Marcella
Grace Eiler (20) of Eugene, Oregon. He then killed her with a
machete after an argument. Her badly decomposed body was found Sep
24 in a shack 80 miles south of Oaxaca City. Friends of Singu beat
him up after he confessed to the crime and on Sep 24 turned him over
to police.
(AP, 9/28/08)
2008 Sep 15, Hundreds of disco
workers protested in Kathmandu against a government crackdown on
"nude dancing" in its bid to improve the deteriorating law and
order.
(Reuters, 9/15/08)
2008 Sep 15, Nigerian militants
attacked a Shell-operated oil facility, killing two and forcing the
evacuation of nearly 100 staff, in a third day of fighting with
security forces in the Niger Delta. Police in northern Nigeria
arrested a Muslim preacher who claims 86 wives and 107 children,
charging him with breaking Islamic laws governing marriage.
(AP, 9/15/08)(AP, 9/16/08)
2008 Sep 15, Pakistani troops
backed by helicopter gunships and fighter jets killed 15 suspected
militants as security forces advanced on Taliban strongholds near
the Afghan border.
(AP, 9/15/08)
2008 Sep 15, Rwandan voters
went to the polls for parliamentary elections contested only by
movements allied to the ruling party of Pres. Paul Kagame. His
Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) won 42 of 53 contested seats in a
proclaimed turnout of 98.5%.
(AP, 9/15/08)(Econ, 9/27/08, p.61)
2008 Sep 15, In Somalia an
African Union peacekeeper was killed in a roadside bomb explosion in
Mogadishu, the 2nd AU member to be killed in there in as many days.
(AP, 9/15/08)
2008 Sep 15, Darfur rebels said
they were fighting back against attacking government troops for a
fourth day, the latest in a series of battles in Sudan's war-torn
western region.
(AP, 9/15/08)
2008 Sep 15, Thailand's ruling
party chose the brother-in-law of ousted former leader Thaksin
Shinawatra as its nominee to become the next prime minister,
immediately drawing opposition from anti-government protesters and
dozens of its own members.
(AP, 9/15/08)
2008 Sep 15, President Robert
Mugabe relaxed his iron hold on Zimbabwe for the first time in
nearly three decades of one-man rule, forced by escalating economic
chaos into sharing power with his bitter political rivals. PM Morgan
Tsvangirai used his first platform as head of government to call on
Zimbabwe's rival political parties to work together to "unite" the
country.
(AP, 9/15/08)(AFP, 9/15/08)
2009 Sep 15, The Obama
administration embraced cloud computing to help reduce government
waste and ease environmental impact.
(SFC, 9/16/09, p.C1)
2009 Sep 15, California’s Gov.
Schwarzenegger signed an executive order mandating that the state
Air Resources Board create a regulation requiring that 1/3 of energy
sold by utility companies in the state over the next decade come
from renewable sources.
(SFC, 9/16/09, p.A16)
2009 Sep 15, In California a
juice sucking grapevine moth, known as Lobesia botrana, was first
detected in the Oakville area of Napa County. In March, 2010, the
California Dept. of Food and Agriculture quarantined 162 square
miles of land in the area to halt the infestation.
(SFC, 3/12/10, p.A1)
2009 Sep 15, In northern
Afghanistan a mass grave was unearthed in Ali Abad district of
Kunduz province, containing at least 20 bodies believed to date from
the Soviet-backed government era. During Soviet-backed rule in the
late 1970s, a group of 35 people were arrested in Ali Abad district
and were never heard of again.
(AFP, 9/15/09)
2009 Sep 15, Australia
announced shock plans to break up dominant telecommunications player
Telstra to boost competition as it presses ahead with a 37 billion
US dollar national broadband network.
(AP, 9/15/09)
2009 Sep 15, The Frankfurt auto
show opened. The French company Renault unveiled a lineup that
includes a purely electric sedan, without a backup internal
combustion engine. Renault says the vehicle will be in showrooms by
2011.
(www.nytimes.com/2009/09/14/automobiles/14electric.html)(Econ,
10/17/09, p.74)
2009 Sep 15, In Guatemala the
bullet-ridden bodies of eight men suspected to be drug traffickers
were found in a frontier town near the Mexican border.
(AP, 9/16/09)
2009 Sep 15, Muntadhar al-Zeidi
(30), the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at former President
George W. Bush, was released after nine months in prison and in a
defiant address, he accused Iraqi security forces of torturing him
with beatings, whippings and electric shocks. 3 rockets were fired
at Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, where visiting Vice
President Joe Biden was spending the night. A fourth rocket fell
short and hit a residential building, killing two and injuring five
others. US-Iraqi forces arrested three militants suspected of firing
the rockets.
(AP, 9/15/09)(AP, 9/16/09)
2009 Sep 15, Israeli and
Palestinian activists presented the most detailed vision yet of what
a peace deal could look like. It included more than 400 pages
crammed with maps, timetables for troop withdrawals and even a list
of weapons a non-militarized Palestine would be barred from having.
The UN Goldstone Commission accused Israel of having deliberately
committed war crimes during its 3-week attack on Gaza in January.
(AP, 9/15/09)(Econ, 9/19/09, p.14)
2009 Sep 15, In Kenya clashes
between the Samburu and Pokot tribes killed 24 people and wounded
dozens as the country's scorching drought exacerbates tensions over
land and water in the arid north.
(AP, 9/15/09)
2009 Sep 15, Lithuanian
lawmakers ousted their speaker in a no-confidence vote after he was
accused of links to an organized crime syndicate in the Baltic
state. Arunas Valinskas (42), a former showbiz personality who took
the political stage in last year's parliamentary election, denied
any wrongdoing and said he was the victim of a political vendetta by
former party allies, among others.
(AP, 9/15/09)
2009 Sep 15, In Mexico
firefighters found six bodies inside a burning car in Tijuana. In
Ciudad Juarez gunmen killed five people at a car wash. Gunmen burst
into a drug treatment center in Ciudad Juarez and shot to death 10
people, the second such mass killing this month.
(AP, 9/16/09)(AP, 9/16/09)
2009 Sep 15, In the Netherlands
the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal announced it has approved the early
release from prison of former Bosnian Serb President Biljana Plavsic
(79) after she served two-thirds of her 11-year sentence for
persecution.
(AP, 9/15/09)
2009 Sep 15, Norway's PM Jens
Stoltenberg (50) said fighting climate change would be a priority in
his 2nd term after his left-leaning government beat a splintered
opposition to win re-election.
(AP, 9/15/09)
2009 Sep 15, In Puerto Rico
several employees of American Airlines were among a group of at
least 20 people arrested on suspicion of aiding a smuggling ring
that shipped drugs from Puerto Rico's main airport to the US
mainland.
(AP, 9/15/09)
2009 Sep 15, Russian news
agencies said the country's coast guard warned that it will detain
Georgian ships entering the territorial waters of Abkhazia. Viktor
Turfanov, the head of the coastal division of the border guards
service, said that Georgia this year has intercepted more than 20
ships in Abkhazian waters.
(AP, 9/15/09)
2009 Sep 15, In Turkey security
talks failed over Syria's refusal to extradite some suspects accused
of deadly bombings in Baghdad. Senior Iraqi and Syrian diplomats
attended the talks.
(AP, 9/16/09)
2009 Sep 15, The UN refugee
agency said 16 African migrants have died and another 49 were
missing and presumed dead after trying to cross the Gulf of Aden in
three boats. One boat reached Yemen on Sep 13, one had capsized on
Sep 13 and one sank on Sep 14.
(AP, 9/15/09)
2010 Sep 15, The United States
ordered oil and gas firms to permanently plug nearly 3,500 unused
wells and dismantle hundreds of idle platforms in the Gulf of
Mexico, in a bid to shore up industry safety after the disastrous BP
spill.
(AFP, 9/15/10)
2010 Sep 15, The US steel
industry, Ohio lawmakers and two veteran US trade policy experts
urged Congress to pass legislation to push back against China's
"undervalued" currency by slapping duties on Chinese imports that
threaten American jobs. The senior Republican on the House of
Representatives Ways and Means Committee said a proposed bill to
press China to revalue its currency would not address fundamental
Chinese trade barriers.
(Reuters, 9/15/10)
2010 Sep 15, Microsoft Corp.
unveiled the "beta" test version of Internet Explorer 9, the first
of a new generation of Web browser programs that tap into the
powerful processors on board newer computers to make websites load
and run faster.
(AP, 9/16/10)
2010 Sep 15, California
Attorney General Jerry Brown sued 8 current and former members of
the city of Bell accusing them of defrauding taxpayers by granting
themselves high salaries and bloated pensions. The suit demanded
that officials return hundreds of thousands of dollars.
(SFC, 9/16/10, p.A10)
2010 Sep 15, In Afghanistan at
least one person was killed when police fired into the air to
disperse angry anti-US protesters in Kabul, highlighting security
concerns three days before a parliamentary election. It was reported
that printers in Peshawar, Pakistan, say they have produced
thousands of fake voter registration cards at the request of Afghan
politicians for use in that country's Sep 18 parliamentary
elections. 8 insurgents who "actively" planned to execute attacks
during the elections were killed in an airstrike and a follow-up
ground operation against a Taliban district commander in northern
Kunduz province. 2 campaign workers were gunned down in northern
Balkh province.
(Reuters, 9/15/10)(AP, 9/15/10)(AP, 9/16/10)
2010 Sep 15, Brazil's
government unveiled plans to slow the deforestation and help halt
the wildfires that destroy its tropical savanna. The government
plans to spend $200 million in the next two years to combat illegal
deforestation and prevent fires.
(AP, 9/15/10)
2010 Sep 15, Greenpeace said
China's coal-fired plants produce enough toxic ash to fill an
Olympic-sized swimming pool every two-and-a-half minutes, creating
contaminants that travel far and wide.
(AFP, 9/15/10)
2010 Sep 15, Ethiopian PM Meles
Zenawi said his often drought-ravaged country would not need food
aid after 2015 as he formally launched a five-year development
program.
(AFP, 9/15/10)
2010 Sep 15, France's National
Assembly passed President Nicolas Sarkozy's controversial pension
reform bill by 329 votes to 233 during a stormy session in the lower
house. The measure would raise the minimum pension age to 62 by
2018. Unions have vowed to stage mass protests when the law goes
before France's upper house, the Senate, on September 23.
(AFP, 9/15/10)
2010 Sep 15, A French court
rejected Kigali's request to extradite Rwandan doctor Eugene
Rwamucyo, who is suspected of involvement in the 1994 genocide,
sparking Rwanda's ire.
(AFP, 9/15/10)
2010 Sep 15, Indian police
opened fire on Muslim demonstrators in a town near Kashmir, killing
four people and wounding 30 as leaders of India's main political
parties debated how to end months of separatist protests in the
region.
(AP, 9/15/10)
2010 Sep 15, Iranian security
forces raided the office of Mir Hossein Mousavi, the top opposition
leader, and seized computers after days of intimidating visitors
with a heavy force presence around the building.
(AP, 9/17/10)
2010 Sep 15, In Iran Sakineh
Mohammad Ashtiani, whose stoning sentence for adultery was suspended
in July, appeared on state TV to say she has not been whipped or
tortured.
(AP, 9/15/10)
2010 Sep 15, Iraqi and US
forces launched a raid on the former insurgent stronghold of
Fallujah, killing seven people including former Iraqi military
commander Yasseen Kassar. 2 Iraqi soldiers were killed in the fight.
9 Iraqi soldiers were killed near Mosul when a bomb exploded on a
bus as they left their base in Tal Afar for vacation. An American
airman was killed and a soldier wounded in a controlled detonation
at the US Joint Base Balad.
(AP, 9/15/10)(AFP, 9/15/10)(AP, 9/16/10)(SFC,
9/16/10, p.A4)
2010 Sep 15, Israeli and
Palestinian leaders held peace talks in Jerusalem with US Secretary
of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. A Qassam rocket and six mortar
rounds hit southern Israel. Israeli jets bombed smuggling targets
along the Gaza-Egypt border. Hamas officials said one person was
killed and four wounded.
(AP, 9/15/10)(AFP, 9/15/10)
2010 Sep 15, In Kyrgyzstan the
Nooken District Court convicted Azimjon Askarov, an ethnic Uzbek, on
charges including complicity in murder, participating in mass
violence and hostage-taking during deadly ethnic unrest that roiled
the south in June. Amnesty International condemned the life sentence
saying Askarov had gathered evidence implicating police in the
violence before being detained.
(AP, 9/16/10)
2010 Sep 15, Mexico looked
beyond its drug war to throw a 200th birthday bash celebrating a
proud history, whimsical culture and resilience embodied in the
traditional independence cry: "Viva Mexico!" A gunbattle between
Mexican soldiers and suspected drug cartel members left 22 dead at
ranch on the outskirts of Ciudad Mier near the US border.
(AP, 9/16/10)(AP, 9/16/10)
2010 Sep 15, Pakistan's
President Asif Ali Zardari said that his nation's intelligence
services are willing to cooperate closer with Afghanistan to fight
Taliban militants. Two separate US missile strikes targeting
Al-Qaeda-linked fighters in the northwest tribal belt killed 15
militants.
(AP, 9/15/10)(AFP, 9/15/10)
2010 Sep 15, In Puerto Rico a
man, accused of dragging a stubborn horse last February alongside
his truck, became the first person convicted by a local jury under
an animal protection law enacted after dogs were thrown to their
deaths from a bridge. On Nov 17 Georgenan Lopez (24) received a
12-year prison sentence, becoming the first person convicted by a
jury under the animal cruelty law implemented in August 2008.
(AP, 9/16/10)(AP, 11/17/10)
2010 Sep 15, Russia and Norway
ended a 40-year dispute in signing an Arctic border treaty which
opens the door to offshore oil and gas exploration. President Dmitry
Medvedev and Norway's PM Jens Stoltenberg presided over the signing
in Murmansk.
(AP, 9/15/10)
2010 Sep 15, The Korea
Communications Commission said there were 50 million mobile service
subscribers in South Korea as of this month, more than the
population of 48.8 million.
(AFP, 9/15/10)
2010 Sep 15, Uganda police
arrested Al-Amin Kimathi of the Kenyan Muslim Human Rights Forum and
lawyer Mbugua Mureithi as they arrived to attend the hearing of 34
people charged for allegedly taking part in the July 11 bomb
attacks, that targeted large groups gathered to watch the televised
World Cup final. Uganda's police said the two were with a wanted
al-Shabab militant that police had been trailing for days before the
arrests.
(AP, 9/17/10)
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