Today in History - October 23
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4004BC Oct 23, According to 17th century divine James Ussher, Archbishop of Armagh, and Dr. John Lightfoot of Cambridge, the world was created on this day, a Sunday, at 9 a.m.
(HN, 10/23/98)
42BC Oct 23, Marcus Junius Brutus, a leading conspirator in the assassination of Julius Caesar, committed suicide after his defeat at the Battle of Philippi. Octavian and Mark Antony defeated Brutus and Cassius at Philippi in Macedonia.
(WUD, 1994, p.1081)(MC, 10/23/01)
787 Oct 23, Byzantine Empress Irene (c. 752-803) attended the final session of the 2nd church council at Nicaea, Bithynia [now Iznik, a city in Anatolia (now part of Turkey)]. The council formally revived the adoration of icons and reunited the Eastern church with that of Rome.
(http://www.malaspina.com/site/person_672.asp)
1450 Oct 23, Juan de Capistrano (70), Italian saint, died.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1520 Oct 23, King Carlos I (1500-1558) was crowned as German emperor Charles V (1520-1558), a Holy Roman Emperor.
(http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Charles%20V,%20Holy%20Roman%20Emperor)
1582 Oct 23, Cossacks attempted to storm the Tatar fort at Mount Chyuvash for a 4th time when the Tatars counterattacked. Over a 100 Cossacks were killed but their gunfire forced a Tatar retreat allowed the capture of 2 Tatar cannons.
(ON, 2/04, p.4)
1588 Oct 23, Medina Sidonia's Spanish Armada returned to Santander. [see Sep 21]
(MC, 10/23/01)
1641 Oct 23, Catholics in Ireland, under Phelim O'Neil, rose against the Protestants and cruelly massacred men, women and children to the number of 40,000 (some say 100,000). [see Oct 21]
(HN, 10/23/98)
1642 Oct 23, The Battle of Edgehill was the first major clash between Royalist and Parliamentary forces in the English Civil Wars. King Charles I and 11-15,000 Cavaliers held the high ground against 13-15,000 Roundheads led by the Earl of Essex and Oliver Cromwell. The conflict began with a smattering of cannon exchanges. The Royalist artillery was hampered by its uphill position, rendering its cannons largely ineffective against the enemy below. As a result, Royalist cavalry, led by the King’s nephew, Prince Rupert, swept down the hill toward the Parliamentarians, decimating a large section of their ranks. The Royalists did not capitalize on this initial success, however, as the troops became more interested in plundering the town than in finishing the fight. This allowed Parliamentarian troops to regroup and break up enemy formations. After several hours of hard fighting, both sides withdrew to their original positions, leaving a field scattered with debris and casualties.
(HNQ, 6/16/01)
1642 Oct 23, Sir Edmund Verneys rode into the battle of Edgehill as the standard bearer of Charles I and died there. In 2007 Adrian Tinniswood authored “The Verneys: A True Story of Love, War and Madness in Seventeenth-Century England."
(Econ, 3/3/07, p.87)
1668 Oct 23, Jews of Barbados were forbidden to engage in retail trade.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1679 Oct 23, The Meal Tub Plot took place against James II of England.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1690 Oct 23, American colonial forces from Boston led by Sir William Phips, failed in their attempt to seize Quebec. Phips lost 4 ships on the return trip due to stormy weather.
(Arch, 1/05, p.50)(http://www.biographi.ca/EN/ShowBio.asp?BioId=34586)
1690 Oct 23, There was a revolt in Haarlem, Holland, after a public ban on smoking.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1698 Oct 23, Ange-Jacques Gabriel, French court architect (Place de la Concorde), was born.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1707 Oct 23, The first Parliament of Great Britain, created by the Acts of Union between England and Scotland, held its first meeting.
(AP, 10/23/07)
1750 Oct 23, Nicolas Appert, the inventor of canning, was born. [see Oct 23, 1752]
(HN, 10/23/00)
1752 Oct 23, Nicolas Appert, inventor (food canning, bouillon tablet), was born. [see Oct 23, 1750]
(MC, 10/23/01)
1760 Oct 23, The 1st Jewish prayer books were printed in US.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1767 Oct 23, H. Benjamin Constant, [de Rebeque], French politician and writer, was born.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1775 Oct 23, Continental Congress approved a resolution barring blacks from army.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1783 Oct 23, Virginia emancipated slaves who fought for independence during the Revolutionary War.
(HN, 10/23/98)
1790 Oct 23, Slaves revolted in Haiti.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1801 Oct 23, Gustav Albert Lortzing, composer, was born.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1801 Oct 23, Johann Gottlieb Naumann (60), German composer, died.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1812 Oct 23, There was a failed coup against emperor Napoleon.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1814 Oct 23, The 1st plastic surgery was performed in England.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1824 Oct 23, The 1st steam locomotive was introduced.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1829 Oct 23, The Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia received its 1st prisoner, burglar Charles Williams (18). It was based on the Quaker idea of reform through solitude and reflection. In 1913 the Pennsylvania System of isolation was abandoned and the isolation practices ended. The prison was designed by John Haviland and was built on the outskirts of Philadelphia. The whole fortress-like exterior was just a façade hiding the radial structure of the inner prison. It opened to tourists in 1971 after being closed to prisoners.
(WSJ, 9/19/97, p.B1)(AHHT, 10/02, p.18)(Insider, 8/14/20)
1835 Oct 23, Adlai Ewing Stevenson, (D) 23rd VP (1893-97), was born.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1844 Oct 23, Sarah Bernhardt, French actress, was born. [see Oct 22]
(HN, 10/23/00)
1861 Oct 23, President Abraham Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus in Washington, D.C. for all military-related cases.
(HN, 10/23/98)
1863 Oct 23, Gen’l. Grant arrived at Chattanooga. [see Oct 24]
(HT, 4/97, p.56)
1864 Oct 23, Forces led by Union Gen. Samuel R. Curtis defeated Confederate Gen. Stirling Price's army in Missouri.
(AP, 10/23/97)
1869 Oct 23, John Heisman, American college football coach from 1892 to 1927, was born. He had a trophy for best college player named after him.
(HN, 10/23/98)
1872 Oct 23, Theophile Gautier (61), French poet, writer, historian, and critic, died.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1890 Oct 23, Borodin's Opera "Prince Igor" was produced posthumously in St. Petersburg.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1901 Oct 23, Georg von Siemens, founder of Deutsche Bank, died.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1906 Oct 23, Gertrude Ederle, swimmer (Olympic-gold-1924), was born in NYC.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1910 Oct 23, Blanche S. Scott became the first woman to make a solo, public airplane flight, reaching an altitude of 12 feet at a park in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
(AP, 10/23/00)
1910 Oct 23, Rama V (b.1853) King Chulalongkorn (b.1853), died. The 42-year reign of King Chulalongkorn, the son of Mongkut, was known for a modernization drive and abolition of slavery. He also ceded territories to Western powers, including Laos and Cambodia to France, and the Malay sultanates of Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu and Perlis to Britain. Chulalongkorn was the first Siamese king to send royal princes to study King Vajiravudh succeeded his father as Rama VI and formed a private army, the Wild Tiger Corps, on his accession.in Europe. He visited twice and presented Siam as a modern nation to European rulers. He had introduced state corporations as a way to modernize Siam (Thailand). Rama V lived in the Vimanmek Mansion in Bangkok. It was made entirely of golden teak wood.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chulalongkorn)(SFC, 7/9/99, p.A12)(Econ, 3/20/10, p.27)(Econ, 5/24/14, p.36)(Reuters, 5/2/19)
1915 Oct 23, Tens of thousands of women marched in NYC, demanding the right to vote.
(AP, 10/23/08)
1917 Oct 23, The 1st Infantry division, "Big Red One," fired the 1st US shot in WW I.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1917 Oct 23, Lenin spoke against Kamenev, Kollontai, Stalin and Trotsky.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1918 Oct 23, President Wilson felt satisfied that the Germans were accepting his armistice terms and agreed to transmit their request for an armistice to the Allies. The Germans had agreed to suspend submarine warfare, cease inhumane practices such as the use of poison gas, and withdraw troops back into Germany.
(HN, 10/23/98)
1919 Oct 23, Sigmund Romberg's musical "Passing Show," premiered in NYC.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1920 Oct 23, Chicago grand jury indicted Abe Attell, Hal Chase, and Bill Burns as go-betweens in Black Sox World Series scandal.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1921 Oct 23, Green Bay Packers played their 1st NFL game. They won 7-6 over Minneapolis.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1921 Oct 23, Leos Janacek (1854-1928) completed his opera "Katya Kabanov," and it premiered in Brno. It was inspired by Alexander Ostrovsky’s mid 19th century play "The Storm."
(WSJ, 1/3/96, p.A7)(WSJ, 1/16/98, p.A12)(MC, 10/23/01)
1922 Oct 23, Andrew Bonar Law (1858-1923) began serving as British prime minister and continued to May 22, 1923. Winston Churchill dubbed his coalition government the “second eleven" because so many top players refused to serve in it.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonar_Law)(Econ 6/10/17, p.58)
1925 Oct 23, Johnny Carson (d.2005), American television personality who hosted the "Tonight Show," was born in Corning, Iowa.
(HN, 10/23/98)(SFC, 1/24/05, p.A7)
1925 Oct 23, Manos Hadjidakis, Greek composer and conductor (Never on Sunday), was born.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1928 Oct 23, Francois V. Alphonse Aulard (b.1849), French historian, died.
(www.fact-index.com/f/fr/francois_victor_alphonse_aulard.html)
1929 Oct 23, First transcontinental air service began from New York to Los Angeles. [see July]
(HN, 10/23/98)
1932 Oct 23, "Fred Allen Show" premiered on radio.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1933 Oct 23, Germany withdrew from the League of Nations in light of the failure of the Germans to gain military parity with the Western powers.
(www.indiana.edu/~league/1933.htm)
1934 Oct 23, Jean Piccard and Jeanette Ridlen attained a record balloon height of 17,341m.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1935 Oct 23, Dutch Schultz (33), born as Arthur Flegenheimer, was shot in the men’s room of the Palace Chop House and Tavern in Newark, New Jersey. He lingered for nearly a day before dying after being the target of a mob hit. Schultz wanted to have Thomas E. Dewey murdered because the special prosecutor had set his sights on the numbers racket operated by Schultz. A syndicate of New York’s top mobsters decided to murder Schultz because it feared the wrath of the authorities and decided against the assassination. Schultz gang members Abe Landau and Otto "Aba Daba" Berman and bodyguard Bernard "Lulu" Rosencrantz were shot.
(HNQ, 9/27/02)(http://www.mobmagazine.com/ManageArticle.asp?C=20&A=115)
1939 Oct 23, Zane Grey (67), US western writer (Spirit of the Border), died. He authored 89 books, mostly Westerns. He books on fishing included: "Tales of fishes" and "An American Angler in Australia."
(SFEC, 9/24/00, p.T10)(MC, 10/23/01)(WSJ, 1/8/02, p.A16)
1940 Oct 23, Pele, legendary Brazilian soccer player who scored 1,281 goals in 22 years, was born.
(HN, 10/23/98)
1941 Oct 23, Walt Disney's cartoon film, "Dumbo," was released.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1941 Oct 22-23, Some 39,000 Jews were killed by Romanian troops over 2 days in Odessa. Many of them were burned to death in a public square or in warehouses that were locked shut. Altogether some 90,000 Jews were killed in Odessa.
(SFC, 6/15/98, p.A11)
1942 Oct 23, Michael Crichton, writer, was born. His work includes "Jurassic Park" and "The Andromeda Strain."
(HN, 10/23/00)
1942 Oct 23, The Western Task Force, destined for North Africa, departed from Hampton Roads, Virginia. The command of the Western Task Force, part of an invasion of North Africa during World War II known as Operation Torch, was given to General George Patton. Placed under the command of General George Patton, the Western Task Force had the advantage of having a man at the top who would stop at nothing to see that the mission was accomplished, a quality that would be needed in the days ahead. Naval operations were in the hands of Rear Adm. H. Kent Hewitt, an easygoing man who, in the beginning, found it difficult to work with Patton, but with increasing familiarity became a solid partner.
(HN, 10/23/98)(HNQ, 12/8/00)
1942 Oct 23, Ralph Rainger (41), pianist and song writer, was among 12 people killed when their DC-3 crashed after being clipped by a B-34 bomber flown by Army Lt. William Wilson, who had wanted to thumb his nose at Louis Reppert, a flight school buddy and co-pilot of the DC-3. An Army court-martial panel later exonerated Wilson, who had been charged with manslaughter. Rainger’s songs included “Love in Bloom" and “Thanks for the Memories," which Bing Crosby made a hit in 1934.
(WSJ, 12/30/08, p.D7)
1942 Oct 23, During World War II, Britain launched a major offensive against Axis forces at El Alamein in Egypt.
(AP, 10/23/97)
1943 Oct 23, The 1st Jewish transport out of Rome reached Birkenau (Poland) extermination camp.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1944 Oct 23, In the Philippines the Battle of Leyte Gulf began. In 1947 C. Van Woodward authored "The Battle of Leyte Gulf."
(AP, 10/23/97)(SFEC, 12/19/99, p.C14)
1944 Oct 23, Soviet army invaded Hungary.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1944 Oct 23, Hanička "Hana" Brady (b. 1931 as Hana Bradyová), Czechoslovakian Jewish girl, was murdered in the gas chambers at German concentration camp of Auschwitz, located in the occupied territory of Poland. She is the subject of the 2002 non-fiction children's book Hana's Suitcase, written by Karen Levine.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hana_Brady)
1945 Oct 23, Jackie Robinson signed a Montreal Royal contract.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1946 Oct 23, The United Nations General Assembly convened in New York for the first time, at an auditorium in Flushing Meadow.
(AP, 10/23/97)
1946 Oct 23, A Vatican document advised French church authorities on how to handle information requests from Jewish officials, asking them not to put anything in writing: “Children who have been baptized must not be entrusted to institutions that cannot ensure their Christian education." The document surfaced in 2004.
(SFC, 1/1/05, p.A12)
1948 Oct 23, Israel established its first diplomatic mission as a new nation at the Bristol Hotel in central Warsaw, Poland.
(AP, 10/23/18)
1950 Oct 23, Al Jolson (64), singer and actor (Jazz Singer), died. He was born in Russia as Asa Yoelson
(MC, 10/23/01)
1952 Oct 23, The Nobel Prize for Medicine was awarded to Ukrainian-born microbiologist Selmart A. Waksman for his discovery streptomycin, the 1st antibiotic to successfully treat tuberculosis.
(HN, 10/23/00)(SFC, 1/11/01, p.C16)
1953 Oct 23, France granted sovereignty to Laos. [see Oct 22]
(MC, 10/23/01)
1954 Oct 23, In Paris, an agreement was signed providing for West German sovereignty and permitting West Germany to rearm and enter NATO and the Western European Union. Britain, England, France and USSR agreed to end occupation of Germany. [see Oct 22]
(HN, 10/23/98)(MC, 10/23/01)
1956 Oct 23, The 1st video recording on magnetic tape was televised coast-to-coast.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1956 Oct 23, Britain’s PM Anthony Eden admitted to the cabinet that secret conversations had been held in Paris with representatives of the Israeli government.
(Econ, 12/16/06, p.86)
1956 Oct 23, An anti-Stalinist revolt began in Hungary. As the revolution spread, Soviet forces started entering the country, and the uprising was put down within weeks. Bela Kiraly (1912-2009), recently released from prison, was named as the military commander of the Budapest and head of the national guard. In 2001 Bela Liptak authored "A Testament of Revolution." In 2006 three books were published that covered Hungary’s October Revolution: “Failed Illusions" by Charles Gati; “Journey to a Revolution" by Michael Korda; and Viktor Sebestyen’s “Twelve Days: The Story of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution."
(SFC, 10/23/96, p.A8)(WSJ, 6/19/01, p.A20)(WSJ, 10/20/06, p.W4)(Econ, 10/21/06, p.94)(AP, 10/23/07)(SSFC, 7/5/09, p.C8)
1958 Oct 23, Boris Pasternak won the Nobel Prize in literature. However, Soviet authorities pressured Pasternak into relinquishing the award.
(SFC, 11/27/97, p.B3)(AP, 10/23/99)
1958 Oct 23, De Gaulle offered Algerian defiance "peace of the brave."
(MC, 10/23/01)
1958 Oct 23, USSR lent money to UAR to build Aswan High Dam.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1959 Oct 23, "Weird Al" Yankovic, parody singer (Eat It, UHF, Naked Gun), was born in California.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1959 Oct 23, Chinese troops moved into India and 17 died.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1962 Oct 23, US ambassador Adlai Stevenson spoke at UN about Cuba crisis.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1963 Oct 23, Neil Simon's "Barefoot in the Park," premiered in NYC. [see Oct 24]
(MC, 10/23/01)
1968 Oct 23, In Nicaragua the Cerro Negro volcano began erupting again and continued to Dec 10. It had first appeared in 1850.
(DD-EVTT, Illustr.#9)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerro_Negro)
1972 Oct 23, Jascha Haifetz (b.1901), virtuoso violinist, performed his farewell concert in Los Angeles at the age of 72.
(www.musicianguide.com/biographies/1608002800/Jascha-Heifetz.html)
1972 Oct 23, The musical "Pippin" opened on Broadway and ran for 1944 performances.
(AP, 10/23/97)(MC, 10/23/01)
1972 Oct 23, The US Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act of 1972 became law.
(www.fws.gov/laws/lawsdigest/marprot.html)(Econ, 6/24/06, p.96)
1973 Oct 23, President Nixon agreed to turn White House tape recordings requested by the Watergate special prosecutor over to Judge John J. Sirica.
(AP, 10/23/97)
1975 Oct 23, A Battle between Cuban and South Africa troops took place in Angola.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_intervention_in_Angola_(1975-1991))
1978 Oct 23, CBS raised long playing vinyl album prices to $8.98.
(http://www.440.com/twtd/archives/oct23.html)
1978 Oct 23, Sid Vicious attempted suicide while at Riker's Detention Center in NYC.
(http://archive.gulfnews.com/indepth/30thyear/onthisday/10162208.html)
1978 Oct 23, Maybelle Carter (b.1909), Virginia-born country singer, died in Nashville, Tenn. She was a member of the original Carter Family, which was formed in 1927 by her brother-in-law, A. P. Carter, who was married to her cousin, Sara, also a part of the trio.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maybelle_Carter)
1978 Oct 23, China and Japan exchanged treaty ratification documents in Tokyo, formally ending four decades of hostility.
(AP, 10/23/97)
1979 Oct 23, Billy Martin (1928-1989), NY Yankee baseball manager, was involved in a barroom altercation when he sucker punched Joseph Cooper, a Minnesota marshmallow salesman. Cooper required 15 stitches. Martin was fired.
(www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/October_23)
1980 Oct 23, The resignation of Soviet Premier Alexei N. Kosygin was announced.
(AP, 10/23/97)
1981 Oct 23, The US national debt hit $1 trillion.
(http://tinyurl.com/3datwf)
1983 Oct 23, A truck filled with explosives, driven by a Moslem suicide terrorist, crashed into the US Marine barracks near the Beirut International Airport in Lebanon. The bomb killed 241 Marines and sailors and injured 80. Almost simultaneously, a similar incident occurred at French military headquarters, where 58 died and 15 were injured. Hezbollah leader Imad Mughniyah was suspected of involvement. In 2007 under a law allowing foreign governments to be sued in US courts, US federal judge Royce Lamberth ordered Iran to pay $2.65 billion to victims' families.
(WSJ, 8/1/96/p.B1)(AP, 10/23/97)(WSJ, 9/19/01, p.A14)(AFP, 7/6/12)
1983 Oct 23, Jessica Savitch (36), news anchor (NBC-TV), died in an automobile accident with Martin Fischbein in New Hope, Pa.
(www.accuracyproject.org/cbe-Savitch,Jessica.html)
1984 Oct 23, Oskar Werner (b.1922), Austrian actor (Fahrenheit 451), died of a heart attack.
(www.filmbug.com/db/330521)
1987 Oct 23, The U.S. Senate rejected, 58-42, the Supreme Court nomination of Robert H. Bork.
(AP, 10/23/97)
1989 Oct 23, In a case that inflamed racial tensions in Boston, Charles Stuart claimed he and his pregnant wife, Carol, had been shot in their car by a black robber. Carol Stuart and her prematurely delivered baby died; Charles Stuart later died, an apparent suicide, after he was implicated.
(AP, 10/23/99)
1989 Oct 23, Twenty-three people were killed in an explosion at Phillips Petroleum Co.'s chemical complex in Pasadena, Texas.
(AP, 10/23/99)
1989 Oct 23, Hungary proclaimed itself a republic and declared an end to communist rule.
(http://tinyurl.com/qrnfm)
1990 Oct 23, Deficit-reduction negotiations continued between the White House and congressional leaders. President Bush, campaigning in New England, blamed the Democratic-controlled Congress for the budget impasse.
(AP, 10/23/00)
1990 Oct 23, Iraq announced the release of 330 French hostages.
(http://tinyurl.com/s498l)
1991 Oct 23, Clarence Thomas was sworn in as US Supreme Court Justice.
(www.oyez.org/oyez/resource/legal_entity/106/)
1991 Oct 23, Dr. Jack Kevorkian attended the suicide machine assisted deaths of 2 women in Michigan.
(www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kevorkian/chronology.html)
1991 Oct 23, Cambodia's warring factions and representatives of 18 other nations signed a peace treaty in Paris. All the factions signed The Paris Peace Agreements with the UN to provide peacekeeping and elections. Khmer Rouge Pres. Khieu Samphan and commander Son Sen soon returned to Phnom Penh for the first time since 1979, then fled the same day as mobs tried to lynch Khieu Samphan.
(SFC, 6/14/97, p.A15)(SFEC, 7/26/98, p.T6)(AP, 10/23/01)
1992 Oct 23, President Bush announced that Vietnam had agreed to turn over all materials in its possession related to U.S. personnel in the Vietnam War.
(AP, 10/23/97)
1992 Oct 23, Japanese Emperor Akihito began a visit to China, the first by a Japanese monarch.
(AP, 10/23/97)
1992 Oct 23, A French court convicted three former health officials of charges they knowingly allowed blood tainted with the AIDS virus to be used in transfusions.
(AP, 10/23/97)
1993 Oct 23, The Toronto Blue Jays repeated as baseball champions as they defeated the Philadelphia Phillies, 8-6, in game six of the World Series.
(AP, 10/23/03)
1993 Oct 23, An IRA bomb exploded in Belfast, Northern Ireland, killing 10 people, including an IRA operative at a fish & chips shop on Shankill Road.
(AP, 10/23/03)(http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch93.htm)
1994 Oct 23, Robert Lansing (66), actor (Twelve O'Clock High, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues, Equalizer), died of cancer.
(www.imdb.com/name/nm0487108/)
1994 Oct 23, In Egypt a British man was killed and 3 injured in an attack on a van by Islamic extremists at Naqada.
(SFC, 11/19/97, p.C2)
1994 Oct 23, A suicide bomber in Colombo, Sri Lanka, killed 50 people including Gamini Dissanayake, the opposition presidential candidate.
(AP, 10/23/99)
1995 Oct 23, President Clinton met with Russian President Boris Yeltsin in Hyde Park, New York; the leaders agreed that Russian troops would help enforce peace in Bosnia, but remained deadlocked on the issue of NATO command.
(AP, 10/23/00)
1995 Oct 23, The US Congress passed the Jerusalem Embassy Act, effective as of Nov 8, 1995, calling for the US embassy to be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. As of 2017 every US president since has signed a national security waiver suspending the act.
(Econ, 12/24/16, p.74)
1995 Oct 23, A jury in Houston convicted Yolanda Saldivar of murdering Tejano singing star Selena.
(AP, 10/23/00)
1996 Oct 23, The New York Yankees tied the World Series at two games apiece, defeating the Atlanta Braves, 8-6.
(AP, 10/23/97)
1996 Oct 23, Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole tried to persuade Ross Perot to quit the race and endorse the GOP ticket, but Perot refused.
(AP, 10/23/97)
1996 Oct 23, The civil trial of O.J. Simpson opened in Santa Monica, Calif. Simpson was later found liable in the deaths of his ex-wife, Nicole, and her friend, Ronald Goldman.
(AP, 10/23/97)
1996 Oct 23, In Norway Gro Harlem Brundtland announced her resignation as prime minister. Thoerbjorn Jagland, leader of the Labor Party, was expected to replace her.
(SFC, 10/24/96, p.C3)
1997 Oct 23, The Florida Marlins beat the Cleveland Indians, 8-7, in game five of the World Series.
(AP, 10/23/02)
1997 Oct 23, British au pair Louise Woodward, charged with murdering a baby in her care, testified at her trial in Cambridge, Mass., that she'd never hurt 8-month-old Matthew Eappen, saying, "I love kids."
(AP, 10/23/02)
1997 Oct 23, The stock market dropped 186.88 points in a ripple effect from an overnight drop in the Hong Kong market.
(SFC, 10/24/97, p.A1)
1997 Oct 23, A psychologist at UC Berkeley, S. Marc Breedlove, found that sexual activity among rats reduced the size of neurons at the base of the spinal cord. Smaller neurons are more active and fire more frequently and may have become "primed for more action."
(SFC, 10/23/97, p.A1)
1997 Oct 23, AIDS researchers reported a new chemokine molecule that blocks HIV from infecting cells.
(WSJ, 10/24/97, p.A1)
1997 Oct 23, The International Whaling Commission opened the way for an American Indian tribe, the Makah, to resume traditional whale hunts for the first time in seven decades.
(AP, 10/23/02)
1997 Oct 23, Algeria held local elections. The government claimed a 66% turnout. The winners will choose 2/3 of the members of the upper house of parliament. Pres. Zeroual will choose the other third. Opposition parties charged that the turnout was greatly inflated and that some poll watchers were roughed up and stopped from observing the tally.
(SFC, 10/24/97, p.D2,4)(SFC, 10/24/97, p.A10)
1997 Oct 23, In Colombia 2 observers from the Organization of American States were kidnapped by rebels and on candidate of the upcoming elections was killed. Rebels detonated some 20 bombs across the country and 2 policemen were killed as they tried to defuse car bombs.
(WSJ, 10/24/97, p.A1)(SFC, 10/24/97, p.A10)
1997 Oct 23, The UN threatened a trade ban against Iraq unless Iraq cooperates with weapons inspectors.
(SFC, 10/30/97, p.A12)
1998 Oct 23, The "BookTalk" telephone hotline to various authors, founded by David Knight, was described. Dial 818-788-9722 to listen to a variety of authors speak their mind.
(WSJ, 10/23/98, p.W12)
1998 Oct 23, An American brokered peace deal was reached at the Wye Plantation in Maryland between Yasser Arafat and Benjamin Netanyahu. Israeli and Palestinian extremists denounced the deal. Land for the Palestinians was exchanged for security guarantees to the Israelis backed by the American CIA. Pres. Clinton agreed to release Jonathan Pollard, who was jailed 11 years ago on charges of spying for Israel.
(SFC, 10/24/98, p.A1,10,13)(SFEC, 10/25/98, p.A17)
1998 Oct 23, Researchers reported the complete genetic sequence of the bacteria chlamydia trachomatis.
(SFC, 10/24/98, p.A3)
1998 Oct 23, Dr. Barnett Slepian, an obstetrician, gynecologist and abortion practitioner, was gunned down in his kitchen in Amherst, N.Y. James Charles Kopp (44), aka "Atomic Dog," was later sought in relation to the killing. In 1999 a warrant was issued for Kopp's arrest. Kopp was arrested in France in 2001. Kopp was returned to the US in 2002 and pleaded not guilty. In 2003 Kopp was found guilty of 2nd degree murder.
(SFEC, 10/25/98, p.A1)(SFC, 11/5/98, p.A7)(SFC, 5/6/99, p.A9)(SFC, 3/30/01, p.A3)(SFC, 6/6/02, p.A5)(SFC, 1/19/02, p.A1)
1998 Oct 23, Typhoon Babs pummeled the northern Philippines, killing at least 189.
(AP, 10/23/99)
1998 Oct 23, In Colombia Jesus Fernandez, alleged ringleader of the Norte del Valle drug cartel, was arrested in Medellin. He was also wanted by the US.
(SFC, 10/24/98, p.A12)
1998 Oct 23, In Iran voters selected the 86-member Assembly of Experts, who in turn will select the supreme leader of the country. Candidates for the Assembly were tested and graded on Islamic law by the 12-member Council of Guardians, who were in turn appointed by the supreme leader. The turnout was low and Conservatives won at least 54 of the 86 seats.
(WSJ, 10/22/98, p.A1)(SFC, 10/24/98, p.A14)(SFC, 10/26/98, p.A7)
1998 Oct 23, Peru and Ecuador settled their border dispute with a line along the Cordellera de Condor mountain range. Contiguous national parks were to be created in the disputed area. Tiwintza Hill, allocated to Peru, was to be granted as private property to Ecuador.
(SFC, 10/24/98, p.A12)
1998 Oct 23, In Kosovo, Serbia, 4 people were killed trying to cross into Albania when they stepped on mines.
(SFC, 10/24/98, p.A10)
1998 Oct 23, In Turkey 5 Kurdish rebels burned themselves to death in loyalty to their leader Abdullah Ocalan, who was expelled from Syria.
(SFC, 10/24/98, p.A14)
1999 Oct 23, The New York Yankees won the first game of the World Series, beating the Atlanta Braves, 4-to-1. The Yankees went on to sweep the series.
(AP, 10/23/00)
1999 Oct 23, Rev. Falwell and 200 members of his Baptist Church were scheduled to meet with 200 gay and lesbian religious leaders in Lynchburg, Va.
(SFC, 10/22/99, p.A1)
1999 Oct 23, A Ku Klux Klan rally was allowed to proceed in NYC with no masks as thousands of counter-demonstrators jeered them. 16 Klansmen and 2 Klan women appeared at Foley Square along with some 6,000 protestors and 2,000 tourists.
(SFC, 10/23/99, p.A3)(WSJ, 10/26/99, p.A26)(SFEC, 10/24/99, p.A2)(AP, 10/23/00)
1999 Oct 23, Pres. Jiang Zemin of China visited France and signed a $2.5 billion deal that included an order for 28 Airbus planes.
(SFEC, 10/27/99, p.A28)
1999 Oct 23, In Palermo, Italy, Giulio Andreotti (80), 7 times prime minister, was acquitted of charges that he was the Sicilian Mafia's protector in Rome.
(SFEC, 10/24/99, p.A17)
1999 Oct 23, In Mexico the first monarch butterflies arrived at sanctuaries in Michoacan in their annual migration.
(SFC, 11/6/99, p.A24)
1999 Oct 23, Palestine planned to issue a national currency and the IMF estimated that 2 years of preparations would be needed.
(SFEC, 10/27/99, p.A28)
2000 Oct 23, Pres. Clinton signed a bill for a national standard of .08% as the legal limit for alcohol in drunken driving.
(SFC, 10/24/00, p.A8)
2000 Oct 23, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright held groundbreaking talks in North Korea with communist leader Kim Jong Il.
(AP, 10/23/01)
2000 Oct 23, It was reported that General Electric had agreed to buy Honeywell for $48.4 billion in stock and assumed debt.
(SFC, 10/23/00, p.D1)
2000 Oct 23, In India at least 16 people were killed in 2 attacks in Assam state. Police blamed the United Liberation Front of Asom. Over 10,000 people have been killed since the group began its campaign 2 decades ago.
(SFC, 10/24/00, p.A16)
2000 Oct 23, In Israel Prime Minister Barak opened negotiations with Ariel Sharon and the Likud Party for a broad-based emergency government.
(SFC, 10/24/00, p.A14)
2000 Oct 23, The Int’l. Commission on Kosovo recommended that Kosovo become a separate state when the safety of its minorities can be guaranteed.
(SFC, 10/24/00, p.A16)
2000 Oct 23, In Lebanon Pres. Lahoud appointed Rafik Hariri as prime minister.
(SFC, 10/24/00, p.A16)
2000 Oct 23, Two more Palestinians died from injuries received during rioting in Nablus.
(SFC, 10/24/00, p.A14)
2000 Oct 23, In Peru Vladimiro Montesinos, the former intelligence chief, landed in Pisco as police and protesters clashed in Lima.
(SFC, 10/24/00, p.A14)
2000 Oct 23, Senegal struck the 1st cut-rate deal for AIDS drugs with discounts as much as 90% from US retail prices.
(WSJ, 10/24/00, p.A1)
2000 Oct 23, In Sri Lanka rebels launched an attack against the navy base at Trincomalee. The military said 24 combatants died including 18 rebels.
(WSJ, 10/24/00, p.A1)
2001 Oct 23, President Bush announced he had authorized money for improved post office security following the deaths of two postal workers from inhalation anthrax.
(AP, 10/23/02)
2001 Oct 23, Traces of anthrax were found at an off-site facility that handled mail for the White House.
(SFC, 10/24/01, p.A1)
2001 Oct 23, A relieved NASA team celebrated as the 2001 Mars Odyssey slipped into orbit around the Red Planet, two years after back-to-back failures by Mars missions. The $297 million Mars Odyssey spacecraft entered into a stable orbit following a 6-month voyage.
(SFC, 10/23/01, p.A13)(SFC, 10/24/01, p.C4)(AP, 10/23/02)
2001 Oct 23, US bombs in Kabul, Afghanistan, reportedly killed 22 Harkat ul-Mujahedeen fighters from Pakistan.
(SFC, 10/25/01, p.A3)
2001 Oct 23, John Ashcroft, US Attorney Gen’l., said 3 men wanted by German authorities, Said Bahaji, Ramzi Binalshibh and Zakariya Essabar, were part of a terrorist cell in Hamburg that included 3 men from the Sep 11 attack on the WTC.
(SFC, 10/24/01, p.A13)
2001 Oct 23, US military officers were sent to the Philippines to assess how the US might help the local war against terrorism.
(SFC, 10/24/01, p.A13)
2001 Oct 23, David B. Duncan of Anderson Accounting called a meeting to organize the destruction of Enron-related records. Duncan was fired in 2002.
(SFC, 1/16/02, p.A12)
2001 Oct 23, The MacArthur Foundation announced 23 "genius" award winners. Each would receive $100,000 over the next 5 years.
(SFC, 10/24/01, p.A15)
2001 Oct 23, African leaders gathered in Nigeria for the formal launch of the New Africa Initiative, aimed at reviving ailing their economies.
(WSJ, 10/23/01, p.A1)
2001 Oct 23, Israel rejected a request by Pres. Bush to withdraw from Palestinian territory as the violence continued.
(SFC, 10/24/01, p.C3)
2001 Oct 23, The Irish Republican Army (IRA) began to destroy its arsenal of weapons in a move to save the Northern Ireland peace process.
(SFC, 10/24/01, p.C3)(AP, 10/23/02)
2001 Oct 23, In the Philippines 6 suspected Muslim rebels surrendered and 3 were captured.
(SFC, 10/25/01, p.C2)
2002 Oct 23, The San Francisco Giants edged the Anaheim Angels, 4-3, to tie the World Series at two games each.
(AP, 10/23/07)
2002 Oct 23, Pres. Bush signed a $355.5 billion military budget, a $34 billion increase over fiscal 2002.
(SFC, 10/24/02, p.A3)
2002 Oct 23, Pres. Bush signed the Russian Democracy Act of 2002, intended to strengthen civil society and independent media in Russia. It authorized more than $50 million for democracy-building programs such as investigative journalism training and cultural exchanges.
(AP, 11/4/02)
2002 Oct 23, Allied planes bombed two military air defense sites in the southern no-fly zone over Iraq in the third round of strikes in a week.
(AP, 10/23/02)
2002 Oct 23, Adolph Green (b.1914), lyricist, died. His work with Betty Comden included the screenplay for "Singin' in the Rain."
(SFC, 10/25/02, p.A4)
2002 Oct 23, Lady Antonia Fraser (96), the Countess of Longford, a historian who wrote biographies of Queen Victoria and the Duke of Wellington, died. She was born as Elizabeth Harman and wrote under the name Elizabeth Longford.
(AP, 10/23/02)(SFC, 10/28/02, p.A17)
2002 Oct 23, In China rescuers fought to save 29 miners trapped underground after a coal mine explosion in the northern province of Shanxi killed 21. China's death toll from mining accidents up to July this year was 3,620, up 4.8 percent from a year earlier
(AP, 10/25/02)(Reuters, 10/26/02)
2002 Oct 23, In Moscow 40-50 Chechen separatist guerrillas seized a theater and threatened to shoot or blow up 700 hostages unless Russia pulled its troops out of their homeland. The next day they killed one woman.
(AP, 10/24/02)(SFC, 10/24/02, p.A1)
2002 Oct 23, The European Parliament's Conference of Presidents announced that it chose Oswaldo Paya of Cuba for the prestigious 2002 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.
(AP, 10/24/02)
2002 Oct 23, The Nigerian government said it rejects a World Court ruling that granted possession of a disputed oil-rich peninsula to neighboring Cameroon.
(AP, 10/23/02)
2002 Oct 23, Turkey's chief prosecutor moved to outlaw the Justice and Development Party for ignoring court order that Erdogan step down as leader. The moderate Islamic party, led by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was also Turkey's most popular party.
(SFC, 10/24/02, p.A11)(AP, 11/4/02)
2003 Oct 23, Pres. Bush, was heckled inside and outside Australia's Parliament. He said that the war in Iraq was right and inevitable, but that Americans and Australians "still have decisive days ahead" and that the broader war on terror could be long and drawn out.
(AP, 10/23/03)
2003 Oct 23, President Bush concluded his Pacific trip with a visit to Hawaii, where he dropped flowers into the water at the sunken battleship USS Arizona.
(AP, 10/23/08)
2003 Oct 23, Bill Clinton announced that his AIDS foundation clinched a deal to cut drug prices and improve care in poor nations.
(WSJ, 10/23/03, p.A1)
2003 Oct 23, In Santa Clara, California, 7-Eleven owner Narinder Badwal learned that he had sold the winning California Lottery and was entitled to a $250,000 commission. He then learned that he had sold the winning ticket worth $49,747,500 to himself.
(SFC, 10/28/03, p.A15)
2003 Oct 23, Madame Chiang Kai-shek (105), who became one of the world's most famous women as she helped her husband fight the Japanese during World War II and later the Chinese Communists, died in NYC.
(AP, 10/24/03)
2003 Oct 23, In northern Afghan attackers fired rockets at a pickup truck ferrying passengers, killing 10 people, including two children.
(AP, 10/24/03)
2003 Oct 23, Chinese officials reported that accidents in China's mines and factories killed 11,449 people in the first nine months of this year despite a nationwide safety crackdown.
(AP, 10/23/03)
2003 Oct 23, A bomb exploded near a pipeline in northern Iraq, killing two Iraqi Civil Defense Corps members and wounding 10 others.
(AP, 10/23/03)
2003 Oct 23, A 3-day dominos tournament began at the Ocho Rios resort in Jamaica.
(SFC, 10/24/03, p.D3)
2003 Oct 23, Japan refused to grant citizenship to a Japanese couple's twins because they were born to an American surrogate mother in California.
(WSJ, 10/24/03, p.A1)
2003 Oct 23, Masked Palestinian gunmen killed two men suspected of being informers for Israel, then displayed their bodies in the central square of the Tulkarem refugee camp.
(AP, 10/23/03)
2003 Oct 23, Venezuelan troops and police killed 7 heavily armed gunmen during a raid on a drug trafficking ring in northeast Venezuela.
(AP, 10/24/03)
2004 Oct 23, The Boston Red Sox took Game 1 of the World Series, defeating the St. Louis Cardinals 11-9.
(AP, 10/23/05)
2004 Oct 23, Robert Merrill (87), NY Metropolitan Opera star, died in NYC.
(SFC, 10/26/04, p.A2)
2004 Oct 23, A purported Taliban militant set off grenades strapped to his body on a bustling Kabul street, killing Jamie Michalsky (23), an American woman, and an Afghan girl.
(AP, 10/24/04)(SSFC, 10/24/04, p.A3)
2004 Oct 23, The U.S. military arrested a "senior leader" in the network run by Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, along with five others during overnight raids in the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.
(AP, 10/23/04)
2004 Oct 23, A suicide car bomber set off an explosion at a police station near Khan al-Baghdadi in western Iraq, killing at least 16 policemen and wounding 40 other people. A 2nd car bomb killed 4 Iraqi guardsmen at Ishaqi near Samarra. 2 foreign truck drivers were fatally shot in Mosul.
(SSFC, 10/24/04, p.A3)
2004 Oct 23, Some 50 unarmed Iraqi soldiers were killed in eastern Iraq as they headed home on leave after basic training. Many were shot execution style with gunshots to the back of the head.
(AP, 10/24/04)
2004 Oct 23, Gunmen opened fire on a convoy of Turkish trucks in Mosul, killing two Turkish drivers and wounding two others.
(AP, 10/23/04)
2004 Oct 23, Several earthquakes, the largest measuring 6.8, hit northwestern Japan, toppling homes, causing blackouts, cutting water and gas and derailing a bullet train. 40 people were killed and as many as 1,900 injured.
(SFC, 10/28/04, p.A12)(Econ, 10/30/04, p.50)(AP, 10/23/05)
2004 Oct 23, Kosovo's Serb minority largely boycotted general elections, dealing a blow to international efforts to create multiethnic harmony in the province. About 1.3 million voters in Kosovo and some 108,000 Kosovo Serbs living in Serbia after fleeing the conflict were eligible to elect representatives to a 120-seat assembly, which will choose a president and a government that holds limited authority. 10 assembly seats are reserved for the Serb minority.
(AP, 10/24/04)
2004 Oct 23, The bullet-riddled body of a Palestinian was found near a trash bin on a Gaza City. Hamas said it killed the man on suspicion he passed along information that helped Israel assassinate the group's founder and nine others.
(AP, 10/23/04)
2004 Oct 23, Tunisia’s Pres. Ben Ali (68) won elections with 94.5% of the vote.
(WSJ, 10/26/04, p.A1)(Econ, 10/23/04, p.46)
2004 Oct 23, In Ukraine tens of thousands of people supporting opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko rallied in Kiev demanding that next week's presidential election be free and fair.
(AP, 10/23/04)
2005 Oct 23, The Chicago White Sox took a 2-0 lead in the World Series as they beat the Houston Astros 7-6.
(AP, 10/23/06)
2005 Oct 23, In SF the 2nd Annual Nike Women’s Marathon over 15,000 runners raised $14 million to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
(SFC, 10/24/05, p.B3)
2005 Oct 23, An earthquake destroyed homes and killed five people near Afghanistan's eastern border with Pakistan.
(AP, 10/23/05)
2005 Oct 23, Argentina's ruling party dominated midterm elections seen as a test of President Nestor Kirchner's two-year-old government, with his Peronist party picking up support in Congress and his wife winning a Senate seat. Christina Fernandez de Kirchner won 46% to 20% over Hilda Gonzalez de Duhalde to represent the province of Buenos Aires.
(AP, 10/24/05)(Econ, 10/29/05, p.37)
2005 Oct 23, Brazilians struck down a proposal to ban the sale of guns in a national referendum, rejecting a bid to stem one of the world's highest firearm murder rates. Gun violence took the lives of about 39,000 people in Brazil each year, more than any country in the world.
(AP, 10/25/05)
2005 Oct 23, In southern China an explosion at a coal mine killed 15 miners and injured 3.
(AP, 10/24/05)
2005 Oct 23, In Colombia suspected rebels launched homemade bombs at a police station and nearby homes in a southwest town near the border with Ecuador, killing 7 people.
(AP, 10/24/05)
2005 Oct 23, A suicide bombing in a Baghdad square killed 4 people. Another suicide car bomber killed 2 civilians in Kirkuk. In Tikrit a bomb killed a police colonel and his 2 sons. 2 girls (7 and 9) in a nearby car were also killed in the explosion. Drive-by shootings around Baquba killed 5 people. Gunmen killed 3 Iraqis driving a water truck to an army base near Taji. Insurgents killed the head of a Shiite anti-Saddam Hussein group and his driver outside Amara.
(SFC, 10/24/05, p.A3)
2005 Oct 23, Militant Palestinians fought members of a Lebanese leftist party in a gun battle that left one man dead and three wounded outside a refugee camp.
(AP, 10/23/05)
2005 Oct 23, Mexico's ruling party chose Felipe Calderon, the nation's former energy secretary, as its candidate for presidential elections next July.
(AP, 10/23/05)
2005 Oct 23, Hurricane Wilma drifted northward away from Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula where the storm left 8 people dead. In 2006 insurers put the damage from Wilma at $3 billion, the largest insured losses in Mexican history.
(AP, 10/23/05)(Econ, 10/29/05, p.38)(AP, 10/19/06)
2005 Oct 23, Stella Obasanjo (59), the wife of Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, died after undergoing liposuction surgery in Spain. In 2009 A court in Malaga convicted plastic surgeon Antonio Mena Molina of negligent homicide. He was given a suspended sentence of a year in jail, barred from practicing medicine for three years, and ordered to pay euro120,000 ($175,000) in damages to the woman's son.
(AP, 10/23/05)(AP, 9/22/09)
2005 Oct 23, Poles voted for a new president in an election that opinion polls showed to be a close-fought battle between Donald Tusk and his vision of a liberal, free-market Poland, and Lech Kaczynski who favors state intervention and Catholic conservatism. Warsaw's conservative Mayor Lech Kaczynski won Poland's presidential runoff vote 54%-46%.
(AP, 10/23/05)(Econ, 10/29/05, p.52)
2005 Oct 23, Taiwan said it is ready to produce its own Tamiflu, the antiviral avian flu drug, and will not let patent talks with Swiss drug maker Roche AG stand in the way.
(http://tinyurl.com/9r8g5)
2005 Oct 23, Pope Benedict XVI named five new saints at the close of a 3-week Synod of Bishops. They included: Rev. Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga, a Chilean Jesuit who was known for his work with the poor as well as the young; from Ukraine Josef Bilczewski, archbishop of Lviv, who was greatly admired by Catholics, Orthodox Christians and Jews alike during World War and the Rev. Zygmunt Gorazdowski, who founded the Congregation for the Sisters of St. Joseph to care for the sick and poor; and Italians Felice da Nicosia, a lay Capuchin who lived in the 1700s, and the Rev. Gaetano Cantanoso, who founded the Veronican Sisters of the Holy Face in 1934.
(AP, 10/23/05)
2006 Oct 23, In Texas a district judge sentenced Jeffrey Skilling (52), former chief executive of Enron Corp., to over 24 years in prison for his role in the financial fraud that destroyed Enron. He was also ordered Skilling to pay $45 million in restitution to Enron investors.
(SFC, 10/23/06, p.D1)
2006 Oct 23, Ford Motor Co. posted a 3rd quarter loss of $5.8 billion.
(WSJ, 10/24/06, p.A3)
2006 Oct 23, Tod Skinner (b.1958), American free climber, died in a fall at Yosemite National Park after his harness broke.
(WSJ, 1/11/07, p.B10)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd_Skinner)
2006 Oct 23, An Afghan girl was killed and two wounded when a mortar test-fired by NATO troops fell short of its target and hit a home in eastern Kunar province.
(AFP, 10/24/06)
2006 Oct 23, An Australian scientist said Global warming will force changes to Australia's A$4.8 billion ($3.6 billion) wine export industry, threatening the very existence of some varieties as temperatures rise.
(AP, 10/23/06)
2006 Oct 23, In central Bangladesh a ferry packed with dozens of people going home for an Islamic festival capsized in a river after hitting a cargo boat, killing at least 15 people.
(AP, 10/23/06)
2006 Oct 23, In southeastern Chad armed men attacked Am Timan, 24 hours after briefly seizing the town of Goz Beida near the Sudan border. The insurgents, calling themselves the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development (UFDD), the latest in a string of titles grouping various rebel factions, have said they want polls to end the "catastrophic" rule of President Idriss Deby.
(Reuters, 10/24/06)
2006 Oct 23, In Hungary riots left 167 injured, including 17 police officers, while 131 were detained. The anti-government demonstrations coincided with Hungary's commemoration of the 50th anniversary of its uprising against Soviet rule. The next day Viktor Orban, Hungarian conservative opposition leader, came under withering attack for his role in fueling the far-right protests in Budapest.
(AFP, 10/24/06)(AP, 10/23/07)
2006 Oct 23, Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki ordered security forces to crack down on unlawful acts by armed factions. A bombing in Baghdad killed 3 Iraqis. 52 bodies were found across Baghdad. Ahmed Qusai al-Taayie, a 41-year-old reserve soldier from Ann Arbor, Mich., went missing and was believed kidnapped in Baghdad. On Feb 22, 2012, the remains of Ahmed al-Taie were turned over to Iraqi authorities.
(AP, 10/24/06)(SFC, 10/24/06, p.A5)(AP, 11/18/06)(AP, 2/27/12)
2006 Oct 23, Israeli troops shot and killed seven Palestinians, including a militant who led a rocket-launching operation.
(AP, 10/23/06)
2006 Oct 23, The military regime in Myanmar ordered the International Red Cross to close five key field offices in the country.
(AP, 11/27/06)
2006 Oct 23, In Panama mechanical problems triggered a fire that raced through a bus in Panama City, killing at least 18 people, injuring 25.
(AP, 10/23/06)
2006 Oct 23, Portuguese bank BPI said it will open 30 new branches in fast-growing Angola next year, bringing its total number of outlets in the oil-rich southwestern African nation to 100 by the end of 2007.
(AP, 10/23/06)
2006 Oct 23, In Uruguay thousands of taxi and truck drivers went on strike to demand lower fuel prices in a challenge to the center-left government. The strike ended later in the day.
(AP, 10/24/06)
2006 Oct 23, A WTO draft report said Vietnam has succeeded in introducing the reforms necessary for it to join the World Trade Organization and become the world body's 150th member.
(AP, 10/23/06)
2007 Oct 23, Thousands more residents were ordered to evacuate their homes, bringing the number of people chased away by the wind-whipped flames that have engulfed Southern California to at least 300,000. At least 700 homes were already destroyed. President Bush declared a federal emergency for seven counties.
(AP, 10/23/07)(AP, 10/23/08)
2007 Oct 23, The US space shuttle Discovery launched from Cape Canaveral with a 7-person crew for a 14-day mission to the int’l. space station.
(SFC, 10/24/07, p.A9)
2007 Oct 23, In Afghanistan a child and 5 militants were killed in Zabul province after militants fired on coalition soldiers from a tent.
(AP, 10/23/07)(AP, 10/24/07)
2007 Oct 23, Fernando de la Rua, Argentina’s former president (1999-2001), was charged with manslaughter in connection with bloody street riots in 2001.
(WSJ, 10/24/07, p.A1)
2007 Oct 23, It was reported that police patrolling the red-light district of the Belgian capital have been ordered to stop visiting brothels and drinking in bars when on duty.
(Reuters, 10/23/07)
2007 Oct 23, In London a Quran written in 1203, believed to be the oldest known complete copy, sold for more than $2.3 million at an auction. A nearly complete, 10th-century Kufic Quran, thought to be from North Africa or the near East, sold $1,870,000.
(AP, 10/24/07)
2007 Oct 23, The Canadian dollar roared to a 33-year high against the US dollar after domestic retail sales data for August beat expectations.
(AP, 10/23/07)
2007 Oct 23, French lawmakers adopted a hotly contested bill that would institute language exams and potential DNA testing for prospective immigrants, making it more difficult for families to join loved ones in France.
(AP, 10/23/07)
2007 Oct 23, A US helicopter opened fire on a group of men as they were planting roadside bombs in a Sunni stronghold north of Baghdad, then chased them into a nearby house, killing 11 Iraqis, including at least six civilians. Iraq pledged to rein in Kurdish rebels who are launching attacks on Turkey from mountain hideouts near the border after Ankara threatened to send forces into Iraqi territory to confront the guerrillas.
(AP, 10/23/07)(Reuters, 10/23/07)
2007 Oct 23, Israel killed a top Gaza militant with a missile strike on his car prompting threats of more rocket attacks on Israeli border towns. A Palestinian prisoner who was wounded in rioting at an Israeli desert prison died, prompting Palestinian threats of revenge and accusations that the man was abused by Israeli authorities.
(AP, 10/23/07)(WSJ, 10/24/07, p.A1)
2007 Oct 23, Police broke up an Italian-Canadian mafia clan that ran drug trafficking and money laundering operations, arresting 12 people and seizing millions of dollars in assets. The clan was led from Canada by Nick and Vito Rizzuto, a father and son, who were jailed for previous crimes respectively in 2006 and 2005.
(AP, 10/23/07)
2007 Oct 23, Lim Goh Tong (b.1918), Chinese businessman, died in Kuala Lumpur. The casino king of Malaysia had made a fortune in gambling casinos and a cruise fleet. His family fortune was estimated at $4.2 billion.
(AP, 10/23/07)(WSJ, 10/27/07, p.A6)
2007 Oct 23, At least 21 oil workers were killed when a drilling rig hit an oil platform in stormy weather, spilling gas and oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Pemex said the workers who died included four Pemex employees, seven employees of the subcontractor company that operated the rig, at least one rescue boat crew member, and six others who worked for other companies. On Dec 16 Pemex announced that the well was finally capped. Roughly 420 barrels of oil per day had spilled from the damaged platform since the accident.
(AP, 10/25/07)(AP, 12/16/07)
2007 Oct 23, A bomb courier accidentally blew up a taxi in Russia's Dagestan region, killing herself and wounding eight other people.
(AP, 10/23/07)
2007 Oct 23, First lady Laura Bush helped launch a screening facility in Saudi Arabia as part of a U.S.-Saudi initiative to raise breast cancer awareness in the kingdom where doctors struggle to break long-held taboos about the disease.
(AP, 10/23/07)
2007 Oct 23, Mohammed Atif Siddique (21), a British-born Muslim student, described at his trial as a "wannabe suicide bomber," was jailed in Scotland for 8 years after being convicted of promoting Islamist extremism on the Internet. On Feb 9, 2010, his conviction was overturned after a court in Scotland ruled that the trial judge did not properly instruct the jury.
(AFP, 10/23/07)(AP, 2/9/10)
2007 Oct 23, A new Bin Laden tape called for foreign forces to be driven from Darfur. The Justice and Equality Movement, one of the leading Darfur rebel groups, attacked the Defra oil field in Sudan’s Kordofan region and abducted 2 foreign workers. A rebel chief gave a one-week ultimatum for foreign oil companies to cease operating in the zone.
(SFC, 10/24/07, p.A3)(AP, 10/25/07)
2007 Oct 23, Turkey's foreign minister rejected any cease-fire by Kurdish rebels as he met with Iraqi leaders in Baghdad to press them to crack down on the guerrillas. Turkish forces massed on the border and tensions rose over a threatened military incursion.
(AP, 10/23/07)
2007 Oct 23, In Uzbekistan Karim Bozorboyev, leader of the Esguliq rights group in the central city of Syrdarya, was arrested and charged with fraud. Bozorboyev joined the group in 2004, after he left Fidokorlar, a government-affiliated political party, saying he was disgusted by the amount of corruption among Uzbek officials.
(AP, 10/24/07)
2007 Oct 23, In Venezuela thousands of university students scuffled with police and government supporters during a protest against constitutional reforms that would let President Hugo Chavez run for re-election indefinitely.
(AP, 10/23/07)
2008 Oct 23, Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the current financial crisis is a "once-in-a-century credit tsunami" which will have a severe impact on the US economy, driving unemployment higher. Greenspan also said he was "shocked" at the breakdown in US credit markets and that he was "partially" wrong to resist regulation of some securities.
(AP, 10/23/08)(Reuters, 10/23/08)
2008 Oct 23, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the US is suspending a trade deal with Bolivia. She called it unfortunate but necessary because Bolivian President Evo Morales has failed to improve anti-drug efforts.
(AP, 10/23/08)
2008 Oct 23, NYC Mayor Bloomberg persuaded the city council, in a 29-22 vote, to amend the term limit law allowing him to run for re-election next year.
(SFC, 10/24/08, p.A4)
2008 Oct 23, In California a new solar thermal power plant, built by startup Ausra, opened north of Bakersfield. It will generate as much as 5 megawatts, enough for 3,750 homes. Ausra and other companies planned bigger plants in the future.
(SFC, 10/24/08, p.C1)
2008 Oct 23, In Afghanistan a US coalition raid in Paktika province killed three insurgents and detained four others. Three Turks were kidnapped in Khost province. In southern Helmand province armed assailants attacked a man and gouged out his eyes in front of his family during a gruesome assault.
(AP, 10/24/08)(AP, 10/25/08)(AP, 10/26/08)
2008 Oct 23, England Schools Minister Jim Knight said millions of children in England aged from five to 16 in state-funded schools will receive compulsory lessons about subjects including sex and drug use.
(AFP, 10/23/08)
2008 Oct 23, Canada’s Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said the government would guarantee borrowing by the nation's banks to ease a lending crunch and keep them on equal footing with foreign competitors. The Bank of Canada said the global financial crisis, a US recession and falling commodity prices will bring Canada to the brink of a recession in late 2008 and early 2009.
(Reuters, 10/23/08)
2008 Oct 23, Rebel attacks using land mines in Chechnya killed one Russian soldier and wounded 10 other servicemen and police.
(AP, 10/24/08)
2008 Oct 23, China arrested six people for their alleged role in supplying contaminated milk to the country's dairy companies, as the Health Ministry said more than 3,600 Chinese children remain hospitalized after consuming compromised products. Scores of villagers in a remote timber region ransacked the offices of a forestry company and fought with security guards, accusing the company of paying too little for use of their land.
(AP, 10/23/08)(AP, 10/27/08)
2008 Oct 23, China and Singapore signed a free trade agreement on the eve of a summit of European and Asian leaders in Beijing. Held every two years, ASEM has no mandate to issue decisions, but participants hope it will produce some degree of consensus ahead of a Nov. 15 meeting of the world's top economies in Washington to discuss the worst financial crisis since the 1930s.
(AP, 10/23/08)(WSJ, 10/24/08, p.A13)
2008 Oct 23, Colombia's director of domestic intelligence resigned after her agency was caught spying on a prominent political opponent of President Alvaro Uribe. At least six small explosive devices left in trash cans detonated in Bogota, wounding 18 people and frightening residents.
(AP, 10/24/08)
2008 Oct 23, In Croatia Ivo Pukanic (47), who owned and edited Nacional, an influential publication known for its investigative journalism and Nacional's marketing director, Niko Franjic, died when an explosive device was placed near their car in the capital, Zagreb. On Oct 31 Croatian police filed murder charges against five people over the bombing deaths. In 2010 six alleged members of a crime gang were convicted of conspiring to assassinate Pukanic and a fellow worker. Main suspect Zeljko Milovanovic, who was tried in absentia, was sentenced to the maximum 40 years in prison. He was being held in neighboring Serbia and tried on similar charges. 5 other defendants were sentenced to 15 to 33 years in prison.
(AP, 10/24/08)(AP, 10/31/08)(AP, 11/3/10)
2008 Oct 23, Cuba and the European Union ended a five-year standoff by signing an agreement that calls for EU members to send the island euro2 million (US$2.6 million) in immediate hurricane recovery aid and up to euro30 million (US$38.8 million) more in financing next year.
(AP, 10/23/08)
2008 Oct 23, The European Parliament awarded a prestigious rights prize to jailed Chinese dissident Hu Jia on the eve of a key Beijing summit and despite pressure from Beijing not to honor him.
(AFP, 10/23/08)
2008 Oct 23, A European Union court has ruled that EU governments should no longer freeze the funds of People's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran, an Iranian opposition group on the bloc's terror blacklist. A British court ruled in its favor last year.
(AP, 10/23/08)
2008 Oct 23, France’s Pres. Sarkozy unveiled a strategic national investment fund that will buy stakes in French industries with borrowed money to protect them from foreign predators.
(Econ, 11/1/08, p.62)
2008 Oct 23, A Paris criminal court convicted nine people including a French-Algerian former prison inmate who admitted establishing an Islamic group that called for armed jihad in France.
(AP, 10/24/08)
2008 Oct 23, The French Navy captured nine pirates near the Gulf of Aden finding anti-tank missiles, other weapons and ship boarding gear on the boats. A Somali pirate warned that if a hijacked Ukrainian arms ship was attacked the ship's 20-man crew would be killed.
(AP, 10/23/08)
2008 Oct 23, A Greek minister resigned after being accused of involvement in a burgeoning scandal involving a state land swap with a powerful Orthodox monastery that has undermined the government's popularity. Minister of State Theodoros Roussopoulos, who is also the government spokesman, said he was stepping down in order to defend himself against a "malicious and totally groundless attack."
(AP, 10/23/08)
2008 Oct 23, A huge explosion at an illegal fireworks factory in western India killed 27 people, including 12 children.
(AP, 10/23/08)
2008 Oct 23, The US relinquished control of a southern province that includes Sunni areas once known as the "triangle of death," handing security responsibility to the Iraqi government. Babil was the 12th of 18 Iraqi provinces to be placed under Iraqi control. In Baghdad Iraq's labor minister escaped assassination when a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden SUV into his convoy, killing at least nine people.
(AP, 10/23/08)
2008 Oct 23, An Italian military helicopter crashed in northeastern France, killing all eight people on board.
(AP, 10/23/08)
2008 Oct 23, In Mexico 2 people were found dead in Tijuana, across the border from San Diego, California, including a badly burned corpse left in a trash bin.
(AP, 10/23/08)
2008 Oct 23, Nigeria's Supreme Court deferred ruling on challenges to President Umaru Yar'Adua's April 2007 election victory but did not set a date for handing down its final judgment. Nigerian troops killed two militants in a river clash with insurgents in the volatile oil-rich Niger Delta. 2 AK 47 rifles and ammunitions were recovered from the militants.
(Reuters, 10/23/08)(AFP, 10/24/08)
2008 Oct 23, In Pakistan suspected US spy drones fired missiles into a school set up by a top Taliban commander in a tribal area bordering Afghanistan, killing 11 people. Residents said that all of the victims were local tribesmen, adding that locals had fired at two suspected US drones hovering above.
(AFP, 10/23/08)
2008 Oct 23, Mohammed Albaden, a Palestinian assailant, stabbed two Israelis in an east Jerusalem neighborhood, killing an 86-year-old man and wounding a police officer in what authorities called a "terror incident."
(AP, 10/23/08)
2008 Oct 23, In Romania vandals rampaged through a sprawling Jewish cemetery in Bucharest, toppling tombstones and smashing markers for as many as 200 graves.
(AP, 10/24/08)
2008 Oct 23, Russia, which sent a warship to Somalia's coast to combat pirates, asked the African nation for carte blanche to use force in its territorial waters.
(Reuters, 10/23/08)
2008 Oct 23, South Africa’s National Assembly approved new legislation to disband the Scorpions investigating unit and incorporate it into the police force.
(AP, 10/24/08)
2008 Oct 23, The Ukrainian currency plunged against the dollar as people raced to exchange booths to convert their savings into US currency. Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the Russia’s desire to extend its port lease at Sevastopol "cannot be a subject of discussion." It said that Russian ships will have to leave Ukrainian waters in 2017.
(AP, 10/23/08)
2008 Oct 23, In southern Yemen a tropical storm, formed out in the Indian Ocean earlier in the week, hit the remote Hadramut province. Flooding which followed left at least 90 people dead and some 20,000 displaced.
(AP, 10/25/08)(SSFC, 10/26/08, p.A18)(AP, 10/27/08)
2009 Oct 23, President Barack Obama signed a declaration making the swine flu outbreak a national emergency, giving his health chief the power to let hospitals move emergency rooms offsite to speed treatment and protect noninfected patients.
(AP, 10/25/09)
2009 Oct 23, Top US safety officials met with their Chinese counterparts to discuss complaints from American homeowners of illness and other damage from suspect drywall imported from China. Consumer Products Safety Commission Chairman Inez Tenenbaum said that the two sides were talking about the issue while they await results of tests on what is causing the problems.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, US regulators shut down 3 small banks in Florida and one each in Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin bringing the total for the year of failed US banks to 106.
(SFC, 10/24/09, p.A6)
2009 Oct 23, Anthony Pellicano and associate Alexander Proctor pleaded no contest to threatening LA Times reporter Anita Busch, who was putting together a story on actor Steven Seagal’s possible connections to organized crime. Pellicano, a former Hollywood private eye, was already serving a 15 year sentence for digging up dirt public figures.
(SFC, 10/24/09, p.A8)
2009 Oct 23, In Richmond, Ca., a girl (16) left a homecoming dance at Richmond High gym and joined a group of men drinking in a nearby alley. She became drunk and was raped and robbed by as many as 10 young men. Police found her semi-conscious near a lunch table and arrested one suspect fleeing the scene. 2 more suspects, aged 15 and 21, were arrested on Oct 27. On Oct 28 three juveniles were arrested in connection to the crime and charged as adults. A 6th suspect was arrested on Oct 29. On Jan 19 John Crane Jr. (43) turned himself in for participating in the rape. In 2010 Cody Smith, the youngest of 7 defendants was released, because his Miranda rights had been violated. In 2011 the West Contra Costa Unified School District settled a civil suit and agreed to pay the victim $4 million. On Sep 6, 2012, Manuel Ortega (22) pleaded guilty as was expected to receive 32 years behind bars. On Aug 15, 2013, Jose Montano (22) was sentenced to 33 years to life; Marcelles Peter (20) was sentenced to 29 years to life.
(SFC, 10/27/09, p.C6)(SFC, 10/28/09, p.A10)(SFC, 10/29/09, p.A1)(SFC, 10/30/09, p.A1)(SFC, 1/22/10, p.C9)(SFC, 12/22/10, p.C2)(SSFC, 1/23/11, p.C3)(SFC, 9/7/12, p.A20)(SFC, 8/16/13, p.D1)
2009 Oct 23, In Colorado Miguel Angel Caro Quintero (46), a Mexican drug kingpin, pleaded guilty in Denver to federal drug and racketeering charges. He had led the Sonora Cartel in the 1980s and faced up to 20 years in prison.
(SFC, 10/24/09, p.A5)
2009 Oct 23, In Missouri police found the body of Elizabeth Olton (9). She had gone missing 2 days earlier. A 15-year-old, who led police to her body, was charged with her murder.
(SSFC, 10/25/09, p.A8)
2009 Oct 23, In New Jersey Rev. Ed Hinds (61), a Catholic priest, was found stabbed 32 times at the rectory of St. Patrick’s Church in Chatham. The next day Jose Feliciano (64), a janitor, was charged with the slaying. The priest had fired him after discovering an outstanding arrest warrant for sexually touching a child. In 2012 Feliciano was sentenced to life in prison.
(SFC, 10/24/09, p.A5)(SSFC, 10/25/09, p.A8)(SFC, 4/21/12, p.A5)
2009 Oct 23, African leaders, meeting in Uganda, ratified a convention on the protection of the continent's internally-displaced people, refugees and returnees, billed as the first of its kind worldwide.
(AFP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, In southern Afghanistan 2 US soldiers were killed by a home-made bomb. A Danish soldier lost his life in clashes with Taliban-led insurgents in the same region.
(AFP, 10/24/09)
2009 Oct 23, Australia approved Yanzhou Coal's 3.2 billion US dollar takeover of miner Felix Resources, its biggest by a Chinese firm, in a breakthrough for the Asian giant's scramble for commodities.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, British far-right leader Nick Griffin accused the BBC of mounting a "lynch mob" on him in a charged appearance on a TV political panel show, and called for it to be re-recorded.
(AFP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, British couple Paul and Rachel Chandler were heading from the Seychelles to Tanzania in their yacht, the Lynn Rival, when the distress signal was sent. Reports followed that the couple were seized by pirates. The couple were taken to the Somali pirate lair of Harardhere and $7 million was later demanded for their release. The Chandlers were released on Nov 14, 2010, after a ransom of at least 750,000 dollars was paid.
(AP, 10/27/09)(AFP, 10/29/09)(AP, 10/31/09)(AFP, 11/14/10)
2009 Oct 23, In Canada a judge in Winnipeg acquitted Kyle Unger (38) of the 1990 murder of Brigitte Grenier (16). DNA tests in 2005 showed that hair on the victim came from somebody else. Unger had spent 13 years in jail before he was granted bail in 2005.
(SFC, 10/24/09, p.A2)
2009 Oct 23, Chinese state media reported that police have arrested 42 alleged members of a trafficking ring that sold dozens of infants stolen or bought from their rural parents.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, The Czech Republic and NATO said that they backed a reworked US missile defense plan meant to defend against threats from Iran and other nations.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, In France Jean Sarkozy (23), President Nicolas Sarkozy's son, was elected to the board of the organization that runs France's most important business district after a dramatic withdrawal of his bid for the top spot amid fierce accusations of favoritism. He had been the leading candidate to head EPAD, a quasi-governmental organization overseeing real estate and the administration of La Defense, the neighborhood of skyscrapers west of Paris that is home to top companies and the workplace of 150,000 people.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, In Honduras a negotiator for ousted leftist President Manuel Zelaya said the latest round of talks to resolve the dispute over the June 28 coup has ended in failure, adding that further talks were unlikely. Escaped inmates in Santa Barbara set fire to a prison, a public market and a cultural center before authorities stopped the riot and captured 76 of the 79 fugitives.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, A Kenyan court released gang leader, Maina Njenga, after prosecutors dropped 28 murder charges against him. He had been in prison since 2006. His Mungiki gang was notorious for beheading its victims.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, In northwest Pakistan a suicide bomber killed 8 people in Kamra, near the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex. An anti-tank mine killed 16 wedding guests in the tribal belt. Most of the dead were women and children. A car bomb exploded outside a restaurant in the northwestern city of Peshawar, wounding 15.
(AP, 10/23/09)(AFP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, In Puerto Rico an earthshaking explosion at the Caribbean Petroleum Corp. in the suburb of Bayamon, just west of the capital of San Juan, led to the evacuation of more than 1,500 people. Authorities wee concerned about those downwind of the fire.
(AP, 10/25/09)
2009 Oct 23, Somali Islamist rebels threatened to attack the capitals of Burundi and Uganda, the two central African countries that have deployed peacekeeping troops to prop up Somali's transitional government.
(AFP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, Swiss and US authorities said the US has asked Switzerland to hand over Roman Polanski to authorities in California, where he could serve up to two years in prison for having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, In Thailand the annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations began inauspiciously when half the bloc's 10 leaders failed to show up at the opening of the 3-day conference due to a tropical storm, domestic politics, a VIP visit and a possible illness. ASEAN nations inaugurated their first regional human rights commission, a watchdog immediately derided as toothless by activists who walked out of a meeting to protest being snubbed by five of the governments involved.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, Bishops attending a Vatican meeting on Africa issued a blunt ultimatum to corrupt Catholic political leaders in Africa: repent or leave public office.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, The World Health Organization said nearly 5,000 people have reportedly died from swine flu since it emerged this year and developed into a global epidemic.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, In Zimbabwe armed police raided a house belonging to PM Morgan Tsvangirai's party in a new threat to the country's faltering unity government.
(AFP, 10/24/09)
2010 Oct 23, The whistleblowing organization WikiLeaks said it will soon publish 15,000 more secret Afghan war documents.
(AP, 10/23/10)
2010 Oct 23, The SF Giants won a trip to the World Series. In Pennsylvania Juan Uribe hit a tiebreaking homer off Ryan Madson with two outs in the eighth inning and the Giants held off the Phillies 3-2 in Game 6 of the NL championship series. This finished off the Phillies' bid to become the first NL team in 66 years to win three straight pennants.
(AP, 10/24/10)(SSFC, 10/24/10, p.1)
2010 Oct 23, In western Afghanistan a suicide car bomber and three armed militants wearing explosives vests and dressed as women attacked a UN compound, but Afghan security forces killed the attackers and no UN employees were harmed. NATO forces killed two civilians, including a teenage boy, during a fight with insurgents in Wardak province. In Kandahar a suicide bomber on a motorbike blew himself up before reaching a checkpoint, killing two civilians and wounding two others. A Danish soldier was killed in Helmand province after insurgents attacked his patrol. Joao Silva (44), a photographer for The New York Times, was seriously injured when he stepped on a mine in Kandahar province.
(AP, 10/23/10)
2010 Oct 23, Bahrainis voted for the third time since reforms which turned the Gulf state into a constitutional monarchy, with the Shiite majority demanding an easing of the Sunni dynasty's grip on power. The embattled Shiite-led opposition held on to all of its parliament seats in the elections, but fell short of the majority it hoped to win as a show of strength against the island kingdom's Sunni rulers.
(AFP, 10/23/10)(AP, 10/24/10)
2010 Oct 23, Bangladeshi police used rubber bullets and teargas to disperse thousands of people protesting against plans to acquire land for army housing.
(Reuters, 10/23/10)
2010 Oct 23, Barbados PM David Thompson (48) died following a struggle with pancreatic cancer. Thompson had become PM of the Caribbean nation of 270,000 people in Jan 2008.
(AP, 10/23/10)
2010 Oct 23, In Belgium police and demonstrators opposed to President Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo clashed in Brussels during a protest over the Oct 1 death in jail of Armand Tungulu, a visiting Congolese dissident who lived in Belgium.
(AFP, 10/23/10)
2010 Oct 23, In the Czech Republic opposition Social Democrats won an election for one-third of Parliament's upper house, gaining a majority in the Senate for the first time. Voters were selecting 27 senators for the 81-seat Senate in the two-day balloting. The top two finishers from last week's first round were facing runoffs.
(AP, 10/23/10)
2010 Oct 23, In Dagestan a suicide bomber in a car tried to attack a police dormitory in the town of Khasavyurt but an armored vehicle blocked his way. The explosion killed the suspected militant and a police officer, and wounded seven people. In the village of Komsomolskoye two suspected militants were holed up in a house when police attacked, killing both of them.
(AP, 10/23/10)
2010 Oct 23, An Egyptian court issued a final ruling against the permanent presence of police on university campuses, saying they restricted academic independence.
(AFP, 10/24/10)
2010 Oct 23, The European Commission warned Italy that it may face sanctions if it doesn’t remove some 2,400 tons of trash piled up in the streets of Naples.
(SSFC, 10/24/10, p.A6)
2010 Oct 23, French unions took their battle against extending retirement from 60 to 62 to the courts, challenging orders to return to work the day after the Senate backed the fiercely-contested reform.
(AFP, 10/23/10)
2010 Oct 23, In Haiti 194 dead were confirmed dead of cholera in the poor Caribbean nation's worst health crisis since the Jan 12 quake. Authorities said more than 2,000 people were sick. Experts were investigating possible cases in Croix-des-Bouquet, a suburb of the capital, and radio reports said there were two dozen cases of diarrhea on Gonave island.
(AP, 10/23/10)(SFC, 10/23/10, p.A3)
2010 Oct 23, New Delhi Commonwealth Games organizers informed Sri Lanka that boxer Manju Wanniarachchi (30), Sri Lanka's only gold medalist at this month's games, had tested positive for the performance-enhancing steroid nandrolone.
(AFP, 10/24/10)
2010 Oct 23, In Indonesia a small freighter with seven crew was reported to be going down off Flores. Three people were apparently missing while the others survived.
(AP, 10/23/10)
2010 Oct 23, In Ingushetia police shot and killed two militants in a car chase. The men were later identified as being wanted on terrorism charges. Police found two machine guns and ammunition inside their men's car.
(AP, 10/23/10)
2010 Oct 23 , Iraq's PM Nouri al-Maliki accused WikiLeaks of releasing documents that detail prisoner abuse by Iraqi security forces to sabotage his re-election hopes.
(AP, 10/23/10)
2010 Oct 23, In Italy mafia fugitive Gerlandino Messina (38) was nabbed by Carabinieri in Favara, near Agrigento, his power base in Sicily. He had been on the run for 11 years before being caught.
(AP, 10/23/10)
2010 Oct 23, In Kenya 7 fans died in a stampede while trying to enter a stadium where a football match between two of the country’s most popular teams in Nairobi.
(AP, 10/24/10)
2010 Oct 23, In the southern Mexico state of Oaxaca Heriberto Pazos, the leader of a leftist Indian group left disabled in 2001 by a previous assassination attempt, was shot to death by gunmen riding on a motorcycle.
(AP, 10/24/10)
2010 Oct 23, Pakistani army airstrikes killed 12 suspected insurgents in the Orakzai tribal region near the Afghan border.
(AP, 10/23/10)
2010 Oct 23, Somali pirates seized the MV York, a Singapore-registered liquefied gas tanker, 105 miles (165 km) off the coast of Kenya in the Somali Basin.
(AP, 10/24/10)
2010 Oct 23, In Vietnam Le Nguyen Huong Tra, who blogged under the pen name of Do Long Girl, was taken into police custody from a home in Ho Chi Minh City for allegedly slandering a senior government official. Police in Ho Chi Minh City also arrested blogger Phan Thanh Hai, known as Anhbasg, over the weekend and continued to detain Nguyen Van Hai, a blogger known as Dieu Cay, even though he had served out his 30-month sentence on "trumped-up" tax evasion charges.
(AP, 10/26/10)
2011 Oct 23, Anti-Wall Street demonstrators of the Occupy Chicago movement stood their ground in a downtown park in noisy but peaceful defiance of police orders to clear out, prompting 130 arrests.
(AP, 10/23/11)
2011 Oct 23, In Georgia Christopher Michael Hodges (26), a Tennessee National Guardsman training at the Fort Gordon military post, shot and killed sheriff's deputy James D. Paugh (47), then committed suicide on the side of the Bobby Jones Expressway.
(AP, 10/23/11)
2011 Oct 23, In Afghanistan bodyguards for Interior Minister Bismullah Khan Mohammadi shot and killed a would-be suicide bomber who was waiting for the minister's convoy in Sayyed Khel district of Parwan province. NATO said two of its service members were killed in the last 24 hours in separate clashes with insurgents in the south and east of the country. 5 villagers were killed while trying to remove a roadside mine planted by the Taliban in the western province of Herat.
(AP, 10/23/11)
2011 Oct 23, In Algeria gunmen kidnapped three aid workers, two Spaniards and an Italian, from the Rabuni refugee camp near Tindouf, injuring one of the hostages and a local guard in the late night attack. Security sources in Nouakchott and Bamako later said those responsible belonged to a Sahrawi wing of the north African Al-Qaeda branch, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb (AQIM). The group later demanded 30 million euros ($39 million) to free the 3 aid workers held in northern Mali. Spaniards Enric Gonyalons and Ainhoa Fernandez del Rincon and Italian Rossella Urru were released on July 18, 2012, in exchange for three Islamists. The Islamist rebel group that freed them claimed that they also received a ransom of €15 million ($18.4 million).
(AP, 10/23/11)(AFP, 12/5/11)(AFP, 3/3/12)(AP, 7/19/12)(AP, 7/20/12)
2011 Oct 23, Argentina held national elections. President Cristina Fernandez appeared to be headed for a landslide victory over six rivals. Fernandez had 53% of the vote after three-fourths of the polling stations reported nationwide. Her nearest challenger got just 17%.
(AP, 10/23/11)
2011 Oct 23, In Brazil five employees of the government's Indian affairs agency and two workers for an electric company were released in good condition. They had been held for five days in the Amazon community of Kururuzinho. The Kaiabi opposed the construction of a dam and demand speedier official recognition of their land in Mato Grosso state.
(AP, 10/25/11)
2011 Oct 23, Bulgaria held elections. Rosen Plevneliev, the candidate of the ruling center-right GERB party, was favored to win in the presidential elections that tested the government's popularity and the EU nation's ability to overcome concerns about vote-buying and corruption. Plevneliev finished first with 40.11%, and Ivailo Kalfin of the opposition Socialist Party second with 28.96%. A run-off was set for Oct 30. The winner will replace incumbent Georgi Parvanov, who was barred by law from seeking a third term in office.
(AP, 10/23/11)(AP, 10/27/11)
2011 Oct 23, Germany’s retired research ROSAT satellite crashed into Earth at 0150 GMT somewhere in the Bay of Bengal between India and Myanmar.
(AP, 10/25/11)
2011 Oct 23, In Hong Kong more than 1000 protesters, including pregnant women, marched to oppose the growing number of mainland Chinese women coming to the city to give birth. Women from mainland China are keen to have babies in Hong Kong because it entitles their child to rights of abode and education.
(AFP, 10/23/11)
2011 Oct 23, Kenya warplanes targeted the Shebab-held Somali port city of Kismayo as troops advanced on the insurgents. The US warned of an imminent threat of attack on foreigners in Kenya.
(AFP, 10/23/11)
2011 Oct 23, Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC) declared liberation in the wake of Kadhafi's capture and death. It said the new Libya will be governed in line with Islamic sharia law, but stressed it would remain a "moderate" Muslim country.
(AFP, 10/24/11)
2011 Oct 23, In Malaysia Italian rider Marco Simoncelli (24) died after crashing and being hit by two other riders at the Sepang MotoGP motorcycle race. This raised the number of recorded deaths in MotoGP to 47 since it was founded in 1949.
(AP, 10/23/11)
2011 Oct 23, The Mexico army arrested 10 people and confiscated 10 cars or SUVs that were being bulletproofed for drug gangs, as well as six other vehicles in a warehouse in the northern state of Sinaloa.
(AP, 10/25/11)
2011 Oct 23, In Mexico two Americans died in the crash of a small plane in the city of Angela R. Cabada, Veracruz state.
(AP, 10/24/11)
2011 Oct 23, In central Pakistan Mohammad Afzal (19) shot dead his parents and six siblings because his father, a poor donkey cart owner, could not feed the family.
(AFP, 10/23/11)
2011 Oct 23, In Somalia a suicide bomber blew himself up in Mogadishu, wounding two AU peacekeepers.
(AP, 10/23/11)
2011 Oct 23, In South Africa Kirsty Theologo (18) was doused in petrol and burned alive by her friends in a Johannesburg park, in what police suspect was a satanic ritual. Two men aged 19 and 21 who took part in the incident turned themselves in. Theologo suffered burns over three quarters of her body, damaging her lungs and throat, and remained in a coma. Theologo died on Oct 28. A 2nd girl (16) survived her burns.
(AFP, 10/24/11)(AP, 10/28/11)
2011 Oct 23, Switzerland held national elections. Citizens were poised to hand nationalists an unprecedented 30 percent voice, following voting dominated by concerns about immigration, nuclear power and the economy.
(AP, 10/23/11)
2011 Oct 23, Syrian security forces moved into villages where residents have been on strike and shot 2 people dead in the village of Qalaat al-Madeeq, Hama province. Pres. Assad named Yasser al-Shoufi, a former police general, as governor of the northwestern province of Idlib.
(AP, 10/23/11)
2011 Oct 23, In southern Thailand at least seven people were killed in back-to-back shooting and bomb attacks in a town in Narathiwat province.
(AFP, 10/25/11)
2011 Oct 23, Tunisia held its first truly free elections since independence in 1956. Voters elected a 217-seat constituent assembly that would shape their fledgling democracy, choose a new government and write a new constitution that would pave the way for future elections. The moderate Islamist party Ennahda, led by Rached Ghannouchi (b.1941), claimed the biggest block of votes. Ennahda (Renaissance), banned for decades, emerged the official victor taking 41.47% of the vote and 89 of 217 seats in the new assembly.
(AP, 10/23/11)(AP, 10/24/11)(AFP, 10/25/11)(AP, 10/27/11)(AP, 11/14/11)
2011 Oct 23, A powerful 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck eastern Turkey, collapsing about 45 buildings. It was estimated that up to 1,000 people could have been killed. The worst damage was caused to the town of Ercis, in the mountainous eastern province of Van where 80 multi-story buildings collapsed with people trapped in 40 of them. By Nov 4 the death toll reached 603 with some 2500 injured and thousands homeless.
(AP, 10/23/11)(AP, 10/24/11)(AP, 11/4/11)
2011 Oct 23, Pope Benedict XVI named 3 new saints for the Catholic Church during a Mass in St. Peter's Square that was disrupted by a man who climbed out onto the upper colonnade of the square and burned a bible. Named were 3 19th-century founders of religious orders: Italian bishop and missionary Monsignor Guido Maria Conforti, Spanish nun Sister Bonifacia Rodriguez de Castro and Rev. Luigi Guanella an Italian priest who worked with the poor.
(AP, 10/23/11)
2012 Oct 23, The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) said it will end its contract with BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd in favor of Apple Inc's iPhone, dealing a new blow to RIM just months before it launches a vital new device.
(Reuters, 10/23/12)
2012 Oct 23, In California surfer Francisco Javier Solorio Jr. was killed in a shark attack off the coast of Surf Beach in Lompoc.
(SFC, 10/24/12, p.A6)
2012 Oct 23, In NYC ex-convict Darrell Fuller (33) was arrested in Queens after he killed a police officer on Long Island and a motorist nearby during a carjacking.
(SFC, 10/24/12, p.A9)
2012 Oct 23, In Afghanistan an American service member was killed in an insurgent attack in the east.
(AP, 10/23/12)
2012 Oct 23, Britain’s Environment Secretary Owen Paterson said a plan to shoot thousands of badgers to stop the spread of tuberculosis in cattle has been delayed in the face of overwhelming public opposition to the cull.
(AP, 10/24/12)
2012 Oct 23, In China Dorje Rinchen (58), a Tibetan farmer, set himself on fire and died on the main street in Xiahe near the Labrang Monastery.
(AP, 10/24/12)
2012 Oct 23, Egypt's security forces intercepted a group of smugglers bringing in weapons from Libya.
(AP, 10/24/12)
2012 Oct 23, In Iraq a series of attacks struck Shiite neighborhoods in Baghdad early today, killing nine people and wounding 26.
(AP, 10/23/12)
2012 Oct 23, Kuwait banned public gatherings of more than 20 people and said police have the power to disperse unauthorized crowds.
(AP, 10/23/12)
2012 Oct 23, Nigerian authorities intercepted a ship and found on board several guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition. 15 Russian sailors were soon charged with illegally bringing weapons into the country. All charges against the sailors were dropped in 2013.
(Reuters, 10/8/13)
2012 Oct 23, The emir of Qatar, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, received a hero's welcome in Gaza, becoming the first head of state to visit the Palestinian territory since the Islamist militant Hamas seized control of the coastal strip five years ago.
(AP, 10/23/12)
2012 Oct 23, Romania's highest court upheld the conviction of Archbishop Pimen (83) for serving as an informant sent by the church and the Securitate to spy on fellow clergy and members of Romania's expatriate community in the United States in the 1970s.
(AP, 10/23/12)
2012 Oct 23, A Russian Soyuz spacecraft launched in Kazakhstan carrying a 3-man crew, including an American and 2 Russians, to the Intl. Space Station.
(SFC, 10/24/12, p.A2)
2012 Oct 23, Somali journalist Ahmed Farah Sakin, a reporter for the Somali television station Universal, was shot to death in the town of Lasanod in the breakaway region of Somaliland. This brought the number of journalists killed in Somalia this year to 16.
(AP, 10/24/12)
2012 Oct 23, Syrian warplanes struck Maaret al-Numan, a strategic rebel-held town in the country's north in an attempt to reopen a key supply route. At least 20 people were killed in Aleppo when a bakery was hit by a shell. Over 100 people were reported killed in fighting across the country. A UN-proposed cease-fire meant to start this week appeared increasingly unlikely to take hold.
(AP, 10/23/12)(SFC, 10/24/12, p.A2)
2012 Oct 23, In Taiwan an early morning fire ripped through a nursing home, killing 12 people and injuring 60, many of them too weak to get out of their beds to escape. A nursing home resident confessed to setting the fire.
(AP, 10/23/12)
2013 Oct 23, In Washington Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif urged US President Barack Obama to end drone strikes in Pakistan. Obama and Sharif pledged cooperation on the security issues that have strained ties between their nations.
(Reuters, 10/23/13)(AP, 10/23/13)
2013 Oct 23, A Nevada jury found Saudi Arabian air force Sgt. Mazen Alotaibi guilty of sexually assaulting a boy (13) at the Circu Circus hotel in las Vegas on New Year’s Eve.
(SFC, 10/24/13, p.A6)
2013 Oct 23, In Afghanistan a nighttime Taliban attack on a security outpost killed 4 policemen in the Bla Murghab district of Badghis province.
(AP, 10/24/13)
2013 Oct 23, Argentine local experts and a government source said its agricultural soils are being depleted by lack of crop rotation as soy farming encroaches on areas once used for corn, wheat and cattle grazing.
(Reuters, 10/23/13)
2013 Oct 23, Australian investigators said a military training exercise ignited the largest of the wildfires that have ravaged its most populous state over the past week.
(AP, 10/23/13)
2013 Oct 23, British sculptor Anthony Caro (89), whose abstract metal sculptures were shown around the world, died of a heart attack.
(AFP, 10/24/13)(Econ, 11/9/13, p.98)
2013 Oct 23, Thousands of Cambodia opposition supporters staged a demonstration over disputed elections that extended strongman PM Hun Sen's near three-decade rule, under a heavy security presence after bloody clashes last month.
(AFP, 10/23/13)
2013 Oct 23, In Beijing China’s PM Li Keqiang and India’s PM Manmohan Singh sounded a new optimistic tone in their relationship as they oversaw the signing of 9 agreements including a Defense Cooperation Agreement.
(AP, 10/23/13)(Econ, 10/26/13, p.47)
2013 Oct 23, Wang Qishan, China's top official battling deeply-ingrained corruption, warned staff their jobs were on the line if they failed to root out abuses, telling them to "shock and awe" their targets.
(Reuters, 10/23/13)
2013 Oct 23, China’s state-run New Express tabloid printed a front-page commentary begging police in the south-central city of Changsha to set reporter Chen Yongzhou free under the headline: "Please release him." Chen was detained after writing more than a dozen stories criticizing the finances of Zoomlion, a major state-owned construction equipment maker.
(Reuters, 10/23/13)(Econ, 10/26/13, p.54)
2013 Oct 23, Chinese police officers were injured in clashes with villagers in southwestern Yunnan province. Some 200 residents in Guangji village near the provincial capital Kunming stopped 11 officers on a highway after police had summoned two people a day earlier for alleged crimes.
(Reuters, 10/23/13)
2013 Oct 23, In China 2 children were killed and another four injured after a wall at their primary school collapsed in Yunnan province.
(AFP, 10/24/13)
2013 Oct 23, India accused Pakistani troops of firing guns and mortars on at least 50 Indian border posts overnight in disputed Kashmir, calling it the most serious cease-fire violation between the nuclear-armed neighbors in a decade.
(AP, 10/23/13)
2013 Oct 23, In Iraq gunmen killed 6 people in the northern city of Mosul. In Baghdad a roadside bomb in the Ghazaliyah area killed at least 3 people and wounded 11. Another roadside bomb killed 4 people and wounded at least nine in Madain. 2 Sahwa anti-Al-Qaeda fighters were kidnapped and killed in the northern province of Kirkuk.
(AFP, 10/23/13)
2013 Oct 23, The Israeli incumbent Mayor Nir Barkat of Jerusalem won re-election in a hotly contested race that dealt a political blow to his challenger's main backers, former Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and the ultra-Orthodox Shas party.
(Reuters, 10/23/13)
2013 Oct 23, A Kenya court sentenced 4 Somali pirates sentenced to seven years each in prison after they were found guilty of hijacking a fishing dhow in the Indian Ocean in 2010.
(Reuters, 10/23/13)
2013 Oct 23, In Mali a suicide bomber killed two Chadian troops from the UN peacekeeping mission and injured six others in an attack on a checkpoint at the entry to the northern town of Tessalit.
(Reuters, 10/23/13)
2013 Oct 23, Pirates near the coast of Nigeria attacked a commercial ship, named C-Retriever, and kidnapped two US mariners.
(AP, 10/24/13)
2013 Oct 23, Russia said it will boycott maritime court hearings sought by the Netherlands in a bid to free 30 crew members of a Greenpeace ship who were detained during a protest against Arctic oil drilling. Russia dropped piracy charges against 30 people involved in a Greenpeace protest against Arctic oil drilling, replacing them with lesser offences and cutting the maximum jail sentence they face to seven years from 15.
(AFP, 10/23/13)(Reuters, 10/23/13)
2013 Oct 23, In Sudan carjackers killed a Sudanese aid worker in the country's Darfur region, bringing to four the number of humanitarian staff killed this year in the region's worsening unrest.
(AFP, 10/31/13)
2013 Oct 23, Swiss-based petrochemical firm Ineos said it would close its Grangemouth plant in Scotland with the loss of hundreds of jobs after failing to resolve a bitter labor dispute.
(AFP, 10/23/13)
2013 Oct 23, A Swiss Air Force F/A-18 jet went down near a military airport in Alpnach in the Lake Lucerne region.
(AP, 10/23/13)
2013 Oct 23, Syrian activists said the army has sealed the few remaining smuggling routes into the besieged Eastern Ghouta region of suburbs of Damascus. Aid workers in Damascus, who negotiated a truce to get out thousands of residents from the town, said that locals had resorted to eating leaves and grass.
(Reuters, 10/23/13)
2013 Oct 23, Thousands of Tunisians marched through Tunis chanting for their government to step down. Ruling Islamists and opposition leaders prepared to start talks aimed at end months of political crisis. PM Ali Larayedh said his government was committed in "principle" to resigning to pave a way out of the crisis. Clashes between security forces and gunmen rocked the central Sidi Bouzid region, leaving at least six policemen dead.
(Reuters, 10/23/13)(AFP, 10/24/13)
2013 Oct 23, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon requested the deployment of 250 troops to protect the global body's personnel and facilities in the strife-torn Central African Republic.
(AFP, 10/23/13)
2013 Oct 23, The UN said extreme floods across vast parts of remote and impoverished South Sudan have affected over 156,000 people.
(AFP, 10/24/13)
2013 Oct 23, Pope Francis temporarily expelled German Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst (53) from his diocese because of a scandal over a 31-million-euro project to build a new residence complex, but refused calls to remove him permanently.
(AP, 10/23/13)(SFC, 10/24/13, p.A3)
2013 Oct 23, Yemeni police said a father has burned his 15-year-old daughter to death for keeping in touch with her fiance, sparking further outrage after an eight-year girl died from internal bleeding on her wedding night a month ago.
(Reuters, 10/23/13)
2014 Oct 23, The US Treasury Department said Islamic State militants are earning about $1 million a day just from black market oil sales.
(AP, 10/23/14)
2014 Oct 23, Joan Quigley (b.1927), former astrologer to Ronald and Nancy Reagan, died in San Francisco. The SF socialite and writer began working for the Reagans in May, 1981, and continued for seven years.
(SFC, 10/24/14, p.D1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Quigley)
2014 Oct 23, In Maryland a small plane and a helicopter collided before crashing. 3 people were killed.
(SFC, 10/24/14, p.A7)
2014 Oct 23, In NYC four rookie police officers in the city's Queens borough were posing for a photograph at the request of a freelance photographer when Zale Thompson walked up and without saying a word attacked them with the hatchet. Officers shot and killed Thompson.
(AFP, 10/24/14)
2014 Oct 23, NYC officials said Dr. Craig Spencer (33), a physician for doctors Without Borders, has tested positive for Ebola after returning from Guinea last week.
(SFC, 10/24/14, p.A7)
2014 Oct 23, In Oklahoma a person drove across the Capitol lawn in Oklahoma City and knocked over a Ten Commandments monument, that a group has been suing to have removed, smashing it to pieces.
(SFC, 10/25/14, p.A4)
2014 Oct 23, In Bangladesh Ghulam Azam (91), a former leader of Jamaat-e-Islami (1960-2000), died died of a stroke while serving jail sentences for crimes against humanity. Azam had opposed the independence of Bangladesh during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghulam_Azam)(Econ, 11/1/14, p.38)
2014 Oct 23, Brazilian companies Cutrale and Safra said they are again raising their bid for banana producer Chiquita, to $681 million, a day before Chiquita shareholders are expected to vote on a combination with Irish fruit importer Fyffes. Shareholders rejected the proposal.
(AP, 10/23/14)(AP, 10/24/14)
2014 Oct 23, The chairman of Britain's biggest retailer Tesco resigned as the troubled supermarket group said a huge accounting error began earlier than thought and contributed to plunging profits.
(AFP, 10/23/14)
2014 Oct 23, Alvin Stardust (b.1942), British singer and former glam rock star, died after a short battle with cancer, just weeks before he was due to release a new album. His real name was Bernard Jewry.
(AFP, 10/23/14)
2014 Oct 23, The EU came up with another 24.4 million euros ($31 million) to fight Ebola and agreed to up its aid for the fight against Ebola in west Africa to one billion euros. Christos Stylianides, the incoming Cypriot Humanitarian Aid Commissioner, was named an Ebola "czar".
(AP, 10/23/14)(AFP, 10/24/14)
2014 Oct 23, EU lawmakers took the latest step in efforts to bring Kiev closer to Europe, extending Ukrainian exporters' open access to the European Union until a trade deal takes effect at the end of next year.
(AP, 10/23/14)
2014 Oct 23, A Kosovo foreign minister traveled to Serbia for the first time since Kosovo declared independence in 2008. Enver Hoxhaj urged Serbia to recognize Kosovo as independent.
(AP, 10/23/14)(Reuters, 10/23/14)
2014 Oct 23, In Lebanon 4 men were killed in clashes that erupted when the army raided the apartment of Syrian refugees in the village of Aasun in the Dinniyeh region. The army captured a soldier, who recently announced via YouTube his defection from the army, and arrested Ahmad Miqati, a man in his 60s accused, along with his fugitive son, of beheading soldiers in Arsal.
(AFP, 10/23/14)
2014 Oct 23, A Lebanese man who arrived from West Africa is suspected of having Ebola and was quarantined in a Beirut hospital, the first such suspected case in the country.
(AP, 10/23/14)
2014 Oct 23, Liberia’s state radio said dozens of people quarantined for Ebola monitoring in Jenewonda were threatening to break out of isolation because they have no food.
(AP, 10/23/14)
2014 Oct 23, In Pakistan 8 Shi'ite members of Pakistan's ethnic Hazara minority were killed and one wounded after gunmen opened fire on a bus in Quetta, Baluchistan province. Another explosion targeting a car used by security forces killed 2 people and injured 12. In a third explosion 2 people were killed and 30 wounded near a vehicle belonging to pro-Taliban cleric Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman.
(Reuters, 10/23/14)
2014 Oct 23, The general director of Moscow's Vnukovo Airport and his deputy resigned and Russian investigators detained four other airport employees following a plane crash that killed a top French oil executive and three crew members.
(AP, 10/23/14)
2014 Oct 23, Saudi Arabia authorities said female drivers will be dealt with "strictly", before a right-to-drive campaign culminates at the weekend.
(AFP, 10/23/14)
2014 Oct 23, A group of South Sudanese women peace activists said they have suggested that men in the civil war-torn country be denied sex until they stop fighting.
(AFP, 10/23/14)
2014 Oct 23, In Syria government shelling in the northern village of Tel Qrah killed at least 9 people.
(AP, 10/24/14)
2014 Oct 23, A Tunisian policeman was killed when security forces clashed with Islamist militants on the outskirts of Tunis, as the country prepared for parliamentary elections. Police arrested two men armed with assault rifles in the southern of Kebili in a clash that left a bystander dead.
(Reuters, 10/23/14)(AP, 10/23/14)
2014 Oct 23, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that 200 Iraqi Kurd peshmerga fighters would travel through Turkey to join the battle in Kobane, where about 1,000 IS militants are believed to be fighting. US-led air strikes in Syria were reported to have killed more than 521 jihadists and 32 civilians over the last month.
(AFP, 10/23/14)(Reuters, 10/23/14)
2014 Oct 23, Southern Yemeni separatists pledged to escalate protests demanding secession, as northern Shiite rebels vie to expand their control over more of the impoverished country.
(AFP, 10/23/14)
2015 Oct 23, The United States, Russia, Turkey and Saudi Arabia met in Vienna to explore a political solution to the Syrian civil war despite the basic US-Russian disagreement over Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's fate.
(AP, 10/23/15)
2015 Oct 23, The United States and its allies carried out 21 air strikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq.
(Reuters, 10/24/15)
2015 Oct 23, US FDA authorities said they have confiscated shipments of the lethal-injection chemical sodium thiopental that Arizona and Texas tried to bring in from abroad, saying such imports are illegal.
(SFC, 10/24/15, p.A4)
2015 Oct 23, TalkTalk, a British telephone and broadband provider, said it has been hit by a "significant and sustained" cyber-attack and that the personal data of millions of Britons could be at risk after.
(AFP, 10/23/15)
2015 Oct 23, In northern Cameroon Boko Haram Islamists seized control of Kerawa, a town in on the border with Nigeria. An unspecified number of civilians were killed in the assault.
(AFP, 10/23/15)
2015 Oct 23, Quebec province officials said eight Canadian police officers, suspected of sexually assaulting and beating aboriginal women, have been put on leave or transferred to administrative duty.
(AFP, 10/23/15)
2015 Oct 23, Chinese President Xi Jinping has ended his state visit to Britain after being greeted by hundreds of enthusiastic and well-organized well-wishers in the northwest England city of Manchester.
(AP, 10/23/15)
2015 Oct 23, China cut interest rates to support stuttering growth and announced that it was setting banks free in theory to offer depositors whatever interest they like.
(Econ, 10/31/15, p.69)
2015 Oct 23, Croatia and Serbia agreed to increase the flow of asylum-seekers over their border after thousands were forced to spend a muddy night out in the open in near-freezing temperatures.
(AP, 10/23/15)
2015 Oct 23, In France at least 43 people on a bus carrying elderly day-trippers were killed early today when the bus hit a truck head-on and caught fire near Puisseguin in the Gironde region.
(AFP, 10/23/15)
2015 Oct 23, Germany defended a decision to allow the export of tanks and artillery to Qatar, saying it was confident the arms would not be used in a war in Yemen between government supporters and the Iran-allied Houthis.
(Reuters, 10/23/15)
2015 Oct 23, German authorities arrested an Iranian man on suspicion he was spying for Tehran. Maysam P. (31) was accused of spying since December 2013 for Iran on the opposition group known as the People's Mujahedin of Iran, or MEK.
(AP, 10/28/15)
2015 Oct 23, India accused Pakistan of a cease-fire violation in Kashmir in which one Indian civilian was killed and another was wounded.
(AP, 10/23/15)
2015 Oct 23, In Indonesia a law that makes gay sex punishable by public caning took effect in conservative Aceh province.
(AP, 10/23/15)
2015 Oct 23, Japan and Turkmenistan signed deals worth over $18 billion on a package of projects in the energy-rich central Asian nation, which has become an important supplier of natural gas to China.
(Reuters, 10/23/15)
2015 Oct 23, In Mexico Hurricane Patricia, a Category 5 storm, crashed into western Mexico with rain and winds of up to 165 mph (266 kph). The hurricane was downgraded to a tropical storm and then a depression as it moved northeast in Zacatecas the following morning.
(Reuters, 10/24/15)(AFP, 10/24/15)
2015 Oct 23, Niger was ordered to pay compensation to the family of former president Ibrahim Bare Mainassara, who was killed by members of the presidential guard in a 1999 coup. Five judges sitting at the ECOWAS Court of Justice said Niamey should pay a total of 435 million CFA francs (663,000 euros, $750,000) to Mainassara's widow, five children and 11 brothers and sisters.
(AFP, 10/23/15)
2015 Oct 23, In northeastern Nigeria 42 people were killed and 11 wounded in bomb attacks at mosques in Maiduguri, Borno state, and in Yola, Adamawa state.
(Reuters, 10/23/15)(AP, 10/24/15)
2015 Oct 23, In southern Pakistan a suicide bomber targeted a Shiite religious procession, killing at least 18 people and wounding 40 others in Jacobabad, Sindh province.
(AP, 10/24/15)
2015 Oct 23, A Peruvian prosecutor said Lt. Wilmer Eduardo Delgado Ruiz (35), arrested for allegedly letting small planes ferry cocaine unhindered from the world's No. 1 coca-producing valley, was getting bribes of $10,000 a planeload that he apparently shared with his superiors.
(AP, 10/23/15)
2015 Oct 23, Philippine aviation authorities said haze from Indonesian forest fires has spread to the southern and central Philippines, disrupting air traffic and prompting warnings for residents to wear face masks.
(AFP, 10/23/15)
2015 Oct 23, Portugal's parliament elected Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues as Socialist speaker of the house. Leftist parties used their majority in the new parliament to block the incoming center-right government's candidate.
(Reuters, 10/23/15)
2015 Oct 23, In South Africa thousands of university students protesting planned tuition hikes flocked to the country's main government complex, with some setting fires and throwing stones as police responded with stun grenades, tear gas and a water cannon. Pres. Zuma met with student leaders and university managers. His office later announced that there would be no fee increase for university students in 2016.
(AP, 10/23/15)
2015 Oct 23, The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Russian air strikes in Syria have killed at least 446 people, more than a third of them civilians, since they began end-September.
(AFP, 10/23/15)
2015 Oct 23, In Thailand police Major Prakrom Warunprapa, charged under a controversial royal defamation law, died in custody after "hanging" himself in his cell. He was accused of embezzling money by falsely claiming links to the monarchy.
(AFP, 10/24/15)(Econ, 11/14/15, p.42)
2015 Oct 23, In Ukraine pro-Russian insurgents in eastern separatist Donetsk region said they have banned Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and UN agencies.
(AFP, 10/24/15)
2015 Oct 23, Yemeni security officials said heavy fighting between pro-government forces and the Shiite Houthi rebels besieging the western city of Taiz killed 71 people in the past two days.
(AP, 10/23/15)
2016 Oct 23, In southern California a tour bus plowed into a big-rig on I-10 near Palm Springs killing 13 people and injuring 31 others. On Oct 19, 2017, big rig driver Bruce Guilford (51) was arrested in Georgia a day after being charged in Riverside County with 13 counts of vehicular manslaughter.
(SFC, 10/24/16, p.A4)(SFC, 10/20/17, p.A5)
2016 Oct 23, Tom Hayden (b.1939), American social and political activist, author and politician, died in Santa Monica, Ca., following a lengthy illness.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Hayden)
2016 Oct 23, In southern California a tour bus plowed into a big-rig on I-10 near Palm Springs killing 13 people and injuring 31 others. On Oct 19, 2017, big rig driver Bruce Guilford (51) was arrested in Georgia a day after being charged with 13 counts of vehicular manslaughter.
(SFC, 10/24/16, p.A4)(SFC, 10/20/17, p.A5)
2016 Oct 23, In Oklahoma Michael Vance (38) shot two police officers, stole a patrol car, carjacked another car and then killed his aunt and uncle in Luther. On Oct 30 Vance was shot and killed in a gunbattle with state troopers near Leedey.
(SFC, 10/25/16, p.A6)(SFC, 11/1/16, p.A10)
2016 Oct 23, The Afghan government and UN released a new joint survey that saw an increase of 10 percent in opium poppy cultivation and 91 percent decrease in eradication across the country.
(AP, 10/23/16)
2016 Oct 23, In Afghanistan a precision strike conducted by the US military in Kunar province killed Farouq al-Qahtani, Al-Qaeda's emir for northeastern Afghanistan.
(AFP, 11/4/16)
2016 Oct 23, Police in Argentina found the body of Claudia Arias (31) in Mendoza, alongside the corpses of her aunt and grandmother. The women had been beaten and stabbed to death. Two of Claudia’s three children were wounded. Ex-partner Daniel Zalazar was soon arrested on suspicion of murder.
(Econ, 11/5/16, p.30)
2016 Oct 23, In India police opened fire in Saiko in the district of Khunti, Jharkhand state, after protesters blocked the road, assaulted police and took several policemen hostage. One man was killed.
(Reuters, 10/24/16)
2016 Oct 23, Italian officials said that 14 bodies have been recovered in a two-day period on smugglers' boats packed with migrants. In all 5,700 migrants were rescued from dozens of small boats and rubber dinghies over the previous two days.
(AP, 10/23/16)
2016 Oct 23, In Kashmir shelling across the border between India and Pakistan killed two Pakistani civilians, an Indian soldier and a boy.
(Reuters, 10/24/16)
2016 Oct 23, Kurdish fighters said they had taken the town of Bashiqa near Mosul from Islamic State as coalition forces pressed their offensive against the jihadists' last stronghold in Iraq.
(Reuters, 10/23/16)
2016 Oct 23, In Russia 3 people were killed and 13 others injured after an explosion, believed to have been caused by gas, hit a high-rise apartment building in Ryazan.
(AP, 10/23/16)
2016 Oct 23, Russian police killed two suspected terrorists in a shootout in in Nizhny Novgorod. A bomb was found in the suspects' car.
(AP, 10/23/16)
2016 Oct 23, Spain's embattled Socialists voted to lift a long-standing veto that has prevented the conservatives from forming a minority government, in what should finally end a ten-month political impasse.
(AFP, 10/23/16)
2016 Oct 23, A leading northern Syrian rebel coalition warned civilians in Aleppo to stay away from government positions around the contested city as rebels and pro-government forces clashed along the city's outskirts. Clashes and air strikes shook Aleppo, as heavy fighting resumed after the end of a 3-day ceasefire.
(AP, 10/23/16)(AFP, 10/23/16)
2016 Oct 23, Venezuela's opposition-majority legislature declared that President Nicolas Maduro's government had committed a coup d'etat by blocking a referendum on removing him from power, vowing mass protests and international pressure.
(AP, 10/24/16)
2016 Oct 23, In Yemen warplanes from a Saudi-led coalition attacked targets in Sanaa at dawn, hours after a three-day truce expired.
(Reuters, 10/23/16)
2017 Oct 23, The Hollywood sexual abuse scandal widened after 38 women were reported to have accused US film director James Toback (72) of unwanted sexual encounters over a period of decades. His semi-autobiographical "The Pick-up Artist" was made in 1987.
(AFP, 10/23/17)
2017 Oct 23, In Pennsylvania a law took effect that allows casino-style gambling on mobile phones and websites. It also put video gaming terminals in big truck stops.
(CSM, 11/3/17)
2017 Oct 23, Argentina's President Mauricio Macri pledged to press ahead with an austerity drive in Latin America's third-largest economy, following a sweeping victory in mid-term elections.
(AFP, 10/23/17)
2017 Oct 23, Bangladesh called on Myanmar to allow nearly 1 million Rohingya Muslim refugees to return home under safe conditions, saying that the burden had become "untenable" on its territory. Governments and international donors pledged $234 million to help over 600,000 Rohingya people who have fled violence in Myanmar into neighboring Bangladesh over the last two months.
(Reuters, 10/23/17)(AP, 10/23/17)
2017 Oct 23, A Benin judicial source said wealthy businessman and failed presidential candidate Sebastien Ajavon is under investigation over an allegedly fraudulent export deal. The alleged offences dated back to 2009 and could see him jailed if charged and convicted. In October 2016, he was arrested after 18 kg (40 pounds) of cocaine with a street value of $16 million was found in a container destined for one of his businesses.
(AP, 10/23/17)
2017 Oct 23, In Brazil police shot and killed Spanish tourist Maria Esperanza Ruiz Jimenez (67) in a Rio de Janeiro slum after the guided tour car she was riding in failed to stop at a police road block. Two military police officers were soon arrested in connection with the shooting death.
(Reuters, 10/23/17)(AP, 10/24/17)
2017 Oct 23, London brought in a new levy on the oldest and most polluting cars entering the city center, almost doubling how much motorists have to pay in the latest blow to diesel.
(Reuters, 10/23/17)
2017 Oct 23, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau appointed a special envoy to Myanmar tasked with pressing its leadership to resolve the Rohingya refugee crisis.
(AFP, 10/23/17)
2017 Oct 23, In Chechnya a Russian National Guard officer killed four other servicemen before he was killed by guards in Shelkovskaya.
(SFC, 10/24/17, p.A2)
2017 Oct 23, The Egyptian military said its air force hit eight four-wheel-drive vehicles carrying arms and explosives at its western border with Libya, killing the militants on board.
(Reuters, 10/23/17)
2017 Oct 23, An agreement reached by EU member states limited the amount of time workers can be "posted" from one EU country to another, but the agreement did not cover the road transport sector.
(Reuters, 11/21/17)
2017 Oct 23, The German government said it approved the sale of three Thyssenkrupp submarines to Israel and will provide financial support for the purchase.
(Reuters, 10/23/17)
2017 Oct 23, In Germany a right-wing extremist member of a group that claims allegiance to Adolf Hitler's World War Two-era German Reich was convicted of murder for shooting and killing a police officer last October and sentenced to life in prison.
(Reuters, 10/23/17)
2017 Oct 23, Amnesty International said that Ahmadreza Djalali, an Iranian doctor who studied and taught in Sweden, had been sentenced to death in Iran on espionage charges. Neither Iran nor Amnesty said when the verdict was issued.
(Reuters, 10/24/17)
2017 Oct 23, In Israel several thousand ultra-Orthodox Jews blocked the main entrance to Jerusalem and protested in other areas as part of a series of demonstrations against serving in the Israeli military.
(AFP, 10/23/17)
2017 Oct 23, Political leaders in northern Italy claimed an overwhelming mandate to seek greater autonomy from Rome after referendums backed the party's autonomy bid by more than 95 percent in Lombardy and Veneto. In Lombardy less than half of the electorate turned out. The votes were legal, but not binding on Rome.
(AP, 10/23/17)
2017 Oct 23, Japan’s PM Shinzo Abe, buoyed by a huge election win for lawmakers who favor revising the post-war, pacifist constitution, signaled a push towards his long-held goal but will need to convince a divided public to succeed.
(Reuters, 10/23/17)
2017 Oct 23, Kenya’s chief prosecutor's office said authorities will arrest and charge Ruth Odinga, the sister of opposition leader Raila Odinga, with incitement to violence after attacks on the election board.
(Reuters, 10/23/17)
2017 Oct 23, In northern Mali the French military targeted Islamist militants of Ansar Dine near the border with Algeria and took 15 militants "out of action" in an overnight operation.
(Reuters, 10/26/17)
2017 Oct 23, The Philippine government declared the end to the militant siege of Marawi that lasted five months, left more than 1,100 people dead and sparked fears of the Islamic State group gaining a foothold in Southeast Asia. Combat operations in Marawi ended after troops recovered 42 bodies of the last group of militants. The Islamic State had sent at least $1.5 million to finance the Marawi militants.
(AP, 10/23/17)(SFC, 10/25/17, p.A2)
2017 Oct 23, Poland's President Andrzej Duda signed a law that will eventually increase the country's spending on defense to at least 2.5 percent of GDP, well above the 2 percent required by membership in NATO.
(AP, 10/23/17)
2017 Oct 23, In Russia Tatyana Felgengauer (32), a presenter for the Echo of Moscow radio station, suffered a knife attack after a suspect entered the radio station's building in central Moscow and blinded the security guard with a spray. The attacker, identified as Boris Grits (48), was caught.
(AFP, 10/23/17)(AP, 11/8/17)
2017 Oct 23, The Syrian government and activists said the bodies of at least 67 civilians, many summarily killed by the Islamic State group, have been discovered in al-Qaryatayn, a town that government forces retook from the extremists over the weekend. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it had documented the killings of at least 128 people in al-Qaryatayn during the last days of IS control of the town. 30 of the 50 militants, who overran the town last month, were originally from the town.
(AP, 10/23/17)(Reuters, 10/23/17)(SFC, 10/24/17, p.A2)
2017 Oct 23, In Syria Jac Holmes (24), a British man who was fighting with US-backed Kurdish forces against the Islamic State group, died while clearing mines in the northern city of Raqqa.
(AP, 10/25/17)
2017 Oct 23, In Turkey Ankara Mayor Melih Gokcek announced that he would step down on Oct. 28 following a meeting with Pres. Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Gokcek became the fifth elected mayor to leave office under pressure from Pres. Erdogan.
(SFC, 10/24/17, p.A2)
2017 Oct 23, A Turkish military vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device in the southeastern province of Hakkari, killing one soldier.
(Reuters, 10/23/17)
2017 Oct 23, Ukrainian anti-corruption investigators raided the home and office of Odessa Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov and his associates at the center of a politically charged embezzlement probe.
(AFP, 10/23/17)
2017 Oct 23, In southern Yemen suspected al Qaeda militants attacked a military checkpoint in Abyan province, killing four soldiers and wounding 10.
(Reuters, 10/23/17)
2017 Oct 23, A UN committee said it has added 32 items that have both civilian and military use to a list of prohibited goods and technologies banned from sale or transfer to North Korea.
(SFC, 10/24/17, p.A2)
2017 Oct 23, UNICEF said more than 1,100 children are suffering from acute malnutrition in the besieged rebel-held Eastern Ghouta area outside Damascus.
(AFP, 10/23/17)
2017 Oct 23, The UN's humanitarian coordination agency OCHA said more than 11 million Yemeni children need humanitarian aid as a result of a war raging since March 2015.
(AFP, 10/23/17)
2018 Oct 23, The US Treasury Department imposed sanctions targeting Afghanistan's Taliban insurgency, designating eight people including two Iranians linked to Tehran's Revolutionary Guards' Quds force.
(Reuters, 10/23/18)
2018 Oct 23, Johnson & Johnson said it is paying about $2 billion in cash for the outstanding stake of Ci:z Holdings Co., a Japanese cosmetics and skincare products company.
(AP, 10/23/18)
2018 Oct 23, In Afghanistan at least 14 civilians were killed during an operation by Afghan security forces in eastern Nangarhar province.
(Reuters, 10/24/18)
2018 Oct 23, British electric appliance pioneer Dyson said it had picked Singapore as the site for its first electric car plant, sparking criticism of the company's Brexit-backing billionaire founder James Dyson for not investing more in British manufacturing.
(AFP, 10/23/18)
2018 Oct 23, A Cameroon court sentenced former opposition presidential candidate and anti-corruption campaigner Akere Muna to a three-year suspended sentence on forgery charges.
(AFP, 10/24/18)
2018 Oct 23, Chinese media Caixin reported that a senior official overseeing birth policy explained birth policy changes last week to a UN conference held in Beijing. He said China won't set a population target in the future and will give epople more freedom around childbirth.
(SFC, 10/25/18, p.A3)
2018 Oct 23, China opened the world's longest sea-crossing bridge linking Hong Kong to the mainland, a feat of engineering carrying immense economic and political significance. The 55-km (34-mile)-long bridge linked China to the semi-autonomous regions of Hong Kong and Macau.
(AP, 10/23/18)
2018 Oct 23, The European Commission rejected Italy's proposed budget — the first time it has ever done so with a member state.
(AP, 10/23/18)
2018 Oct 23, France-based Interpol said coordinated police raids in 116 countries have netted 500 tons of illicit pharmaceuticals available online, including fake cancer medications, counterfeit pain pills and illegal medical syringes.
(Reuters, 10/23/18)
2018 Oct 23, German automaker BMW said it is expanding a recall to cover 1.6 million vehicles worldwide due to possible fluid leaks that could result in a fire.
(AP, 10/23/18)
2018 Oct 23, In Iraq a bomb blast at a market in a town south of the city of Mosul killed at least six people, including two soldiers.
(AP, 10/23/18)
2018 Oct 23, Ireland's government approved a forensic excavation of the former Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, County Galway, a Catholic-run orphanage where a mass grave containing the remains of hundreds of children was discovered.
(AP, 10/24/18)
2018 Oct 23, The live-betting esports platform Unikrn had its wagering license approved by the Isle of Man, clearing the way for users to legally gamble on competitive video games. Unikrn had previously only been licensed to provide real-money betting on esports in the UK and Australia.
(AP, 10/23/18)
2018 Oct 23, Japan was informed by Qatar that a man, believed to be journalist Jumpei Yasuda, has been released. Yasuda was last heard from in Syria in 2015. Contact was lost with Yasuda after he sent a message to another Japanese freelancer on June 23, 2015.
(AP, 10/23/18)
2018 Oct 23, In Mexico thousands of people were evacuated, buildings were boarded up and schools closed along the Pacific coast as Hurricane Willa threatened to batter tourist resorts. Hurricane Willa crashed ashore in western Mexico, lashing the Pacific coast with powerful winds and heavy rain before weakening to a tropical depression as it moved inland. Nearly 102,000 homes last power after the storm made landfall.
(Reuters, 10/23/18)(AFP, 10/24/18)(SFC, 10/25/18, p.A4)
2018 Oct 23, Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari flew in by helicopter to cut the ribbon at the new Seme-Krake Joint Border Post with his Beninese counterpart Patrice Talon.
(AFP, 10/28/18)
2018 Oct 23, Human Rights Watch said security forces of the rival Palestinian governments routinely use torture and arbitrary arrests, among other tactics, to quash dissent by peaceful activists and political opponents.
(AP, 10/23/18)
2018 Oct 23, Pakistan negotiated a $6 billion assistance package of loans and deferred payments from Saudi Arabia in hopes of resuscitating its flagging economy, struggling under the weight of a whopping $18 billion deficit.
(AP, 10/24/18)
2018 Oct 23, A high-profile economic forum in Saudi Arabia began in Riyadh. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman trumpeted a conference that has drawn investment deals worth $50 billion despite a boycott over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
(AP, 10/23/18)
2018 Oct 23, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said the OPEC kingpin was ready to boost its crude production and spare capacity to help maintain a balance in the global oil market.
(AFP, 10/23/18)
2018 Oct 23, Saudi Arabia said it and Bahrain had added Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps and senior officers of its Quds Force to their lists of people and organizations suspected of involvement in terrorism.
(Reuters, 10/23/18)
2018 Oct 23, Tech entrepreneurs in Somalia began holding a first ever summit in battle-scarred Mogadishu, attracting hundreds to talk about business and innovation in a city more used to conflict and suffering.
(AFP, 10/25/18)
2018 Oct 23, The UN Human Rights Committee said that France's ban on the niqab, the full-body Islamic veil, was a violation of human rights and called on it to review the legislation. It gave Paris 180 days to report back to say what actions it had taken.
(Reuters, 10/23/18)
2018 Oct 23, Vietnam's rubber stamp National Assembly elected Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong (74) as the country's president. He succeeds Tran Dai Quang, who died last month after battling a viral illness for more than a year.
(AP, 10/23/18)
2018 Oct 23, Zimbabwe's main opposition leader Nelson Chamisa called for a transitional emergency government to resolve the worsening economic and political crisis engulfing the country.
(AFP, 10/23/18)
2019 Oct 23, US President Donald Trump declared success in Syria and created a bumper-sticker moment to illustrate his campaign promise to put a stop to American involvement in "endless wars".
(AP, 10/24/19)
2019 Oct 23, President Donald Trump said he will lift sanctions on Turkey after the NATO ally agreed to permanently stop fighting Kurdish forces in Syria and he defended his decision to withdraw American troops.
(AP, 10/23/19)
2019 Oct 23, A US federal judge ordered the Trump administration to start turning over documents regarding potentially improper White House influence on diplomacy in Ukraine.
(Yahoo News, 10/23/19)
2019 Oct 23, A senior Pentagon official Laura Cooper, who oversees US defense policy on Ukraine and Russia, testified privately in the Democratic-led US House of Representatives inquiry against Republican President Donald Trump.
(Reuters, 10/23/19)
2019 Oct 23, US Attorney General William Barr announced an effort to prevent mass shootings through new tactics such as court-ordered counseling and supervision of potentially violent individuals.
(Reuters, 10/23/19)
2019 Oct 23, About two dozen US House Republicans delayed an impeachment related deposition for hours when they burst into the proceedings.
(SFC, 10/24/19, p.A6)
2019 Oct 23, Aniah Blanchard (19), a student at Alabama's Southern Union State Community College, went missing. Blanchard, the stepdaughter of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fighter Walt Harris, was last seen at a convenience store in Auburn. Her car was found abandoned near an apartment complex in Montgomery on October 25. On Nov. 8 Ibraheem Yazeed (30) of Montgomery, was taken into custody in Florida's Escambia County. Authorities later said shot her when she "went for the gun." Her body was found on Nov. 25, approximately 36 miles away in a wooded area in Shorter.
(The Independent, 10/31/19)(Good Morning America, 11/8/19)(Good Morning America, 12/21/19)
2019 Oct 23, The Los Angeles-based Berggruen Institute said US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is this year's winner of its $1 million Berggruen Prize for philosophy and culture.
(SFC, 10/24/19, p.A6)
2019 Oct 23, In northern California Deputy Brian Ishmael was fatally shot early today in the community of Somerset. A ride-along passenger with him was injured while responding to a call about a theft from a marijuana garden in the rural Sierra Nevada foothills.
(AP, 10/23/19)(SFC, 10/24/19, p.C1)
2019 Oct 23, Facebook Inc CEO Mark Zuckerberg sought to reassure skeptical US lawmakers that the company's planned digital currency Libra would be a force for good that could reduce costs for electronic payments and help more people participate in the global financial system.
(Reuters, 10/23/19)
2019 Oct 23, Google said it had achieved a breakthrough in computer research, by solving a complex problem in minutes with a so-called quantum computer that would take today's most powerful supercomputer thousands of years to crack.
(Reuters, 10/23/19)
2019 Oct 23, Albanian police said they have discovered an Iranian paramilitary network that allegedly planned attacks in Albania against exiled members of an Iranian group seeking to overthrow the government in Tehran. The foreign wing of Iran's Revolutionary Guard operated an "active terrorist cell" targeting Mujahedin-e Khalq, or MEK, group members in Albania.
(AP, 10/23/19)
2019 Oct 23, Botswana faced its tightest election in history as the long-peaceful southern African nation wondered if the ruling party would be toppled for the first time since independence.
(AP, 10/23/19)
2019 Oct 23, British authorities found a tractor-trailer truck in Grays, in southeast England with 39 dead people inside. The dead were initially believed to be Chinese nationals, but police later said the dead were all from Vietnam. The truck had Bulgarian registration dating to 2017. A man from Northern Ireland who was driving the truck was arrested on suspicion of murder. On April 8, 2020, driver Maurice Robinson (25) pleaded guilty to manslaughter. On August 28, Ronan Hughes (40) pleaded guilty for his role in the tray. Hughes, whose conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration charge spanned 1 May 2018 to 24 October 2019, was described as "a ringleader of a people smuggling ring".
(https://tinyurl.com/y2vfj7fn)(AP, 10/23/19)(Reuters, 10/24/19)(Reuters, 10/26/19)(Reuters, 11/7/19)(SFC, 4/9/20, p.A2)
2019 Oct 23, Cyprus said it would investigate the circumstances under which relatives of Cambodia's prime minister were granted citizenship and did not rule out revoking passports if necessary.
(Reuters, 10/23/19)
2019 Oct 23, Ethiopian police fired gunshots and teargas as thousands protested over the treatment of a prominent activist, in a sign that the country's Nobel Prize-winning prime minister might be losing support among his powerbase.
(Reuters, 10/23/19)
2019 Oct 23, Hong Kong's legislature formally withdrew planned legislation that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China, but the move was unlikely to end months of unrest as it met just one of five demands of pro-democracy demonstrators.
(Reuters, 10/23/19)
2019 Oct 23, Iraq's defense minister said US troops withdrawing from northeastern Syria to Iraq are "transiting" and will leave the country within four weeks.
(AP, 10/23/19)
2019 Oct 23, Israel's former military chief Benny Gantz received an official mandate to form the country's next government. He had few options after last month's elections left him in a near tie with PM Benjamin Netanyahu. Gantz will have 28 days to form a coalition.
(AP, 10/23/19)
2019 Oct 23, The head of Italy's Bio-on was arrested in a probe into false accounting and market manipulation, just three months after the bio-plastics maker suffered an attack by a short seller fund that erased 80% of its value.
(Reuters, 10/23/19)
2019 Oct 23, Lebanon's state-run news agency said a Lebanese man shot down an Israeli drone with a hunting rifle near the border village of Kfar Kila.
(AP, 10/23/19)
2019 Oct 23, Six medical workers were released in Libya after being abducted and held hostage for nearly two weeks by unknown armed men.
(AP, 10/24/19)
2019 Oct 23, North Korea said that leader Kim Jong-un has ordered the destruction of all facilities built by South Korea at the Mount Kumgang (Diamond Mountain) tourist zone, apparently because of Seoul’s refusal to break ranks with the United States.
(SFC, 10/24/19, p.A4)
2019 Oct 23, Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted dozens of leaders of African nations for the first-ever Russia-Africa summit, reflecting Moscow's new push to expand its clout on the continent and saying there is "enormous potential for growth." 43 leaders of the continent's 54 countries attended the 2-day summit.
(AP, 10/23/19)(SFC, 10/24/19, p.A2)
2019 Oct 23, Russia landed the world’s biggest military aircraft in South Africa, the Tupolev Tu-160 ‘Blackjack’ bomber, in a rare display of cooperation between the defense forces of the two countries. The two bombers, which are capable of launching nuclear missiles, are the first to ever land in Africa and were escorted by fighter jets from the South African Air Force as they arrived at the Waterkloof air base in Tshwane.
(Bloomberg, 10/23/19)
2019 Oct 23, Russian military police began patrols on part of the Syrian border, quickly moving to implement an accord with Turkey that divvies up control of northeastern Syria. The Kremlin told Kurdish fighters to pull back from the entire frontier or else face being "steamrolled" by Turkish forces.
(AP, 10/23/19)
2019 Oct 23, South African Airways (SAA) and Comair began returning grounded planes to service a day after South Africa's air safety regulator flagged maintenance problems.
(Reuters, 10/23/19)
2019 Oct 23, In Switzerland a Syrian Kurdish man set himself on fire in front of the United Nations refugee agency's headquarters in Geneva. Security guards doused the flames and the man was then taken by helicopter to a hospital in Lausanne that specializes in treating burns.
(AP, 10/23/19)
2019 Oct 23, Ukraine's Pres. Volodymyr Zelensky urged a group of lawmakers to take lie detector tests to show they are not involved in a widening corruption scandal.
(SFC, 10/24/19, p.A2)
2019 Oct 23, Michael Lynk, the UN independent expert on human rights in the Palestinian territories, called for an international ban on all products made in Israeli settlements as a step to potentially end Israel's 52-year "illegal occupation".
(AP, 10/23/19)
2019 Oct 23, The World Health Organization said Zambia has reported its first case of polio since 1995, in a boy (2) paralyzed by the vaccine-derived poliovirus (VDPV).
(http://tinyurl.com/y467dngg)(SFC, 10/24/19, p.A2)
2020 Oct 23, President Donald Trump announced that Sudan will start to normalize ties with Israel, making it the third Arab state to do so as part of US-brokered deals in the run-up to Election Day.
(AP, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, The US State Department suspended all training programs for employees related to diversity and inclusion, after President Donald Trump directed federal agencies last month to end programs deemed divisive by the White House.
(Reuters, 10/24/20)
2020 Oct 23, The US Postal Service (USPS) told a US judge it has returned 137 mail processing machines to service since August and approved thousands of daily extra delivery trips this month as it works to deliver millions of ballots.
(Reuters, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Heavy fighting raged over Nagorno-Karabakh even as top diplomats from Armenia and Azerbaijan visited Washington for negotiations on settling the neighboring countries' decades-long conflict.
(AP, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, The US Treasury sanctioned two high-ranking Hezbollah officials in Lebanon, including a former military commander in the country's south.
(AP, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, A study by researchers at the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation said more than a half million people in the United States could die from COVID-19 by the end of February next year, but around 130,000 of those lives could be saved if everybody were to wear masks.
(Reuters, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, More than 85,000 new coronavirus cases were reported across the US, breaking the single-day record set on July 16 by about 10,000 cases.
(NY Times, 10/25/20)
2020 Oct 23, A US Border Patrol agent investigating suspected human smuggling with other agents in Texas fatally shot a person driving a vehicle carrying people believed to be in the country illegally.
(AP, 10/24/20)
2020 Oct 23, In Alabama a 115-year-old Confederate monument that was the subject of protests this year was removed from outside a county courthouse in Huntsville early today. The monument was first erected in 1905 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. It is expected to be moved to a cemetery.
(AP, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, A US Navy training plane that took off from Florida crashed in an Alabama residential neighborhood near the Gulf Coast, killing both people in the plane.
(AP, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, California to date had 894,938 cases of coronavirus and 17,281 deaths. The SF Bay Area had 113,938 cases and 1,735 deaths. Total cases nationwide reached over 8,472,847 with the death toll at 223,752.
(sfist.com, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Enrique Marquez Jr. (28), the man who bought two rifles that husband-and-wife assailants used to kill 14 people in a Southern California terror attack on Dec. 2, 2015, was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
(AP, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Pennsylvania's Supreme Court ruled that mail-in ballots cannot be refused because a voter's signature does not appear to match the one on file, a decision that could help Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.
(AP, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Two Bartonsville, Pennsylvania, men and a company that ran hotels in Stroudsburg and Bartonsville were convicted of sex and drug trafficking offenses by a jury in federal court in Scranton in a case the US Attorney’s Office said is precedent setting.
(USA Today, 10/29/20)
2020 Oct 23, In South Dakota the Oglala Sioux Tribe ordered a one-week lockdown of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in response to a surging number of COVID-19 cases in the state.
(AP, 10/24/20)
2020 Oct 23, A Texas appeals court ruled the Republican governor cannot limit drop-off sites for mail ballots to one per county, a setback for US President Donald Trump.
(AP, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Ivan Harrison Hunter (26), a Texas member of the Boogaloo Bois," was charged with spraying 13 rounds from a kalashnikov rifle toward the Minneapolis Police Dept.'s Third Precinct building on May 28.
(SFC, 10/24/20, p.B1)
2020 Oct 23, Officials in Washington state said scientists have discovered the first nest of so-called murder hornets in the United States. Scientists removed 98 of the hornets a day later in an effort to protect native honeybees.
(AP, 10/23/20)(SFC, 10/27/20, p.A4)
2020 Oct 23, Johnson & Johnson said it was preparing to resume a large clinical trial of its experimental COVID-19 vaccine in the United States after an independent safety panel recommended enrollments for the study.
(Reuters, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, The Austrian Post said it has united two aspects of the coronavirus pandemic in a stamp printed on toilet paper that people can also, at a push, use for social distancing. The 2.75 euro "corona stamp" comes in sheets 10 cm wide.
(Reuters, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Lufthansa's Austrian Airlines said it is offering rapid pre-boarding coronavirus tests free to passengers on one of its routes as part of a group-wide plan to make such tests standard.
(Reuters, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Belgium, one of the European countries worst hit by the new coronavirus, tightened restrictions on social contacts by banning fans from sports matches, limiting the number of people in cultural spaces and closing theme parks.
(Reuters, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Brazilian pharmaceutical company União Quimica said it has signed an agreement with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) to produce Russia's Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 starting in the second half of November. This is the second agreement to produce the Russian vaccine in Brazil, where four other vaccines are already being tested.
(Reuters, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Brazilian regulator Anvisa authorized a biomedical center to import 6 million doses of the Sinovac coronavirus vaccine, one day after President Jair Bolsonaro said Brazil would not buy the Chinese vaccine.
(AP, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Bolivia's Supreme Electoral Tribunal said leftist Luis Arce won 55% of the votes against six rivals on the ballot, a vindication for the Movement Toward Socialism party. The runner-up was centrist former President Carlos Mesa with just under 29%.
(AP, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Bosnia reported a record high of 1,169 infections in the past 24 hours, and 14 deaths, bringing its total cases to 38,493.
(Reuters, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Chinese leader Xi Jinping condemned “unilateralism, protectionism and extreme egoism" in a jab at the United States made during a rally to mark the 70th anniversary of China’s entry into the 1950-53 Korean War.
(AP, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Mainland China reported 28 new coronavirus cases up from 18 cases a day earlier.
(Reuters, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, In Croatia coronavirus infections in the past 24 hours hit a record high of 1,867, while seven people died. Croatia has recorded 31,717 total cases with 413 deaths.
(Reuters, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Danish aid workers stationed in the Balkans said dozens of migrants have alleged they were brutalized by Croatian law-enforcement officers when they tried to cross into the European Union nation, before being summarily expelled back to Bosnia.
(AP, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Cuba's foreign minister said political hostility has reached "feverish levels" as the country lost $5.6 billion between April 2019 and March 2020 due to economic sanctions imposed by the Pres. Donald Trump.
(SFC, 10/24/20, p.A2)
2020 Oct 23, It was reported that the Dubai is building a $3.4 billion coal-fired power plant in an effort to diversify its energy resources.
(SFC, 10/23/20, p.A4)
2020 Oct 23, Germany’s federal agriculture ministry said five more cases of African swine fever have been confirmed in wild boars in the eastern region of Brandenburg. The new discoveries bring the total number of confirmed cases to 91 since the first one on Sept. 10.
(Reuters, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, German biotech company CureVac said its potential vaccine against the coronavirus triggered an immune response in pre-clinical animal studies. CureVac is using the so-called messenger RNA approach, the same as rivals BioNTech and its partner Pfizer as well as Moderna, which have started testing on humans.
(Reuters, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, In Guinea three police officers died in clashes in Conakry, where the army has been called in to support the police in maintaining order. At least 30 people have died since the Oct. 18 presidential vote.
(BBC, 10/24/20)
2020 Oct 23, Italy's Campania region, based on the southern city of Naples, said it would impose a lockdown to tame the coronavirus and urged the whole country to follow suit as new infections hit a record high.
(Reuters, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Libya's two warring factions signed a "permanent" ceasefire agreement in Geneva after five days of talks at the UN, which hailed the deal as a historic moment following years of turmoil and bloodshed. The UN said all mercenaries and foreign fighters are supposed to depart from Libya within three months of the signing of the nationwide ceasefire.
(AFP, 10/23/20)(Reuters, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, In Liechtenstein coronavirus cases rose by 6,634 to 103,653. The death toll rose by 10 to 1,877.
(Reuters, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, The mayor of Mexico City called on residents to avoid gatherings of more than 10 people as the capital grapples with a surge of coronavirus hospitalizations. The pandemic has led to more than 874,000 infections and killed nearly 87,900 people in Mexico.
(Reuters, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Dutch poultry farmers were keeping their birds indoors to comply with a government order after a highly contagious form of the H5N8 bird flu was found in two dead swans this week.
(Reuters, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said 69 people have been killed in protests against police brutality that have rocked the country. A group that has been key in organizing the demonstrations has now urged people to stay at home.
(BBC, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said his government will pay the 931 million pesos ($19.25 million) it owes the Red Cross after the humanitarian agency stopped conducting COVID-19 tests. With 365,799 confirmed infections and 6,915 deaths, the Philippines has the second-highest number of COVID-19 cases and fatalities in Southeast Asia behind Indonesia.
(Reuters, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Poland's PM Mateusz Morawiecki said restaurants and bars will close for two weeks and public gatherings will be limited to five people, after new coronavirus infections hit a daily record of more than 13,600.
(Reuters, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Portugal's parliament decided that face masks will have to be worn in crowded outdoor areas across the country, in a scramble to contain the surge in coronavirus cases.
(Reuters, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Romania's number of new coronavirus infections rose by a daily record of 5,028 in the past 24 hours. The total number of confirmed cases rose to 201,032 and 6,245 deaths.
(Reuters, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Slovenian PM Janez Jansa endorsed US President Donald Trump’s reelection on Friday, saying Joe Biden would be a weak leader. Slovenia is the birthplace of US first lady Melania Trump.
(AP, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Sweden registered 1,870 new coronavirus cases, its highest since the start of the pandemic.
(Reuters, 10/27/20)
2020 Oct 23, Switzerland set a record for new COVID-19 infections with cases passing the 100,000 mark as a second coronavirus wave engulfs the country.
(Reuters, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Ukraine registered a daily record of 7,517 COVID-19 cases. The total number of cases climbed to 330,396.
(Reuters, 10/23/20)
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For Asian History: https://www.asiaobserver.org/category/news/on-this-day-in-asian-history
4004BC Oct 23, According to 17th century divine James Ussher, Archbishop of Armagh, and Dr. John Lightfoot of Cambridge, the world was created on this day, a Sunday, at 9 a.m.
(HN, 10/23/98)
42BC Oct 23, Marcus Junius Brutus, a leading conspirator in the assassination of Julius Caesar, committed suicide after his defeat at the Battle of Philippi. Octavian and Mark Antony defeated Brutus and Cassius at Philippi in Macedonia.
(WUD, 1994, p.1081)(MC, 10/23/01)
787 Oct 23, Byzantine Empress Irene (c. 752-803) attended the final session of the 2nd church council at Nicaea, Bithynia [now Iznik, a city in Anatolia (now part of Turkey)]. The council formally revived the adoration of icons and reunited the Eastern church with that of Rome.
(http://www.malaspina.com/site/person_672.asp)
1450 Oct 23, Juan de Capistrano (70), Italian saint, died.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1520 Oct 23, King Carlos I (1500-1558) was crowned as German emperor Charles V (1520-1558), a Holy Roman Emperor.
(http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Charles%20V,%20Holy%20Roman%20Emperor)
1582 Oct 23, Cossacks attempted to storm the Tatar fort at Mount Chyuvash for a 4th time when the Tatars counterattacked. Over a 100 Cossacks were killed but their gunfire forced a Tatar retreat allowed the capture of 2 Tatar cannons.
(ON, 2/04, p.4)
1588 Oct 23, Medina Sidonia's Spanish Armada returned to Santander. [see Sep 21]
(MC, 10/23/01)
1641 Oct 23, Catholics in Ireland, under Phelim O'Neil, rose against the Protestants and cruelly massacred men, women and children to the number of 40,000 (some say 100,000). [see Oct 21]
(HN, 10/23/98)
1642 Oct 23, The Battle of Edgehill was the first major clash between Royalist and Parliamentary forces in the English Civil Wars. King Charles I and 11-15,000 Cavaliers held the high ground against 13-15,000 Roundheads led by the Earl of Essex and Oliver Cromwell. The conflict began with a smattering of cannon exchanges. The Royalist artillery was hampered by its uphill position, rendering its cannons largely ineffective against the enemy below. As a result, Royalist cavalry, led by the King’s nephew, Prince Rupert, swept down the hill toward the Parliamentarians, decimating a large section of their ranks. The Royalists did not capitalize on this initial success, however, as the troops became more interested in plundering the town than in finishing the fight. This allowed Parliamentarian troops to regroup and break up enemy formations. After several hours of hard fighting, both sides withdrew to their original positions, leaving a field scattered with debris and casualties.
(HNQ, 6/16/01)
1642 Oct 23, Sir Edmund Verneys rode into the battle of Edgehill as the standard bearer of Charles I and died there. In 2007 Adrian Tinniswood authored “The Verneys: A True Story of Love, War and Madness in Seventeenth-Century England."
(Econ, 3/3/07, p.87)
1668 Oct 23, Jews of Barbados were forbidden to engage in retail trade.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1679 Oct 23, The Meal Tub Plot took place against James II of England.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1690 Oct 23, American colonial forces from Boston led by Sir William Phips, failed in their attempt to seize Quebec. Phips lost 4 ships on the return trip due to stormy weather.
(Arch, 1/05, p.50)(http://www.biographi.ca/EN/ShowBio.asp?BioId=34586)
1690 Oct 23, There was a revolt in Haarlem, Holland, after a public ban on smoking.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1698 Oct 23, Ange-Jacques Gabriel, French court architect (Place de la Concorde), was born.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1707 Oct 23, The first Parliament of Great Britain, created by the Acts of Union between England and Scotland, held its first meeting.
(AP, 10/23/07)
1750 Oct 23, Nicolas Appert, the inventor of canning, was born. [see Oct 23, 1752]
(HN, 10/23/00)
1752 Oct 23, Nicolas Appert, inventor (food canning, bouillon tablet), was born. [see Oct 23, 1750]
(MC, 10/23/01)
1760 Oct 23, The 1st Jewish prayer books were printed in US.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1767 Oct 23, H. Benjamin Constant, [de Rebeque], French politician and writer, was born.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1775 Oct 23, Continental Congress approved a resolution barring blacks from army.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1783 Oct 23, Virginia emancipated slaves who fought for independence during the Revolutionary War.
(HN, 10/23/98)
1790 Oct 23, Slaves revolted in Haiti.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1801 Oct 23, Gustav Albert Lortzing, composer, was born.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1801 Oct 23, Johann Gottlieb Naumann (60), German composer, died.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1812 Oct 23, There was a failed coup against emperor Napoleon.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1814 Oct 23, The 1st plastic surgery was performed in England.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1824 Oct 23, The 1st steam locomotive was introduced.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1829 Oct 23, The Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia received its 1st prisoner, burglar Charles Williams (18). It was based on the Quaker idea of reform through solitude and reflection. In 1913 the Pennsylvania System of isolation was abandoned and the isolation practices ended. The prison was designed by John Haviland and was built on the outskirts of Philadelphia. The whole fortress-like exterior was just a façade hiding the radial structure of the inner prison. It opened to tourists in 1971 after being closed to prisoners.
(WSJ, 9/19/97, p.B1)(AHHT, 10/02, p.18)(Insider, 8/14/20)
1835 Oct 23, Adlai Ewing Stevenson, (D) 23rd VP (1893-97), was born.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1844 Oct 23, Sarah Bernhardt, French actress, was born. [see Oct 22]
(HN, 10/23/00)
1861 Oct 23, President Abraham Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus in Washington, D.C. for all military-related cases.
(HN, 10/23/98)
1863 Oct 23, Gen’l. Grant arrived at Chattanooga. [see Oct 24]
(HT, 4/97, p.56)
1864 Oct 23, Forces led by Union Gen. Samuel R. Curtis defeated Confederate Gen. Stirling Price's army in Missouri.
(AP, 10/23/97)
1869 Oct 23, John Heisman, American college football coach from 1892 to 1927, was born. He had a trophy for best college player named after him.
(HN, 10/23/98)
1872 Oct 23, Theophile Gautier (61), French poet, writer, historian, and critic, died.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1890 Oct 23, Borodin's Opera "Prince Igor" was produced posthumously in St. Petersburg.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1901 Oct 23, Georg von Siemens, founder of Deutsche Bank, died.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1906 Oct 23, Gertrude Ederle, swimmer (Olympic-gold-1924), was born in NYC.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1910 Oct 23, Blanche S. Scott became the first woman to make a solo, public airplane flight, reaching an altitude of 12 feet at a park in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
(AP, 10/23/00)
1910 Oct 23, Rama V (b.1853) King Chulalongkorn (b.1853), died. The 42-year reign of King Chulalongkorn, the son of Mongkut, was known for a modernization drive and abolition of slavery. He also ceded territories to Western powers, including Laos and Cambodia to France, and the Malay sultanates of Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu and Perlis to Britain. Chulalongkorn was the first Siamese king to send royal princes to study King Vajiravudh succeeded his father as Rama VI and formed a private army, the Wild Tiger Corps, on his accession.in Europe. He visited twice and presented Siam as a modern nation to European rulers. He had introduced state corporations as a way to modernize Siam (Thailand). Rama V lived in the Vimanmek Mansion in Bangkok. It was made entirely of golden teak wood.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chulalongkorn)(SFC, 7/9/99, p.A12)(Econ, 3/20/10, p.27)(Econ, 5/24/14, p.36)(Reuters, 5/2/19)
1915 Oct 23, Tens of thousands of women marched in NYC, demanding the right to vote.
(AP, 10/23/08)
1917 Oct 23, The 1st Infantry division, "Big Red One," fired the 1st US shot in WW I.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1917 Oct 23, Lenin spoke against Kamenev, Kollontai, Stalin and Trotsky.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1918 Oct 23, President Wilson felt satisfied that the Germans were accepting his armistice terms and agreed to transmit their request for an armistice to the Allies. The Germans had agreed to suspend submarine warfare, cease inhumane practices such as the use of poison gas, and withdraw troops back into Germany.
(HN, 10/23/98)
1919 Oct 23, Sigmund Romberg's musical "Passing Show," premiered in NYC.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1920 Oct 23, Chicago grand jury indicted Abe Attell, Hal Chase, and Bill Burns as go-betweens in Black Sox World Series scandal.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1921 Oct 23, Green Bay Packers played their 1st NFL game. They won 7-6 over Minneapolis.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1921 Oct 23, Leos Janacek (1854-1928) completed his opera "Katya Kabanov," and it premiered in Brno. It was inspired by Alexander Ostrovsky’s mid 19th century play "The Storm."
(WSJ, 1/3/96, p.A7)(WSJ, 1/16/98, p.A12)(MC, 10/23/01)
1922 Oct 23, Andrew Bonar Law (1858-1923) began serving as British prime minister and continued to May 22, 1923. Winston Churchill dubbed his coalition government the “second eleven" because so many top players refused to serve in it.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonar_Law)(Econ 6/10/17, p.58)
1925 Oct 23, Johnny Carson (d.2005), American television personality who hosted the "Tonight Show," was born in Corning, Iowa.
(HN, 10/23/98)(SFC, 1/24/05, p.A7)
1925 Oct 23, Manos Hadjidakis, Greek composer and conductor (Never on Sunday), was born.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1928 Oct 23, Francois V. Alphonse Aulard (b.1849), French historian, died.
(www.fact-index.com/f/fr/francois_victor_alphonse_aulard.html)
1929 Oct 23, First transcontinental air service began from New York to Los Angeles. [see July]
(HN, 10/23/98)
1932 Oct 23, "Fred Allen Show" premiered on radio.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1933 Oct 23, Germany withdrew from the League of Nations in light of the failure of the Germans to gain military parity with the Western powers.
(www.indiana.edu/~league/1933.htm)
1934 Oct 23, Jean Piccard and Jeanette Ridlen attained a record balloon height of 17,341m.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1935 Oct 23, Dutch Schultz (33), born as Arthur Flegenheimer, was shot in the men’s room of the Palace Chop House and Tavern in Newark, New Jersey. He lingered for nearly a day before dying after being the target of a mob hit. Schultz wanted to have Thomas E. Dewey murdered because the special prosecutor had set his sights on the numbers racket operated by Schultz. A syndicate of New York’s top mobsters decided to murder Schultz because it feared the wrath of the authorities and decided against the assassination. Schultz gang members Abe Landau and Otto "Aba Daba" Berman and bodyguard Bernard "Lulu" Rosencrantz were shot.
(HNQ, 9/27/02)(http://www.mobmagazine.com/ManageArticle.asp?C=20&A=115)
1939 Oct 23, Zane Grey (67), US western writer (Spirit of the Border), died. He authored 89 books, mostly Westerns. He books on fishing included: "Tales of fishes" and "An American Angler in Australia."
(SFEC, 9/24/00, p.T10)(MC, 10/23/01)(WSJ, 1/8/02, p.A16)
1940 Oct 23, Pele, legendary Brazilian soccer player who scored 1,281 goals in 22 years, was born.
(HN, 10/23/98)
1941 Oct 23, Walt Disney's cartoon film, "Dumbo," was released.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1941 Oct 22-23, Some 39,000 Jews were killed by Romanian troops over 2 days in Odessa. Many of them were burned to death in a public square or in warehouses that were locked shut. Altogether some 90,000 Jews were killed in Odessa.
(SFC, 6/15/98, p.A11)
1942 Oct 23, Michael Crichton, writer, was born. His work includes "Jurassic Park" and "The Andromeda Strain."
(HN, 10/23/00)
1942 Oct 23, The Western Task Force, destined for North Africa, departed from Hampton Roads, Virginia. The command of the Western Task Force, part of an invasion of North Africa during World War II known as Operation Torch, was given to General George Patton. Placed under the command of General George Patton, the Western Task Force had the advantage of having a man at the top who would stop at nothing to see that the mission was accomplished, a quality that would be needed in the days ahead. Naval operations were in the hands of Rear Adm. H. Kent Hewitt, an easygoing man who, in the beginning, found it difficult to work with Patton, but with increasing familiarity became a solid partner.
(HN, 10/23/98)(HNQ, 12/8/00)
1942 Oct 23, Ralph Rainger (41), pianist and song writer, was among 12 people killed when their DC-3 crashed after being clipped by a B-34 bomber flown by Army Lt. William Wilson, who had wanted to thumb his nose at Louis Reppert, a flight school buddy and co-pilot of the DC-3. An Army court-martial panel later exonerated Wilson, who had been charged with manslaughter. Rainger’s songs included “Love in Bloom" and “Thanks for the Memories," which Bing Crosby made a hit in 1934.
(WSJ, 12/30/08, p.D7)
1942 Oct 23, During World War II, Britain launched a major offensive against Axis forces at El Alamein in Egypt.
(AP, 10/23/97)
1943 Oct 23, The 1st Jewish transport out of Rome reached Birkenau (Poland) extermination camp.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1944 Oct 23, In the Philippines the Battle of Leyte Gulf began. In 1947 C. Van Woodward authored "The Battle of Leyte Gulf."
(AP, 10/23/97)(SFEC, 12/19/99, p.C14)
1944 Oct 23, Soviet army invaded Hungary.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1944 Oct 23, Hanička "Hana" Brady (b. 1931 as Hana Bradyová), Czechoslovakian Jewish girl, was murdered in the gas chambers at German concentration camp of Auschwitz, located in the occupied territory of Poland. She is the subject of the 2002 non-fiction children's book Hana's Suitcase, written by Karen Levine.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hana_Brady)
1945 Oct 23, Jackie Robinson signed a Montreal Royal contract.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1946 Oct 23, The United Nations General Assembly convened in New York for the first time, at an auditorium in Flushing Meadow.
(AP, 10/23/97)
1946 Oct 23, A Vatican document advised French church authorities on how to handle information requests from Jewish officials, asking them not to put anything in writing: “Children who have been baptized must not be entrusted to institutions that cannot ensure their Christian education." The document surfaced in 2004.
(SFC, 1/1/05, p.A12)
1948 Oct 23, Israel established its first diplomatic mission as a new nation at the Bristol Hotel in central Warsaw, Poland.
(AP, 10/23/18)
1950 Oct 23, Al Jolson (64), singer and actor (Jazz Singer), died. He was born in Russia as Asa Yoelson
(MC, 10/23/01)
1952 Oct 23, The Nobel Prize for Medicine was awarded to Ukrainian-born microbiologist Selmart A. Waksman for his discovery streptomycin, the 1st antibiotic to successfully treat tuberculosis.
(HN, 10/23/00)(SFC, 1/11/01, p.C16)
1953 Oct 23, France granted sovereignty to Laos. [see Oct 22]
(MC, 10/23/01)
1954 Oct 23, In Paris, an agreement was signed providing for West German sovereignty and permitting West Germany to rearm and enter NATO and the Western European Union. Britain, England, France and USSR agreed to end occupation of Germany. [see Oct 22]
(HN, 10/23/98)(MC, 10/23/01)
1956 Oct 23, The 1st video recording on magnetic tape was televised coast-to-coast.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1956 Oct 23, Britain’s PM Anthony Eden admitted to the cabinet that secret conversations had been held in Paris with representatives of the Israeli government.
(Econ, 12/16/06, p.86)
1956 Oct 23, An anti-Stalinist revolt began in Hungary. As the revolution spread, Soviet forces started entering the country, and the uprising was put down within weeks. Bela Kiraly (1912-2009), recently released from prison, was named as the military commander of the Budapest and head of the national guard. In 2001 Bela Liptak authored "A Testament of Revolution." In 2006 three books were published that covered Hungary’s October Revolution: “Failed Illusions" by Charles Gati; “Journey to a Revolution" by Michael Korda; and Viktor Sebestyen’s “Twelve Days: The Story of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution."
(SFC, 10/23/96, p.A8)(WSJ, 6/19/01, p.A20)(WSJ, 10/20/06, p.W4)(Econ, 10/21/06, p.94)(AP, 10/23/07)(SSFC, 7/5/09, p.C8)
1958 Oct 23, Boris Pasternak won the Nobel Prize in literature. However, Soviet authorities pressured Pasternak into relinquishing the award.
(SFC, 11/27/97, p.B3)(AP, 10/23/99)
1958 Oct 23, De Gaulle offered Algerian defiance "peace of the brave."
(MC, 10/23/01)
1958 Oct 23, USSR lent money to UAR to build Aswan High Dam.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1959 Oct 23, "Weird Al" Yankovic, parody singer (Eat It, UHF, Naked Gun), was born in California.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1959 Oct 23, Chinese troops moved into India and 17 died.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1962 Oct 23, US ambassador Adlai Stevenson spoke at UN about Cuba crisis.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1963 Oct 23, Neil Simon's "Barefoot in the Park," premiered in NYC. [see Oct 24]
(MC, 10/23/01)
1968 Oct 23, In Nicaragua the Cerro Negro volcano began erupting again and continued to Dec 10. It had first appeared in 1850.
(DD-EVTT, Illustr.#9)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerro_Negro)
1972 Oct 23, Jascha Haifetz (b.1901), virtuoso violinist, performed his farewell concert in Los Angeles at the age of 72.
(www.musicianguide.com/biographies/1608002800/Jascha-Heifetz.html)
1972 Oct 23, The musical "Pippin" opened on Broadway and ran for 1944 performances.
(AP, 10/23/97)(MC, 10/23/01)
1972 Oct 23, The US Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act of 1972 became law.
(www.fws.gov/laws/lawsdigest/marprot.html)(Econ, 6/24/06, p.96)
1973 Oct 23, President Nixon agreed to turn White House tape recordings requested by the Watergate special prosecutor over to Judge John J. Sirica.
(AP, 10/23/97)
1975 Oct 23, A Battle between Cuban and South Africa troops took place in Angola.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_intervention_in_Angola_(1975-1991))
1978 Oct 23, CBS raised long playing vinyl album prices to $8.98.
(http://www.440.com/twtd/archives/oct23.html)
1978 Oct 23, Sid Vicious attempted suicide while at Riker's Detention Center in NYC.
(http://archive.gulfnews.com/indepth/30thyear/onthisday/10162208.html)
1978 Oct 23, Maybelle Carter (b.1909), Virginia-born country singer, died in Nashville, Tenn. She was a member of the original Carter Family, which was formed in 1927 by her brother-in-law, A. P. Carter, who was married to her cousin, Sara, also a part of the trio.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maybelle_Carter)
1978 Oct 23, China and Japan exchanged treaty ratification documents in Tokyo, formally ending four decades of hostility.
(AP, 10/23/97)
1979 Oct 23, Billy Martin (1928-1989), NY Yankee baseball manager, was involved in a barroom altercation when he sucker punched Joseph Cooper, a Minnesota marshmallow salesman. Cooper required 15 stitches. Martin was fired.
(www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/October_23)
1980 Oct 23, The resignation of Soviet Premier Alexei N. Kosygin was announced.
(AP, 10/23/97)
1981 Oct 23, The US national debt hit $1 trillion.
(http://tinyurl.com/3datwf)
1983 Oct 23, A truck filled with explosives, driven by a Moslem suicide terrorist, crashed into the US Marine barracks near the Beirut International Airport in Lebanon. The bomb killed 241 Marines and sailors and injured 80. Almost simultaneously, a similar incident occurred at French military headquarters, where 58 died and 15 were injured. Hezbollah leader Imad Mughniyah was suspected of involvement. In 2007 under a law allowing foreign governments to be sued in US courts, US federal judge Royce Lamberth ordered Iran to pay $2.65 billion to victims' families.
(WSJ, 8/1/96/p.B1)(AP, 10/23/97)(WSJ, 9/19/01, p.A14)(AFP, 7/6/12)
1983 Oct 23, Jessica Savitch (36), news anchor (NBC-TV), died in an automobile accident with Martin Fischbein in New Hope, Pa.
(www.accuracyproject.org/cbe-Savitch,Jessica.html)
1984 Oct 23, Oskar Werner (b.1922), Austrian actor (Fahrenheit 451), died of a heart attack.
(www.filmbug.com/db/330521)
1987 Oct 23, The U.S. Senate rejected, 58-42, the Supreme Court nomination of Robert H. Bork.
(AP, 10/23/97)
1989 Oct 23, In a case that inflamed racial tensions in Boston, Charles Stuart claimed he and his pregnant wife, Carol, had been shot in their car by a black robber. Carol Stuart and her prematurely delivered baby died; Charles Stuart later died, an apparent suicide, after he was implicated.
(AP, 10/23/99)
1989 Oct 23, Twenty-three people were killed in an explosion at Phillips Petroleum Co.'s chemical complex in Pasadena, Texas.
(AP, 10/23/99)
1989 Oct 23, Hungary proclaimed itself a republic and declared an end to communist rule.
(http://tinyurl.com/qrnfm)
1990 Oct 23, Deficit-reduction negotiations continued between the White House and congressional leaders. President Bush, campaigning in New England, blamed the Democratic-controlled Congress for the budget impasse.
(AP, 10/23/00)
1990 Oct 23, Iraq announced the release of 330 French hostages.
(http://tinyurl.com/s498l)
1991 Oct 23, Clarence Thomas was sworn in as US Supreme Court Justice.
(www.oyez.org/oyez/resource/legal_entity/106/)
1991 Oct 23, Dr. Jack Kevorkian attended the suicide machine assisted deaths of 2 women in Michigan.
(www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kevorkian/chronology.html)
1991 Oct 23, Cambodia's warring factions and representatives of 18 other nations signed a peace treaty in Paris. All the factions signed The Paris Peace Agreements with the UN to provide peacekeeping and elections. Khmer Rouge Pres. Khieu Samphan and commander Son Sen soon returned to Phnom Penh for the first time since 1979, then fled the same day as mobs tried to lynch Khieu Samphan.
(SFC, 6/14/97, p.A15)(SFEC, 7/26/98, p.T6)(AP, 10/23/01)
1992 Oct 23, President Bush announced that Vietnam had agreed to turn over all materials in its possession related to U.S. personnel in the Vietnam War.
(AP, 10/23/97)
1992 Oct 23, Japanese Emperor Akihito began a visit to China, the first by a Japanese monarch.
(AP, 10/23/97)
1992 Oct 23, A French court convicted three former health officials of charges they knowingly allowed blood tainted with the AIDS virus to be used in transfusions.
(AP, 10/23/97)
1993 Oct 23, The Toronto Blue Jays repeated as baseball champions as they defeated the Philadelphia Phillies, 8-6, in game six of the World Series.
(AP, 10/23/03)
1993 Oct 23, An IRA bomb exploded in Belfast, Northern Ireland, killing 10 people, including an IRA operative at a fish & chips shop on Shankill Road.
(AP, 10/23/03)(http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch93.htm)
1994 Oct 23, Robert Lansing (66), actor (Twelve O'Clock High, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues, Equalizer), died of cancer.
(www.imdb.com/name/nm0487108/)
1994 Oct 23, In Egypt a British man was killed and 3 injured in an attack on a van by Islamic extremists at Naqada.
(SFC, 11/19/97, p.C2)
1994 Oct 23, A suicide bomber in Colombo, Sri Lanka, killed 50 people including Gamini Dissanayake, the opposition presidential candidate.
(AP, 10/23/99)
1995 Oct 23, President Clinton met with Russian President Boris Yeltsin in Hyde Park, New York; the leaders agreed that Russian troops would help enforce peace in Bosnia, but remained deadlocked on the issue of NATO command.
(AP, 10/23/00)
1995 Oct 23, The US Congress passed the Jerusalem Embassy Act, effective as of Nov 8, 1995, calling for the US embassy to be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. As of 2017 every US president since has signed a national security waiver suspending the act.
(Econ, 12/24/16, p.74)
1995 Oct 23, A jury in Houston convicted Yolanda Saldivar of murdering Tejano singing star Selena.
(AP, 10/23/00)
1996 Oct 23, The New York Yankees tied the World Series at two games apiece, defeating the Atlanta Braves, 8-6.
(AP, 10/23/97)
1996 Oct 23, Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole tried to persuade Ross Perot to quit the race and endorse the GOP ticket, but Perot refused.
(AP, 10/23/97)
1996 Oct 23, The civil trial of O.J. Simpson opened in Santa Monica, Calif. Simpson was later found liable in the deaths of his ex-wife, Nicole, and her friend, Ronald Goldman.
(AP, 10/23/97)
1996 Oct 23, In Norway Gro Harlem Brundtland announced her resignation as prime minister. Thoerbjorn Jagland, leader of the Labor Party, was expected to replace her.
(SFC, 10/24/96, p.C3)
1997 Oct 23, The Florida Marlins beat the Cleveland Indians, 8-7, in game five of the World Series.
(AP, 10/23/02)
1997 Oct 23, British au pair Louise Woodward, charged with murdering a baby in her care, testified at her trial in Cambridge, Mass., that she'd never hurt 8-month-old Matthew Eappen, saying, "I love kids."
(AP, 10/23/02)
1997 Oct 23, The stock market dropped 186.88 points in a ripple effect from an overnight drop in the Hong Kong market.
(SFC, 10/24/97, p.A1)
1997 Oct 23, A psychologist at UC Berkeley, S. Marc Breedlove, found that sexual activity among rats reduced the size of neurons at the base of the spinal cord. Smaller neurons are more active and fire more frequently and may have become "primed for more action."
(SFC, 10/23/97, p.A1)
1997 Oct 23, AIDS researchers reported a new chemokine molecule that blocks HIV from infecting cells.
(WSJ, 10/24/97, p.A1)
1997 Oct 23, The International Whaling Commission opened the way for an American Indian tribe, the Makah, to resume traditional whale hunts for the first time in seven decades.
(AP, 10/23/02)
1997 Oct 23, Algeria held local elections. The government claimed a 66% turnout. The winners will choose 2/3 of the members of the upper house of parliament. Pres. Zeroual will choose the other third. Opposition parties charged that the turnout was greatly inflated and that some poll watchers were roughed up and stopped from observing the tally.
(SFC, 10/24/97, p.D2,4)(SFC, 10/24/97, p.A10)
1997 Oct 23, In Colombia 2 observers from the Organization of American States were kidnapped by rebels and on candidate of the upcoming elections was killed. Rebels detonated some 20 bombs across the country and 2 policemen were killed as they tried to defuse car bombs.
(WSJ, 10/24/97, p.A1)(SFC, 10/24/97, p.A10)
1997 Oct 23, The UN threatened a trade ban against Iraq unless Iraq cooperates with weapons inspectors.
(SFC, 10/30/97, p.A12)
1998 Oct 23, The "BookTalk" telephone hotline to various authors, founded by David Knight, was described. Dial 818-788-9722 to listen to a variety of authors speak their mind.
(WSJ, 10/23/98, p.W12)
1998 Oct 23, An American brokered peace deal was reached at the Wye Plantation in Maryland between Yasser Arafat and Benjamin Netanyahu. Israeli and Palestinian extremists denounced the deal. Land for the Palestinians was exchanged for security guarantees to the Israelis backed by the American CIA. Pres. Clinton agreed to release Jonathan Pollard, who was jailed 11 years ago on charges of spying for Israel.
(SFC, 10/24/98, p.A1,10,13)(SFEC, 10/25/98, p.A17)
1998 Oct 23, Researchers reported the complete genetic sequence of the bacteria chlamydia trachomatis.
(SFC, 10/24/98, p.A3)
1998 Oct 23, Dr. Barnett Slepian, an obstetrician, gynecologist and abortion practitioner, was gunned down in his kitchen in Amherst, N.Y. James Charles Kopp (44), aka "Atomic Dog," was later sought in relation to the killing. In 1999 a warrant was issued for Kopp's arrest. Kopp was arrested in France in 2001. Kopp was returned to the US in 2002 and pleaded not guilty. In 2003 Kopp was found guilty of 2nd degree murder.
(SFEC, 10/25/98, p.A1)(SFC, 11/5/98, p.A7)(SFC, 5/6/99, p.A9)(SFC, 3/30/01, p.A3)(SFC, 6/6/02, p.A5)(SFC, 1/19/02, p.A1)
1998 Oct 23, Typhoon Babs pummeled the northern Philippines, killing at least 189.
(AP, 10/23/99)
1998 Oct 23, In Colombia Jesus Fernandez, alleged ringleader of the Norte del Valle drug cartel, was arrested in Medellin. He was also wanted by the US.
(SFC, 10/24/98, p.A12)
1998 Oct 23, In Iran voters selected the 86-member Assembly of Experts, who in turn will select the supreme leader of the country. Candidates for the Assembly were tested and graded on Islamic law by the 12-member Council of Guardians, who were in turn appointed by the supreme leader. The turnout was low and Conservatives won at least 54 of the 86 seats.
(WSJ, 10/22/98, p.A1)(SFC, 10/24/98, p.A14)(SFC, 10/26/98, p.A7)
1998 Oct 23, Peru and Ecuador settled their border dispute with a line along the Cordellera de Condor mountain range. Contiguous national parks were to be created in the disputed area. Tiwintza Hill, allocated to Peru, was to be granted as private property to Ecuador.
(SFC, 10/24/98, p.A12)
1998 Oct 23, In Kosovo, Serbia, 4 people were killed trying to cross into Albania when they stepped on mines.
(SFC, 10/24/98, p.A10)
1998 Oct 23, In Turkey 5 Kurdish rebels burned themselves to death in loyalty to their leader Abdullah Ocalan, who was expelled from Syria.
(SFC, 10/24/98, p.A14)
1999 Oct 23, The New York Yankees won the first game of the World Series, beating the Atlanta Braves, 4-to-1. The Yankees went on to sweep the series.
(AP, 10/23/00)
1999 Oct 23, Rev. Falwell and 200 members of his Baptist Church were scheduled to meet with 200 gay and lesbian religious leaders in Lynchburg, Va.
(SFC, 10/22/99, p.A1)
1999 Oct 23, A Ku Klux Klan rally was allowed to proceed in NYC with no masks as thousands of counter-demonstrators jeered them. 16 Klansmen and 2 Klan women appeared at Foley Square along with some 6,000 protestors and 2,000 tourists.
(SFC, 10/23/99, p.A3)(WSJ, 10/26/99, p.A26)(SFEC, 10/24/99, p.A2)(AP, 10/23/00)
1999 Oct 23, Pres. Jiang Zemin of China visited France and signed a $2.5 billion deal that included an order for 28 Airbus planes.
(SFEC, 10/27/99, p.A28)
1999 Oct 23, In Palermo, Italy, Giulio Andreotti (80), 7 times prime minister, was acquitted of charges that he was the Sicilian Mafia's protector in Rome.
(SFEC, 10/24/99, p.A17)
1999 Oct 23, In Mexico the first monarch butterflies arrived at sanctuaries in Michoacan in their annual migration.
(SFC, 11/6/99, p.A24)
1999 Oct 23, Palestine planned to issue a national currency and the IMF estimated that 2 years of preparations would be needed.
(SFEC, 10/27/99, p.A28)
2000 Oct 23, Pres. Clinton signed a bill for a national standard of .08% as the legal limit for alcohol in drunken driving.
(SFC, 10/24/00, p.A8)
2000 Oct 23, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright held groundbreaking talks in North Korea with communist leader Kim Jong Il.
(AP, 10/23/01)
2000 Oct 23, It was reported that General Electric had agreed to buy Honeywell for $48.4 billion in stock and assumed debt.
(SFC, 10/23/00, p.D1)
2000 Oct 23, In India at least 16 people were killed in 2 attacks in Assam state. Police blamed the United Liberation Front of Asom. Over 10,000 people have been killed since the group began its campaign 2 decades ago.
(SFC, 10/24/00, p.A16)
2000 Oct 23, In Israel Prime Minister Barak opened negotiations with Ariel Sharon and the Likud Party for a broad-based emergency government.
(SFC, 10/24/00, p.A14)
2000 Oct 23, The Int’l. Commission on Kosovo recommended that Kosovo become a separate state when the safety of its minorities can be guaranteed.
(SFC, 10/24/00, p.A16)
2000 Oct 23, In Lebanon Pres. Lahoud appointed Rafik Hariri as prime minister.
(SFC, 10/24/00, p.A16)
2000 Oct 23, Two more Palestinians died from injuries received during rioting in Nablus.
(SFC, 10/24/00, p.A14)
2000 Oct 23, In Peru Vladimiro Montesinos, the former intelligence chief, landed in Pisco as police and protesters clashed in Lima.
(SFC, 10/24/00, p.A14)
2000 Oct 23, Senegal struck the 1st cut-rate deal for AIDS drugs with discounts as much as 90% from US retail prices.
(WSJ, 10/24/00, p.A1)
2000 Oct 23, In Sri Lanka rebels launched an attack against the navy base at Trincomalee. The military said 24 combatants died including 18 rebels.
(WSJ, 10/24/00, p.A1)
2001 Oct 23, President Bush announced he had authorized money for improved post office security following the deaths of two postal workers from inhalation anthrax.
(AP, 10/23/02)
2001 Oct 23, Traces of anthrax were found at an off-site facility that handled mail for the White House.
(SFC, 10/24/01, p.A1)
2001 Oct 23, A relieved NASA team celebrated as the 2001 Mars Odyssey slipped into orbit around the Red Planet, two years after back-to-back failures by Mars missions. The $297 million Mars Odyssey spacecraft entered into a stable orbit following a 6-month voyage.
(SFC, 10/23/01, p.A13)(SFC, 10/24/01, p.C4)(AP, 10/23/02)
2001 Oct 23, US bombs in Kabul, Afghanistan, reportedly killed 22 Harkat ul-Mujahedeen fighters from Pakistan.
(SFC, 10/25/01, p.A3)
2001 Oct 23, John Ashcroft, US Attorney Gen’l., said 3 men wanted by German authorities, Said Bahaji, Ramzi Binalshibh and Zakariya Essabar, were part of a terrorist cell in Hamburg that included 3 men from the Sep 11 attack on the WTC.
(SFC, 10/24/01, p.A13)
2001 Oct 23, US military officers were sent to the Philippines to assess how the US might help the local war against terrorism.
(SFC, 10/24/01, p.A13)
2001 Oct 23, David B. Duncan of Anderson Accounting called a meeting to organize the destruction of Enron-related records. Duncan was fired in 2002.
(SFC, 1/16/02, p.A12)
2001 Oct 23, The MacArthur Foundation announced 23 "genius" award winners. Each would receive $100,000 over the next 5 years.
(SFC, 10/24/01, p.A15)
2001 Oct 23, African leaders gathered in Nigeria for the formal launch of the New Africa Initiative, aimed at reviving ailing their economies.
(WSJ, 10/23/01, p.A1)
2001 Oct 23, Israel rejected a request by Pres. Bush to withdraw from Palestinian territory as the violence continued.
(SFC, 10/24/01, p.C3)
2001 Oct 23, The Irish Republican Army (IRA) began to destroy its arsenal of weapons in a move to save the Northern Ireland peace process.
(SFC, 10/24/01, p.C3)(AP, 10/23/02)
2001 Oct 23, In the Philippines 6 suspected Muslim rebels surrendered and 3 were captured.
(SFC, 10/25/01, p.C2)
2002 Oct 23, The San Francisco Giants edged the Anaheim Angels, 4-3, to tie the World Series at two games each.
(AP, 10/23/07)
2002 Oct 23, Pres. Bush signed a $355.5 billion military budget, a $34 billion increase over fiscal 2002.
(SFC, 10/24/02, p.A3)
2002 Oct 23, Pres. Bush signed the Russian Democracy Act of 2002, intended to strengthen civil society and independent media in Russia. It authorized more than $50 million for democracy-building programs such as investigative journalism training and cultural exchanges.
(AP, 11/4/02)
2002 Oct 23, Allied planes bombed two military air defense sites in the southern no-fly zone over Iraq in the third round of strikes in a week.
(AP, 10/23/02)
2002 Oct 23, Adolph Green (b.1914), lyricist, died. His work with Betty Comden included the screenplay for "Singin' in the Rain."
(SFC, 10/25/02, p.A4)
2002 Oct 23, Lady Antonia Fraser (96), the Countess of Longford, a historian who wrote biographies of Queen Victoria and the Duke of Wellington, died. She was born as Elizabeth Harman and wrote under the name Elizabeth Longford.
(AP, 10/23/02)(SFC, 10/28/02, p.A17)
2002 Oct 23, In China rescuers fought to save 29 miners trapped underground after a coal mine explosion in the northern province of Shanxi killed 21. China's death toll from mining accidents up to July this year was 3,620, up 4.8 percent from a year earlier
(AP, 10/25/02)(Reuters, 10/26/02)
2002 Oct 23, In Moscow 40-50 Chechen separatist guerrillas seized a theater and threatened to shoot or blow up 700 hostages unless Russia pulled its troops out of their homeland. The next day they killed one woman.
(AP, 10/24/02)(SFC, 10/24/02, p.A1)
2002 Oct 23, The European Parliament's Conference of Presidents announced that it chose Oswaldo Paya of Cuba for the prestigious 2002 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.
(AP, 10/24/02)
2002 Oct 23, The Nigerian government said it rejects a World Court ruling that granted possession of a disputed oil-rich peninsula to neighboring Cameroon.
(AP, 10/23/02)
2002 Oct 23, Turkey's chief prosecutor moved to outlaw the Justice and Development Party for ignoring court order that Erdogan step down as leader. The moderate Islamic party, led by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was also Turkey's most popular party.
(SFC, 10/24/02, p.A11)(AP, 11/4/02)
2003 Oct 23, Pres. Bush, was heckled inside and outside Australia's Parliament. He said that the war in Iraq was right and inevitable, but that Americans and Australians "still have decisive days ahead" and that the broader war on terror could be long and drawn out.
(AP, 10/23/03)
2003 Oct 23, President Bush concluded his Pacific trip with a visit to Hawaii, where he dropped flowers into the water at the sunken battleship USS Arizona.
(AP, 10/23/08)
2003 Oct 23, Bill Clinton announced that his AIDS foundation clinched a deal to cut drug prices and improve care in poor nations.
(WSJ, 10/23/03, p.A1)
2003 Oct 23, In Santa Clara, California, 7-Eleven owner Narinder Badwal learned that he had sold the winning California Lottery and was entitled to a $250,000 commission. He then learned that he had sold the winning ticket worth $49,747,500 to himself.
(SFC, 10/28/03, p.A15)
2003 Oct 23, Madame Chiang Kai-shek (105), who became one of the world's most famous women as she helped her husband fight the Japanese during World War II and later the Chinese Communists, died in NYC.
(AP, 10/24/03)
2003 Oct 23, In northern Afghan attackers fired rockets at a pickup truck ferrying passengers, killing 10 people, including two children.
(AP, 10/24/03)
2003 Oct 23, Chinese officials reported that accidents in China's mines and factories killed 11,449 people in the first nine months of this year despite a nationwide safety crackdown.
(AP, 10/23/03)
2003 Oct 23, A bomb exploded near a pipeline in northern Iraq, killing two Iraqi Civil Defense Corps members and wounding 10 others.
(AP, 10/23/03)
2003 Oct 23, A 3-day dominos tournament began at the Ocho Rios resort in Jamaica.
(SFC, 10/24/03, p.D3)
2003 Oct 23, Japan refused to grant citizenship to a Japanese couple's twins because they were born to an American surrogate mother in California.
(WSJ, 10/24/03, p.A1)
2003 Oct 23, Masked Palestinian gunmen killed two men suspected of being informers for Israel, then displayed their bodies in the central square of the Tulkarem refugee camp.
(AP, 10/23/03)
2003 Oct 23, Venezuelan troops and police killed 7 heavily armed gunmen during a raid on a drug trafficking ring in northeast Venezuela.
(AP, 10/24/03)
2004 Oct 23, The Boston Red Sox took Game 1 of the World Series, defeating the St. Louis Cardinals 11-9.
(AP, 10/23/05)
2004 Oct 23, Robert Merrill (87), NY Metropolitan Opera star, died in NYC.
(SFC, 10/26/04, p.A2)
2004 Oct 23, A purported Taliban militant set off grenades strapped to his body on a bustling Kabul street, killing Jamie Michalsky (23), an American woman, and an Afghan girl.
(AP, 10/24/04)(SSFC, 10/24/04, p.A3)
2004 Oct 23, The U.S. military arrested a "senior leader" in the network run by Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, along with five others during overnight raids in the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.
(AP, 10/23/04)
2004 Oct 23, A suicide car bomber set off an explosion at a police station near Khan al-Baghdadi in western Iraq, killing at least 16 policemen and wounding 40 other people. A 2nd car bomb killed 4 Iraqi guardsmen at Ishaqi near Samarra. 2 foreign truck drivers were fatally shot in Mosul.
(SSFC, 10/24/04, p.A3)
2004 Oct 23, Some 50 unarmed Iraqi soldiers were killed in eastern Iraq as they headed home on leave after basic training. Many were shot execution style with gunshots to the back of the head.
(AP, 10/24/04)
2004 Oct 23, Gunmen opened fire on a convoy of Turkish trucks in Mosul, killing two Turkish drivers and wounding two others.
(AP, 10/23/04)
2004 Oct 23, Several earthquakes, the largest measuring 6.8, hit northwestern Japan, toppling homes, causing blackouts, cutting water and gas and derailing a bullet train. 40 people were killed and as many as 1,900 injured.
(SFC, 10/28/04, p.A12)(Econ, 10/30/04, p.50)(AP, 10/23/05)
2004 Oct 23, Kosovo's Serb minority largely boycotted general elections, dealing a blow to international efforts to create multiethnic harmony in the province. About 1.3 million voters in Kosovo and some 108,000 Kosovo Serbs living in Serbia after fleeing the conflict were eligible to elect representatives to a 120-seat assembly, which will choose a president and a government that holds limited authority. 10 assembly seats are reserved for the Serb minority.
(AP, 10/24/04)
2004 Oct 23, The bullet-riddled body of a Palestinian was found near a trash bin on a Gaza City. Hamas said it killed the man on suspicion he passed along information that helped Israel assassinate the group's founder and nine others.
(AP, 10/23/04)
2004 Oct 23, Tunisia’s Pres. Ben Ali (68) won elections with 94.5% of the vote.
(WSJ, 10/26/04, p.A1)(Econ, 10/23/04, p.46)
2004 Oct 23, In Ukraine tens of thousands of people supporting opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko rallied in Kiev demanding that next week's presidential election be free and fair.
(AP, 10/23/04)
2005 Oct 23, The Chicago White Sox took a 2-0 lead in the World Series as they beat the Houston Astros 7-6.
(AP, 10/23/06)
2005 Oct 23, In SF the 2nd Annual Nike Women’s Marathon over 15,000 runners raised $14 million to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
(SFC, 10/24/05, p.B3)
2005 Oct 23, An earthquake destroyed homes and killed five people near Afghanistan's eastern border with Pakistan.
(AP, 10/23/05)
2005 Oct 23, Argentina's ruling party dominated midterm elections seen as a test of President Nestor Kirchner's two-year-old government, with his Peronist party picking up support in Congress and his wife winning a Senate seat. Christina Fernandez de Kirchner won 46% to 20% over Hilda Gonzalez de Duhalde to represent the province of Buenos Aires.
(AP, 10/24/05)(Econ, 10/29/05, p.37)
2005 Oct 23, Brazilians struck down a proposal to ban the sale of guns in a national referendum, rejecting a bid to stem one of the world's highest firearm murder rates. Gun violence took the lives of about 39,000 people in Brazil each year, more than any country in the world.
(AP, 10/25/05)
2005 Oct 23, In southern China an explosion at a coal mine killed 15 miners and injured 3.
(AP, 10/24/05)
2005 Oct 23, In Colombia suspected rebels launched homemade bombs at a police station and nearby homes in a southwest town near the border with Ecuador, killing 7 people.
(AP, 10/24/05)
2005 Oct 23, A suicide bombing in a Baghdad square killed 4 people. Another suicide car bomber killed 2 civilians in Kirkuk. In Tikrit a bomb killed a police colonel and his 2 sons. 2 girls (7 and 9) in a nearby car were also killed in the explosion. Drive-by shootings around Baquba killed 5 people. Gunmen killed 3 Iraqis driving a water truck to an army base near Taji. Insurgents killed the head of a Shiite anti-Saddam Hussein group and his driver outside Amara.
(SFC, 10/24/05, p.A3)
2005 Oct 23, Militant Palestinians fought members of a Lebanese leftist party in a gun battle that left one man dead and three wounded outside a refugee camp.
(AP, 10/23/05)
2005 Oct 23, Mexico's ruling party chose Felipe Calderon, the nation's former energy secretary, as its candidate for presidential elections next July.
(AP, 10/23/05)
2005 Oct 23, Hurricane Wilma drifted northward away from Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula where the storm left 8 people dead. In 2006 insurers put the damage from Wilma at $3 billion, the largest insured losses in Mexican history.
(AP, 10/23/05)(Econ, 10/29/05, p.38)(AP, 10/19/06)
2005 Oct 23, Stella Obasanjo (59), the wife of Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, died after undergoing liposuction surgery in Spain. In 2009 A court in Malaga convicted plastic surgeon Antonio Mena Molina of negligent homicide. He was given a suspended sentence of a year in jail, barred from practicing medicine for three years, and ordered to pay euro120,000 ($175,000) in damages to the woman's son.
(AP, 10/23/05)(AP, 9/22/09)
2005 Oct 23, Poles voted for a new president in an election that opinion polls showed to be a close-fought battle between Donald Tusk and his vision of a liberal, free-market Poland, and Lech Kaczynski who favors state intervention and Catholic conservatism. Warsaw's conservative Mayor Lech Kaczynski won Poland's presidential runoff vote 54%-46%.
(AP, 10/23/05)(Econ, 10/29/05, p.52)
2005 Oct 23, Taiwan said it is ready to produce its own Tamiflu, the antiviral avian flu drug, and will not let patent talks with Swiss drug maker Roche AG stand in the way.
(http://tinyurl.com/9r8g5)
2005 Oct 23, Pope Benedict XVI named five new saints at the close of a 3-week Synod of Bishops. They included: Rev. Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga, a Chilean Jesuit who was known for his work with the poor as well as the young; from Ukraine Josef Bilczewski, archbishop of Lviv, who was greatly admired by Catholics, Orthodox Christians and Jews alike during World War and the Rev. Zygmunt Gorazdowski, who founded the Congregation for the Sisters of St. Joseph to care for the sick and poor; and Italians Felice da Nicosia, a lay Capuchin who lived in the 1700s, and the Rev. Gaetano Cantanoso, who founded the Veronican Sisters of the Holy Face in 1934.
(AP, 10/23/05)
2006 Oct 23, In Texas a district judge sentenced Jeffrey Skilling (52), former chief executive of Enron Corp., to over 24 years in prison for his role in the financial fraud that destroyed Enron. He was also ordered Skilling to pay $45 million in restitution to Enron investors.
(SFC, 10/23/06, p.D1)
2006 Oct 23, Ford Motor Co. posted a 3rd quarter loss of $5.8 billion.
(WSJ, 10/24/06, p.A3)
2006 Oct 23, Tod Skinner (b.1958), American free climber, died in a fall at Yosemite National Park after his harness broke.
(WSJ, 1/11/07, p.B10)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd_Skinner)
2006 Oct 23, An Afghan girl was killed and two wounded when a mortar test-fired by NATO troops fell short of its target and hit a home in eastern Kunar province.
(AFP, 10/24/06)
2006 Oct 23, An Australian scientist said Global warming will force changes to Australia's A$4.8 billion ($3.6 billion) wine export industry, threatening the very existence of some varieties as temperatures rise.
(AP, 10/23/06)
2006 Oct 23, In central Bangladesh a ferry packed with dozens of people going home for an Islamic festival capsized in a river after hitting a cargo boat, killing at least 15 people.
(AP, 10/23/06)
2006 Oct 23, In southeastern Chad armed men attacked Am Timan, 24 hours after briefly seizing the town of Goz Beida near the Sudan border. The insurgents, calling themselves the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development (UFDD), the latest in a string of titles grouping various rebel factions, have said they want polls to end the "catastrophic" rule of President Idriss Deby.
(Reuters, 10/24/06)
2006 Oct 23, In Hungary riots left 167 injured, including 17 police officers, while 131 were detained. The anti-government demonstrations coincided with Hungary's commemoration of the 50th anniversary of its uprising against Soviet rule. The next day Viktor Orban, Hungarian conservative opposition leader, came under withering attack for his role in fueling the far-right protests in Budapest.
(AFP, 10/24/06)(AP, 10/23/07)
2006 Oct 23, Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki ordered security forces to crack down on unlawful acts by armed factions. A bombing in Baghdad killed 3 Iraqis. 52 bodies were found across Baghdad. Ahmed Qusai al-Taayie, a 41-year-old reserve soldier from Ann Arbor, Mich., went missing and was believed kidnapped in Baghdad. On Feb 22, 2012, the remains of Ahmed al-Taie were turned over to Iraqi authorities.
(AP, 10/24/06)(SFC, 10/24/06, p.A5)(AP, 11/18/06)(AP, 2/27/12)
2006 Oct 23, Israeli troops shot and killed seven Palestinians, including a militant who led a rocket-launching operation.
(AP, 10/23/06)
2006 Oct 23, The military regime in Myanmar ordered the International Red Cross to close five key field offices in the country.
(AP, 11/27/06)
2006 Oct 23, In Panama mechanical problems triggered a fire that raced through a bus in Panama City, killing at least 18 people, injuring 25.
(AP, 10/23/06)
2006 Oct 23, Portuguese bank BPI said it will open 30 new branches in fast-growing Angola next year, bringing its total number of outlets in the oil-rich southwestern African nation to 100 by the end of 2007.
(AP, 10/23/06)
2006 Oct 23, In Uruguay thousands of taxi and truck drivers went on strike to demand lower fuel prices in a challenge to the center-left government. The strike ended later in the day.
(AP, 10/24/06)
2006 Oct 23, A WTO draft report said Vietnam has succeeded in introducing the reforms necessary for it to join the World Trade Organization and become the world body's 150th member.
(AP, 10/23/06)
2007 Oct 23, Thousands more residents were ordered to evacuate their homes, bringing the number of people chased away by the wind-whipped flames that have engulfed Southern California to at least 300,000. At least 700 homes were already destroyed. President Bush declared a federal emergency for seven counties.
(AP, 10/23/07)(AP, 10/23/08)
2007 Oct 23, The US space shuttle Discovery launched from Cape Canaveral with a 7-person crew for a 14-day mission to the int’l. space station.
(SFC, 10/24/07, p.A9)
2007 Oct 23, In Afghanistan a child and 5 militants were killed in Zabul province after militants fired on coalition soldiers from a tent.
(AP, 10/23/07)(AP, 10/24/07)
2007 Oct 23, Fernando de la Rua, Argentina’s former president (1999-2001), was charged with manslaughter in connection with bloody street riots in 2001.
(WSJ, 10/24/07, p.A1)
2007 Oct 23, It was reported that police patrolling the red-light district of the Belgian capital have been ordered to stop visiting brothels and drinking in bars when on duty.
(Reuters, 10/23/07)
2007 Oct 23, In London a Quran written in 1203, believed to be the oldest known complete copy, sold for more than $2.3 million at an auction. A nearly complete, 10th-century Kufic Quran, thought to be from North Africa or the near East, sold $1,870,000.
(AP, 10/24/07)
2007 Oct 23, The Canadian dollar roared to a 33-year high against the US dollar after domestic retail sales data for August beat expectations.
(AP, 10/23/07)
2007 Oct 23, French lawmakers adopted a hotly contested bill that would institute language exams and potential DNA testing for prospective immigrants, making it more difficult for families to join loved ones in France.
(AP, 10/23/07)
2007 Oct 23, A US helicopter opened fire on a group of men as they were planting roadside bombs in a Sunni stronghold north of Baghdad, then chased them into a nearby house, killing 11 Iraqis, including at least six civilians. Iraq pledged to rein in Kurdish rebels who are launching attacks on Turkey from mountain hideouts near the border after Ankara threatened to send forces into Iraqi territory to confront the guerrillas.
(AP, 10/23/07)(Reuters, 10/23/07)
2007 Oct 23, Israel killed a top Gaza militant with a missile strike on his car prompting threats of more rocket attacks on Israeli border towns. A Palestinian prisoner who was wounded in rioting at an Israeli desert prison died, prompting Palestinian threats of revenge and accusations that the man was abused by Israeli authorities.
(AP, 10/23/07)(WSJ, 10/24/07, p.A1)
2007 Oct 23, Police broke up an Italian-Canadian mafia clan that ran drug trafficking and money laundering operations, arresting 12 people and seizing millions of dollars in assets. The clan was led from Canada by Nick and Vito Rizzuto, a father and son, who were jailed for previous crimes respectively in 2006 and 2005.
(AP, 10/23/07)
2007 Oct 23, Lim Goh Tong (b.1918), Chinese businessman, died in Kuala Lumpur. The casino king of Malaysia had made a fortune in gambling casinos and a cruise fleet. His family fortune was estimated at $4.2 billion.
(AP, 10/23/07)(WSJ, 10/27/07, p.A6)
2007 Oct 23, At least 21 oil workers were killed when a drilling rig hit an oil platform in stormy weather, spilling gas and oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Pemex said the workers who died included four Pemex employees, seven employees of the subcontractor company that operated the rig, at least one rescue boat crew member, and six others who worked for other companies. On Dec 16 Pemex announced that the well was finally capped. Roughly 420 barrels of oil per day had spilled from the damaged platform since the accident.
(AP, 10/25/07)(AP, 12/16/07)
2007 Oct 23, A bomb courier accidentally blew up a taxi in Russia's Dagestan region, killing herself and wounding eight other people.
(AP, 10/23/07)
2007 Oct 23, First lady Laura Bush helped launch a screening facility in Saudi Arabia as part of a U.S.-Saudi initiative to raise breast cancer awareness in the kingdom where doctors struggle to break long-held taboos about the disease.
(AP, 10/23/07)
2007 Oct 23, Mohammed Atif Siddique (21), a British-born Muslim student, described at his trial as a "wannabe suicide bomber," was jailed in Scotland for 8 years after being convicted of promoting Islamist extremism on the Internet. On Feb 9, 2010, his conviction was overturned after a court in Scotland ruled that the trial judge did not properly instruct the jury.
(AFP, 10/23/07)(AP, 2/9/10)
2007 Oct 23, A new Bin Laden tape called for foreign forces to be driven from Darfur. The Justice and Equality Movement, one of the leading Darfur rebel groups, attacked the Defra oil field in Sudan’s Kordofan region and abducted 2 foreign workers. A rebel chief gave a one-week ultimatum for foreign oil companies to cease operating in the zone.
(SFC, 10/24/07, p.A3)(AP, 10/25/07)
2007 Oct 23, Turkey's foreign minister rejected any cease-fire by Kurdish rebels as he met with Iraqi leaders in Baghdad to press them to crack down on the guerrillas. Turkish forces massed on the border and tensions rose over a threatened military incursion.
(AP, 10/23/07)
2007 Oct 23, In Uzbekistan Karim Bozorboyev, leader of the Esguliq rights group in the central city of Syrdarya, was arrested and charged with fraud. Bozorboyev joined the group in 2004, after he left Fidokorlar, a government-affiliated political party, saying he was disgusted by the amount of corruption among Uzbek officials.
(AP, 10/24/07)
2007 Oct 23, In Venezuela thousands of university students scuffled with police and government supporters during a protest against constitutional reforms that would let President Hugo Chavez run for re-election indefinitely.
(AP, 10/23/07)
2008 Oct 23, Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the current financial crisis is a "once-in-a-century credit tsunami" which will have a severe impact on the US economy, driving unemployment higher. Greenspan also said he was "shocked" at the breakdown in US credit markets and that he was "partially" wrong to resist regulation of some securities.
(AP, 10/23/08)(Reuters, 10/23/08)
2008 Oct 23, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the US is suspending a trade deal with Bolivia. She called it unfortunate but necessary because Bolivian President Evo Morales has failed to improve anti-drug efforts.
(AP, 10/23/08)
2008 Oct 23, NYC Mayor Bloomberg persuaded the city council, in a 29-22 vote, to amend the term limit law allowing him to run for re-election next year.
(SFC, 10/24/08, p.A4)
2008 Oct 23, In California a new solar thermal power plant, built by startup Ausra, opened north of Bakersfield. It will generate as much as 5 megawatts, enough for 3,750 homes. Ausra and other companies planned bigger plants in the future.
(SFC, 10/24/08, p.C1)
2008 Oct 23, In Afghanistan a US coalition raid in Paktika province killed three insurgents and detained four others. Three Turks were kidnapped in Khost province. In southern Helmand province armed assailants attacked a man and gouged out his eyes in front of his family during a gruesome assault.
(AP, 10/24/08)(AP, 10/25/08)(AP, 10/26/08)
2008 Oct 23, England Schools Minister Jim Knight said millions of children in England aged from five to 16 in state-funded schools will receive compulsory lessons about subjects including sex and drug use.
(AFP, 10/23/08)
2008 Oct 23, Canada’s Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said the government would guarantee borrowing by the nation's banks to ease a lending crunch and keep them on equal footing with foreign competitors. The Bank of Canada said the global financial crisis, a US recession and falling commodity prices will bring Canada to the brink of a recession in late 2008 and early 2009.
(Reuters, 10/23/08)
2008 Oct 23, Rebel attacks using land mines in Chechnya killed one Russian soldier and wounded 10 other servicemen and police.
(AP, 10/24/08)
2008 Oct 23, China arrested six people for their alleged role in supplying contaminated milk to the country's dairy companies, as the Health Ministry said more than 3,600 Chinese children remain hospitalized after consuming compromised products. Scores of villagers in a remote timber region ransacked the offices of a forestry company and fought with security guards, accusing the company of paying too little for use of their land.
(AP, 10/23/08)(AP, 10/27/08)
2008 Oct 23, China and Singapore signed a free trade agreement on the eve of a summit of European and Asian leaders in Beijing. Held every two years, ASEM has no mandate to issue decisions, but participants hope it will produce some degree of consensus ahead of a Nov. 15 meeting of the world's top economies in Washington to discuss the worst financial crisis since the 1930s.
(AP, 10/23/08)(WSJ, 10/24/08, p.A13)
2008 Oct 23, Colombia's director of domestic intelligence resigned after her agency was caught spying on a prominent political opponent of President Alvaro Uribe. At least six small explosive devices left in trash cans detonated in Bogota, wounding 18 people and frightening residents.
(AP, 10/24/08)
2008 Oct 23, In Croatia Ivo Pukanic (47), who owned and edited Nacional, an influential publication known for its investigative journalism and Nacional's marketing director, Niko Franjic, died when an explosive device was placed near their car in the capital, Zagreb. On Oct 31 Croatian police filed murder charges against five people over the bombing deaths. In 2010 six alleged members of a crime gang were convicted of conspiring to assassinate Pukanic and a fellow worker. Main suspect Zeljko Milovanovic, who was tried in absentia, was sentenced to the maximum 40 years in prison. He was being held in neighboring Serbia and tried on similar charges. 5 other defendants were sentenced to 15 to 33 years in prison.
(AP, 10/24/08)(AP, 10/31/08)(AP, 11/3/10)
2008 Oct 23, Cuba and the European Union ended a five-year standoff by signing an agreement that calls for EU members to send the island euro2 million (US$2.6 million) in immediate hurricane recovery aid and up to euro30 million (US$38.8 million) more in financing next year.
(AP, 10/23/08)
2008 Oct 23, The European Parliament awarded a prestigious rights prize to jailed Chinese dissident Hu Jia on the eve of a key Beijing summit and despite pressure from Beijing not to honor him.
(AFP, 10/23/08)
2008 Oct 23, A European Union court has ruled that EU governments should no longer freeze the funds of People's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran, an Iranian opposition group on the bloc's terror blacklist. A British court ruled in its favor last year.
(AP, 10/23/08)
2008 Oct 23, France’s Pres. Sarkozy unveiled a strategic national investment fund that will buy stakes in French industries with borrowed money to protect them from foreign predators.
(Econ, 11/1/08, p.62)
2008 Oct 23, A Paris criminal court convicted nine people including a French-Algerian former prison inmate who admitted establishing an Islamic group that called for armed jihad in France.
(AP, 10/24/08)
2008 Oct 23, The French Navy captured nine pirates near the Gulf of Aden finding anti-tank missiles, other weapons and ship boarding gear on the boats. A Somali pirate warned that if a hijacked Ukrainian arms ship was attacked the ship's 20-man crew would be killed.
(AP, 10/23/08)
2008 Oct 23, A Greek minister resigned after being accused of involvement in a burgeoning scandal involving a state land swap with a powerful Orthodox monastery that has undermined the government's popularity. Minister of State Theodoros Roussopoulos, who is also the government spokesman, said he was stepping down in order to defend himself against a "malicious and totally groundless attack."
(AP, 10/23/08)
2008 Oct 23, A huge explosion at an illegal fireworks factory in western India killed 27 people, including 12 children.
(AP, 10/23/08)
2008 Oct 23, The US relinquished control of a southern province that includes Sunni areas once known as the "triangle of death," handing security responsibility to the Iraqi government. Babil was the 12th of 18 Iraqi provinces to be placed under Iraqi control. In Baghdad Iraq's labor minister escaped assassination when a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden SUV into his convoy, killing at least nine people.
(AP, 10/23/08)
2008 Oct 23, An Italian military helicopter crashed in northeastern France, killing all eight people on board.
(AP, 10/23/08)
2008 Oct 23, In Mexico 2 people were found dead in Tijuana, across the border from San Diego, California, including a badly burned corpse left in a trash bin.
(AP, 10/23/08)
2008 Oct 23, Nigeria's Supreme Court deferred ruling on challenges to President Umaru Yar'Adua's April 2007 election victory but did not set a date for handing down its final judgment. Nigerian troops killed two militants in a river clash with insurgents in the volatile oil-rich Niger Delta. 2 AK 47 rifles and ammunitions were recovered from the militants.
(Reuters, 10/23/08)(AFP, 10/24/08)
2008 Oct 23, In Pakistan suspected US spy drones fired missiles into a school set up by a top Taliban commander in a tribal area bordering Afghanistan, killing 11 people. Residents said that all of the victims were local tribesmen, adding that locals had fired at two suspected US drones hovering above.
(AFP, 10/23/08)
2008 Oct 23, Mohammed Albaden, a Palestinian assailant, stabbed two Israelis in an east Jerusalem neighborhood, killing an 86-year-old man and wounding a police officer in what authorities called a "terror incident."
(AP, 10/23/08)
2008 Oct 23, In Romania vandals rampaged through a sprawling Jewish cemetery in Bucharest, toppling tombstones and smashing markers for as many as 200 graves.
(AP, 10/24/08)
2008 Oct 23, Russia, which sent a warship to Somalia's coast to combat pirates, asked the African nation for carte blanche to use force in its territorial waters.
(Reuters, 10/23/08)
2008 Oct 23, South Africa’s National Assembly approved new legislation to disband the Scorpions investigating unit and incorporate it into the police force.
(AP, 10/24/08)
2008 Oct 23, The Ukrainian currency plunged against the dollar as people raced to exchange booths to convert their savings into US currency. Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the Russia’s desire to extend its port lease at Sevastopol "cannot be a subject of discussion." It said that Russian ships will have to leave Ukrainian waters in 2017.
(AP, 10/23/08)
2008 Oct 23, In southern Yemen a tropical storm, formed out in the Indian Ocean earlier in the week, hit the remote Hadramut province. Flooding which followed left at least 90 people dead and some 20,000 displaced.
(AP, 10/25/08)(SSFC, 10/26/08, p.A18)(AP, 10/27/08)
2009 Oct 23, President Barack Obama signed a declaration making the swine flu outbreak a national emergency, giving his health chief the power to let hospitals move emergency rooms offsite to speed treatment and protect noninfected patients.
(AP, 10/25/09)
2009 Oct 23, Top US safety officials met with their Chinese counterparts to discuss complaints from American homeowners of illness and other damage from suspect drywall imported from China. Consumer Products Safety Commission Chairman Inez Tenenbaum said that the two sides were talking about the issue while they await results of tests on what is causing the problems.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, US regulators shut down 3 small banks in Florida and one each in Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin bringing the total for the year of failed US banks to 106.
(SFC, 10/24/09, p.A6)
2009 Oct 23, Anthony Pellicano and associate Alexander Proctor pleaded no contest to threatening LA Times reporter Anita Busch, who was putting together a story on actor Steven Seagal’s possible connections to organized crime. Pellicano, a former Hollywood private eye, was already serving a 15 year sentence for digging up dirt public figures.
(SFC, 10/24/09, p.A8)
2009 Oct 23, In Richmond, Ca., a girl (16) left a homecoming dance at Richmond High gym and joined a group of men drinking in a nearby alley. She became drunk and was raped and robbed by as many as 10 young men. Police found her semi-conscious near a lunch table and arrested one suspect fleeing the scene. 2 more suspects, aged 15 and 21, were arrested on Oct 27. On Oct 28 three juveniles were arrested in connection to the crime and charged as adults. A 6th suspect was arrested on Oct 29. On Jan 19 John Crane Jr. (43) turned himself in for participating in the rape. In 2010 Cody Smith, the youngest of 7 defendants was released, because his Miranda rights had been violated. In 2011 the West Contra Costa Unified School District settled a civil suit and agreed to pay the victim $4 million. On Sep 6, 2012, Manuel Ortega (22) pleaded guilty as was expected to receive 32 years behind bars. On Aug 15, 2013, Jose Montano (22) was sentenced to 33 years to life; Marcelles Peter (20) was sentenced to 29 years to life.
(SFC, 10/27/09, p.C6)(SFC, 10/28/09, p.A10)(SFC, 10/29/09, p.A1)(SFC, 10/30/09, p.A1)(SFC, 1/22/10, p.C9)(SFC, 12/22/10, p.C2)(SSFC, 1/23/11, p.C3)(SFC, 9/7/12, p.A20)(SFC, 8/16/13, p.D1)
2009 Oct 23, In Colorado Miguel Angel Caro Quintero (46), a Mexican drug kingpin, pleaded guilty in Denver to federal drug and racketeering charges. He had led the Sonora Cartel in the 1980s and faced up to 20 years in prison.
(SFC, 10/24/09, p.A5)
2009 Oct 23, In Missouri police found the body of Elizabeth Olton (9). She had gone missing 2 days earlier. A 15-year-old, who led police to her body, was charged with her murder.
(SSFC, 10/25/09, p.A8)
2009 Oct 23, In New Jersey Rev. Ed Hinds (61), a Catholic priest, was found stabbed 32 times at the rectory of St. Patrick’s Church in Chatham. The next day Jose Feliciano (64), a janitor, was charged with the slaying. The priest had fired him after discovering an outstanding arrest warrant for sexually touching a child. In 2012 Feliciano was sentenced to life in prison.
(SFC, 10/24/09, p.A5)(SSFC, 10/25/09, p.A8)(SFC, 4/21/12, p.A5)
2009 Oct 23, African leaders, meeting in Uganda, ratified a convention on the protection of the continent's internally-displaced people, refugees and returnees, billed as the first of its kind worldwide.
(AFP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, In southern Afghanistan 2 US soldiers were killed by a home-made bomb. A Danish soldier lost his life in clashes with Taliban-led insurgents in the same region.
(AFP, 10/24/09)
2009 Oct 23, Australia approved Yanzhou Coal's 3.2 billion US dollar takeover of miner Felix Resources, its biggest by a Chinese firm, in a breakthrough for the Asian giant's scramble for commodities.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, British far-right leader Nick Griffin accused the BBC of mounting a "lynch mob" on him in a charged appearance on a TV political panel show, and called for it to be re-recorded.
(AFP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, British couple Paul and Rachel Chandler were heading from the Seychelles to Tanzania in their yacht, the Lynn Rival, when the distress signal was sent. Reports followed that the couple were seized by pirates. The couple were taken to the Somali pirate lair of Harardhere and $7 million was later demanded for their release. The Chandlers were released on Nov 14, 2010, after a ransom of at least 750,000 dollars was paid.
(AP, 10/27/09)(AFP, 10/29/09)(AP, 10/31/09)(AFP, 11/14/10)
2009 Oct 23, In Canada a judge in Winnipeg acquitted Kyle Unger (38) of the 1990 murder of Brigitte Grenier (16). DNA tests in 2005 showed that hair on the victim came from somebody else. Unger had spent 13 years in jail before he was granted bail in 2005.
(SFC, 10/24/09, p.A2)
2009 Oct 23, Chinese state media reported that police have arrested 42 alleged members of a trafficking ring that sold dozens of infants stolen or bought from their rural parents.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, The Czech Republic and NATO said that they backed a reworked US missile defense plan meant to defend against threats from Iran and other nations.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, In France Jean Sarkozy (23), President Nicolas Sarkozy's son, was elected to the board of the organization that runs France's most important business district after a dramatic withdrawal of his bid for the top spot amid fierce accusations of favoritism. He had been the leading candidate to head EPAD, a quasi-governmental organization overseeing real estate and the administration of La Defense, the neighborhood of skyscrapers west of Paris that is home to top companies and the workplace of 150,000 people.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, In Honduras a negotiator for ousted leftist President Manuel Zelaya said the latest round of talks to resolve the dispute over the June 28 coup has ended in failure, adding that further talks were unlikely. Escaped inmates in Santa Barbara set fire to a prison, a public market and a cultural center before authorities stopped the riot and captured 76 of the 79 fugitives.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, A Kenyan court released gang leader, Maina Njenga, after prosecutors dropped 28 murder charges against him. He had been in prison since 2006. His Mungiki gang was notorious for beheading its victims.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, In northwest Pakistan a suicide bomber killed 8 people in Kamra, near the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex. An anti-tank mine killed 16 wedding guests in the tribal belt. Most of the dead were women and children. A car bomb exploded outside a restaurant in the northwestern city of Peshawar, wounding 15.
(AP, 10/23/09)(AFP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, In Puerto Rico an earthshaking explosion at the Caribbean Petroleum Corp. in the suburb of Bayamon, just west of the capital of San Juan, led to the evacuation of more than 1,500 people. Authorities wee concerned about those downwind of the fire.
(AP, 10/25/09)
2009 Oct 23, Somali Islamist rebels threatened to attack the capitals of Burundi and Uganda, the two central African countries that have deployed peacekeeping troops to prop up Somali's transitional government.
(AFP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, Swiss and US authorities said the US has asked Switzerland to hand over Roman Polanski to authorities in California, where he could serve up to two years in prison for having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, In Thailand the annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations began inauspiciously when half the bloc's 10 leaders failed to show up at the opening of the 3-day conference due to a tropical storm, domestic politics, a VIP visit and a possible illness. ASEAN nations inaugurated their first regional human rights commission, a watchdog immediately derided as toothless by activists who walked out of a meeting to protest being snubbed by five of the governments involved.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, Bishops attending a Vatican meeting on Africa issued a blunt ultimatum to corrupt Catholic political leaders in Africa: repent or leave public office.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, The World Health Organization said nearly 5,000 people have reportedly died from swine flu since it emerged this year and developed into a global epidemic.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, In Zimbabwe armed police raided a house belonging to PM Morgan Tsvangirai's party in a new threat to the country's faltering unity government.
(AFP, 10/24/09)
2010 Oct 23, The whistleblowing organization WikiLeaks said it will soon publish 15,000 more secret Afghan war documents.
(AP, 10/23/10)
2010 Oct 23, The SF Giants won a trip to the World Series. In Pennsylvania Juan Uribe hit a tiebreaking homer off Ryan Madson with two outs in the eighth inning and the Giants held off the Phillies 3-2 in Game 6 of the NL championship series. This finished off the Phillies' bid to become the first NL team in 66 years to win three straight pennants.
(AP, 10/24/10)(SSFC, 10/24/10, p.1)
2010 Oct 23, In western Afghanistan a suicide car bomber and three armed militants wearing explosives vests and dressed as women attacked a UN compound, but Afghan security forces killed the attackers and no UN employees were harmed. NATO forces killed two civilians, including a teenage boy, during a fight with insurgents in Wardak province. In Kandahar a suicide bomber on a motorbike blew himself up before reaching a checkpoint, killing two civilians and wounding two others. A Danish soldier was killed in Helmand province after insurgents attacked his patrol. Joao Silva (44), a photographer for The New York Times, was seriously injured when he stepped on a mine in Kandahar province.
(AP, 10/23/10)
2010 Oct 23, Bahrainis voted for the third time since reforms which turned the Gulf state into a constitutional monarchy, with the Shiite majority demanding an easing of the Sunni dynasty's grip on power. The embattled Shiite-led opposition held on to all of its parliament seats in the elections, but fell short of the majority it hoped to win as a show of strength against the island kingdom's Sunni rulers.
(AFP, 10/23/10)(AP, 10/24/10)
2010 Oct 23, Bangladeshi police used rubber bullets and teargas to disperse thousands of people protesting against plans to acquire land for army housing.
(Reuters, 10/23/10)
2010 Oct 23, Barbados PM David Thompson (48) died following a struggle with pancreatic cancer. Thompson had become PM of the Caribbean nation of 270,000 people in Jan 2008.
(AP, 10/23/10)
2010 Oct 23, In Belgium police and demonstrators opposed to President Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo clashed in Brussels during a protest over the Oct 1 death in jail of Armand Tungulu, a visiting Congolese dissident who lived in Belgium.
(AFP, 10/23/10)
2010 Oct 23, In the Czech Republic opposition Social Democrats won an election for one-third of Parliament's upper house, gaining a majority in the Senate for the first time. Voters were selecting 27 senators for the 81-seat Senate in the two-day balloting. The top two finishers from last week's first round were facing runoffs.
(AP, 10/23/10)
2010 Oct 23, In Dagestan a suicide bomber in a car tried to attack a police dormitory in the town of Khasavyurt but an armored vehicle blocked his way. The explosion killed the suspected militant and a police officer, and wounded seven people. In the village of Komsomolskoye two suspected militants were holed up in a house when police attacked, killing both of them.
(AP, 10/23/10)
2010 Oct 23, An Egyptian court issued a final ruling against the permanent presence of police on university campuses, saying they restricted academic independence.
(AFP, 10/24/10)
2010 Oct 23, The European Commission warned Italy that it may face sanctions if it doesn’t remove some 2,400 tons of trash piled up in the streets of Naples.
(SSFC, 10/24/10, p.A6)
2010 Oct 23, French unions took their battle against extending retirement from 60 to 62 to the courts, challenging orders to return to work the day after the Senate backed the fiercely-contested reform.
(AFP, 10/23/10)
2010 Oct 23, In Haiti 194 dead were confirmed dead of cholera in the poor Caribbean nation's worst health crisis since the Jan 12 quake. Authorities said more than 2,000 people were sick. Experts were investigating possible cases in Croix-des-Bouquet, a suburb of the capital, and radio reports said there were two dozen cases of diarrhea on Gonave island.
(AP, 10/23/10)(SFC, 10/23/10, p.A3)
2010 Oct 23, New Delhi Commonwealth Games organizers informed Sri Lanka that boxer Manju Wanniarachchi (30), Sri Lanka's only gold medalist at this month's games, had tested positive for the performance-enhancing steroid nandrolone.
(AFP, 10/24/10)
2010 Oct 23, In Indonesia a small freighter with seven crew was reported to be going down off Flores. Three people were apparently missing while the others survived.
(AP, 10/23/10)
2010 Oct 23, In Ingushetia police shot and killed two militants in a car chase. The men were later identified as being wanted on terrorism charges. Police found two machine guns and ammunition inside their men's car.
(AP, 10/23/10)
2010 Oct 23 , Iraq's PM Nouri al-Maliki accused WikiLeaks of releasing documents that detail prisoner abuse by Iraqi security forces to sabotage his re-election hopes.
(AP, 10/23/10)
2010 Oct 23, In Italy mafia fugitive Gerlandino Messina (38) was nabbed by Carabinieri in Favara, near Agrigento, his power base in Sicily. He had been on the run for 11 years before being caught.
(AP, 10/23/10)
2010 Oct 23, In Kenya 7 fans died in a stampede while trying to enter a stadium where a football match between two of the country’s most popular teams in Nairobi.
(AP, 10/24/10)
2010 Oct 23, In the southern Mexico state of Oaxaca Heriberto Pazos, the leader of a leftist Indian group left disabled in 2001 by a previous assassination attempt, was shot to death by gunmen riding on a motorcycle.
(AP, 10/24/10)
2010 Oct 23, Pakistani army airstrikes killed 12 suspected insurgents in the Orakzai tribal region near the Afghan border.
(AP, 10/23/10)
2010 Oct 23, Somali pirates seized the MV York, a Singapore-registered liquefied gas tanker, 105 miles (165 km) off the coast of Kenya in the Somali Basin.
(AP, 10/24/10)
2010 Oct 23, In Vietnam Le Nguyen Huong Tra, who blogged under the pen name of Do Long Girl, was taken into police custody from a home in Ho Chi Minh City for allegedly slandering a senior government official. Police in Ho Chi Minh City also arrested blogger Phan Thanh Hai, known as Anhbasg, over the weekend and continued to detain Nguyen Van Hai, a blogger known as Dieu Cay, even though he had served out his 30-month sentence on "trumped-up" tax evasion charges.
(AP, 10/26/10)
2011 Oct 23, Anti-Wall Street demonstrators of the Occupy Chicago movement stood their ground in a downtown park in noisy but peaceful defiance of police orders to clear out, prompting 130 arrests.
(AP, 10/23/11)
2011 Oct 23, In Georgia Christopher Michael Hodges (26), a Tennessee National Guardsman training at the Fort Gordon military post, shot and killed sheriff's deputy James D. Paugh (47), then committed suicide on the side of the Bobby Jones Expressway.
(AP, 10/23/11)
2011 Oct 23, In Afghanistan bodyguards for Interior Minister Bismullah Khan Mohammadi shot and killed a would-be suicide bomber who was waiting for the minister's convoy in Sayyed Khel district of Parwan province. NATO said two of its service members were killed in the last 24 hours in separate clashes with insurgents in the south and east of the country. 5 villagers were killed while trying to remove a roadside mine planted by the Taliban in the western province of Herat.
(AP, 10/23/11)
2011 Oct 23, In Algeria gunmen kidnapped three aid workers, two Spaniards and an Italian, from the Rabuni refugee camp near Tindouf, injuring one of the hostages and a local guard in the late night attack. Security sources in Nouakchott and Bamako later said those responsible belonged to a Sahrawi wing of the north African Al-Qaeda branch, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb (AQIM). The group later demanded 30 million euros ($39 million) to free the 3 aid workers held in northern Mali. Spaniards Enric Gonyalons and Ainhoa Fernandez del Rincon and Italian Rossella Urru were released on July 18, 2012, in exchange for three Islamists. The Islamist rebel group that freed them claimed that they also received a ransom of €15 million ($18.4 million).
(AP, 10/23/11)(AFP, 12/5/11)(AFP, 3/3/12)(AP, 7/19/12)(AP, 7/20/12)
2011 Oct 23, Argentina held national elections. President Cristina Fernandez appeared to be headed for a landslide victory over six rivals. Fernandez had 53% of the vote after three-fourths of the polling stations reported nationwide. Her nearest challenger got just 17%.
(AP, 10/23/11)
2011 Oct 23, In Brazil five employees of the government's Indian affairs agency and two workers for an electric company were released in good condition. They had been held for five days in the Amazon community of Kururuzinho. The Kaiabi opposed the construction of a dam and demand speedier official recognition of their land in Mato Grosso state.
(AP, 10/25/11)
2011 Oct 23, Bulgaria held elections. Rosen Plevneliev, the candidate of the ruling center-right GERB party, was favored to win in the presidential elections that tested the government's popularity and the EU nation's ability to overcome concerns about vote-buying and corruption. Plevneliev finished first with 40.11%, and Ivailo Kalfin of the opposition Socialist Party second with 28.96%. A run-off was set for Oct 30. The winner will replace incumbent Georgi Parvanov, who was barred by law from seeking a third term in office.
(AP, 10/23/11)(AP, 10/27/11)
2011 Oct 23, Germany’s retired research ROSAT satellite crashed into Earth at 0150 GMT somewhere in the Bay of Bengal between India and Myanmar.
(AP, 10/25/11)
2011 Oct 23, In Hong Kong more than 1000 protesters, including pregnant women, marched to oppose the growing number of mainland Chinese women coming to the city to give birth. Women from mainland China are keen to have babies in Hong Kong because it entitles their child to rights of abode and education.
(AFP, 10/23/11)
2011 Oct 23, Kenya warplanes targeted the Shebab-held Somali port city of Kismayo as troops advanced on the insurgents. The US warned of an imminent threat of attack on foreigners in Kenya.
(AFP, 10/23/11)
2011 Oct 23, Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC) declared liberation in the wake of Kadhafi's capture and death. It said the new Libya will be governed in line with Islamic sharia law, but stressed it would remain a "moderate" Muslim country.
(AFP, 10/24/11)
2011 Oct 23, In Malaysia Italian rider Marco Simoncelli (24) died after crashing and being hit by two other riders at the Sepang MotoGP motorcycle race. This raised the number of recorded deaths in MotoGP to 47 since it was founded in 1949.
(AP, 10/23/11)
2011 Oct 23, The Mexico army arrested 10 people and confiscated 10 cars or SUVs that were being bulletproofed for drug gangs, as well as six other vehicles in a warehouse in the northern state of Sinaloa.
(AP, 10/25/11)
2011 Oct 23, In Mexico two Americans died in the crash of a small plane in the city of Angela R. Cabada, Veracruz state.
(AP, 10/24/11)
2011 Oct 23, In central Pakistan Mohammad Afzal (19) shot dead his parents and six siblings because his father, a poor donkey cart owner, could not feed the family.
(AFP, 10/23/11)
2011 Oct 23, In Somalia a suicide bomber blew himself up in Mogadishu, wounding two AU peacekeepers.
(AP, 10/23/11)
2011 Oct 23, In South Africa Kirsty Theologo (18) was doused in petrol and burned alive by her friends in a Johannesburg park, in what police suspect was a satanic ritual. Two men aged 19 and 21 who took part in the incident turned themselves in. Theologo suffered burns over three quarters of her body, damaging her lungs and throat, and remained in a coma. Theologo died on Oct 28. A 2nd girl (16) survived her burns.
(AFP, 10/24/11)(AP, 10/28/11)
2011 Oct 23, Switzerland held national elections. Citizens were poised to hand nationalists an unprecedented 30 percent voice, following voting dominated by concerns about immigration, nuclear power and the economy.
(AP, 10/23/11)
2011 Oct 23, Syrian security forces moved into villages where residents have been on strike and shot 2 people dead in the village of Qalaat al-Madeeq, Hama province. Pres. Assad named Yasser al-Shoufi, a former police general, as governor of the northwestern province of Idlib.
(AP, 10/23/11)
2011 Oct 23, In southern Thailand at least seven people were killed in back-to-back shooting and bomb attacks in a town in Narathiwat province.
(AFP, 10/25/11)
2011 Oct 23, Tunisia held its first truly free elections since independence in 1956. Voters elected a 217-seat constituent assembly that would shape their fledgling democracy, choose a new government and write a new constitution that would pave the way for future elections. The moderate Islamist party Ennahda, led by Rached Ghannouchi (b.1941), claimed the biggest block of votes. Ennahda (Renaissance), banned for decades, emerged the official victor taking 41.47% of the vote and 89 of 217 seats in the new assembly.
(AP, 10/23/11)(AP, 10/24/11)(AFP, 10/25/11)(AP, 10/27/11)(AP, 11/14/11)
2011 Oct 23, A powerful 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck eastern Turkey, collapsing about 45 buildings. It was estimated that up to 1,000 people could have been killed. The worst damage was caused to the town of Ercis, in the mountainous eastern province of Van where 80 multi-story buildings collapsed with people trapped in 40 of them. By Nov 4 the death toll reached 603 with some 2500 injured and thousands homeless.
(AP, 10/23/11)(AP, 10/24/11)(AP, 11/4/11)
2011 Oct 23, Pope Benedict XVI named 3 new saints for the Catholic Church during a Mass in St. Peter's Square that was disrupted by a man who climbed out onto the upper colonnade of the square and burned a bible. Named were 3 19th-century founders of religious orders: Italian bishop and missionary Monsignor Guido Maria Conforti, Spanish nun Sister Bonifacia Rodriguez de Castro and Rev. Luigi Guanella an Italian priest who worked with the poor.
(AP, 10/23/11)
2012 Oct 23, The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) said it will end its contract with BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd in favor of Apple Inc's iPhone, dealing a new blow to RIM just months before it launches a vital new device.
(Reuters, 10/23/12)
2012 Oct 23, In California surfer Francisco Javier Solorio Jr. was killed in a shark attack off the coast of Surf Beach in Lompoc.
(SFC, 10/24/12, p.A6)
2012 Oct 23, In NYC ex-convict Darrell Fuller (33) was arrested in Queens after he killed a police officer on Long Island and a motorist nearby during a carjacking.
(SFC, 10/24/12, p.A9)
2012 Oct 23, In Afghanistan an American service member was killed in an insurgent attack in the east.
(AP, 10/23/12)
2012 Oct 23, Britain’s Environment Secretary Owen Paterson said a plan to shoot thousands of badgers to stop the spread of tuberculosis in cattle has been delayed in the face of overwhelming public opposition to the cull.
(AP, 10/24/12)
2012 Oct 23, In China Dorje Rinchen (58), a Tibetan farmer, set himself on fire and died on the main street in Xiahe near the Labrang Monastery.
(AP, 10/24/12)
2012 Oct 23, Egypt's security forces intercepted a group of smugglers bringing in weapons from Libya.
(AP, 10/24/12)
2012 Oct 23, In Iraq a series of attacks struck Shiite neighborhoods in Baghdad early today, killing nine people and wounding 26.
(AP, 10/23/12)
2012 Oct 23, Kuwait banned public gatherings of more than 20 people and said police have the power to disperse unauthorized crowds.
(AP, 10/23/12)
2012 Oct 23, Nigerian authorities intercepted a ship and found on board several guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition. 15 Russian sailors were soon charged with illegally bringing weapons into the country. All charges against the sailors were dropped in 2013.
(Reuters, 10/8/13)
2012 Oct 23, The emir of Qatar, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, received a hero's welcome in Gaza, becoming the first head of state to visit the Palestinian territory since the Islamist militant Hamas seized control of the coastal strip five years ago.
(AP, 10/23/12)
2012 Oct 23, Romania's highest court upheld the conviction of Archbishop Pimen (83) for serving as an informant sent by the church and the Securitate to spy on fellow clergy and members of Romania's expatriate community in the United States in the 1970s.
(AP, 10/23/12)
2012 Oct 23, A Russian Soyuz spacecraft launched in Kazakhstan carrying a 3-man crew, including an American and 2 Russians, to the Intl. Space Station.
(SFC, 10/24/12, p.A2)
2012 Oct 23, Somali journalist Ahmed Farah Sakin, a reporter for the Somali television station Universal, was shot to death in the town of Lasanod in the breakaway region of Somaliland. This brought the number of journalists killed in Somalia this year to 16.
(AP, 10/24/12)
2012 Oct 23, Syrian warplanes struck Maaret al-Numan, a strategic rebel-held town in the country's north in an attempt to reopen a key supply route. At least 20 people were killed in Aleppo when a bakery was hit by a shell. Over 100 people were reported killed in fighting across the country. A UN-proposed cease-fire meant to start this week appeared increasingly unlikely to take hold.
(AP, 10/23/12)(SFC, 10/24/12, p.A2)
2012 Oct 23, In Taiwan an early morning fire ripped through a nursing home, killing 12 people and injuring 60, many of them too weak to get out of their beds to escape. A nursing home resident confessed to setting the fire.
(AP, 10/23/12)
2013 Oct 23, In Washington Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif urged US President Barack Obama to end drone strikes in Pakistan. Obama and Sharif pledged cooperation on the security issues that have strained ties between their nations.
(Reuters, 10/23/13)(AP, 10/23/13)
2013 Oct 23, A Nevada jury found Saudi Arabian air force Sgt. Mazen Alotaibi guilty of sexually assaulting a boy (13) at the Circu Circus hotel in las Vegas on New Year’s Eve.
(SFC, 10/24/13, p.A6)
2013 Oct 23, In Afghanistan a nighttime Taliban attack on a security outpost killed 4 policemen in the Bla Murghab district of Badghis province.
(AP, 10/24/13)
2013 Oct 23, Argentine local experts and a government source said its agricultural soils are being depleted by lack of crop rotation as soy farming encroaches on areas once used for corn, wheat and cattle grazing.
(Reuters, 10/23/13)
2013 Oct 23, Australian investigators said a military training exercise ignited the largest of the wildfires that have ravaged its most populous state over the past week.
(AP, 10/23/13)
2013 Oct 23, British sculptor Anthony Caro (89), whose abstract metal sculptures were shown around the world, died of a heart attack.
(AFP, 10/24/13)(Econ, 11/9/13, p.98)
2013 Oct 23, Thousands of Cambodia opposition supporters staged a demonstration over disputed elections that extended strongman PM Hun Sen's near three-decade rule, under a heavy security presence after bloody clashes last month.
(AFP, 10/23/13)
2013 Oct 23, In Beijing China’s PM Li Keqiang and India’s PM Manmohan Singh sounded a new optimistic tone in their relationship as they oversaw the signing of 9 agreements including a Defense Cooperation Agreement.
(AP, 10/23/13)(Econ, 10/26/13, p.47)
2013 Oct 23, Wang Qishan, China's top official battling deeply-ingrained corruption, warned staff their jobs were on the line if they failed to root out abuses, telling them to "shock and awe" their targets.
(Reuters, 10/23/13)
2013 Oct 23, China’s state-run New Express tabloid printed a front-page commentary begging police in the south-central city of Changsha to set reporter Chen Yongzhou free under the headline: "Please release him." Chen was detained after writing more than a dozen stories criticizing the finances of Zoomlion, a major state-owned construction equipment maker.
(Reuters, 10/23/13)(Econ, 10/26/13, p.54)
2013 Oct 23, Chinese police officers were injured in clashes with villagers in southwestern Yunnan province. Some 200 residents in Guangji village near the provincial capital Kunming stopped 11 officers on a highway after police had summoned two people a day earlier for alleged crimes.
(Reuters, 10/23/13)
2013 Oct 23, In China 2 children were killed and another four injured after a wall at their primary school collapsed in Yunnan province.
(AFP, 10/24/13)
2013 Oct 23, India accused Pakistani troops of firing guns and mortars on at least 50 Indian border posts overnight in disputed Kashmir, calling it the most serious cease-fire violation between the nuclear-armed neighbors in a decade.
(AP, 10/23/13)
2013 Oct 23, In Iraq gunmen killed 6 people in the northern city of Mosul. In Baghdad a roadside bomb in the Ghazaliyah area killed at least 3 people and wounded 11. Another roadside bomb killed 4 people and wounded at least nine in Madain. 2 Sahwa anti-Al-Qaeda fighters were kidnapped and killed in the northern province of Kirkuk.
(AFP, 10/23/13)
2013 Oct 23, The Israeli incumbent Mayor Nir Barkat of Jerusalem won re-election in a hotly contested race that dealt a political blow to his challenger's main backers, former Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and the ultra-Orthodox Shas party.
(Reuters, 10/23/13)
2013 Oct 23, A Kenya court sentenced 4 Somali pirates sentenced to seven years each in prison after they were found guilty of hijacking a fishing dhow in the Indian Ocean in 2010.
(Reuters, 10/23/13)
2013 Oct 23, In Mali a suicide bomber killed two Chadian troops from the UN peacekeeping mission and injured six others in an attack on a checkpoint at the entry to the northern town of Tessalit.
(Reuters, 10/23/13)
2013 Oct 23, Pirates near the coast of Nigeria attacked a commercial ship, named C-Retriever, and kidnapped two US mariners.
(AP, 10/24/13)
2013 Oct 23, Russia said it will boycott maritime court hearings sought by the Netherlands in a bid to free 30 crew members of a Greenpeace ship who were detained during a protest against Arctic oil drilling. Russia dropped piracy charges against 30 people involved in a Greenpeace protest against Arctic oil drilling, replacing them with lesser offences and cutting the maximum jail sentence they face to seven years from 15.
(AFP, 10/23/13)(Reuters, 10/23/13)
2013 Oct 23, In Sudan carjackers killed a Sudanese aid worker in the country's Darfur region, bringing to four the number of humanitarian staff killed this year in the region's worsening unrest.
(AFP, 10/31/13)
2013 Oct 23, Swiss-based petrochemical firm Ineos said it would close its Grangemouth plant in Scotland with the loss of hundreds of jobs after failing to resolve a bitter labor dispute.
(AFP, 10/23/13)
2013 Oct 23, A Swiss Air Force F/A-18 jet went down near a military airport in Alpnach in the Lake Lucerne region.
(AP, 10/23/13)
2013 Oct 23, Syrian activists said the army has sealed the few remaining smuggling routes into the besieged Eastern Ghouta region of suburbs of Damascus. Aid workers in Damascus, who negotiated a truce to get out thousands of residents from the town, said that locals had resorted to eating leaves and grass.
(Reuters, 10/23/13)
2013 Oct 23, Thousands of Tunisians marched through Tunis chanting for their government to step down. Ruling Islamists and opposition leaders prepared to start talks aimed at end months of political crisis. PM Ali Larayedh said his government was committed in "principle" to resigning to pave a way out of the crisis. Clashes between security forces and gunmen rocked the central Sidi Bouzid region, leaving at least six policemen dead.
(Reuters, 10/23/13)(AFP, 10/24/13)
2013 Oct 23, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon requested the deployment of 250 troops to protect the global body's personnel and facilities in the strife-torn Central African Republic.
(AFP, 10/23/13)
2013 Oct 23, The UN said extreme floods across vast parts of remote and impoverished South Sudan have affected over 156,000 people.
(AFP, 10/24/13)
2013 Oct 23, Pope Francis temporarily expelled German Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst (53) from his diocese because of a scandal over a 31-million-euro project to build a new residence complex, but refused calls to remove him permanently.
(AP, 10/23/13)(SFC, 10/24/13, p.A3)
2013 Oct 23, Yemeni police said a father has burned his 15-year-old daughter to death for keeping in touch with her fiance, sparking further outrage after an eight-year girl died from internal bleeding on her wedding night a month ago.
(Reuters, 10/23/13)
2014 Oct 23, The US Treasury Department said Islamic State militants are earning about $1 million a day just from black market oil sales.
(AP, 10/23/14)
2014 Oct 23, Joan Quigley (b.1927), former astrologer to Ronald and Nancy Reagan, died in San Francisco. The SF socialite and writer began working for the Reagans in May, 1981, and continued for seven years.
(SFC, 10/24/14, p.D1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Quigley)
2014 Oct 23, In Maryland a small plane and a helicopter collided before crashing. 3 people were killed.
(SFC, 10/24/14, p.A7)
2014 Oct 23, In NYC four rookie police officers in the city's Queens borough were posing for a photograph at the request of a freelance photographer when Zale Thompson walked up and without saying a word attacked them with the hatchet. Officers shot and killed Thompson.
(AFP, 10/24/14)
2014 Oct 23, NYC officials said Dr. Craig Spencer (33), a physician for doctors Without Borders, has tested positive for Ebola after returning from Guinea last week.
(SFC, 10/24/14, p.A7)
2014 Oct 23, In Oklahoma a person drove across the Capitol lawn in Oklahoma City and knocked over a Ten Commandments monument, that a group has been suing to have removed, smashing it to pieces.
(SFC, 10/25/14, p.A4)
2014 Oct 23, In Bangladesh Ghulam Azam (91), a former leader of Jamaat-e-Islami (1960-2000), died died of a stroke while serving jail sentences for crimes against humanity. Azam had opposed the independence of Bangladesh during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghulam_Azam)(Econ, 11/1/14, p.38)
2014 Oct 23, Brazilian companies Cutrale and Safra said they are again raising their bid for banana producer Chiquita, to $681 million, a day before Chiquita shareholders are expected to vote on a combination with Irish fruit importer Fyffes. Shareholders rejected the proposal.
(AP, 10/23/14)(AP, 10/24/14)
2014 Oct 23, The chairman of Britain's biggest retailer Tesco resigned as the troubled supermarket group said a huge accounting error began earlier than thought and contributed to plunging profits.
(AFP, 10/23/14)
2014 Oct 23, Alvin Stardust (b.1942), British singer and former glam rock star, died after a short battle with cancer, just weeks before he was due to release a new album. His real name was Bernard Jewry.
(AFP, 10/23/14)
2014 Oct 23, The EU came up with another 24.4 million euros ($31 million) to fight Ebola and agreed to up its aid for the fight against Ebola in west Africa to one billion euros. Christos Stylianides, the incoming Cypriot Humanitarian Aid Commissioner, was named an Ebola "czar".
(AP, 10/23/14)(AFP, 10/24/14)
2014 Oct 23, EU lawmakers took the latest step in efforts to bring Kiev closer to Europe, extending Ukrainian exporters' open access to the European Union until a trade deal takes effect at the end of next year.
(AP, 10/23/14)
2014 Oct 23, A Kosovo foreign minister traveled to Serbia for the first time since Kosovo declared independence in 2008. Enver Hoxhaj urged Serbia to recognize Kosovo as independent.
(AP, 10/23/14)(Reuters, 10/23/14)
2014 Oct 23, In Lebanon 4 men were killed in clashes that erupted when the army raided the apartment of Syrian refugees in the village of Aasun in the Dinniyeh region. The army captured a soldier, who recently announced via YouTube his defection from the army, and arrested Ahmad Miqati, a man in his 60s accused, along with his fugitive son, of beheading soldiers in Arsal.
(AFP, 10/23/14)
2014 Oct 23, A Lebanese man who arrived from West Africa is suspected of having Ebola and was quarantined in a Beirut hospital, the first such suspected case in the country.
(AP, 10/23/14)
2014 Oct 23, Liberia’s state radio said dozens of people quarantined for Ebola monitoring in Jenewonda were threatening to break out of isolation because they have no food.
(AP, 10/23/14)
2014 Oct 23, In Pakistan 8 Shi'ite members of Pakistan's ethnic Hazara minority were killed and one wounded after gunmen opened fire on a bus in Quetta, Baluchistan province. Another explosion targeting a car used by security forces killed 2 people and injured 12. In a third explosion 2 people were killed and 30 wounded near a vehicle belonging to pro-Taliban cleric Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman.
(Reuters, 10/23/14)
2014 Oct 23, The general director of Moscow's Vnukovo Airport and his deputy resigned and Russian investigators detained four other airport employees following a plane crash that killed a top French oil executive and three crew members.
(AP, 10/23/14)
2014 Oct 23, Saudi Arabia authorities said female drivers will be dealt with "strictly", before a right-to-drive campaign culminates at the weekend.
(AFP, 10/23/14)
2014 Oct 23, A group of South Sudanese women peace activists said they have suggested that men in the civil war-torn country be denied sex until they stop fighting.
(AFP, 10/23/14)
2014 Oct 23, In Syria government shelling in the northern village of Tel Qrah killed at least 9 people.
(AP, 10/24/14)
2014 Oct 23, A Tunisian policeman was killed when security forces clashed with Islamist militants on the outskirts of Tunis, as the country prepared for parliamentary elections. Police arrested two men armed with assault rifles in the southern of Kebili in a clash that left a bystander dead.
(Reuters, 10/23/14)(AP, 10/23/14)
2014 Oct 23, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that 200 Iraqi Kurd peshmerga fighters would travel through Turkey to join the battle in Kobane, where about 1,000 IS militants are believed to be fighting. US-led air strikes in Syria were reported to have killed more than 521 jihadists and 32 civilians over the last month.
(AFP, 10/23/14)(Reuters, 10/23/14)
2014 Oct 23, Southern Yemeni separatists pledged to escalate protests demanding secession, as northern Shiite rebels vie to expand their control over more of the impoverished country.
(AFP, 10/23/14)
2015 Oct 23, The United States, Russia, Turkey and Saudi Arabia met in Vienna to explore a political solution to the Syrian civil war despite the basic US-Russian disagreement over Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's fate.
(AP, 10/23/15)
2015 Oct 23, The United States and its allies carried out 21 air strikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq.
(Reuters, 10/24/15)
2015 Oct 23, US FDA authorities said they have confiscated shipments of the lethal-injection chemical sodium thiopental that Arizona and Texas tried to bring in from abroad, saying such imports are illegal.
(SFC, 10/24/15, p.A4)
2015 Oct 23, TalkTalk, a British telephone and broadband provider, said it has been hit by a "significant and sustained" cyber-attack and that the personal data of millions of Britons could be at risk after.
(AFP, 10/23/15)
2015 Oct 23, In northern Cameroon Boko Haram Islamists seized control of Kerawa, a town in on the border with Nigeria. An unspecified number of civilians were killed in the assault.
(AFP, 10/23/15)
2015 Oct 23, Quebec province officials said eight Canadian police officers, suspected of sexually assaulting and beating aboriginal women, have been put on leave or transferred to administrative duty.
(AFP, 10/23/15)
2015 Oct 23, Chinese President Xi Jinping has ended his state visit to Britain after being greeted by hundreds of enthusiastic and well-organized well-wishers in the northwest England city of Manchester.
(AP, 10/23/15)
2015 Oct 23, China cut interest rates to support stuttering growth and announced that it was setting banks free in theory to offer depositors whatever interest they like.
(Econ, 10/31/15, p.69)
2015 Oct 23, Croatia and Serbia agreed to increase the flow of asylum-seekers over their border after thousands were forced to spend a muddy night out in the open in near-freezing temperatures.
(AP, 10/23/15)
2015 Oct 23, In France at least 43 people on a bus carrying elderly day-trippers were killed early today when the bus hit a truck head-on and caught fire near Puisseguin in the Gironde region.
(AFP, 10/23/15)
2015 Oct 23, Germany defended a decision to allow the export of tanks and artillery to Qatar, saying it was confident the arms would not be used in a war in Yemen between government supporters and the Iran-allied Houthis.
(Reuters, 10/23/15)
2015 Oct 23, German authorities arrested an Iranian man on suspicion he was spying for Tehran. Maysam P. (31) was accused of spying since December 2013 for Iran on the opposition group known as the People's Mujahedin of Iran, or MEK.
(AP, 10/28/15)
2015 Oct 23, India accused Pakistan of a cease-fire violation in Kashmir in which one Indian civilian was killed and another was wounded.
(AP, 10/23/15)
2015 Oct 23, In Indonesia a law that makes gay sex punishable by public caning took effect in conservative Aceh province.
(AP, 10/23/15)
2015 Oct 23, Japan and Turkmenistan signed deals worth over $18 billion on a package of projects in the energy-rich central Asian nation, which has become an important supplier of natural gas to China.
(Reuters, 10/23/15)
2015 Oct 23, In Mexico Hurricane Patricia, a Category 5 storm, crashed into western Mexico with rain and winds of up to 165 mph (266 kph). The hurricane was downgraded to a tropical storm and then a depression as it moved northeast in Zacatecas the following morning.
(Reuters, 10/24/15)(AFP, 10/24/15)
2015 Oct 23, Niger was ordered to pay compensation to the family of former president Ibrahim Bare Mainassara, who was killed by members of the presidential guard in a 1999 coup. Five judges sitting at the ECOWAS Court of Justice said Niamey should pay a total of 435 million CFA francs (663,000 euros, $750,000) to Mainassara's widow, five children and 11 brothers and sisters.
(AFP, 10/23/15)
2015 Oct 23, In northeastern Nigeria 42 people were killed and 11 wounded in bomb attacks at mosques in Maiduguri, Borno state, and in Yola, Adamawa state.
(Reuters, 10/23/15)(AP, 10/24/15)
2015 Oct 23, In southern Pakistan a suicide bomber targeted a Shiite religious procession, killing at least 18 people and wounding 40 others in Jacobabad, Sindh province.
(AP, 10/24/15)
2015 Oct 23, A Peruvian prosecutor said Lt. Wilmer Eduardo Delgado Ruiz (35), arrested for allegedly letting small planes ferry cocaine unhindered from the world's No. 1 coca-producing valley, was getting bribes of $10,000 a planeload that he apparently shared with his superiors.
(AP, 10/23/15)
2015 Oct 23, Philippine aviation authorities said haze from Indonesian forest fires has spread to the southern and central Philippines, disrupting air traffic and prompting warnings for residents to wear face masks.
(AFP, 10/23/15)
2015 Oct 23, Portugal's parliament elected Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues as Socialist speaker of the house. Leftist parties used their majority in the new parliament to block the incoming center-right government's candidate.
(Reuters, 10/23/15)
2015 Oct 23, In South Africa thousands of university students protesting planned tuition hikes flocked to the country's main government complex, with some setting fires and throwing stones as police responded with stun grenades, tear gas and a water cannon. Pres. Zuma met with student leaders and university managers. His office later announced that there would be no fee increase for university students in 2016.
(AP, 10/23/15)
2015 Oct 23, The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Russian air strikes in Syria have killed at least 446 people, more than a third of them civilians, since they began end-September.
(AFP, 10/23/15)
2015 Oct 23, In Thailand police Major Prakrom Warunprapa, charged under a controversial royal defamation law, died in custody after "hanging" himself in his cell. He was accused of embezzling money by falsely claiming links to the monarchy.
(AFP, 10/24/15)(Econ, 11/14/15, p.42)
2015 Oct 23, In Ukraine pro-Russian insurgents in eastern separatist Donetsk region said they have banned Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and UN agencies.
(AFP, 10/24/15)
2015 Oct 23, Yemeni security officials said heavy fighting between pro-government forces and the Shiite Houthi rebels besieging the western city of Taiz killed 71 people in the past two days.
(AP, 10/23/15)
2016 Oct 23, In southern California a tour bus plowed into a big-rig on I-10 near Palm Springs killing 13 people and injuring 31 others. On Oct 19, 2017, big rig driver Bruce Guilford (51) was arrested in Georgia a day after being charged in Riverside County with 13 counts of vehicular manslaughter.
(SFC, 10/24/16, p.A4)(SFC, 10/20/17, p.A5)
2016 Oct 23, Tom Hayden (b.1939), American social and political activist, author and politician, died in Santa Monica, Ca., following a lengthy illness.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Hayden)
2016 Oct 23, In southern California a tour bus plowed into a big-rig on I-10 near Palm Springs killing 13 people and injuring 31 others. On Oct 19, 2017, big rig driver Bruce Guilford (51) was arrested in Georgia a day after being charged with 13 counts of vehicular manslaughter.
(SFC, 10/24/16, p.A4)(SFC, 10/20/17, p.A5)
2016 Oct 23, In Oklahoma Michael Vance (38) shot two police officers, stole a patrol car, carjacked another car and then killed his aunt and uncle in Luther. On Oct 30 Vance was shot and killed in a gunbattle with state troopers near Leedey.
(SFC, 10/25/16, p.A6)(SFC, 11/1/16, p.A10)
2016 Oct 23, The Afghan government and UN released a new joint survey that saw an increase of 10 percent in opium poppy cultivation and 91 percent decrease in eradication across the country.
(AP, 10/23/16)
2016 Oct 23, In Afghanistan a precision strike conducted by the US military in Kunar province killed Farouq al-Qahtani, Al-Qaeda's emir for northeastern Afghanistan.
(AFP, 11/4/16)
2016 Oct 23, Police in Argentina found the body of Claudia Arias (31) in Mendoza, alongside the corpses of her aunt and grandmother. The women had been beaten and stabbed to death. Two of Claudia’s three children were wounded. Ex-partner Daniel Zalazar was soon arrested on suspicion of murder.
(Econ, 11/5/16, p.30)
2016 Oct 23, In India police opened fire in Saiko in the district of Khunti, Jharkhand state, after protesters blocked the road, assaulted police and took several policemen hostage. One man was killed.
(Reuters, 10/24/16)
2016 Oct 23, Italian officials said that 14 bodies have been recovered in a two-day period on smugglers' boats packed with migrants. In all 5,700 migrants were rescued from dozens of small boats and rubber dinghies over the previous two days.
(AP, 10/23/16)
2016 Oct 23, In Kashmir shelling across the border between India and Pakistan killed two Pakistani civilians, an Indian soldier and a boy.
(Reuters, 10/24/16)
2016 Oct 23, Kurdish fighters said they had taken the town of Bashiqa near Mosul from Islamic State as coalition forces pressed their offensive against the jihadists' last stronghold in Iraq.
(Reuters, 10/23/16)
2016 Oct 23, In Russia 3 people were killed and 13 others injured after an explosion, believed to have been caused by gas, hit a high-rise apartment building in Ryazan.
(AP, 10/23/16)
2016 Oct 23, Russian police killed two suspected terrorists in a shootout in in Nizhny Novgorod. A bomb was found in the suspects' car.
(AP, 10/23/16)
2016 Oct 23, Spain's embattled Socialists voted to lift a long-standing veto that has prevented the conservatives from forming a minority government, in what should finally end a ten-month political impasse.
(AFP, 10/23/16)
2016 Oct 23, A leading northern Syrian rebel coalition warned civilians in Aleppo to stay away from government positions around the contested city as rebels and pro-government forces clashed along the city's outskirts. Clashes and air strikes shook Aleppo, as heavy fighting resumed after the end of a 3-day ceasefire.
(AP, 10/23/16)(AFP, 10/23/16)
2016 Oct 23, Venezuela's opposition-majority legislature declared that President Nicolas Maduro's government had committed a coup d'etat by blocking a referendum on removing him from power, vowing mass protests and international pressure.
(AP, 10/24/16)
2016 Oct 23, In Yemen warplanes from a Saudi-led coalition attacked targets in Sanaa at dawn, hours after a three-day truce expired.
(Reuters, 10/23/16)
2017 Oct 23, The Hollywood sexual abuse scandal widened after 38 women were reported to have accused US film director James Toback (72) of unwanted sexual encounters over a period of decades. His semi-autobiographical "The Pick-up Artist" was made in 1987.
(AFP, 10/23/17)
2017 Oct 23, In Pennsylvania a law took effect that allows casino-style gambling on mobile phones and websites. It also put video gaming terminals in big truck stops.
(CSM, 11/3/17)
2017 Oct 23, Argentina's President Mauricio Macri pledged to press ahead with an austerity drive in Latin America's third-largest economy, following a sweeping victory in mid-term elections.
(AFP, 10/23/17)
2017 Oct 23, Bangladesh called on Myanmar to allow nearly 1 million Rohingya Muslim refugees to return home under safe conditions, saying that the burden had become "untenable" on its territory. Governments and international donors pledged $234 million to help over 600,000 Rohingya people who have fled violence in Myanmar into neighboring Bangladesh over the last two months.
(Reuters, 10/23/17)(AP, 10/23/17)
2017 Oct 23, A Benin judicial source said wealthy businessman and failed presidential candidate Sebastien Ajavon is under investigation over an allegedly fraudulent export deal. The alleged offences dated back to 2009 and could see him jailed if charged and convicted. In October 2016, he was arrested after 18 kg (40 pounds) of cocaine with a street value of $16 million was found in a container destined for one of his businesses.
(AP, 10/23/17)
2017 Oct 23, In Brazil police shot and killed Spanish tourist Maria Esperanza Ruiz Jimenez (67) in a Rio de Janeiro slum after the guided tour car she was riding in failed to stop at a police road block. Two military police officers were soon arrested in connection with the shooting death.
(Reuters, 10/23/17)(AP, 10/24/17)
2017 Oct 23, London brought in a new levy on the oldest and most polluting cars entering the city center, almost doubling how much motorists have to pay in the latest blow to diesel.
(Reuters, 10/23/17)
2017 Oct 23, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau appointed a special envoy to Myanmar tasked with pressing its leadership to resolve the Rohingya refugee crisis.
(AFP, 10/23/17)
2017 Oct 23, In Chechnya a Russian National Guard officer killed four other servicemen before he was killed by guards in Shelkovskaya.
(SFC, 10/24/17, p.A2)
2017 Oct 23, The Egyptian military said its air force hit eight four-wheel-drive vehicles carrying arms and explosives at its western border with Libya, killing the militants on board.
(Reuters, 10/23/17)
2017 Oct 23, An agreement reached by EU member states limited the amount of time workers can be "posted" from one EU country to another, but the agreement did not cover the road transport sector.
(Reuters, 11/21/17)
2017 Oct 23, The German government said it approved the sale of three Thyssenkrupp submarines to Israel and will provide financial support for the purchase.
(Reuters, 10/23/17)
2017 Oct 23, In Germany a right-wing extremist member of a group that claims allegiance to Adolf Hitler's World War Two-era German Reich was convicted of murder for shooting and killing a police officer last October and sentenced to life in prison.
(Reuters, 10/23/17)
2017 Oct 23, Amnesty International said that Ahmadreza Djalali, an Iranian doctor who studied and taught in Sweden, had been sentenced to death in Iran on espionage charges. Neither Iran nor Amnesty said when the verdict was issued.
(Reuters, 10/24/17)
2017 Oct 23, In Israel several thousand ultra-Orthodox Jews blocked the main entrance to Jerusalem and protested in other areas as part of a series of demonstrations against serving in the Israeli military.
(AFP, 10/23/17)
2017 Oct 23, Political leaders in northern Italy claimed an overwhelming mandate to seek greater autonomy from Rome after referendums backed the party's autonomy bid by more than 95 percent in Lombardy and Veneto. In Lombardy less than half of the electorate turned out. The votes were legal, but not binding on Rome.
(AP, 10/23/17)
2017 Oct 23, Japan’s PM Shinzo Abe, buoyed by a huge election win for lawmakers who favor revising the post-war, pacifist constitution, signaled a push towards his long-held goal but will need to convince a divided public to succeed.
(Reuters, 10/23/17)
2017 Oct 23, Kenya’s chief prosecutor's office said authorities will arrest and charge Ruth Odinga, the sister of opposition leader Raila Odinga, with incitement to violence after attacks on the election board.
(Reuters, 10/23/17)
2017 Oct 23, In northern Mali the French military targeted Islamist militants of Ansar Dine near the border with Algeria and took 15 militants "out of action" in an overnight operation.
(Reuters, 10/26/17)
2017 Oct 23, The Philippine government declared the end to the militant siege of Marawi that lasted five months, left more than 1,100 people dead and sparked fears of the Islamic State group gaining a foothold in Southeast Asia. Combat operations in Marawi ended after troops recovered 42 bodies of the last group of militants. The Islamic State had sent at least $1.5 million to finance the Marawi militants.
(AP, 10/23/17)(SFC, 10/25/17, p.A2)
2017 Oct 23, Poland's President Andrzej Duda signed a law that will eventually increase the country's spending on defense to at least 2.5 percent of GDP, well above the 2 percent required by membership in NATO.
(AP, 10/23/17)
2017 Oct 23, In Russia Tatyana Felgengauer (32), a presenter for the Echo of Moscow radio station, suffered a knife attack after a suspect entered the radio station's building in central Moscow and blinded the security guard with a spray. The attacker, identified as Boris Grits (48), was caught.
(AFP, 10/23/17)(AP, 11/8/17)
2017 Oct 23, The Syrian government and activists said the bodies of at least 67 civilians, many summarily killed by the Islamic State group, have been discovered in al-Qaryatayn, a town that government forces retook from the extremists over the weekend. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it had documented the killings of at least 128 people in al-Qaryatayn during the last days of IS control of the town. 30 of the 50 militants, who overran the town last month, were originally from the town.
(AP, 10/23/17)(Reuters, 10/23/17)(SFC, 10/24/17, p.A2)
2017 Oct 23, In Syria Jac Holmes (24), a British man who was fighting with US-backed Kurdish forces against the Islamic State group, died while clearing mines in the northern city of Raqqa.
(AP, 10/25/17)
2017 Oct 23, In Turkey Ankara Mayor Melih Gokcek announced that he would step down on Oct. 28 following a meeting with Pres. Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Gokcek became the fifth elected mayor to leave office under pressure from Pres. Erdogan.
(SFC, 10/24/17, p.A2)
2017 Oct 23, A Turkish military vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device in the southeastern province of Hakkari, killing one soldier.
(Reuters, 10/23/17)
2017 Oct 23, Ukrainian anti-corruption investigators raided the home and office of Odessa Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov and his associates at the center of a politically charged embezzlement probe.
(AFP, 10/23/17)
2017 Oct 23, In southern Yemen suspected al Qaeda militants attacked a military checkpoint in Abyan province, killing four soldiers and wounding 10.
(Reuters, 10/23/17)
2017 Oct 23, A UN committee said it has added 32 items that have both civilian and military use to a list of prohibited goods and technologies banned from sale or transfer to North Korea.
(SFC, 10/24/17, p.A2)
2017 Oct 23, UNICEF said more than 1,100 children are suffering from acute malnutrition in the besieged rebel-held Eastern Ghouta area outside Damascus.
(AFP, 10/23/17)
2017 Oct 23, The UN's humanitarian coordination agency OCHA said more than 11 million Yemeni children need humanitarian aid as a result of a war raging since March 2015.
(AFP, 10/23/17)
2018 Oct 23, The US Treasury Department imposed sanctions targeting Afghanistan's Taliban insurgency, designating eight people including two Iranians linked to Tehran's Revolutionary Guards' Quds force.
(Reuters, 10/23/18)
2018 Oct 23, Johnson & Johnson said it is paying about $2 billion in cash for the outstanding stake of Ci:z Holdings Co., a Japanese cosmetics and skincare products company.
(AP, 10/23/18)
2018 Oct 23, In Afghanistan at least 14 civilians were killed during an operation by Afghan security forces in eastern Nangarhar province.
(Reuters, 10/24/18)
2018 Oct 23, British electric appliance pioneer Dyson said it had picked Singapore as the site for its first electric car plant, sparking criticism of the company's Brexit-backing billionaire founder James Dyson for not investing more in British manufacturing.
(AFP, 10/23/18)
2018 Oct 23, A Cameroon court sentenced former opposition presidential candidate and anti-corruption campaigner Akere Muna to a three-year suspended sentence on forgery charges.
(AFP, 10/24/18)
2018 Oct 23, Chinese media Caixin reported that a senior official overseeing birth policy explained birth policy changes last week to a UN conference held in Beijing. He said China won't set a population target in the future and will give epople more freedom around childbirth.
(SFC, 10/25/18, p.A3)
2018 Oct 23, China opened the world's longest sea-crossing bridge linking Hong Kong to the mainland, a feat of engineering carrying immense economic and political significance. The 55-km (34-mile)-long bridge linked China to the semi-autonomous regions of Hong Kong and Macau.
(AP, 10/23/18)
2018 Oct 23, The European Commission rejected Italy's proposed budget — the first time it has ever done so with a member state.
(AP, 10/23/18)
2018 Oct 23, France-based Interpol said coordinated police raids in 116 countries have netted 500 tons of illicit pharmaceuticals available online, including fake cancer medications, counterfeit pain pills and illegal medical syringes.
(Reuters, 10/23/18)
2018 Oct 23, German automaker BMW said it is expanding a recall to cover 1.6 million vehicles worldwide due to possible fluid leaks that could result in a fire.
(AP, 10/23/18)
2018 Oct 23, In Iraq a bomb blast at a market in a town south of the city of Mosul killed at least six people, including two soldiers.
(AP, 10/23/18)
2018 Oct 23, Ireland's government approved a forensic excavation of the former Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, County Galway, a Catholic-run orphanage where a mass grave containing the remains of hundreds of children was discovered.
(AP, 10/24/18)
2018 Oct 23, The live-betting esports platform Unikrn had its wagering license approved by the Isle of Man, clearing the way for users to legally gamble on competitive video games. Unikrn had previously only been licensed to provide real-money betting on esports in the UK and Australia.
(AP, 10/23/18)
2018 Oct 23, Japan was informed by Qatar that a man, believed to be journalist Jumpei Yasuda, has been released. Yasuda was last heard from in Syria in 2015. Contact was lost with Yasuda after he sent a message to another Japanese freelancer on June 23, 2015.
(AP, 10/23/18)
2018 Oct 23, In Mexico thousands of people were evacuated, buildings were boarded up and schools closed along the Pacific coast as Hurricane Willa threatened to batter tourist resorts. Hurricane Willa crashed ashore in western Mexico, lashing the Pacific coast with powerful winds and heavy rain before weakening to a tropical depression as it moved inland. Nearly 102,000 homes last power after the storm made landfall.
(Reuters, 10/23/18)(AFP, 10/24/18)(SFC, 10/25/18, p.A4)
2018 Oct 23, Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari flew in by helicopter to cut the ribbon at the new Seme-Krake Joint Border Post with his Beninese counterpart Patrice Talon.
(AFP, 10/28/18)
2018 Oct 23, Human Rights Watch said security forces of the rival Palestinian governments routinely use torture and arbitrary arrests, among other tactics, to quash dissent by peaceful activists and political opponents.
(AP, 10/23/18)
2018 Oct 23, Pakistan negotiated a $6 billion assistance package of loans and deferred payments from Saudi Arabia in hopes of resuscitating its flagging economy, struggling under the weight of a whopping $18 billion deficit.
(AP, 10/24/18)
2018 Oct 23, A high-profile economic forum in Saudi Arabia began in Riyadh. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman trumpeted a conference that has drawn investment deals worth $50 billion despite a boycott over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
(AP, 10/23/18)
2018 Oct 23, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said the OPEC kingpin was ready to boost its crude production and spare capacity to help maintain a balance in the global oil market.
(AFP, 10/23/18)
2018 Oct 23, Saudi Arabia said it and Bahrain had added Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps and senior officers of its Quds Force to their lists of people and organizations suspected of involvement in terrorism.
(Reuters, 10/23/18)
2018 Oct 23, Tech entrepreneurs in Somalia began holding a first ever summit in battle-scarred Mogadishu, attracting hundreds to talk about business and innovation in a city more used to conflict and suffering.
(AFP, 10/25/18)
2018 Oct 23, The UN Human Rights Committee said that France's ban on the niqab, the full-body Islamic veil, was a violation of human rights and called on it to review the legislation. It gave Paris 180 days to report back to say what actions it had taken.
(Reuters, 10/23/18)
2018 Oct 23, Vietnam's rubber stamp National Assembly elected Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong (74) as the country's president. He succeeds Tran Dai Quang, who died last month after battling a viral illness for more than a year.
(AP, 10/23/18)
2018 Oct 23, Zimbabwe's main opposition leader Nelson Chamisa called for a transitional emergency government to resolve the worsening economic and political crisis engulfing the country.
(AFP, 10/23/18)
2019 Oct 23, US President Donald Trump declared success in Syria and created a bumper-sticker moment to illustrate his campaign promise to put a stop to American involvement in "endless wars".
(AP, 10/24/19)
2019 Oct 23, President Donald Trump said he will lift sanctions on Turkey after the NATO ally agreed to permanently stop fighting Kurdish forces in Syria and he defended his decision to withdraw American troops.
(AP, 10/23/19)
2019 Oct 23, A US federal judge ordered the Trump administration to start turning over documents regarding potentially improper White House influence on diplomacy in Ukraine.
(Yahoo News, 10/23/19)
2019 Oct 23, A senior Pentagon official Laura Cooper, who oversees US defense policy on Ukraine and Russia, testified privately in the Democratic-led US House of Representatives inquiry against Republican President Donald Trump.
(Reuters, 10/23/19)
2019 Oct 23, US Attorney General William Barr announced an effort to prevent mass shootings through new tactics such as court-ordered counseling and supervision of potentially violent individuals.
(Reuters, 10/23/19)
2019 Oct 23, About two dozen US House Republicans delayed an impeachment related deposition for hours when they burst into the proceedings.
(SFC, 10/24/19, p.A6)
2019 Oct 23, Aniah Blanchard (19), a student at Alabama's Southern Union State Community College, went missing. Blanchard, the stepdaughter of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fighter Walt Harris, was last seen at a convenience store in Auburn. Her car was found abandoned near an apartment complex in Montgomery on October 25. On Nov. 8 Ibraheem Yazeed (30) of Montgomery, was taken into custody in Florida's Escambia County. Authorities later said shot her when she "went for the gun." Her body was found on Nov. 25, approximately 36 miles away in a wooded area in Shorter.
(The Independent, 10/31/19)(Good Morning America, 11/8/19)(Good Morning America, 12/21/19)
2019 Oct 23, The Los Angeles-based Berggruen Institute said US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is this year's winner of its $1 million Berggruen Prize for philosophy and culture.
(SFC, 10/24/19, p.A6)
2019 Oct 23, In northern California Deputy Brian Ishmael was fatally shot early today in the community of Somerset. A ride-along passenger with him was injured while responding to a call about a theft from a marijuana garden in the rural Sierra Nevada foothills.
(AP, 10/23/19)(SFC, 10/24/19, p.C1)
2019 Oct 23, Facebook Inc CEO Mark Zuckerberg sought to reassure skeptical US lawmakers that the company's planned digital currency Libra would be a force for good that could reduce costs for electronic payments and help more people participate in the global financial system.
(Reuters, 10/23/19)
2019 Oct 23, Google said it had achieved a breakthrough in computer research, by solving a complex problem in minutes with a so-called quantum computer that would take today's most powerful supercomputer thousands of years to crack.
(Reuters, 10/23/19)
2019 Oct 23, Albanian police said they have discovered an Iranian paramilitary network that allegedly planned attacks in Albania against exiled members of an Iranian group seeking to overthrow the government in Tehran. The foreign wing of Iran's Revolutionary Guard operated an "active terrorist cell" targeting Mujahedin-e Khalq, or MEK, group members in Albania.
(AP, 10/23/19)
2019 Oct 23, Botswana faced its tightest election in history as the long-peaceful southern African nation wondered if the ruling party would be toppled for the first time since independence.
(AP, 10/23/19)
2019 Oct 23, British authorities found a tractor-trailer truck in Grays, in southeast England with 39 dead people inside. The dead were initially believed to be Chinese nationals, but police later said the dead were all from Vietnam. The truck had Bulgarian registration dating to 2017. A man from Northern Ireland who was driving the truck was arrested on suspicion of murder. On April 8, 2020, driver Maurice Robinson (25) pleaded guilty to manslaughter. On August 28, Ronan Hughes (40) pleaded guilty for his role in the tray. Hughes, whose conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration charge spanned 1 May 2018 to 24 October 2019, was described as "a ringleader of a people smuggling ring".
(https://tinyurl.com/y2vfj7fn)(AP, 10/23/19)(Reuters, 10/24/19)(Reuters, 10/26/19)(Reuters, 11/7/19)(SFC, 4/9/20, p.A2)
2019 Oct 23, Cyprus said it would investigate the circumstances under which relatives of Cambodia's prime minister were granted citizenship and did not rule out revoking passports if necessary.
(Reuters, 10/23/19)
2019 Oct 23, Ethiopian police fired gunshots and teargas as thousands protested over the treatment of a prominent activist, in a sign that the country's Nobel Prize-winning prime minister might be losing support among his powerbase.
(Reuters, 10/23/19)
2019 Oct 23, Hong Kong's legislature formally withdrew planned legislation that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China, but the move was unlikely to end months of unrest as it met just one of five demands of pro-democracy demonstrators.
(Reuters, 10/23/19)
2019 Oct 23, Iraq's defense minister said US troops withdrawing from northeastern Syria to Iraq are "transiting" and will leave the country within four weeks.
(AP, 10/23/19)
2019 Oct 23, Israel's former military chief Benny Gantz received an official mandate to form the country's next government. He had few options after last month's elections left him in a near tie with PM Benjamin Netanyahu. Gantz will have 28 days to form a coalition.
(AP, 10/23/19)
2019 Oct 23, The head of Italy's Bio-on was arrested in a probe into false accounting and market manipulation, just three months after the bio-plastics maker suffered an attack by a short seller fund that erased 80% of its value.
(Reuters, 10/23/19)
2019 Oct 23, Lebanon's state-run news agency said a Lebanese man shot down an Israeli drone with a hunting rifle near the border village of Kfar Kila.
(AP, 10/23/19)
2019 Oct 23, Six medical workers were released in Libya after being abducted and held hostage for nearly two weeks by unknown armed men.
(AP, 10/24/19)
2019 Oct 23, North Korea said that leader Kim Jong-un has ordered the destruction of all facilities built by South Korea at the Mount Kumgang (Diamond Mountain) tourist zone, apparently because of Seoul’s refusal to break ranks with the United States.
(SFC, 10/24/19, p.A4)
2019 Oct 23, Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted dozens of leaders of African nations for the first-ever Russia-Africa summit, reflecting Moscow's new push to expand its clout on the continent and saying there is "enormous potential for growth." 43 leaders of the continent's 54 countries attended the 2-day summit.
(AP, 10/23/19)(SFC, 10/24/19, p.A2)
2019 Oct 23, Russia landed the world’s biggest military aircraft in South Africa, the Tupolev Tu-160 ‘Blackjack’ bomber, in a rare display of cooperation between the defense forces of the two countries. The two bombers, which are capable of launching nuclear missiles, are the first to ever land in Africa and were escorted by fighter jets from the South African Air Force as they arrived at the Waterkloof air base in Tshwane.
(Bloomberg, 10/23/19)
2019 Oct 23, Russian military police began patrols on part of the Syrian border, quickly moving to implement an accord with Turkey that divvies up control of northeastern Syria. The Kremlin told Kurdish fighters to pull back from the entire frontier or else face being "steamrolled" by Turkish forces.
(AP, 10/23/19)
2019 Oct 23, South African Airways (SAA) and Comair began returning grounded planes to service a day after South Africa's air safety regulator flagged maintenance problems.
(Reuters, 10/23/19)
2019 Oct 23, In Switzerland a Syrian Kurdish man set himself on fire in front of the United Nations refugee agency's headquarters in Geneva. Security guards doused the flames and the man was then taken by helicopter to a hospital in Lausanne that specializes in treating burns.
(AP, 10/23/19)
2019 Oct 23, Ukraine's Pres. Volodymyr Zelensky urged a group of lawmakers to take lie detector tests to show they are not involved in a widening corruption scandal.
(SFC, 10/24/19, p.A2)
2019 Oct 23, Michael Lynk, the UN independent expert on human rights in the Palestinian territories, called for an international ban on all products made in Israeli settlements as a step to potentially end Israel's 52-year "illegal occupation".
(AP, 10/23/19)
2019 Oct 23, The World Health Organization said Zambia has reported its first case of polio since 1995, in a boy (2) paralyzed by the vaccine-derived poliovirus (VDPV).
(http://tinyurl.com/y467dngg)(SFC, 10/24/19, p.A2)
2020 Oct 23, President Donald Trump announced that Sudan will start to normalize ties with Israel, making it the third Arab state to do so as part of US-brokered deals in the run-up to Election Day.
(AP, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, The US State Department suspended all training programs for employees related to diversity and inclusion, after President Donald Trump directed federal agencies last month to end programs deemed divisive by the White House.
(Reuters, 10/24/20)
2020 Oct 23, The US Postal Service (USPS) told a US judge it has returned 137 mail processing machines to service since August and approved thousands of daily extra delivery trips this month as it works to deliver millions of ballots.
(Reuters, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Heavy fighting raged over Nagorno-Karabakh even as top diplomats from Armenia and Azerbaijan visited Washington for negotiations on settling the neighboring countries' decades-long conflict.
(AP, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, The US Treasury sanctioned two high-ranking Hezbollah officials in Lebanon, including a former military commander in the country's south.
(AP, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, A study by researchers at the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation said more than a half million people in the United States could die from COVID-19 by the end of February next year, but around 130,000 of those lives could be saved if everybody were to wear masks.
(Reuters, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, More than 85,000 new coronavirus cases were reported across the US, breaking the single-day record set on July 16 by about 10,000 cases.
(NY Times, 10/25/20)
2020 Oct 23, A US Border Patrol agent investigating suspected human smuggling with other agents in Texas fatally shot a person driving a vehicle carrying people believed to be in the country illegally.
(AP, 10/24/20)
2020 Oct 23, In Alabama a 115-year-old Confederate monument that was the subject of protests this year was removed from outside a county courthouse in Huntsville early today. The monument was first erected in 1905 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. It is expected to be moved to a cemetery.
(AP, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, A US Navy training plane that took off from Florida crashed in an Alabama residential neighborhood near the Gulf Coast, killing both people in the plane.
(AP, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, California to date had 894,938 cases of coronavirus and 17,281 deaths. The SF Bay Area had 113,938 cases and 1,735 deaths. Total cases nationwide reached over 8,472,847 with the death toll at 223,752.
(sfist.com, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Enrique Marquez Jr. (28), the man who bought two rifles that husband-and-wife assailants used to kill 14 people in a Southern California terror attack on Dec. 2, 2015, was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
(AP, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Pennsylvania's Supreme Court ruled that mail-in ballots cannot be refused because a voter's signature does not appear to match the one on file, a decision that could help Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.
(AP, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Two Bartonsville, Pennsylvania, men and a company that ran hotels in Stroudsburg and Bartonsville were convicted of sex and drug trafficking offenses by a jury in federal court in Scranton in a case the US Attorney’s Office said is precedent setting.
(USA Today, 10/29/20)
2020 Oct 23, In South Dakota the Oglala Sioux Tribe ordered a one-week lockdown of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in response to a surging number of COVID-19 cases in the state.
(AP, 10/24/20)
2020 Oct 23, A Texas appeals court ruled the Republican governor cannot limit drop-off sites for mail ballots to one per county, a setback for US President Donald Trump.
(AP, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Ivan Harrison Hunter (26), a Texas member of the Boogaloo Bois," was charged with spraying 13 rounds from a kalashnikov rifle toward the Minneapolis Police Dept.'s Third Precinct building on May 28.
(SFC, 10/24/20, p.B1)
2020 Oct 23, Officials in Washington state said scientists have discovered the first nest of so-called murder hornets in the United States. Scientists removed 98 of the hornets a day later in an effort to protect native honeybees.
(AP, 10/23/20)(SFC, 10/27/20, p.A4)
2020 Oct 23, Johnson & Johnson said it was preparing to resume a large clinical trial of its experimental COVID-19 vaccine in the United States after an independent safety panel recommended enrollments for the study.
(Reuters, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, The Austrian Post said it has united two aspects of the coronavirus pandemic in a stamp printed on toilet paper that people can also, at a push, use for social distancing. The 2.75 euro "corona stamp" comes in sheets 10 cm wide.
(Reuters, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Lufthansa's Austrian Airlines said it is offering rapid pre-boarding coronavirus tests free to passengers on one of its routes as part of a group-wide plan to make such tests standard.
(Reuters, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Belgium, one of the European countries worst hit by the new coronavirus, tightened restrictions on social contacts by banning fans from sports matches, limiting the number of people in cultural spaces and closing theme parks.
(Reuters, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Brazilian pharmaceutical company União Quimica said it has signed an agreement with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) to produce Russia's Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 starting in the second half of November. This is the second agreement to produce the Russian vaccine in Brazil, where four other vaccines are already being tested.
(Reuters, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Brazilian regulator Anvisa authorized a biomedical center to import 6 million doses of the Sinovac coronavirus vaccine, one day after President Jair Bolsonaro said Brazil would not buy the Chinese vaccine.
(AP, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Bolivia's Supreme Electoral Tribunal said leftist Luis Arce won 55% of the votes against six rivals on the ballot, a vindication for the Movement Toward Socialism party. The runner-up was centrist former President Carlos Mesa with just under 29%.
(AP, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Bosnia reported a record high of 1,169 infections in the past 24 hours, and 14 deaths, bringing its total cases to 38,493.
(Reuters, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Chinese leader Xi Jinping condemned “unilateralism, protectionism and extreme egoism" in a jab at the United States made during a rally to mark the 70th anniversary of China’s entry into the 1950-53 Korean War.
(AP, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Mainland China reported 28 new coronavirus cases up from 18 cases a day earlier.
(Reuters, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, In Croatia coronavirus infections in the past 24 hours hit a record high of 1,867, while seven people died. Croatia has recorded 31,717 total cases with 413 deaths.
(Reuters, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Danish aid workers stationed in the Balkans said dozens of migrants have alleged they were brutalized by Croatian law-enforcement officers when they tried to cross into the European Union nation, before being summarily expelled back to Bosnia.
(AP, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Cuba's foreign minister said political hostility has reached "feverish levels" as the country lost $5.6 billion between April 2019 and March 2020 due to economic sanctions imposed by the Pres. Donald Trump.
(SFC, 10/24/20, p.A2)
2020 Oct 23, It was reported that the Dubai is building a $3.4 billion coal-fired power plant in an effort to diversify its energy resources.
(SFC, 10/23/20, p.A4)
2020 Oct 23, Germany’s federal agriculture ministry said five more cases of African swine fever have been confirmed in wild boars in the eastern region of Brandenburg. The new discoveries bring the total number of confirmed cases to 91 since the first one on Sept. 10.
(Reuters, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, German biotech company CureVac said its potential vaccine against the coronavirus triggered an immune response in pre-clinical animal studies. CureVac is using the so-called messenger RNA approach, the same as rivals BioNTech and its partner Pfizer as well as Moderna, which have started testing on humans.
(Reuters, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, In Guinea three police officers died in clashes in Conakry, where the army has been called in to support the police in maintaining order. At least 30 people have died since the Oct. 18 presidential vote.
(BBC, 10/24/20)
2020 Oct 23, Italy's Campania region, based on the southern city of Naples, said it would impose a lockdown to tame the coronavirus and urged the whole country to follow suit as new infections hit a record high.
(Reuters, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Libya's two warring factions signed a "permanent" ceasefire agreement in Geneva after five days of talks at the UN, which hailed the deal as a historic moment following years of turmoil and bloodshed. The UN said all mercenaries and foreign fighters are supposed to depart from Libya within three months of the signing of the nationwide ceasefire.
(AFP, 10/23/20)(Reuters, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, In Liechtenstein coronavirus cases rose by 6,634 to 103,653. The death toll rose by 10 to 1,877.
(Reuters, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, The mayor of Mexico City called on residents to avoid gatherings of more than 10 people as the capital grapples with a surge of coronavirus hospitalizations. The pandemic has led to more than 874,000 infections and killed nearly 87,900 people in Mexico.
(Reuters, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Dutch poultry farmers were keeping their birds indoors to comply with a government order after a highly contagious form of the H5N8 bird flu was found in two dead swans this week.
(Reuters, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said 69 people have been killed in protests against police brutality that have rocked the country. A group that has been key in organizing the demonstrations has now urged people to stay at home.
(BBC, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said his government will pay the 931 million pesos ($19.25 million) it owes the Red Cross after the humanitarian agency stopped conducting COVID-19 tests. With 365,799 confirmed infections and 6,915 deaths, the Philippines has the second-highest number of COVID-19 cases and fatalities in Southeast Asia behind Indonesia.
(Reuters, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Poland's PM Mateusz Morawiecki said restaurants and bars will close for two weeks and public gatherings will be limited to five people, after new coronavirus infections hit a daily record of more than 13,600.
(Reuters, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Portugal's parliament decided that face masks will have to be worn in crowded outdoor areas across the country, in a scramble to contain the surge in coronavirus cases.
(Reuters, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Romania's number of new coronavirus infections rose by a daily record of 5,028 in the past 24 hours. The total number of confirmed cases rose to 201,032 and 6,245 deaths.
(Reuters, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Slovenian PM Janez Jansa endorsed US President Donald Trump’s reelection on Friday, saying Joe Biden would be a weak leader. Slovenia is the birthplace of US first lady Melania Trump.
(AP, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Sweden registered 1,870 new coronavirus cases, its highest since the start of the pandemic.
(Reuters, 10/27/20)
2020 Oct 23, Switzerland set a record for new COVID-19 infections with cases passing the 100,000 mark as a second coronavirus wave engulfs the country.
(Reuters, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 23, Ukraine registered a daily record of 7,517 COVID-19 cases. The total number of cases climbed to 330,396.
(Reuters, 10/23/20)
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