Today in History - September 20
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480 BC Sep 20, Themistocles and
his Greek fleet won one of history's first decisive naval victories
over Xerxes' Persian force off Salamis. Persia under Xerxes attacked
Greece. Athens got burned but the Athenian fleet under Themistocles
trapped and destroyed the Persian navy at Salamis. Phoenician
squadrons were at the heart of Xerxes’ fleet; the king of Sidon was
among his admirals.
(V.D.-H.K.p.49)(NG, Aug., 1974, p.174)(HN,
9/20/98)
19BC Sep 20, The Roman poet
Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro, b.70BC) died. His epic "The Aeneid"
became one of the great classics of Western literature. The story it
tells runs from the end of the Trojan War to the start of the Roman
Empire.
(WUD, 1994 p.1587)(MC 9/20/01)
451AD Sep 20, General Aetius
defeated Attila the Hun at Chalons-sur-Marne.
(MC, 9/20/01)
622 Sep 20, Prophet Mohammed
Abu Bakr arrived in Jathrib (Medina).
(MC, 9/20/01)
1168 Sep 20, Paschal III,
[Guido di Crema], Italian anti-Pope, died.
(MC, 9/20/01)
1258 Sep 20, The Cathedral of
Salisbury, begun in 1220, was inaugurated.
(MC, 9/20/01)(Econ, 12/20/03, p.29)
1378 Sep 20, The election of
Robert of Geneva as anti-pope by discontented cardinals created a
great schism in the Catholic church.
(HN, 9/20/98)
1519 Sep 20, Portuguese
navigator Ferdinand Magellan set out from Spain with 270 men and 5
ships on a voyage to find a western passage to the Spice Islands in
Indonesia. Magellan was killed en route, but one of his ships
eventually circumnavigated the world. He was first European explorer
to reach the Pacific Ocean from the Atlantic by sailing through the
dangerous straits below South America that now bear his name.
(V.D.-H.K.p.182)(DD-EVTT, p.41)(AP, 9/20/97)(HN,
9/20/98)
1530 Sep 20, Luther advised the
Protestant monarch compromise.
(MC, 9/20/01)
1561 Sep 20, Queen Elizabeth of
England signed a treaty at Hamptan Court with French Huguenot leader
Louis de Bourbon, the Prince of Conde. The English would occupy Le
Harve in return for aiding Bourbon against the Catholics of France.
(HN, 9/20/98)
1565 Sep 20, A Spanish fleet
under Pedro Menendez de Aviles wiped out some 350 Frenchmen at Fort
Caroline, in Florida. Spanish forces under Pedro Menendez massacred
a band of French Huguenots that posed a potential threat to Spanish
hegemony in the area. They also took advantage of the local Timucuan
Indian tribe. Artist Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues managed to escape
and return to France, where he painted watercolors depicting the
local botany. His alleged paintings of Indians living nearby were
later thrown into question.
(WSJ, 8/3/95, p.A-8)(Arch, 1/05, p.47)(WSJ,
7/18/08, p.W8)(Arch, 5/05, p.31)(Arch, 1/06, p.25)
1586 Sep 20, Anthony Babington,
page and conspirator to Mary Stuart, was executed at 24.
(MC, 9/20/01)
1593 Sep 20, Gottfried Scheidt,
composer, was born.
(MC, 9/20/01)
1604 Sep 20, After a two-year
siege, the Spanish retook Ostend [NW Belgium], the Netherlands, from
the Dutch.
(WUD, 1994, p.1019)(HN, 9/20/98)
1645 Sep 20, Louis Joliet,
French-Canadian explorer in the New World, was born.
(MC, 9/20/01)
1664 Sep 20, Maryland passed
the 1st anti-amalgamation law to stop intermarriage of English women
and black men.
(MC, 9/20/01)
1697 Sep 20, The Treaty of
Ryswick was signed in Holland. It ended the War of the Grand
Alliance (aka War of the League of Augsburg,1688-1697) between
France and the Grand Alliance. Under the Treaty France’s King Louis
XIV (1638-1715) recognized William III (1650-1702) as King of
England. The Dutch received trade concessions, and France and the
Grand Alliance members (Holland and the Austrian Hapsburgs) gave up
most of the land they had conquered since 1679. The signees included
France, England, Spain and Holland. By the Treaty of Ryswick, a
portion of Hispaniola was formally ceded to France and became known
as Saint-Domingue. The remaining Spanish section was called Santo
Domingo.
(www.caribbeanguides.net/hispaniola.htm)(www.jacobite.ca/documents/1697ryswick.htm)
1746 Sep 20, Bonnie Prince
Charlie fled to France from Scotland. [see Oct 1]
(MC, 9/20/01)
1776 Sep 20, American soldiers,
some of them members of Nathan Hale’s regiment, filtered into
British-held New York City and stashed resin soaked logs into
numerous buildings and a roaring inferno was started. A fourth of
the city was destroyed including Trinity Church. The events are
documented in the 1997 book "Liberty by Thomas Fleming."
(SFEC,11/23/97, Par p.14)(WSJ, 9/14/01, p.W13)
1777 Sep 20, British Dragoons
massacred sleeping Continental troops at Paoli, Pa. Prior to
launching a surprise night attack on Anthony Wayne’s Continental
division at Paoli, General Charles Grey ordered his troops to rely
entirely on their bayonets. To ensure that his troops obeyed, he had
his men remove the flints from their weapons so they could not be
fired.
(MC, 9/20/01)(HNQ, 8/19/02)
1784 Sep 20, Packet and Daily,
the first daily publication in America, appeared on the streets.
(HN, 9/20/98)
1797 Sep 20, The US frigate
Constitution (Old Ironsides) was launched in Boston. [see Oct 21]
(MC, 9/20/01)
1803 Sep 20, Robert Emmet,
Irish nationalist, was executed.
(MC, 9/20/01)
1806 Sep 20, Explorers
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark passed the French village of La
Charette, the first white settlement they had seen in over two
years.
(HN, 9/20/98)
1820 Sep 20, John Fulton
Reynolds, Major General (Union volunteers), was born. He died in
1863 on first day at Gettysburg.
(MC, 9/20/01)
1828 Sep 20, Gioacchino
Rossini’s opera "Le Comte Ory," premiered in Paris.
(MC, 9/20/01)
1830 Sep 20, The National Negro
Convention convened in Philadelphia with the purpose of abolishing
slavery.
(HN, 9/20/98)
1833 Sep 20, Petroleum V. Nasby
(David Ross Locke), humorist, was born. His work was enjoyed by
Abraham Lincoln.
(HN, 9/20/00)
1833 Sep 20, Charles Darwin
rode a horse to Buenos Aires.
(MC, 9/20/01)
1842 Sep 20, Lord James Dewar,
physician who invented the vacuum flask and cordite, the first
smokeless powder, was born.
(HN, 9/20/98)
1848 Sep 20, The American
Association for the Advancement of Science was founded to replace
the Association of American Geologists and Naturalists. The
Association of American Geologists had been founded in 1840 and in
1842 it became the Association of American Geologists and
Naturalists.
(Econ, 1/9/10,
p.57)(www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/society/history/1848aaas.html)
1850 Sep 20, The slave trade in
Washington, D.C., was abolished as a provision of Henry Clay's
Compromise of 1850. Because each state had its own slavery code when
the District of Columbia was founded in 1800, Washington had adopted
Maryland's laws. Although the 1850 legislation made the slave trade
illegal, slavery itself was still legal. Nevertheless, Washington
became a haven for free blacks. By 1860, free blacks outnumbered
slaves almost four-to-one. President Abraham Lincoln put an end to
Washington's slavery altogether in 1862, freeing about 2,989 African
Americans who were then slaves according to the slavery code.
(HNPD, 9/20/98)(HN, 9/20/98)
1853 Sep 20, The Allies
defeated the Russians at the battle of Alma on the Crimean
Peninsula.
(HN, 9/20/98)
1857 Sep 20, Delhi, India, fell
to British forces.
(AP, 9/20/07)
1859 Sep 20, George Simpson
patented the electric range.
(MC, 9/20/01)
1861 Sep 20, Lexington,
Missouri, was captured by Union forces.
(MC, 9/20/01)
1863 Sep 20, Union troops under
George Thomas prevented the Union defeat at Chickamauga from
becoming a rout, earning him the nickname "the Rock of Chickamauga."
Thomas stayed and fought even after his commander, William
Rosecrans, retreated to Chattanooga. President Abraham Lincoln later
appointed Thomas as Rosecrans‘ successor. Armed with their new,
lethal seven-shot Spencer rifles, Wilder’s Lightning Brigade was all
that stood between the Union Army and the looming disaster at
Chickamauga Creek. The bloody battle of Chickamauga was the
costliest two-day battle of the entire war.
(HN, 9/20/98)(HN, 11/4/98)(HNQ, 9/29/00)
1863 Sep 20, Jakob Grimm,
writer, died at 78.
(MC, 9/20/01)
1870 Sep 20, Mayor William
Tweed was accused of robbing the NY treasury.
(MC, 9/20/01)
1870 Sep 20, Italian troops
under Victor Emmanuel II took control of the Papal States from
France, leading to the unification of Italy. Pope Pius IX
surrendered.
(WSJ, 9/13/96, p.A6)(SFEM, 1/19/96, p.10)(AP,
9/20/97)(MC, 9/20/01)
1873 Sep 20, A financial panic
hit the NY Stock Exchange when the high-flying bond dealer, Jay
Cooke, granted too many loans to the railroads. Panic spread to
Europe as London and Paris markets crashed and the New York Stock
Exchange closed for the first time for 10 days. The economy went
into a 6 year depression. Philadelphia banker and newspaperman
Anthony Drexel teamed up with J.P. Morgan to depose a rival bank run
by Jay Cooke. They published allegations to undermine confidence and
cause a run that led to a panic.
(WSJ, 2/27/95, p.A-10)(WSJ, 7/8/96, p.C1)(WSJ,
10/7/98, p.A22)(SSFC, 7/14/02, p.G2)
1874 Sep 20, Gustav
Holst, composer of "The Planets," was born.
(MC, 9/20/01)
1878 Sep 20, Upton Beall
Sinclair (d.1968), muckraking author, was born. His work included
"The Jungle," which exposed the horrible conditions in the meat
packing industry and calling for reforms.
(WUD, 1994 p.1330)(HN, 9/20/98)(MC, 9/20/01)
1881 Sep 20, Chester A. Arthur
was sworn in as the 21st president of the United States, succeeding
James A. Garfield, who had been assassinated.
(AP, 9/20/97)
1884 Sep 20, Maxwell Perkins,
editor, was born. He was the first to publish F. Scott Fitzgerald,
Ernest Hemingway and Thomas Wolfe.
(HN, 9/20/00)
1884 Sep 20, The Equal Rights
Party was formed during a convention of suffragists in San
Francisco. The convention nominated Belva Ann Bennett Lockwood of
Washington, D.C., for president and Marietta Snow as her running
mate.
(AP, 9/20/97)(MC, 9/20/01)
1885 Sep 20, Ferdinand
Lamenthe, aka Jelly Roll Morton (d,1941), jazz pianist, composer and
singer, was born in New Orleans. He was one of the first to
orchestrate jazz music and disputed W.C. Handy's claim to be the
originator of jazz and blues. He became famous at an early age for
his classically informed improvisational piano playing often in
brothels and other nontraditional settings. With his Red Hot Peppers
in the 1920s, he pioneered the early jazz practice of
reorchestrating and improvising upon well-known standards. He also
wrote many enduring jazz tunes including the ‘London Rag’ and the
‘Jelly Roll Blues’.
(HN, 9/20/98)(MC, 9/20/01)
1891 Sep 20, Lamine Gueye,
Senegalese political leader, was born.
(HN, 9/20/98)
1897 Sep 20, Alberto
Santos-Dumont successfully flew his repaired motorized dirigible
around the Zoological Gardens in Paris.
(ON, 3/03, p.10)
1898 Sep 20, Theodore Fontane
(b.1819), German novelist and poet, died. He is regarded by many to
be the most important 19th-century German-language realist writer.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodor_Fontane)
1904 Sep 20, Orville and Wilbur
Wright flew a circle in their Flyer II.
(MC, 9/20/01)
1908 Sep 20, Alexander
Mitscherlich, German psychotherapist, was born.
(MC, 9/20/01)
1908 Sep 20, Pablo Martin
Melitou de Sarasate y Navascuez, composer, died at 64.
(MC, 9/20/01)
1914 Sep 20, Kenneth More,
English actor (39 Steps, Doctor in the House), was born.
(MC, 9/20/01)
1917 Sep 20, Arnold "Red"
Auerbach, second winningest basketball coach in history with 1,037
victories for the Boston Celtics, was born.
(HN, 9/20/98)
1927 Sep 20, NY Yankee Babe
Ruth hit his record 60th HR of season off Tom Zachry. [see Sep 30]
(MC, 9/20/01)
1928 Sep 20, Joyce Brothers,
pop psychiatrist ($64,000 question winner), was born in NYC.
(MC, 9/20/01)
1932 Sep 20, Gandhi began a
hunger strike against the treatment of untouchables.
(MC, 9/20/01)
1934 Sep 20, Sophia Loren,
actress (Desire Under the Elms, Black Orchid), was born in Rome.
(MC, 9/20/01)
1934 Sep 20, Bruno Hauptmann
was arrested for the kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh baby.
[see Sep 19]
(HN, 9/20/98)
1938 Sep 20, Emlyn Williams’
"Corn is Green," premiered in London.
(MC, 9/20/01)
1939 Sep 20, After sinking
trawlers off the northern Hebrides, German U-27 was located and sunk
by destroyers "Fortune" and "Forester."
(www.naval-history.net/WW2CampaignsUboats.htm)
1945 Sep 20, German rocket
engineers began work in US.
(MC, 9/20/01)
1946 Sep 20, The first Cannes
Film Festival was held.
(MC, 9/20/01)
1946 Sep 20, President Harry S
Truman asked Sec. of Commerce Henry A. Wallace to resign, due to
Wallace’s comments about Russia on September 12.
(MC, 9/20/01)
1946 Sep 20, Churchill argued
for a "US of Europe." [see Sep 19]
(MC, 9/20/01)
1947 Sep 20, Former Republican
New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia (1933-45) died. "The devil
is easy to identify. He appears when you're terribly tired and makes
a very reasonable request which you know you shouldn't grant." He
amassed huge debts in the course of infrastructure improvements that
lasted to the end of the century. In 2002 H. Paul Jeffers authored
“The Napoleon of New York: Mayor Fiorello La Guardia.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiorello_La_Guardia)(AP, 1/8/98)(AP,
9/20/97)(AH, 2/03, p.60)
1951 Sep 20, Swiss males voted
against female suffrage.
(MC, 9/20/01)
1952 Sep 20, Scientists
confirmed that DNA holds hereditary data.
(HN, 9/20/98)
1953 Sep 20, Jimmy Stewart
debuted in "The Six Shooter" on NBC.
(MC, 9/20/01)
1953 Sep 20, The "Loretta Young
Show" (A Letter to Loretta) premiered on NBC TV and ran for 8 years.
(SFEC, 8/13/00, p.B10)
1954 Sep 20, The live TV drama
"Twelve Angry Men" was presented as an episode of CBS' "Studio One"
anthology series.
(AP, 9/21/04)
1954 Sep 20, The 1st FORTRAN
computer program was executed.
(MC, 9/20/01)
1954 Sep 20, Roger Bannister
awarded Britain’s Silver Pears Trophy for cracking the 4-minute
mile.
(MC, 9/20/01)
1957 Sep 20, "M Squad,"
starring Lee Marvin, premiered on NBC-TV.
(AP, 9/20/07)
1957 Sep 20, Jean Julius
Christian Sibelius (b.1865), Finnish composer (Finlandia), died.
(SFC, 10/14/97, p.B3)(WUD, 1994, p.1323)(AP,
9/20/07)
1958 Sep 20, Rev. Martin Luther
King was stabbed by Izola Curry, a deranged woman, during a book
signing on 125th St. in Harlem. Dr. Aubre De Lambert Maynard (d.1999
at 97) performed a successful operation on King who had a knife
embedded in his sternum. Curry was later found mentally incompetent.
(SFC, 3/25/99, p.C3)(AP, 9/20/08)
1960 Sep 20, David Park
(b.1911), a SF Bay Area figurative painter, died at 49. His work
included: "Man in a T-Shirt" and "Untitled" (1958), "Torso"
(1959). He made the 1st serious break with Abstract Expressionism in
his 1950 painting "Kids of Bikes."
(SFEC, 12/1/96, DB p.21)(SFC, 8/23/97,
p.A20)(SFEM, 9/21/97, p.31)(WSJ, 12/3/01, p.A17)
1961 Sep 20, James Meredith was
refused access as a student in Mississippi. [see Sep 20 1962]
(MC, 9/20/01)
1962 Sep 20, Black student
James Meredith was blocked from enrolling at the University of
Mississippi by Governor Ross R. Barnett. Meredith was later
admitted. A Life Magazine photograph around this time showed 7
sheriffs gathered at Ole Miss to keep Meredith out. In 2003 Paul
Hendrickson authored "Sons of Mississippi: A Story of Race and Its
Legacy," in which he uncovered the lives of the 7 sheriffs.
(AP, 9/20/97)(SSFC, 4/6/03, p.M1)
1963 Sep 20, In a speech to the
U.N. General Assembly, President Kennedy proposed a joint
U.S.-Soviet expedition to the moon. Pres. Kennedy stayed at New
York’s Carlyle Hotel and received a "leggy babe" under Secret
Service escort.
(AP, 9/20/97)(WSJ, 10/22/01, p.A17)
1965 Sep 20, Seven U.S. planes
were downed in one day over Vietnam.
(HN, 9/20/98)
1965 Sep 20, The
India-Pakistani war was at the point of stalemate when the UN
Security Council unanimously passed a resolution that called for a
cease-fire. New Delhi accepted the cease-fire resolution on
September 21 and Islamabad on September 22, and the war ended on
September 23. The Indian side lost 3,000 while the Pakistani side
suffered 3,800 battlefield deaths.
(http://www.onwar.com/aced/chrono/c1900s/yr65/fkashmir1965)
1966 Sep 20, Allen Cohen
(1940-2004), published the 1st edition of the SF Oracle underground
newspaper. The San Francisco Oracle featured visionary art by such
renown artists as: Rick Griffin, Victor Moscoso, David Singer,
Stanley Mouse, alongside writing firmly steeped in the past with
such Beat era writers as: Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder, and Lawrence
Ferlinghetti. Cohen was arrested earlier in 1966 for selling a
collection of erotic poetry called "The Love Book" by Lenore Kandel.
Cohen was convicted and fined $50. The SF Oracle folded in 1968
following the publication of issue #12.
(SFC, 5/1/04,
p.B7)(www.sfheart.com/cohen_bio.html)
1967 Sep 20, The 963-foot
passenger ship Queen Elizabeth II was launched. The RMS Queen
Elizabeth 2 was christened by Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in
Clydebank, Scotland.
(www.cunard.co.uk)(AP, 9/20/07)
1968 Sep 20, The TV show "Name
of the Game" premiered with Gene Barry and Tony Franciosa. It
was written and produced by Leslie Stevens (d.1998) and ran to 1971.
(SFC, 4/29/98,
p.C2)(www.imdb.com/title/tt0062591/)
1970 Sep 20, Pres. Nixon’s
aide, Charles W. Colson, stated in a memo to Chief of staff H.R.
Haldeman: "(the networks) are very much afraid of us and are trying
hard to prove they are ‘good guys.’"
(SFC, 12/1/97, p.A7)
1970 Sep 20, The Soviet Luna 16
landed on Moon’s Mare Fecunditatis and drilled a core sample.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_16)
1971 Sep 20, The American
League Ok'd the Washington Senator move to Arlington, where they
became the Texas Rangers.
(WSJ, 4/7/99,
p.B1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1971_Washington_Senators_season)
1971 Sep 20, George Seferis
(b.1900), Nobel Prize-winning (1963) Greek poet, died. In 2003
Roderick Beaton authored "George Seferis - Waiting for the Angel: A
Biography."
(HN, 3/13/01)(Econ, 11/22/03,
p.83)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgos_Seferis)
1972 Sep 20, The NBC TV series
“Madigan” premiered with Richard Widmark (1914-2008).
(SFC, 3/27/08, p.A2)
1973 Sep 20, In their so-called
"battle of the sexes," tennis star Billie Jean King defeated Bobby
Riggs in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3, at the Houston Astrodome.
(AP, 9/20/97)
1973 Sep 20, Jim Croce
(b.1943), American singer-songwriter, died in an airplane crash near
Natchitoches, La., just as he was beginning to capitalize on his
success. Maury Muehleisen and four others also died as their plane
crashed into a tree while taking off for a concert in Sherman,
Texas.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Croce)(AP,
9/20/98)
1974 Sep 20, Gail A. Cobb (24),
a member of the Metropolitan Police Force of Washington, D.C.,
became the first female police officer to be killed in the line of
duty. Cobb was murdered by a robbery suspect in an underground
garage in downtown Washington.
(http://mpdc.dc.gov/mpdc/cwp/view,a,1231,q,538639.asp)
1975 Sep 20, The Kansas City
Lyric Opera premiered Jack Beeson’s "Captain Jinks of the Horse
Marines." It was commissioned to celebrate founder and director
Russell Patterson’s 40th and final year with the company.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Jinks_of_the_Horse_Marines)
1976 Sep 20, Playboy magazine
released an interview in which Democratic presidential nominee Jimmy
Carter admitted he'd "looked on a lot of women with lust." Carter
was interviewed for the November issue of Playboy and he admitted
that he had committed "lust in my heart."
(AP, 9/20/01)(SFEC, 9/28/97, p.A11)
1977 Sep 20, The first wave of
Southeast Asian "boat people" arrived in San Francisco under a new
U.S. resettlement program.
(AP, 9/20/97)
1978 Jul 24, The Beatles’
animated film "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" premiered in
the US.
(www.imdb.com/title/tt0078239/)
1978 Sep 20, John Vorster,
prime minister of white-ruled South Africa since 1966, announced his
resignation.
(AP, 9/20/03)
1979 Sep 20, John Riccardo
stepped down as Chrysler’s chairman and was succeeded by Lee
Iacocca.
(WSJ, 5/15/07,
p.A14)(www.scripophily.net/chcoca19.html)
1979 Sep 20, In the Central
African Republic Jean-Bedel Bokassa was toppled in a French-backed
coup. 700 French paratroopers took control of Bangui while Bokassa
was away on a state visit to Libya.
(SFC, 5/22/96, p.A9)(SFC, 11/4/96, p.A22)(AP,
9/20/99)
1980 Sep 20, "Spectacular Bid,"
ridden by Bill Shoemaker, ran as the only entry in the Woodward
Stakes at Belmont Park in New York after three potential challengers
dropped out in horse racing's first walkover since 1949.
(AP, 9/20/05)
1984 Sep 20, The TV sitcom
"Cosby Show" with Bill Cosby premiered on NBC-TV.
{TV, USA}
(SSFC, 2/11/01, BR
p.1)(www.imdb.com/title/tt0086687/)
1984 Sep 20, A suicide car
bomber attacked the US Embassy annex in north Beirut. 24 people were
killed including 2 US soldiers.
(AP, 9/20/97)(SFC, 9/12/01,
p.A7)(http://beirut.usembassy.gov/lebanon/beirut_memorial.html)
1987 Sep 20, "Big River: The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" closed at the Eugene O’Neill Theater
in NYC after 1005 performances.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_River_(musical))
1987 Sep 20, The 39th Emmy
Awards winners included: LA Law, Bruce Willis & Sharon Gless.
(www.popculturemadness.com/Trivia/Emmies/Top-1987-E.html)
1987 Sep 20, Pope John Paul II
concluded an 11-day visit to North America as he celebrated Mass for
thousands of Indians at Fort Simpson in Canada's Northwest
Territories.
(AP, 9/20/97)
1988 Sep 20, Greg Louganis of
the United States won the gold medal in springboard diving at the
Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, a day after he injured his
head on the board in the preliminary round.
(AP, 9/20/98)
1988 Sep 20, The 43rd General
Assembly opened at the United Nations.
(AP, 9/20/98)
1989 Sep 20, The musical "Miss
Saigon," premiered in London.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alain_Boublil)
1989 Sep 20, Soviet leader
Mikhail S. Gorbachev pulled off a major shake-up of the Soviet
Communist Party, dropping three Politburo members.
(AP, 9/20/99)
1989 Sep 20, F.W. de Klerk
(b.1936) was sworn in as president of South Africa. Frederik Willem
de Klerk was the last president (1989-1994) of Apartheid-era South
Africa.
(AP,
9/20/99)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederik_Willem_de_Klerk)
1990 Sep 20, Demanding equal
time, Iraq asked US networks to broadcast a message by President
Saddam Hussein in response to President Bush’s videotaped address to
the Iraqi people.
(AP, 9/20/00)
1991 Sep 20, On Capitol Hill,
the Senate concluded hearings on the nomination of Clarence Thomas
to the U.S. Supreme Court.
(AP, 9/20/01)
1991 Sep 20, U.N. weapons
inspectors left Bahrain for Iraq to renew their search for Iraqi
weapons of mass destruction.
(AP, 9/20/01)
1992 Sep 20, The space shuttle
Endeavour landed at the Kennedy Space Center.
(AP, 9/20/97)
1992 Sep 20, Leanza Cornett of
Florida was crowned "Miss America" in Atlantic City, N.J.
(AP, 9/20/97)
1992 Sep 20, French voters
narrowly approved the Maastricht Treaty on European union.
(AP, 9/20/97)
1993 Sep 20, QVC Network Inc.
proposed a $9.5 billion stock and cash merger with Paramount
Communications Inc.; however, Viacom eventually won the battle to
acquire Paramount.
(AP, 9/20/98)
1994 Sep 20, Space shuttle
Discovery and its six astronauts landed at Edwards Air Force Base in
California after an 11-day mission.
(AP, 9/20/99)
1994 Sep 20, Jule Styne (88),
Broadway composer (Gypsy, Funny Girl), died in New York.
(AP, 9/20/99)
1995 Sep 20, The US House voted
to drop the national speed limit and let states decide how fast
people should drive.
(AP, 9/20/05)
1995 Sep 20, In a move that
stunned Wall Street, AT&T Corporation announced it was splitting
into three companies.
(WSJ, 9/21/95, p.B-2)(AP, 9/19/00)
1995 Sep 20, Rene Anselmo
(b.1926), founder of PanAmSat (1984), died. “Truth and technology
will triumph over bullshit and bureaucracy.”
(http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/individual/629772)(Econ, 10/04/08,
p.86)
1995 Sep 20, Bosnian Serb
rebels pulled back enough heavy weapons from around Sarajevo to keep
NATO airstrikes at bay.
(AP, 9/19/00)
1996 Sep 20, President Clinton
announced his signing of a bill outlawing homosexual marriages, but
said it should not be used as an excuse for discrimination, violence
or intimidation against gays and lesbians. The actual signing came a
little after midnight.
(AP, 9/20/97)
1996 Sep 20, Paul Weston,
bandleader, died at 84.
(www.spaceagepop.com/weston.htm)
1996 Sep 20, Paul Erdos,
Hungarian-born mathematician, died. He founded the field of discreet
mathematics and had more than 1500 papers to his name. He lived
devoted to his subject and had no home or job.
(SFC, 9/24/96, p.B2)
1996 Sep 20, In Columbia
leftist guerrillas unleashed a wave of bombings that included 4
against banks and electricity lines in Cartagena. 18 coal trucks
were torched in northern Cesar province and a truck with 31 tons of
ammonium nitrate, base material for explosives, was hijacked.
(SFC, 9/21/96, p.A10)
1996 Sep 20, In Columbia more
than 8 lbs. of heroin were found on Pres. Samper’s presidential jet
as it was preparing for a flight to New York. Eleven Air Force
personnel were later arrested.
(SFC, 9/23/96, A12)
1996 Sep 20, In Estonia Pres.
Lennart Meri was re-elected to a second term in the largely
ceremonial post.
(SFC, 9/21/96, p.A10)
1996 Sep 20, Murtazza Bhutto,
brother of Benazir Bhutto, and 6 followers were killed in a clash
with police in Karachi, Pakistan. He led the Shaheed Bhutto faction
of the Pakistan People's Party.
(SFC, 9/21/96, p.A10)
1997 Sep 20, President
Clinton's attorneys insisted no laws were broken as it was disclosed
that Attorney General Janet Reno had taken a first step toward
seeking a special prosecutor to investigate the president's 1996
fund-raising activities.
(AP, 9/20/98)
1997 Sep 20, Nicholas Traina
(19), the son of novelist Danielle Steel, died in SF of a drug
overdose.
(SFEC, 9/21/97, p.A1)
1997 Sep 20, Jimmy Witherspoon
(b.8/23/23 in Gurdon, Ark.), blues singer, died at age 74 in LA.
(SFEC, 9/21/97, p.C7)
1997 Sep 20, In Niger it was
reported that about 71,000 villagers were threatened by famine in
the southwestern areas around Oualam.
(SFC, 9/20/97, p.A19)
1997 Sep 20, In the Philippines
Pres. Ramos announced that he would not run for re-election. A mass
protest was staged the next day anyway to prevent a change in the
constitution that would allow a 2nd term.
(SFEC, 9/21/97, p.A1)
1998 Sep 20, Mark McGwire his
65th home run against the Milwaukee Brewers.
(WSJ, 9/21/98, p.A1)
1998 Sep 20, In Baltimore Cal
Ripken sat out a game against the New York Yankees after playing
2,632 consecutive games, a record that began May 30, 1982.
(SFC, 9/20/98, p.A1)(AP, 9/20/99)
1998 Sep 20, In Palo Alto, Ca.,
the 2nd annual Sand Hill Challenge, a soapbox derby for the
Peninsula Community Foundation, was held. The world’s largest
accordion band was scheduled to set a Guinness record. The band of
over 500 played "Lady of Spain."
(SFC, 9/19/98, p.A18)(SFC, 9/21/98, p.A21)
1998 Sep 20, Muriel Humphrey
Brown, widow of Vice President Hubert Humphrey and his brief
successor in the U.S. Senate, died in Minneapolis at age 86.
(AP, 9/20/99)
1998 Sep 20, Rosh Hashana, the
Jewish new year began at sundown.
(SFEC, 9/20/98, p.C1)
1998 Sep 20, In Afghanistan
Russian-made opposition missiles were shot into Kabul and 180 people
were killed or wounded.
(SFC, 9/20/98, p.A14)
1998 Sep 20, In Malaysia Anwar
Ibrahim (51) was jailed following charges of sexual hijinks. His
arrest coincided with protests calling for the resignation of the
prime minister and with the end of the competition of the
Commonwealth Games and a state visit by Queen Elizabeth II.
(SFEC, 9/20/98, p.A12)
1998 Sep 20, In Sweden the
Social Democrats led by Prime Minister Goran Persson won the
elections with 36.5% of the vote vs. 22.7% for the opposition
Moderates led by Carl Bildt.
(SFC, 9/20/98, p.A12)
1999 Sep 20, Lawrence Russell
Brewer became the second white supremacist to be convicted in the
dragging death of James Byrd Junior in Jasper, Texas. Brewer was
later sentenced to death.
(AP, 9/19/00)
1999 Sep 20, Factories in
Beijing were closed down to clear the air as part of the $13 billion
preparations for the 50th anniversary of Communist rule.
(SFC, 9/29/99, p.A10)
1999 Sep 20, In East Timor the
first wave of int'l. peacekeepers, known as Interfet, landed and
established control over Dili. They cleared the way for the rest of
a UN-approved force charged with restoring order.
(SFC, 9/20/99, p.A1)(SFC, 9/21/99, p.A10)(SFEC,
9/26/99, p.A12)(AP, 9/19/00)
1999 Sep 20, In Kosovo NATO and
the KLA agreed on a transformation of the KLA into a civil defense
group named the Kosovo Protection Corps.
(SFC, 9/21/99, p.A10)
1999 Sep 20, In Russia Raisa
Gorbachev, wife of last Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, died at
age 67 after a battle with leukemia.
(SFC, 9/21/99, p.A11)(AP, 9/19/00)
1999 Sep 20, In Taiwan a 7.6
earthquake killed an estimated 2,161 people and injured over 3,500.
2,600 people were believed to be buried alive. Aftershocks the next
day registered at 6.8 and 100,000 people were homeless.
(SFC, 9/21/99, p.A1)(SFC, 9/22/99, p.A1)(WSJ,
9/22/99, p.A1)(WSJ, 9/22/99, p.A1)
(http://nisee.berkeley.edu/taiwan/)
2000 Sep 20, Robert Ray, the
independent counsel who succeeded Kenneth Starr, ended the $52
million Whitewater probe ended without charges against the Clintons,
saying there was insufficient evidence to warrant charges against
Pres. Clinton and first lady Hillary Clinton.
(AP, 9/20/01)(WSJ, 9/21/00, p.A1)
2000 Sep 20, Prosecutors
charged a Manhattan immigration lawyer with helping run a smuggling
ring for Chinese immigrants. Robert Porges (61) collected as much as
$13 million in fees for helping transport as many as 7,000 illegal
immigrants from China to the US.
(SFC, 9/21/00, p.A3)
2000 Sep 20, The space shuttle
Atlantis returned after hauling in 3 tons of equipment for the
int’l. space station.
(WSJ, 9/21/00, p.A1)
2000 Sep 20, A report by the UN
Population Fund said the discrimination and violence against women
"remain firmly rooted in cultures around the world."
(SFC, 9/21/00, p.C4)
2000 The euro hit a 20-month
low of 84.44 to the dollar.
(SFC, 9/21/00, p.C2)
2000 Sep 20, In London a small
missile hit the M16 intelligence agency at Vauxhall Cross and
exploded on the 8th floor with minor damage. A rocket-propelled
grenade launcher was later found near the scene.
(SFC, 9/21/00, p.A12)(SFC, 9/22/00, p.A18)
2000 Sep 20, In Colombia ELN
rebels released 12 of 55 hostages seized near Cali. They still held
43.
(SFC, 9/21/00, p.A13)
2000 Sep 20, In Indonesia Pres.
Wahid fired Gen. Fachrul Razi, the deputy commander of the armed
forces, due to the slow pace of reform in West Timor. Some 120,000
refugees in West Timor faced hunger due to the withdrawal of aid
groups.
(SFC, 9/21/00, p.C3)
2000 Sep 20, In the Philippines
2 French television journalists were rescued from Abu Sayyaf rebels.
7 rebels were reported killed and 20 captured after 5 days of
fighting.
(SFC, 9/20/00, p.A14)
2000 Sep 20, In Russia gunmen
seized at least 4 hostages in the southern town of Lazarevskoye.
They demanded $30 million and a helicopter. The gunmen surrendered
after 2 days and the incident was believed to have been faked and
started on a drunken whim.
(SFC, 9/22/00, p.A17)(SFC, 9/23/00, p.A11)
2000 Sep 20, Former Soviet
cosmonaut Gherman Titov died at age 65.
(AP, 9/20/01)
2001 Sep 20, Pres. Bush
addressed Congress and the nation and promised that "justice will be
done." The NYC death toll was raised to 6,333 missing to include
citizens missing from foreign countries. The total Sep 11 death toll
reached 6,807. On Nov 20 the official count was reduced to just
below 3,900.
(SFC, 9/21/01, p.A1,3)(SFC, 11/21/01, p.A2)
2001 Sep 20, Pres. Bush named
Gov. Tom Ridge (56) of Pennsylvania to direct the new office of
Homeland Security.
(SFC, 9/21/01, p.A16)
2001 Sep 20, Pictures of most
of the Sep 11 hijackers were published along with some personal
data.
(SFC, 9/20/01, p.A3)
2001 Sep 20, The FBI arrested
Nabil Al-Marabh (34), a suspected bin laden associate, in the
Chicago area.
(SFC, 9/21/01, p.A3)
2001 Sep 20, A chartered flight
left the US with members of the sprawling bin Laden family. The FBI
interviewed 22 of the 26 people aboard.
(WSJ, 6/1/04, p.A4)
2001 Sep 20, The DJIA fell 382
to 8,386. The Nasdaq fell 56 to 1,470.
(SFC, 9/21/01, p.A1)
2001 Sep 20, In Afghanistan
Muslim clerics issued an edict that suggested Osama bin Laden be
persuaded to leave the country.
(SFC, 9/21/01, p.A5)
2001 Sep 20, An Israeli woman,
Sarit Amrani (25), was killed in a drive-by shooting by the Al Aqsa
Martyrs Brigades. A Palestinian man was killed in Gaza following a
grenade assault. Another Palestinian police officer was killed,
possibly by militants he was trying to restrain near Hebron. The
violence threatened the recent truce.
(SFC, 9/21/01, p.D2)
2001 Sep 20, In Macedonia NATO
troops began the 3rd stage of Essential Harvest.
(SFC, 9/21/01, p.D3)
2001 Sep 20, In Russia the
State Duma approved private ownership of urban and industrial land,
about 2% of the country.
(SFC, 9/21/01, p.D3)
2002 Sep 20, President Bush
appealed to a reluctant Russian President Vladimir Putin to back a
new U.N. resolution that would threaten Iraq with war if it did not
disarm; Russian officials indicated there might be room for
compromise.
(AP, 9/20/03)
2002 Sep 20, It was reported
that cancer in Melanoma patients went into remission following
injections of their own T-cells.
(WSJ, 9/20/02, p.A1)
2002 Sep 20, Scientists urged
stronger warning labels for aspirin, ibuprofen and similar
painkillers due to the risk of ulcers.
(SFC, 9/20/02, p.A3)
2002 Sep 20, William Rosenberg
(86), founder of the Dunkin' Donuts chain, died in Mashpee, Mass.
(AP, 9/20/03)
2002 Sep 20, A riot in an
overcrowded Dominican prison left at least 27 inmates dead and 48
others injured, 12 critically. Most of the deaths were by smoke
inhalation.
(AP, 9/20/02)
2002 Sep 20, In India one man
was killed and 5 others injured when police opened fire to disperse
groups of Hindus and Muslims fighting in western Gujarat state.
(Reuters, 9/20/02)
2002 Sep 20, Israel tightened
its siege on Yasser Arafat, using tanks to destroy a stairwell in
his compound, digging a deep trench and running coils of barbed wire
around his offices.
(AP, 9/20/02)
2002 Sep 20, Rebel soldiers dug
in at two Ivory Coast cities, reinforcing positions with heavy
weapons and handing out uniforms and guns to recruits, a day after
the government said it had crushed a bloody coup attempt.
(AP, 9/20/02)
2002 Sep 20, In southern Russia
a collapsing glacier triggered an avalanche of ice and mud, burying
the village of Nizhny Karmadon in the southern republic of North
Ossetia, and killing as many as 100 people.
(AP, 9/21/02)
2002 Sep 20, Necdet Kent (91),
Turkish diplomat in France (1941-1944), died in Istanbul. He gave
Turkish citizenship to dozens of Turkish Jews living in France who
did not have proper identity papers to save them from deportation to
the Nazi gas chambers.
(AP, 9/20/02)
2002 Sep 20, In Yemen 2
suspected members of al-Qaida were killed in a gunbattle and three
others were arrested after security forces raided several homes
looking for members of the terrorist network.
(AP, 9/20/02)
2003 Sep 20, In Atlantic City,
NJ, Miss Florida Ericka Dunlap beat out 50 rivals to be crowned Miss
America.
(AP, 9/21/03)
2003 Sep 20, A Grand Canyon
sightseeing helicopter crashed and all 7 aboard were killed.
(WSJ, 9/23/03, p.A1)
2003 Sep 20, In Oakland, Ca.,
Cha Cha Hill (3) died of multiple injuries following numerous
beatings by his father, Chazarus Hill Sr. In 2007 the father (27)
was sentenced to 26 years to life in prison following a conviction
of assault causing death.
(SFC, 3/9/07, p.B4)
2003 Sep 19, Five of six
children riding on an all-terrain vehicle in Coffee County, Ga.,
were killed when they were hit by a motorist.
(AP, 9/21/04)
2003 Sep 20, In central Iraq 3
American soldiers were killed and 13 injured in a mortar attack and
a bombing.
(AP, 9/21/03)
2003 Sep 20, In Iraq gunmen
attacked and wounded Aquila al-Hashimi, one of three women on Iraq's
Governing Council and a leading candidate to become the country's
representative at the United Nations.
(AP, 9/20/03)
2003 Sep 20, Japan's ruling
party entered the final phase of voting to choose its leader. PM
Junichiro Koizumi easily won re-election as head of Japan's ruling
Liberal Democratic Party.
(AP, 9/20/03)
2003 Sep 20, The Indian army
said it killed six suspected separatist guerrillas from a
Pakistan-based group after a fierce battle in Indian-controlled
Kashmir.
(AP, 9/20/03)
2003 Sep 20, Latvians endorsed
membership in the EU.
(AP, 9/21/03)
2003 Sep 20, In central
Pakistan a train slammed into a bus, killing 27 people and injuring
6.
(AP, 9/20/03)
2003 Sep 20, The semi-annual
meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund began in
Dubai, UAR.
(AP, 9/21/03)
2003 Sep 20, Zimbabwe Vice
President Simon Muzenda (81), a long time loyal aide of Zimbabwe's
autocratic leader Robert Mugabe, died.
(AP, 9/20/03)
2004 Sep 20, CBS News
apologized for a "mistake in judgment" in its story questioning
President Bush's National Guard service, saying it could not vouch
for the authenticity of documents featured in the report.
(AP, 9/20/05)
2004 Sep 20, The diocese of
Tucson, Arizona, filed for bankruptcy protection in seeking relief
from debt due to sex-abuse settlements.
(WSJ, 9/21/04, p.A1)
2004 Sep 20, A small plane with
5 aboard crashed in Montana’s Glacier National Park. 2 survivors
were found 2 days later.
(SFC, 9/24/04, p.A2)
2004 Sep 20, In southeastern
Afghan province 2 US soldiers were killed in a firefight with
insurgents.
(AP, 9/20/04)
2004 Sep 20, India's space
agency said it successfully launched the nation's first satellite
for educational services.
(AP, 9/20/04)
2004 Sep 20, In Indonesia
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono held a commanding lead over Incumbent
President Megawati Sukarnoputri in partial official results.
(AP, 9/20/04)
2004 Sep 20, A car bomb
exploded in the northern Iraq city of Mosul, killing three people.
Gunmen killed a Sunni Muslim cleric as he entered a mosque in
Baghdad to perform noon prayers. At least two people were killed and
three wounded in explosions that rocked the rebel-held city of
Fallujah. An Islamic group posted a video showing the beheading of
US contract employee Eugene Armstrong.
(AP, 9/20/04)(SFC, 9/21/04, p.A1)
2004 Sep 20, An Israeli
helicopter blew up a car in Gaza City, killing Khaled Abu Shamiyeh
(30), a Hamas militant who was involved in making and firing rockets
at Israeli towns.
(AP, 9/20/04)
2004 Sep 20, Russia's embattled
Yukos oil giant raised the stakes in its bitter standoff with the
Kremlin as the company slashed supplies to China in a move analysts
said was designed to cause maximum embarrassment in Moscow.
(AP, 9/20/04)
2005 Sep 20, Pres. Bush made
his 5th visit to Katrina’s disaster zone on the Gulf Coast.
(WSJ, 9/21/05, p.A1)
2005 Sep 20, The White House
said Pres George W. Bush has named his homeland security adviser,
Fran Townsend, to lead an internal inquiry into the much-criticized
federal response to Hurricane Katrina.
(AP, 9/20/05)
2005 Sep 20, The US Federal
Reserve raised its short-term interest-rate target for the 11th
consecutive time a quarter point to 3.75%. The DJIA fell 76.11 to
10481.52.
(WSJ, 9/21/05, p.A1)
2005 Sep 20, The Sacramento
Monarchs won their first championship with a 62-59 victory over the
Connecticut Sun in Game 4 of the WNBA Finals.
(www.wnba.com/about_us/greatest_moments_020508.html)
2005 Sep 20, Rita strengthened
into a growing hurricane as it lashed the Florida Keys with heavy
rain and strong wind, threatening the island chain with a storm
surge of up to 6 feet and sparking fears the storm could eventually
bring new misery to the Gulf Coast.
(AP, 9/20/05)
2005 Sep 20, Federated
Department Stores announced that it would convert all of its 62
Field’s stores to the Macy’s name. Federated acquired May Dept.
stores, the parent of Marshall Field’s, earlier in the year.
(WSJ, 9/21/05, p.A15)
2005 Sep 20, A new study said
an ingredient in green tea that researchers think might fight cancer
may also protect the brain from the memory-destroying Alzheimer's
disease.
(Reuters, 9/20/05)
2005 Sep 20, President Hamid
Karzai challenged the need for major foreign military operations in
Afghanistan, saying air strikes are no longer effective and that
U.S.-led coalition forces should focus on rooting out terror bases
and support networks.
(AP, 9/20/05)
2005 Sep 20, Simon Wiesenthal
(96), the Holocaust survivor who helped track down Nazi war
criminals following World War II, then spent the later decades of
his life fighting anti-Semitism and prejudice against all people,
died in Austria. In 2010 Tom Segev authored “Simon Wiesenthal: The
Life and Legends.”
(AP, 9/20/05)(Econ, 9/24/05, p.102)(SSFC,
10/3/10, p.F5)
2005 Sep 20, In Bolivia a fire
that has devoured more than 247,000 acres of Amazon forest burned
out of control near the Brazilian border.
(AP, 9/20/05)
2005 Sep 20, Canada’s Federal
Fisheries Minister Geoff Regan said Canada is trying to build
international momentum to combat overfishing.
(CP, 9/20/05)
2005 Sep 20, In Chechnya gunmen
launched two separate attacks, killing one police officer and
wounding four others.
(AP, 9/21/05)
2005 Sep 20, Croatia issued an
international arrest warrant for Milivoj Aschner (92), a former
police chief in eastern Croatia and requested that Austria extradite
him. Aschner allegedly enforced racist laws in 1941-1942 under
Croatia's World War II Nazi puppet regime, which persecuted tens of
thousands of Jews, Gypsies and Serbs.
(AP, 9/22/05)
2005 Sep 20, Carla Del Ponte,
chief prosecutor of the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the
former Yugoslavia (ICTY), told the Daily Telegraph that she believed
General Ante Gotovina was being sheltered in a Franciscan monastery
in Croatia. The Vatican denied any knowledge.
(AP, 9/20/05)
2005 Sep 20, Egyptian police
stopped Palestinians from returning to Gaza, causing a crowd of more
than 1,000 people to gather near the crossing here, as officials
from the two sides met to discuss the border situation.
(AP, 9/20/05)
2005 Sep 20, A US Air Force
officer taking part in a military exercise was killed in a road
accident in northern Egypt.
(AP, 9/20/05)
2005 Sep 20, Hundreds of
Ethiopians who claim their ancestors were forced to convert from
Judaism began a three-day hunger strike at a prayer house to press
the Israeli government to let them migrate to the Jewish state.
(AP, 9/21/05)
2005 Sep 20, Top politicians on
both sides of Germany's political standoff agreed a bipartisan
"grand coalition" linking Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats and
challenger Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats would be the best way
out of the post election muddle.
(AP, 9/20/05)
2005 Sep 20, A Guyana jury
convicted Patricia Alves (43) of manslaughter for killing a friend
during an exorcism ritual. Alves was found guilty of killing Kamille
Seenauth (34) on Feb. 15, 2002. She allegedly beat Seenauth in an
attempt to drive evil spirits out of her. On Sep 28 Alves was
sentenced to 10 years in prison.
(AP, 9/21/05)(AP, 9/29/05)
2005 Sep 20, In Iraq a child
died and another was injured when terrorists used them as human
shields during Coalition raids of three terrorist safe houses in
Mosul. The bureau chief of an Iraqi daily newspaper and a woman
working for Iraq's state-run television were shot and killed by
assailants in separate attacks in Mosul. An angry mob of insurgents
attacked a convoy of American contractors when they got lost in
Duluiyah, a town north of Baghdad, killing four and wounding two. A
US soldier died in a roadside blast north of Baghdad. Total US troop
deaths reached 1,904.
(AP, 9/20/05)(AP, 9/21/05)(AP, 10/23/05)
2005 Sep 20, Fiat of Italy
struck a deal with Zastava of Kragujevac, Serbia, to make up to
16,000 cars a year. Zastava’s arms plant made a recent $3.8 million
contract with Iraq.
(Econ, 10/1/05, p.47)
2005 Sep 20, Nepalese police
arrested more than 400 people in protests against King Gyanendra's
rule.
(AFP, 9/20/05)
2005 Sep 20, In Nigeria dozens
of soldiers and police arrested Moujahid Dokubo-Asari, the main
militia leader in Nigeria's south, at his office in the oil city of
Port Harcourt. A militia with a history of violence in Nigeria's
oil-rich south threatened to blow up oil installations if the
government did not release its arrested leader.
(AP, 9/20/05)
2005 Sep 20, North Korea
insisted it won't dismantle its nuclear weapons program until the US
gives it civilian nuclear reactors, casting doubt on a disarmament
agreement reached a day earlier during international talks.
(AP, 9/20/05)
2005 Sep 20, Sudanese soldiers
inflicted "heavy casualties" in driving off rebels who overran a
town in the troubled Darfur region.
(AP, 9/21/05)
2005 Sep 20, Ukraine’s Pres.
Viktor Yushchenko failed to win support for his candidate as
premier. Yuri Yekhanurov, a middle-of-the-road technocrat and ally
of the president, won 223 votes, three short of the required
majority in the 450-seat assembly.
(AP, 9/20/05)
2005 Sep 20, In Tashkent 15 men
pleaded guilty to participating in an uprising in eastern Uzbekistan
in May that led to what human rights groups say was a government
crackdown that left more than 700 dead.
(AP, 9/20/05)
2006 Sep 20, Pres. Bush met
with Palestinian leader Abbas in a bid to restart Mideast peace
efforts.
(WSJ, 9/21/06, p.A1)
2006 Sep 20, A US federal judge
overturned a Bush administration rule that would have allowed roads
to be built through nearly 60 million acres of national forest land.
(SFC, 9/21/06, p.A1)
2006 Sep 20, California sued 6
major auto makers for greenhouse-gas inaction.
(WSJ, 9/21/06, p.A1)
2006 Sep 20, The second annual
Clinton Global Initiative, on the sidelines of the UN General
Assembly, kicked off in Manhattan and collected over $2 billion in
pledges in funds and programs on its 1st day to combat global ills.
A day later British mogul Richard Branson pledged to spend $3
billion in the next decade on projects to combat global warming and
reduce dependence on fossil fuels. The 3-day summit raised $7.3
billion in pledges.
(SFC, 9/21/06, p.A3)(AFP, 9/21/06)(SFC, 9/23/06,
p.A2)
2006 Sep 20, In Florida
Clarence Hill was executed for the 1982 murder of a Pensacola police
officer. He had argued that Florida’s use of lethal injections
amounted to cruel and unusual punishment, but the US Supreme Court
denied him another stay of execution.
(SFC, 9/21/06, p.A3)
2006 Sep 20, Dean Everett
Wooldridge (93), scientist and co-founder of Ramo-Wooldridge (1953),
died. In 1958 Ramo-Wooldridge merged with Thomas Products to become
TRW Corp. Wooldridge helped develop the US intercontinental
ballistic missile program. He also authored 4 books on neuroscience
and predicted the rise of artificial intelligence.
(WSJ, 9/23/06, p.A4)
2006 Sep 20, In Salt Lake City
a 2-year-old boy died from kidney failure due to an E. coli
infection attributed to spinach.
(SFC, 10/6/06, p.A3)
2006 Sep 20, In southern
Afghanistan police clashed with militants who tried to set fire to
an oil tanker, killing four suspected members of the Taliban.
Authorities found the body of a Turkish national who was kidnapped
last month along with another Turk whose body was already recovered.
(AP, 9/21/06)
2006 Sep 20, The African Union
(AU) agreed to extend the mandate of its peacekeepers in Sudan's
troubled Darfur region for three months until December 31 after
receiving promises of financial and logistical support from the
United Nations and Arab states.
(AP, 9/20/06)
2006 Sep 20, In Australia
arrested 5 Canadian men after cocaine worth A$35 million ($26
million) was found hidden inside computer monitors. This was
believed to be Australia's fifth-largest illegal drugs seizure.
(Reuters, 9/21/06)
2006 Sep 20, EU regulators
fined 30 companies a total of $399.1 million for fixing prices for
copper-pipe fittings.
(WSJ, 9/21/06, p.A8)
2006 Sep 20, Henri Jayer (84),
a master of balanced pinot noir, died in Dijon, France. He was
viewed by many connoisseurs to be the finest Burgundy winemaker of
his generation.
(AP, 9/21/06)
2006 Sep 20, Hungarian PM
Ferenc Gyurcsany vowed to crack down on rioters. Police blaming the
violence on football hooligans and extreme right-wing groups.
Thousands of protesters demonstrated for a 4th day demanding that PM
Gyurcsany resign.
(AFP, 9/20/06)(SFC, 9/21/06, p.A3)
2006 Sep 20, An Iraqi police
headquarters in Baghdad was hit by a suicide truck bomb, killing at
least 7 people. Rebels killed at least 16 people in Iraq in a series
of bombings and shootings.
(AFP, 9/20/06)
2006 Sep 20, Israeli forces
raided the West Bank cities of Nablus and Jenin, destroying five
foreign exchange depots and a bank and taking funds the army said
were earmarked for terrorism. Palestinian militants in the Gaza
Strip fired two rockets at an Israeli town, wounding a 15-year-old
boy and another person.
(AP, 9/20/06)
2006 Sep 20, Nationalist
candidate Shinzo Abe won the race for Japan's ruling party leader,
all but clinching next week's election as prime minister and
pledging to make his country a more robust force on the world stage.
(AP, 9/20/06)
2006 Sep 20, In northern
Kazakhstan a methane explosion tore through a coal mine, killing 41
miners. Seven miners were pulled out alive and hospitalized after it
ripped through the Lenin mine in the town of Shakhtinsk.
(AP, 9/20/06)(AP, 9/21/06)
2006 Sep 20, The UN's
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) acquitted former
Rwandan education minister Andre Rwamakuba of murder and incitement
charges related to the country's 1994 genocide.
(AP, 9/20/06)
2006 Sep 20, Gen. Sondhi
Boonyaratkalin, the army commander who seized Thailand's government
in a quick, bloodless coup, pledged to hold elections by October
2007. He received a ringing endorsement from the country's revered
king.
(AP, 9/20/06)
2006 Sep 20, In South Africa a
judge dismissed corruption charges against Jacob Zuma after the
prosecution said it was not ready to proceed against a powerful,
populist politician who could be South Africa's next president.
(AP, 9/20/06)
2006 Sep 20, Sven Nykvist
(b.1922), Swedish cinematographer, died. He began working with
Ingmar Bergman in 1953, eventually became his full-time
cinematographer, pushing the director's work in a new direction.
Nykvist won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for two
Bergman movies, Cries and Whispers (1973), and Fanny and Alexander
(1982).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sven_Nykvist)
2006 Sep 20, In eastern Ukraine
a methane blast ripped through a coal mine, killing 13 miners and
injuring 36 others.
(AP, 9/20/06)
2006 Sep 20, Venezuelan
President Hugo Chavez took his verbal battle with the US to the
floor of the UN General Assembly, calling President Bush "the
devil." "The devil came here yesterday," Chavez said. "He came here
talking as if he were the owner of the world."
(AP, 9/20/06)
2006 Sep 20, In Vietnam Pham
Xuan An (79), journalist and spy, died. He led a remarkable and
perilous double life as a communist spy and a respected reporter for
Western news organizations during the Vietnam War.
(AP, 9/20/06)
2006 Sep 20, Yemen's President
Ali Abdullah Saleh faced a serious challenger at the polls for the
first time. Roughly 5 million of the 9.2 million eligible Yemenis
cast ballots. Saleh has ruled since 1978, first as president of
North Yemen and then as head of the unified state after the 1990
merger of the North and South.
(AP, 9/20/06)
2007 Sep 20, President Bush
cited "some unsettling times" in the US housing and credit markets
as he sought to assure jittery Americans that the economy basically
is in good shape despite worries about a recession.
(AP, 9/20/07)
2007 Sep 20, A new US
five-dollar bill with high-tech security features and new colors
made a digital debut, the first time the US government has
exclusively used the Internet to unveil its paper money.
(AFP, 9/20/07)
2007 Sep 20, Some 20,000 people
gathered in Jena, Louisiana, to protest what they considered to be
the overzealous prosecution of 6 black high school students charged
with beating a white schoolmate last December.
(SFC, 9/21/07, p.A3)(Econ, 9/29/07, p.33)
2007 Sep 20, The SF Giants told
Barry Bonds, a 15-year baseball star with the Giants, that his
career with the Giants would end with the conclusion of the 2007
season. The decision was made public the next day.
(SFC, 9/21/07, p.A8)(SSFC, 9/23/07, p.A1)
2007 Sep 20, In SF Supervisor
Ed Jew (47) was charged with one count of mail fraud in an extortion
scheme against immigrant operators of tapioca drink shops.
(SFC, 9/21/07, p.A1)
2007 Sep 20, Borse Dubai and
Nasdaq, rivals to take over Nordic market operator OMX, said they
had joined forces to acquire it together in a deal that gives Borse
Dubai 19.99 percent of US-based Nasdaq and 28 percent of the London
Stock Exchange.
(AP, 9/20/07)
2007 Sep 20, It was reported
that Arizona Prof. Piere Balthazard planned to use data from brain
scans of visionary leaders to plot a map of a “leader’s” brain. He
then planned to use the map to help train others use their brains
similarly.
(WSJ, 9/20/07, p.B1)
2007 Sep 20, Univ. of
California regents voted substantial pay raises to faculty and
sharply increased fees students pay at the university’s law, medical
and other professional schools.
(SFC, 9/21/07, p.B1)
2007 Sep 20, NASA released
satellite data that showed sea ice in the Arctic had shrunk one
million square miles more this summer that the average melt over 24
years. This represented an area larger that Alaska and Texas
combined. Arctic sea ice shrunk to a record 1.59 million square
miles since NASA started recording satellite data in 1979.
(SFC, 9/21/07, p.A1)(SFC, 9/17/08, p.A2)
2007 Sep 20, In Oakland, Ca.,
police Sgt. Pat Gonzales shot and killed Gary King Jr. (20).
Officers found a loaded gun on King after the shooting. King was
shot in the back. In 2009 Oakland was expected to pay $1.5 million
to settle a federal civil rights suit filed by King’s family.
(SFC, 9/12/09, p.C2)
2007 Sep 20, A gunbattle
between Afghan police and insurgents left 20 suspected militants and
four officers dead in Badghis province bordering Iran and
Turkmenistan. A suicide bomber on a bicycle detonated his explosives
near Afghan army soldiers in Ghazni province, wounding two soldiers.
(AP, 9/20/07)
2007 Sep 20, The British
competition watchdog accused British supermarkets and dairies on of
colluding to fix prices, resulting in customers being overcharged
270 million pounds (386 million euros, 542 million dollars) for
dairy products.
(AP, 9/20/07)
2007 Sep 20, The Canadian
dollar rose above parity with the US dollar for the first time in 31
years. The Canadian currency's commodity-fueled rise was helped by a
sharply falling dollar.
(Reuters, 9/20/07)
2007 Sep 20, Typhoon Wipha
weakened as it slammed China with strong winds and torrential rains.
At least nine people were reported killed as the storm destroyed
thousands of homes and triggered landslides.
(AP, 9/20/07)
2007 Sep 20, Estonia decided it
will not allow a German-Russian consortium to conduct a survey of
its exclusive economic zone in the Baltic Sea for a planned
underwater gas pipeline.
(AP, 9/20/07)
2007 Sep 20, In a nationally
televised interview, Pres. Sarkozy went further, saying he wants
France to adopt immigration quotas by regions of the world and by
occupation. With three months left in the year, police have caught
at least 11,800 immigrants, less than half the 25,000 target,
ordered by Pres. Sarkozy, who has ordered officials to pick up the
pace.
(AP, 9/22/07)
2007 Sep 20, Floyd Landis lost
his expensive and explosive case when two of three arbitrators
upheld the results of a test that showed the 2006 Tour de France
champion had used synthetic testosterone to fuel his spectacular
comeback victory. Landis forfeited his Tour title and was subject to
a two-year ban, retroactive to Jan. 30, 2007.
(AP, 9/20/08)
2007 Sep 20, A clash between
Georgian and separatist Abkhazian forces too place some 330 yards
inside Abkhaz-held territory. Several Abkhaz soldiers were wounded
and 2 former Russian military officers were killed.
(SFC, 10/30/07, p.A6)
2007 Sep 20, German low-cost
carrier Air Berlin said it would buy the carrier Condor from travel
giant Thomas Cook, after swallowing two national rivals in less than
a year.
(AP, 9/20/07)
2007 Sep 20, A UN decision
awarded Guyana, rather than Suriname, most of a disputed area of
coastal Atlantic Ocean, which may hold a large amount of
undiscovered oil.
(Econ, 9/29/07, p.44)
2007 Sep 20, Officials in India
said torrential rains and thunderstorms over the last 4 days have
killed at least 63 people in southern India, and flooded dozens of
villages.
(AP, 9/20/07)
2007 Sep 20, Iranian air force
pilots made successful test flights in two of Iran's new
domestically manufactured fighter jet. The Saegheh jet is a new
generation of the Azarakhsh class of fighter planes. Both Azarakhsh
and Saegheh mean lightening in Farsi.
(AP, 9/21/07)
2007 Sep 20, Iraqi soldiers
arrested Col. Thamir Mohammed Ismail Husseini (Abu Turab), a
high-ranking federal police official on suspicion of targeting Sunni
Arabs in Baghdad for arrest and torture on behalf of radical Shiite
militias. An Iranian officer accused of smuggling powerful
roadside bombs into Iraq was arrested. The suspect, a member of the
Quds Force, an elite unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, was
detained in the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniyah. A car bombing at an
Iraqi checkpoint in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood killed two
Iraqi soldiers and a civilian, and wounded seven others. A roadside
bomb struck an Iraqi police patrol near a stadium in eastern
Baghdad, killing one officer and wounding 5 people. The chief judge
of the mostly Shiite Karrada district court and his driver were shot
by masked gunmen in eastern Baghdad. Both died of their wounds later
in a hospital. The US military said 7 Shiite extremists were
detained following a pre-dawn raid by Iraqi special forces and US
troops in Sadr City. Residents claimed a civilian and a 5-year-old
boy were killed in the raid. An American soldier was killed in an
explosion in Diyala province.
(AP, 9/20/07)(AP, 9/21/07)(SFC, 9/20/07, p.A11)
2007 Sep 20, Japan's Sharp
Corp. said it had agreed to become the top shareholder in its
financially troubled rival Pioneer Corp. as part of a broad business
tie-up in response to growing competition.
(AP, 9/20/07)
2007 Sep 20, Almost 1,000
Buddhist monks, protected by onlookers, marched through Myanmar's
biggest city for a third straight day and pledged to keep alive the
most sustained protests against the military government in at least
a decade.
(AP, 9/20/07)
2007 Sep 20, In Niger Moussa
Kaka, a reporter for Radio France International and director of a
private radio station that has reported heavily on the Tuareg
rebellion, was taken into custody for "conniving with the enemy" in
his conversations with members of the Tuareg rebel group, the Niger
Movement for Justice.
(AP, 9/22/07)
2007 Sep 20, A Nigerian
government spokesman said Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala has sacked the
entire 34,000-strong workforce in his Oyo state for refusing to heed
a call to suspend their one-month-old strike over pay.
(AFP, 9/20/07)
2007 Sep 20, Al-Qaida chief
Osama bin Laden called on Pakistanis to rebel against President
Pervez Musharraf in a new recording, saying his military's siege of
a militant mosque stronghold this year makes him an infidel.
(AP, 9/20/07)
2007 Sep 20, Spain’s Interior
Ministry said Spanish police and the FBI had arrested two Pakistani
nationals in a joint operation in Madrid and Barcelona on suspicion
of being involved in financing international terrorism. The men,
identified as Anar Muhammad Shan and Preces Mehmood Sandhu, were
also held on suspicion of belonging to a terrorist organization.
(AP, 9/21/07)
2007 Sep 20, Uganda declared a
state of emergency in the worst flood-affected areas of the country
as humanitarian workers tried to reach villages that have been cut
off by water.
(AP, 9/20/07)
2007 Sep 20, Zimbabwe lawmakers
voted unanimously in favor of a constitutional amendment that
critics say further consolidates ruling party power, but is hailed
by the government and opposition as a breakthrough in easing the
political and economic crisis.
(AP, 9/20/07)
2008 Sep 20, Arkansas State
Police troopers raided the 15-acre complex of evangelist Tony Alamo
(74), searching for evidence of child pornography. FBI Agents
arrested Alamo five days later in Flagstaff, Ariz. Alamo later
pleaded not guilty to a 10-count federal indictment.
(AP, 7/10/09)
2008 Sep 20, The California
Coastal Commission sponsored its annual coastal cleanup. Some 55,634
volunteers collected over 742 thousand pounds of debris.
(SSFC, 9/21/08, p.B1)
2008 Sep 20, In Washington
state Shawn Roe (36) killed police officer Kristine Fairbanks
(51) during a traffic stop. He has also killed Richard Ziegler (59),
a retired California corrections employee, whose pickup he was
driving. Roe was killed in a shootout with sheriff’s deputies.
(SFC, 9/22/08, p.A3)
2008 Sep 20, A soldier from the
US-led coalition and two Afghan civilians were killed when a bomb
hit their vehicle in southern Afghanistan.
(AFP, 9/20/08)
2008 Sep 20, Belarus President
Alexander Lukashenko said he will cease all dialogue with Western
countries if they fail to recognize the ex-Soviet state's
parliamentary election.
(AP, 9/20/08)
2008 Sep 20, In southern China
a fire and subsequent stampede at the Dance King nightclub in
Shenzhen killed 44 people and left 88 injured. In 2010 two bosses of
the club were sentenced to 15½ years in prison. Club general
manager Lu Jinghuang was ordered jailed for three years. 14 other
club managers received jail terms ranging up to six years. In Hubei
province a migrant worker stabbed 12 people, seriously inuring 2 of
them in Shiyan city.
(AFP, 9/21/08)(SFC, 9/22/08, p.A3)(AP, 3/31/10)
2008 Sep 20, It was reported
that Muslims in France, about 8% of the population, were estimated
to make up over half the prison population.
(Econ, 9/20/08, p.69)
2008 Sep 20, German police
cancelled an anti-Islamic congress planned for today in Cologne
after leftist opponents of the rally clashed with its right-wing
backers.
(AP, 9/20/08)
2008 Sep 20, Indian officials
said thousands of people have been evacuated and at least were 7
swept away in eastern Orissa state after 4 rivers burst their banks
and inundated scores of villages. Uttar Pradesh state, meanwhile,
reeled under torrential rains which killed at least 16 people and
toppled trees and houses.
(AFP, 9/20/08)
2008 Sep 20, It was reported
that Mexican officers and prison guards in Michoacan state can now
get special deals on houses and financing through a pilot program
designed to keep them out of the pockets of organized crime.
(AP, 9/20/08)
2008 Sep 20, President Asif Ali
Zardari said Pakistan will not tolerate any infringement of its
territory in the name of the fight against militants. He also called
for an end to the president's powers to dissolve the assembly and
dismiss the government, and pledged to tackle Pakistan's economic
problems. A suicide bomber and a roadside bomb struck two military
convoys in Pakistani tribal areas bordering Afghanistan killing four
soldiers and four civilians.
(Reuters, 9/20/08)(AFP, 9/20/08)
2008 Sep 20, A suspected car
bomb caused a huge explosion at the heavily guarded Marriott Hotel
in Islamabad. The death toll soon grew to 54 with some 270 injured,
including the Czech ambassador and 3 Americans. The next day
Pakistan blamed Al-Qaeda linked Taliban militants for the massive
suicide truck bombing.
(AP, 9/20/08)(AFP, 9/21/08)(AP, 9/21/08)(AP,
9/28/08)
2008 Sep 20, A Palestinian was
shot and killed by Israeli soldiers who said they saw him light a
firebomb near a Jewish settlement. Suhayeb Saleh was later
identified by his parents, who said he was 14 years old. Egypt
opened its Gaza border terminal to allow passage of students and
medical patients for 2 days.
(AP, 9/20/08)
2008 Sep 20, South African
President Thabo Mbeki agreed to resign after the ruling party
ordered him to step down, a move that could heighten turmoil in
Africa's economic powerhouse. A Sep 19 ruling threw out corruption
charges against Zuma it appeared Mbeki and his justice minister had
colluded with prosecutors against Zuma as part of the "titanic power
struggle" within the ANC. Mbeki indignantly denied this.
(AP, 9/20/08)
2008 Sep 20, The Thai
government said floods have killed 14 people and sickened more than
53,000 others, including many who contracted waterborne ailments.
The 14 people were swept away by flash floods that hit 36 of
Thailand's 76 provinces over the past nine days.
(AP, 9/20/08)
2009 Sep 20, It was reported
that US Democrat Rep. Charlie Rangel (79), the person most in charge
of writing the nation's tax laws, had neglected to pay taxes on
rental income from his vacation villa in the Dominican Republic, and
that he had also failed to report assets worth hundreds of thousands
of dollars on his annual disclosure forms, including a hard-to-miss
credit union account worth up to $500,000.
(AP, 9/20/09)
2009 Sep 20, In the 61st Annual
Primetime Emmys the winners included “Mad Men” won for best drama
series and “30 Rock” for best comedy series.
(SFC, 9/21/09, p.C3)
2009 Sep 20, Michele Dickerson
of Alameda County, Ca., won the $32 million state lottery. She
planned to take a $19.7 million lump sum before taxes.
(SFC, 9/23/09, p.A14)
2009 Sep 20, In San Francisco
Andres Siordia (19) killed 2 men and wounded a 3rd at Papa Potrero’s
Pizza. Police believed the shootings were in retaliation for the
slaying of Norteno gang member Michael Sanchez (21) on Sep 18.
(SFC, 9/24/09, p.D2)
2009 Sep 20, In Afghanistan
NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said 2 US
soldiers were killed in a noncombat-related incident in the south.
The Afghan defense ministry said Afghan and foreign troops will halt
offensive operations in the war against Taliban-led insurgents for
the UN's International Day of Peace on Sep 21.
(AFP, 9/20/09)
2009 Sep 20, Australian border
protection officials rescued 54 asylum seekers from a boat stranded
in northern waters.
(AP, 9/20/09)
2009 Sep 20, Cubans in their
multitudes flocked to sprawling Revolution Plaza for a massive
open-air "peace concert" headlined by Colombian rocker Juanes, an
event criticized by some Cuban-Americans who say the performers are
lending support to the island's communist government simply by
showing up.
(AP, 9/20/09)
2009 Sep 20, German authorities
said al Qaeda threatened Germany with attacks for the second time
this weekend in an online video criticizing the country for its
deployment of troops in Afghanistan. The interior ministry
identified al Qaeda's messenger in the latest video as Bekkay
Harrach (32), a German-Moroccan.
(Reuters, 9/20/09)
2009 Sep 20, In Iraq a roadside
bomb exploded on a main road in Iskandariyah, 30 miles (50km) south
of Baghdad, killing the driver of a car and injuring four
passengers. A Black Hawk helicopter crashed at a Balad Air Base,
killing one US service member and injuring 12 others.
(AP, 9/20/09)
2009 Sep 20, An Israeli border
patrol fired at Palestinian militants planting a bomb at the Gaza
border fence. 2 men were killed and 3 wounded.
(SFC, 9/21/09, p.A2)
2009 Sep 20, Trafigura, a
Netherlands-based oil trading company, said it has agreed to a
settlement with people who claim they fell ill after a tanker dumped
hundreds of tons of waste around the Ivory Coast's main city of
Abidjan in 2006. Trafigura paid Ivory Coast's government euro152
million (US$197 million) in 2007 to assist in cleaning up the waste
without admitting responsibility.
(AP, 9/20/09)
2009 Sep 20, In Nigeria Bayo
Ohu (45), assistant news editor at the influential Guardian
newspaper, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen as he answered a
knock at the front door of his house in a northern suburb of Lagos.
On March 15, 2010, police detained three suspects for the murder of
Ohu.
(AFP, 9/22/09)(AFP, 3/15/10)
2009 Sep 20, In Pakistan Sher
Muhammad Qasab, a feared Taliban commander known for beheading
opponents, died in custody from wounds sustained during a fierce
firefight with Pakistani security forces last week. The military
said security forces killed eight militants in search operations
throughout Swat over the last 24 hours and that 23 insurgents were
apprehended and another 22 surrendered. One of the militants killed
was a Taliban commander identified as Chamtu Khan.
(AP, 9/20/09)
2009 Sep 20, In the southern
Philippines clashes erupted when al-Qaida-linked militants resisted
attempts by government forces to serve arrest warrants on 3 of their
commanders. Troops took control of the Abu Sayyaf group's biggest
camp on the island of Jolo following rounds of air strikes.
(AP, 9/20/09)(AP, 9/21/09)
2009 Sep 20, Somali al-Shabab
insurgents attacked a town near the border with Ethiopia, killing at
least 10 people.
(AP, 9/21/09)
2009 Sep 20, The Sudanese army
said it has cleared several more areas of rebel control in North
Darfur province ahead of peace talks set for October. Rebels denied
the government claims. In southern Sudan Lou Nuer tribesman attacked
the village of Duk-Padiet in Jonglei state killing around 102
people, including 51 civilians and 23 attackers.
(AP, 9/20/09)(AFP, 9/21/09)
2010 Sep 20, Denver Bronco’s
wide receiver Kenny McKinley (23) was found dead in his home in an
apparent suicide.
(AP, 9/21/10)
2010 Sep 20, In New Jersey a
woman from Togo was been sentenced to 27 years in prison after being
convicted of running a human smuggling operation and forcing women
to work at New Jersey hair braiding salons. Akouavi Afolabi ran a
scheme to bring at least 20 girls and women ages 10 to 19 from West
Africa to the US on fraudulent visas. Victims were made to work at
the salons for no pay. Afolabi was also ordered to pay restitution
totaling $3.9 million. Her ex-husband and son had already pleaded
guilty. Her son received a 55-month prison term. Her ex-husband was
sentenced to 24 years.
(AP, 9/21/10)
2010 Sep 20, In Australia a
Fijian man died suddenly at a Sydney immigration center, with a
protest breaking out in the compound after claims he had jumped from
a rooftop fearing deportation.
(AFP, 9/20/10)
2010 Sep 20, Afghan election
observers urged President Hamid Karzai's government to allow an
independent investigation into reports of widespread fraud during
last weekend's parliamentary elections, including intimidation of
voters and interference by powerful warlords. Britain's military
handed the US responsibility for northern Sangin district in Helmand
province. Afghan and NATO forces ended a 2-day operation to disrupt
the Taliban's freedom of movement outside its heartland of Kandahar
city, killing at least 11 insurgents and destroying several
improvised explosive devices. The US military arrested Rahmatullah
Naikzad, an Afghan journalist in the eastern region of Ghazni,
saying it is investigating suspicions he may have been too close to
Taliban militants.
(AP, 9/20/10)(AP, 9/21/10)
2010 Sep 20, Bahrain stripped
Ayatollah Hussein al-Najati, a powerful Shiite cleric with close
ties to Iraq, of his citizenship as authorities widened a crackdown
against alleged dissidents ahead of next month's elections in the
tiny Gulf nation.
(AP, 9/20/10)
2010 Sep 20, Hurricane Igor
swept past Bermuda, lashing at the Atlantic island with high winds
and furious waves as power failed in many areas, plunging people
hunkered down at home into darkness and leaving officials waiting
for sunrise to assess damage.
(AP, 9/20/10)
2010 Sep 20, In China JCRB.com,
a legal issues website administered by China's Supreme Court, said a
Jinfulai Dairy Company executive in Yangquan city of Shanxi province
and six other people were arrested after authorities discovered 26
tons of milk powder tainted with a toxic chemical.
(AP, 9/20/10)
2010 Sep 20, French defense
contractor Safran SA said it will pay $1.1 billion to buy Stamford,
Connecticut-based security firm L-1 Identity Solutions Inc., to
bolster its presence in the US homeland security market.
(AP, 9/20/10)
2010 Sep 20, A delegation of
Indian lawmakers launched a mission in Kashmir to find ways of
defusing months of deadly unrest, but their trip was immediately
derided by the Himalayan region's separatists as a publicity stunt.
Fresh protests erupted in Sopore town, a day after a 22-year-old
woman was killed by security forces.
(AP, 9/20/10)
2010 Sep 20, In central India a
freight train on the wrong track slammed into a stationary passenger
locomotive amid heavy rain at the Bhaderwah rail station, killing at
least 21 people and injuring 53.
(AP, 9/20/10)
2010 Sep 20, Kuwait revoked the
citizenship of cleric Yasser al-Habib, a hard-line Shiite scholar,
accusing him of trying to stir up discord among Muslims by
describing the Prophet Muhammad's wife, Aisha, as an "enemy of God."
(AP, 9/20/10)
2010 Sep 20, Libya's daily Oea
newspaper reported that Douglas O'Reilly, a Canadian man, was
detained after meeting a US diplomat suspected of being a CIA agent.
He was detained on suspicion of spying on a planned BP offshore
drilling project. O'Reilly claimed to be an archaeologist seeking to
warn of the BP project's potential impact on archaeological sites.
O'Reilly was given freedom to leave Libya on Sep 22.
(AP, 9/21/10)(AP, 9/22/10)
2010 Sep 20, In Mexico rocks
and mud tumbled down a hill onto a highway in Villa Guerrero, south
of Mexico City. Five bodies were pulled out, and an unknown number
of people were missing. More than 70 people have died during the
rainy season in Mexico, which has been one of the heaviest on
record.
(AP, 9/21/10)
2010 Sep 20, In Pakistan
suspected US drones fired missiles at militant targets in North
Waziristan, killing six people in the 15th such attack this month.
(AP, 9/20/10)
2010 Sep 20, Saudi Arabia’s
Shura Council voted 62 to 56 against a memorandum of understanding
on bilateral consultations with Denmark after several members
expressed unhappiness over the publication of cartoons of the
Prophet Mohammed in a Danish newspaper.
(AFP, 9/21/10)
2010 Sep 20, Venezuela deported
two drug trafficking suspects to the US, including an alleged boss
of the powerful Norte del Valle cartel in neighboring Colombia. The
action came only days after the US criticized Venezuela's
cooperation in fighting illegal narcotics.
(AP, 9/20/10)
2010 Sep 20, In Yemen a
security official said thousands of people have fled Hawta village
in the south where security forces were laying siege to some 120
al-Qaida militants. 3 militants were killed and 4 wounded in the
fighting. In the capital four al-Qaida suspects, including a
Yemeni-German teenager, were brought to trial on charges of plotting
attacks on tourists, international institutions and security forces.
(AP, 9/20/10)
2010 Sep 20, In Zimbabwe 83
members of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) were arrested after
marching to highlight concerns around community safety and police
behavior. They were freed after 2 days in jail.
(AFP, 9/21/10)(AP, 9/22/10)
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