Today in History - January 18
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474 Jan 18, Leo
I, Roman Byzantine Emperor (457-74), died. He was succeeded by his
grandson Leo II.
(www.roman-emperors.org/leo1.htm)
1385 Jan 18, A Lithuanian
delegation under Skirgaila arrived in Cracow to ask for the hand of
Jadvyga on behalf of Jogaila.
(LHC, 1/18/03)
1401 Jan 18, In Lithuania Vytautas
and the country’s dukes submitted documents to Poland that Vytautas
would rule Lithuania as a vassal to Poland and return the country to
Poland upon his death.
(LHC, 1/18/03)
1486 Jan 18, English King Henry
VII (1457-1509) married Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV. This
ended the Wars of the Roses.
(HN, 1/18/99)(ON, 12/06, p.4)
1535 Jan 18, Francisco Pizarro
founded Lima Peru. [see Jan 6]
(MC, 1/18/02)
1580 Jan 18, Antonio Scandello
(63), Italian composer (Passion of John), died.
(MC, 1/18/02)
1644 Jan 18, 1st reported UFO
sighting in America was made by perplexed pilgrims in Boston.
(MC, 1/18/02)
1654 Jan 18, The union of Ukraine
and Russia was announced.
(LHC, 1/18/03)
1659 Jan 18, Benedikt Lechler
(64), composer, died.
(MC, 1/18/02)
1671 Jan 18, Pirate Henry Morgan
defeated Spanish defenders and captured Panama.
(MC, 1/18/02)
1681 Jan 18, England's King
Charles II suspended Parliament and set its next meeting for March in
Oxford.
(ON, 7/06, p.10)
1689 Jan 18, Charles Louis de
Montesquieu (d.1755), French philosopher and writer (Letters Persanes),
was born. "In most things success depends on knowing how long it takes
to succeed." He authored "The Spirit of the Laws," the 1st great
comparative study of civilizations.
(AP, 4/13/99)(WSJ, 11/1/00, p.A24)(MC, 1/18/02)
1701 Jan 18, Frederick III, the
elector of Brandenburg, became the king of Prussia.
(HN, 1/18/99)
1733 Jan 18, The 1st polar bear
exhibited in America was in Boston.
(MC, 1/18/02)
1778 Jan 18, English navigator
Captain James Cook discovered the Hawaiian Islands, which he dubbed the
"Sandwich Islands" after the First Lord of the Admiralty, Lord
Sandwich. About 350,000 Hawaiians inhabited them. Cook first landed on
Kauai and then Niihau where his men introduced venereal disease.
(Wired, 8/95, p.90)(AP, 1/18/98)(HN, 1/18/99)
1779 Jan 18, Peter Roget,
thesaurus fame, inventor (slide rule, pocket chessboard), was born.
(MC, 1/18/02)
1782 Jan 18, Daniel Webster
(d.1852, aka Black Dan) American political leader, Senator and orator,
lawyer, statesman, administrator and diplomat, was born in Salisbury,
N.H. In 1830 he proclaimed "Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and
inseparable!" He was Secretary of State before the Civil War.
(HFA, '96, p.22)(AHD, p.1452)(WSJ, 9/30/97,
p.A20)(AP, 1/18/98)(HN, 1/18/99)
1788 Jan 18, The first English
settlers arrived in Australia's Botany Bay to establish a penal colony.
They found the location unsuitable and Capt. Arthur Philip moved on to
Sydney Cove. England sent the first sheep along with convicts to
Australia.
(NG, 5.1988, pp. 575)(SFEC, 1/4/98, p.T4)(AP,
1/18/98)(Econ, 5/7/05, Survey p.14)
1788 Jan 18, Australia was
officially founded when the first English settlers arrived in
Australia's Botany Bay to establish a penal colony. Capt. Arthur Philip
landed at Sydney Cove. England sent the first sheep along with convicts
to Australia.
(NG, 5.1988, pp. 575)(SFEC, 1/4/98, p.T4)(AP,
1/18/98)(Econ, 5/7/05, Survey p.14)
1813 Jan 18, Joseph Farwell
Glidden, inventor of barbed wire, was born.
(HN, 1/18/99)(MC, 1/18/02)
1835 Jan 18, Cesar A. Cui, fort
architect, composer, was born in Vilnius, Lithuania.
(MC, 1/18/02)
1836 Jan 18, Jim Bowie, knife
aficionado, arrived at the Alamo to assist its Texas defenders.
(HN, 1/18/99)
1840 Jan 18, "Electro-Magnetic
Intelligencer", 1st US electrical journal, appeared.
(MC, 1/18/02)
1841 Jan 18, Alexis-Emmanuel
Chabrier, French composer (Louise), was born.
(MC, 1/18/02)
1854 Jan 18, Thomas A. Watson,
inventor and assistant Alexander Bell (Telephone), was born.
(MC, 1/18/02)
1856 Jan 18, Daniel Nathan Hale
Williams, surgeon (1st open heart operation), was born.
(MC, 1/18/02)
1858 Jan 18, Daniel Hale Williams,
the first physician to perform open heart surgery and founder of
Provident Hospital in Chicago, Ill., was born.
(HN, 1/18/99)
1862 Jan 18, Confederate Territory
of Arizona formed.
(MC, 1/18/02)
1862 Jan 18, John Tyler (71), 10th
president of the United States (1841-1845), died and was buried at
Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Va. He drank a mint julep every morning
for breakfast. Tyler had joined the Confederacy after his presidency
and was designated a "sworn enemy of the United States."
(AP, 1/18/98)(SFEC, 11/15/98, Z1 p.10)(SFEC,
12/20/98, Z1 p.8)(HN, 1/18/99)
1865 Jan 18, Battle of Ft.
Moultrie, SC.
(MC, 1/18/02)
1871 Jan 18, The German Empire
(Deutsches Kaiserreich) was proclaimed in Versailles. William I
of Prussia was proclaimed "German Emperor" (which was not the same
thing as "Emperor of Germany"). The unification of Germany was the
greatest geopolitical transformation of the period. Germany went on to
adopt the mark as its common currency.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R42)(AP,
1/18/07)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany)(WSJ, 5/6/08, p.A21)
1882 Jan 18, A.A. [Alan Alexander]
Milne, novelist, humorist and journalist who wrote "Winnie the Pooh,"
was born.
(HN, 1/18/99)
1884 Jan 18, General Charles
("Chinese") Gordon departed London for Khartoum.
(MC, 1/18/02)
1892 Jan 18, Oliver Hardy, member
of Laurel and Hardy comedy duo who starred in numerous films, was born
in Harlem, Ga.
(HN, 1/18/99)(MC, 1/18/02)
1902 Jan 18, The Isthmus Canal
Commission in Washington shifted its support to Panama as the canal
site.
(HN, 1/18/99)
1903 Jan 18, Berthold Goldschmidt,
German-British (opera) composer (Beatrice Cenci), was born.
(MC, 1/18/02)
1904 Jan 18, Henri-Georges Adam,
French etcher, painter, sculptor (Grand Nude), was born.
(MC, 1/18/02)
1904 Jan 18, Cary Grant (d.1986),
U.S. actor, was born in England. He was famous for his roles in "Gunga
Din," "Bringing Up Baby," "The Philadelphia Story" and "North by
Northwest."
(HN, 1/18/99)(MC, 1/18/02)
1905 Jan 18, Joseph Bonanno
(d.2002), later NYC mafia boss, was born in Castellmare del Golfo,
Sicily.
(SSFC, 5/12/02, p.A23)
1908 Jan 18, Jacob Bronowsky,
British mathematician, cultural historian, was born.
(MC, 1/18/02)
1911 Jan 18, Naval aviation was
born when pilot Eugene B. Ely flew a Curtis Pusher biplane onto the
deck of the USS Pennsylvania in San Francisco Bay.
(SFC, 7/2/96, p.a15)(SFC, 5/7/97, p.A15)(AP,
1/18/98)(SFC, 6/5/98, p.A19)
1912 Jan 18, The expedition of
British Royal Navy Captain Robert Falcon Scott intended to be the first
to reach the South Pole, but when they arrived they found a letter from
Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, who had been there over a month
earlier. Scott and his group had set out from a camp in Antarctica 81
days earlier, and on their way back, their supplies ran out. Scott
wrote in a diary during the trek, which a search party discovered with
the team's frozen bodies in November. Part of Scott's March 29 entry
reads, "We shall stick it out to the end, but we are getting weaker, of
course, and the end cannot be far." The team had made it to within 11
miles of the camp. Scott's diary ended with, "Last Entry: For God's
sake look after our people." [see Jan 16]
(AP, 1/18/98)(HNPD, 1/18/99)
1913 Jan 18, Danny Kaye, UNICEF,
comedian, actor, was born in Brooklyn, NY.
(MC, 1/18/02)
1915 Jan 18, The HMS Endurance,
under Sir Ernest Shackleton and his 27 man crew, froze into the ice of
Antarctica. In 1999 Caroline Alexander published "The Endurance:
Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition."
(Hem. 1/95, p. 28)(WSJ, 4/2/98, p.B1)(SFEC, 1/24/99,
BR p.1)
1915 Jan 18, A train crashed at
Colima-Guadalajara Mexico and some 600 people were killed.
(MC, 1/18/02)
1916 Jan 18, The Russians forced
the Turkish 3rd Army back to Erzurum.
(HN, 1/18/99)
1917 Jan 18, Philip Boileau
(b.1863), Canada-born artist, died in the US. He was known for his
portraits of beautiful women, the “Boileau Girls.”
(SFC, 3/12/08,
p.G3)(www.thephilipboileausociety.com/)
1919 Jan 18, The World War I Peace
Congress, held to negotiate peace treaties ending World War I, opened
in Versailles, France.
(AP, 1/18/08)
1929 Jan 18, Stalin banned Trotsky
from the Politburo.
(MC, 1/18/02)
1932 Jan 18, Robert Anton Wilson,
US sci-fi author (Trick Top Hat), was born.
(MC, 1/18/02)
1933 Jan 18, Ray Dolby, sound
expert, inventor (Dolby noise limiting system), was born.
(MC, 1/18/02)
1933 Jan 18, The White Sands
National Monument in NM was established.
(MC, 1/18/02)
1936 Jan 18, Author Rudyard
Kipling (70) died in Burwash, England. His work included "Plain Tales
from the Hills," "Barrack-Room Ballads," and the novel "Kim." In 2000
Harry Ricketts authored the biography "Rudyard Kipling: A Life." In
2009 Charles Allen authored “Kipling Sahib: India and the Making
of Rudyard Kipling 1865-1900.”
(AP, 1/18/00)(WSJ, 3/30/00, p.A28)(WSJ, 3/14/09,
p.W8)
1942 Jan 18, General MacArthur
repelled the Japanese in Bataan. The United States took the lead in the
Far East war criminal trials.
(HN, 1/18/02)
1943 Jan 18, A wartime ban on the
sale of pre-sliced bread in the United States -- aimed at reducing
bakeries' demand for metal replacement parts -- went into effect.
(AP, 1/18/98)
1943 Jan 18, Jews in Warsaw Ghetto
began an uprising against the Nazis.
(MC, 1/18/02)
1943 Jan 18, The Soviets announced
they'd broken the long Nazi siege of Leningrad. It was another year
before the siege was fully lifted.
(AP, 1/18/98)
1945 Jan 18, The German Army
launched its second attempt to relieve the besieged city of Budapest
from the advancing Red Army.
(HN, 1/18/99)
1945 Jan 18, The Red Army freed
Krakow from Nazi occupation. [see Jan 19]
(SSFC, 4/3/05, p.A12)
1946 Jan 18, Katia Ricclarelli,
opera soprano (Met Opera), (Falstaff, Othello, Turandot), was born.
(MC, 1/18/02)
1948 Jan 18, Ghandi broke a
121-hour fast after halting Moslem-Hindu riots.
(HN, 1/18/99)
1955 Jan 18, Kevin Costner, actor
(Dances With Wolves), was born in LA, Calif.
(MC, 1/18/02)
1957 Jan 18, A trio of B-52's
completed the first nonstop, round-the-world flight by jet planes,
landing at March Air Force Base in California after more than 45 hours
aloft.
(AP, 1/18/07)
1962 Jan 18, The U.S. sprayed
foliage with pesticide in South Vietnam, in order to reveal the
whereabouts of Vietcong guerrillas.
(HN, 1/18/99)
1964 Jan 18, Beatles 1st appeared
on Billboard Chart at #35 for "I Want to Hold Your Hand." The song hit
No. 1 by the end of the month.
(MC, 1/18/02)(SSFC, 2/8/04, Par p.18)
1964 Jan 18, Plans were disclosed
for the World Trade Center in NYC. It was commissioned in 1962 to
Minoru Yamasaki.
(HN, 1/18/99)(WSJ, 12/2/03, p.D10)
1966 Jan 18, Robert Clifton Weaver
(1907-1997), the 1st African-American to hold a post in the
presidential cabinet, was sworn in as head of the newly created
Department of Housing and Urban Development under Pres. Johnson.
(MC, 1/18/02)
1967 Jan 18, Albert DeSalvo, who
claimed to be the "Boston Strangler," was convicted in Cambridge,
Mass., of armed robbery, assault and sex offenses. Sentenced to life,
DeSalvo was killed by a fellow inmate in 1973. DeSalvo had confessed to
being the Boston Strangler and killing 13 women. He was never convicted
of murder. A portrait of him with police interviews was made in 1996
for TV show Biography. In 1999 DNA evidence was sought to confirm
DeSalvo's claims.
(SFC, 6/6/96, E9)(AP, 1/18/98)(SFC, 7/10/99, p.A4)
1970 Jan 18, Mormon president
David McKay died at age 96.
(AP, 1/18/00)
1971 Jan 18, Two Standard Oil
tankers collided in the fog a quarter mile west of the Golden Gate
Bridge. The Arizona Standard ripped into the Oregon Standard and caused
the spill of some 1.9 million gallons of heavy bunker oil.
(SFEC, 2/23/96, Z1 p.5)
1974 Jan 18, "$6 Million Man"
starring Lee Majors premiered on ABC TV.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Six_Million_Dollar_Man)
1974 Jan 18, Israel and Egypt
signed a Separation of Forces Agreement.
(http://tinyurl.com/4z534e)
1975 Jan 18, The TV situation
comedy series "The Jeffersons" with Sherman Helmsley and Isabel Sanford
(d.2004) began and ran through 1985. The spin-off from "All in the
Family," premiered on CBS-TV.
(SFEC, 11/17/96, Par p.24)(AP,
1/18/00)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jeffersons)
1975 Jan 18, Ray Blanton
(1930-1996) began serving as governor of Tennessee. In 1979 he was
ousted from office 3 days early in a cash for clemency scandal.
(SFC, 11/25/96,
p.A3)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Blanton)
1976 Feb 18, Pres. Gerald Ford
signed an executive order prohibiting US officials from plotting or
engaging in political assassination. The order was later broadened by
Presidents Carter and Reagan. Ford issued Executive Order 11905
to clarify U.S. foreign-intelligence activities. In a section of the
order labeled "Restrictions on Intelligence Activities," Ford concisely
but explicitly outlawed political assassination. It became effective on
March 1.
(www.ford.utexas.edu/LIBRARY/speeches/760110e.htm#assassination)
1978 Jan 18, Center for Disease
Control (CDC) isolated the cause of Legionnaire's disease.
(HN, 1/18/99)
1980 Jan 18, Steve Rubell &
Ian Schrager, owners of the Studio 54 disco in NYC, were sentenced to 3
years in prison for tax evasion and fined $20,000.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Rubell)
1980 Jan 18, Cecil Beaton
(b.1904)), British fashion photographer, died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecil_Beaton)
1981 Jan 18, Wendy O. Williams
(1949-1998), lead singer for the punk band the Plasmatics, was arrested
in Milwaukee for on-stage obscenity.
(http://tinyurl.com/3dsq4g)
1982 Jan 18, Four Thunderbird USAF
pilots died when their T-38 Talon jets crashed at Indian Springs
Auxiliary Airfield, Nv. Mechanical failure was cited as the cause.
Shortly after, the precision flying team began flying F-16 fighter
jets. It was the worst accident in the Thunderbirds' history. In all,
18 pilots and one crew member have died in Thunderbird crashes.
(www.reviewjournal.com)(SFC, 8/30/03, p.A22)
1985 Jan 18, President Reagan
declared that the U.S. would not take part in the World Court ruling on
Nicaraguan charges.
(HN, 1/18/99)
1985 Jan 18, In Sudan Mahmud
Mohammed Taha (b.1909) was hanged for refusing to recant his unorthodox
views on Islam. Sudanese president Jaafar Nimeiri, on the advice of
Islamist leader Hassan al-Turabi, ordered the execution.
(AFP,
4/23/06)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_Mohamed_Taha)
1988 Jan 18, An airliner crashed
in southwestern China, killing all 108 people on board, according to
the official Xinhua news agency.
(AP, 1/18/98)
1989 Jan 18, The US Supreme Court
upheld a tough, year-old sentencing system for people convicted of
federal crimes, overruling more than 150 trial judges who had struck
down the guidelines.
(AP, 1/18/99)
1989 Jan 18, Astronomers
discovered pulsar in remnants of Supernova 1987A (LMC).
(http://tinyurl.com/gbt2k)
1989 Jan 18, Bruce Chatwin
(b.1940), British travel writer, died of AIDS in France. His books
included "In Patagonia" (1984) "Songlines," "The Viceroy of Ouidah,"
and "On the Black Hill." In 1997 a collection of incidental writing was
published: "Anatomy of Restlessness."
(SFEC, 8/10/97, BR
p.3)(http://myweb.lsbu.ac.uk/stafflag/brucechatwin.html)
1990 Jan 18, In an FBI sting,
Washington, D.C., Mayor Marion Barry was arrested for drug possession.
He was later convicted of a misdemeanor.
(AP, 1/18/00)
1990 Jan 18, A jury in Los Angeles
acquitted former preschool operators Raymond Buckey and his mother,
Peggy McMartin Buckey, of 52 child molestation charges.
(AP, 1/18/00)
1991 Jan 18, The US acknowledged
that the CIA and US Army paid Panama’s military leader Manuel Noriega
$322,226 from 1955-1986. Noriega began receiving money from the CIA in
1976.
(www.orlingrabbe.com/part10.htm)(www.bushwatch.com/family.htm)
1991 Jan 18, Round-the-clock
bombing of Iraqi targets continued in Operation Desert Storm.
(AP, 1/18/01)
1991 Jan 18, Financially strapped
Eastern Airlines shut down after 62 years in business.
(AP, 1/18/98)
1991 Jan 18, Former New York
Congressman Hamilton Fish Senior died in Cold Spring, New York, at age
102.
(AP, 1/18/01)
1991 Jan 18, Three young people
were crushed to death at an AC-DC concert in Salt Lake City.
(AP, 1/18/01)
1991 Jan 18, Iraq fired more Scud
missiles at Israeli cities. Israel refrains from responding at the
request of President Bush.
(HN, 1/18/99)
1992 Jan 18, The Hollywood Foreign
Press Association presented its Golden Globe awards, considered a
forerunner of the Academy Awards; no clear favorite emerged as the Walt
Disney animated film "Beauty and the Beast," "Bugsy," "JFK" and "The
Prince of Tides" were honored.
(AP, 1/18/02)
1993 Jan 18, Allied warplanes
attacked targets in "no fly" zones in southern and northern Iraq.
(AP, 1/18/98)
1993 Jan 18, The Martin Luther
King Jr. holiday was observed in all 50 states for the first time.
(AP, 1/18/98)
1994 Jan 18, Retired Adm. Bobby
Inman withdrew his nomination to be US defense secretary, denouncing
what he called attacks on his character and reputation.
(AP, 1/18/99)
1994 Jan 18, Iran-Contra
prosecutor Lawrence Walsh released his final report in which he said
former President Reagan had acquiesced in a cover-up of the scandal.
Reagan called the accusation "baseless."
(AP, 1/18/99)
1995 Jan 18, The new San Francisco
Museum of Modern Art, designed by Swiss architect Mario Botta, opened.
It’s cost is $63 million and it’s size is 225,000 sq. ft.
(SF E&C, 1/15/95, SFE Mag. p.21)
1995 Jan 18, The death toll
climbed past 6,000 in the earthquake in Kobe, Japan.
(AP, 1/18/00)
1995 Jan 18, South African
President Nelson Mandela's cabinet denied amnesty sought by 3,500
police officers in apartheid's waning days.
(AP, 1/18/00)
1996 Jan 18, Lisa Marie
Presley-Jackson filed for divorce from Michael Jackson.
(AP, 1/18/98)
1996 Jan 18, Minnesota Fats (82),
born as Rudolf Wanderone Jr., billiard hustler, died.
(www.egyptianaaa.org/SI-MinnesotaFats.htm)
1996 Jan 18, Russian President
Boris Yeltsin announced that 82 hostages were freed when his forces
wiped out Chechen fighters in Pervomayskaya, ending a weeklong
standoff; however, he said 18 other hostages were missing.
(AP, 1/18/01)
1997 Jan 18, Former Massachusetts
Sen. Paul Tsongas (55), who rebounded from cancer to briefly become the
Democratic front-runner for president in 1992, died in Boston of
pneumonia.
(SFEC, 1/19/97, p.B6)(AP, 1/18/98)
1997 Jan 18, Norwegian Boerge
Ousland completed a solo crossing of Antarctica that began Nov 15. He
used a parachute and skies to help pull himself across the 1695 miles
from Berkner Island to Scott Base.
(SFC, 1/18/97, p.C1)
1997 Jan 18, In Tanzania it was
reported that the lion population had fallen by about a third in the
Serengeti National park due to distemper in dogs that transmitted up
the food chain. More than 1,000 lions had died over the last 2 years.
(SFC, 1/18/97, p.A16)
1998 Jan 18, The annual Golden
Globes awards in Beverly Hills awarded "Titanic" the best drama, best
director for James Cameron, best score and best original song. "As Good
as it Gets" won as best film comedy/musical, best actor for Jack
Nicholson, and best actress for Helen Hunt. "Ally McBeal" beat
"Seinfeld" as best TV comedy.
(SFC, 1/19/98, p.E1)(AP, 1/18/99)
1998 Jan 18, Pope John Paul II
named 22 new cardinals, including Archbishop Francis Eugene George of
Chicago and James Francis Stafford, the former archbishop of Denver.
(AP, 1/18/99)
1998 Jan 18, The Bosnian Serb
Parliament named a coalition government led by Milorad Dodik, a
pro-western leader of the Independent Social Democrats.
(SFC, 1/19/98, p.A8)
1998 Jan 18, In Jordan assailants
assassinated 8 people in a hilltop villa that included a top Iraqi
diplomat, Hikmet Hajou, and Iraqi businessman Namir Ochi, who handled
food imports to Iraq for Saddam Hussein.
(SFC, 1/19/98, p.B2)
1998 Jan 18, In Northern Ireland
Fergal McCusker (28) was killed by the Loyalist Volunteer Force in
Maghera.
(SFC, 1/19/98, p.A8)
1999 Jan 18, The UN reported that
the Parliament of Senegal banned the tradition of female genital
mutilation.
(SFC, 1/18/99, p.A14)
1999 Jan 18, UN leader Kofi Annan
recommended that UN military observers leave Angola due to their
targeting by the warring sides.
(SFC, 1/19/99, p.A6)
1999 Jan 18, In Brazil the real
was allowed to float and interest rates were raised from 29 to 41%.
(SFC, 1/19/99, p.A6)
1999 Jan 18, In Grenada Keith
Mitchell's New National party won all 15 parliamentary seats. His
government had collapsed 7 weeks previous under allegations of
corruption.
(SFC, 1/20/99, p.A10)
1999 Jan 18, The end of Ramadan
was marked by prisoner releases in Egypt, Palestine and Afghanistan.
(WSJ, 1/18/99, p.A1)
1999 Jan 18, In Kosovo defying
global outrage over the massacre of 45 ethnic Albanian civilians, Serb
forces pounded villages with artillery. Pres. Milosevic also ordered
the expulsion of Ambassador William Walker within 48 hours. Walker had
accused Serbian forces in the recent massacre of 45 people in Kosovo.
(SFC, 1/19/99, p.A1)(AP, 1/18/00)
1999 Jan 18, In Zimbabwe former
Pres. Canaan Banana was sentenced to 10 years in jail for sodomy and
indecent assault. Nine of the years were suspended.
(SFC, 1/19/99, p.A7)
2000 Jan 18, A US test missile
fired from the Marshall Islands failed to shoot down a mock warhead
fired from a California air base. In a blow to the Pentagon’s push to
develop a national missile defense by 2005, officials announced that a
prototype missile interceptor had roared into space in search of a mock
warhead over the Pacific, but had failed to hit it.
(SFC, 1/19/00, p.A3)(AP, 1/18/01)
2000 Jan 18, In Chechnya Russian
troops began moving through the streets of Grozny in the most intense
ground attack in 4 months.
(SFC, 1/19/00, p.A1)
2000 Jan 18, In Chechnya Russian
Gen. Mikhail Malofeyev went missing in Grozny following an ambush and
rebel commanders later reported that they had him captured.
(SFC, 1/21/00, p.A12)
2000 Jan 18, In China the
Intermediate People's Court in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang,
convicted 13 Uigher defendants of separatism, murder, robbery and
illegally dealing in weapons. 5 of the convicted were sentenced to
death.
(SFC, 1/25/00, p.A12)
2000 Jan 18, In Indonesia Muslim
mobs attacked the Christian minority for a 2nd day in Lombok.
(SFC, 1/19/00, p.A13)
2001 Jan 18, One year ago:
President Clinton, in a farewell from the Oval Office, told the nation
that "America has done well" during his presidency, with
record-breaking prosperity and a cleaner environment.
(AP, 1/18/02)
2001 Jan 18, Electricity-strapped
California saw a second day of rolling blackouts.
(AP, 1/18/02)
2001 Jan 18, SF sued 13 energy
providers for collusion to fix prices and restrict the energy supply.
(SFC, 1/19/01, p.A12)
2001 Jan 18, Rev. Jesse Jackson
acknowledged that he had fathered a daughter in 1999 through an
extramarital affair with Karin Stanford, former head of the
Rainbow/PUSH Washington office.
(SSFC, 1/21/01, p.D7)(AP, 1/18/02)
2001 Jan 18, In Algeria 23
shepherds and farmers were killed in the Dahra region by armed
assailants.
(SFC, 1/20/01, p.A11)
2001 Jan 18, The Congo government
announced the death of Laurent Kabila.
(SFC, 1/19/01, p.A16)
2001 Jan 18, Ofir Rafum (16) of
Israel was murdered in the West Bank after being lured over by a woman
via an internet relationship.
(SFC, 1/20/01, p.A11)
2001 Jan 18, In Romania there was
a cyanide spill in the Siret River. 72 people were later hospitalized
after eating river fish.
(WSJ, 1/25/01, p.A1)
2001 Jan 18, Pavel Borodin (54),
secretary of the Russia-Belarus Union, was arrested at JFK airport by
FBI agents on a Swiss warrant for money laundering.
(SFC, 1/19/01, p.A15)
2001 Jan 18, In Thailand a court
agreed to hear a corruption case against Prime Minister-elect Thakson
Shinawatra.
(SFC, 1/19/01, p.D4)
2001 Jan 18, In Thailand 2 bombs
exploded in Bangkok and at least 8 people were killed.
(SFC, 1/19/01, p.A17)
2002 Jan 18, New US bomb-screening
measures went into effect that included tying passengers to their
checked baggage.
(WSJ, 1/18/02, p.A1)
2002 Jan 18, Sara Jane
Olson, '70s radical-turned-suburban mother, was sentenced in Los
Angeles to 20 years to life in prison for plotting to blow up a pair of
police cars 27 years earlier. On March 17 2008 Olson was released on
parole, but soon returned to prison for another year due to an alleged
clerical error made in 2004. In 2009 Olson (62) was freed from prison
in California and returned to Minnesota to serve a year long
parole.
(AP, 1/18/03)(AP, 3/21/08)(SFC, 3/24/08, p.B1)(SFC,
3/18/09, p.A5)
2002 Jan 18, Talk magazine
announced it was shutting down, less than three years after its highly
publicized launch.
(AP, 1/18/03)
2002 Jan 18, Estimates of Afghan
civilian deaths from US bombing were set at 1,000 to 1,300 by the Mass.
think tank, Project on Defense Alternatives.
(SFC, 1/19/02, p.A6)
2002 Jan 18, US forces took 6
terrorism suspects, held since October, from Bosnia after local courts
ruled that there was too little evidence to hold them. The suspects
included Bensayah Belkacem, a key European al Qaeda lieutenant.
Protesters clashed with riot police.
(SFC, 1/19/02, p.A12)(SFC, 1/23/02, p.A9)(WSJ,
3/18/02, p.A10)
2002 Jan 18, In Brazil Celso
Daniel, the PT mayor of Santo Andre, a Sao Paulo suburb, was kidnapped
by a gang seeking to free comrades from prison. His bullet-riddled body
was found Jan 20. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Brazil claimed
responsibility (Brazilian Revolutionary Action Front) for the killing
and the Sep murder of another Workers’ Party mayor.
(WSJ, 1/21/02, p.A1)(SFC, 1/26/02, p.A8)
2002 Jan 18, Bayer AG disclosed
that as many as 100 deaths might be linked to Baycol, a promising
cholesterol drug that was withdrawn in Aug 2001.
(WSJ, 1/21/02, p.A10)
2002 Jan 18, Five Colombian police
officers died while protecting a downed UH-1N helicopter. The US
helicopter was destroyed to keep it out of rebel hands.
(SFC, 1/25/02, p.A15)
2002 Jan 18, Israeli forces bombed
the Palestinian town of Tulkarm and at least 2 Palestinians were
killed. Two Israeli tanks and an armored personnel carrier parked
outside Yasser Arafat's headquarters, confining the Palestinian leader
to his office complex a day after a Palestinian gunman burst into a
banquet hall and gunned down six Israelis.
(SFC, 1/19/02, p.A1)(AP, 1/18/03)
2002 Jan 18, In Mexico Feliz
Alonso Fernandez Garcia, editor of the weekly Nueva Opcion magazine,
was shot and killed after filing a report that linked former mayor Raul
Rodriguez Barrera and drug traffickers.
(SFC, 1/24/02, p.A8)
2002 Jan 18, It was reported that
the biography: "Vladimir Putin: a Life Story" by Oleg Blotsky was being
released in Moscow.
(SFC, 1/18/02, p.A7)
2003 Jan 18, Michelle Kwan won her
sixth straight U.S. Figure Skating Championships title and seventh
overall; Michael Weiss won his third U.S. men's title.
(AP, 1/18/04)
2003 Jan 18, In the US tens of
thousands rallied in Washington DC in an emphatic dissent against
preparations for war in Iraq. As many as 500,000 rallied outside the
Capitol. In SF the rally drew at least 100,000 by my count.
(AP, 1/19/03)(AR)(SSFC, 1/19/03, p.A1)
2003 Jan 18, Heavy bush fires hit
Canberra, Australia, killing 4 people. At least 388 homes were
destroyed.
(AP, 1/19/03)
2003 Jan 18, In Bolivia a bus
slammed into a mountainside outside Cochabamba, killing 28 people and
injuring at least 30.
(AP, 1/20/03)
2003 Jan 18, In southern Colombia
FARC guerrillas blew up every home in the hamlet of La Union.
(AP, 1/19/03)
2003 Jan 18, The Czech Republic's
ruling party nominated former PM Milos Zeman as its new candidate to
replace President Vaclav Havel.
(AP, 1/18/03)
2003 Jan 18, UN officials warned
Iraq it was running out of time to cooperate and avoid war.
(AP, 1/18/08)
2003 Jan 18, Israeli soldiers
tracked and killed a 2nd Palestinian assailant who fled after an attack
on a Jewish outpost in the West Bank. The two slain Palestinians had
earlier killed one Israeli and injured three others the previous night.
(AP, 1/18/03)
2003 Jan 18, Activists in Tokyo
carried toy guns filled with flowers, one banner at a Moscow rally read
"Iraq isn't your ranch, Mr. Bush," and some 6,000 anti-war protesters
in Paris shouted, "Stop Bush! Stop war!"
(AP, 1/18/03)
2003 Jan 18, Moroccan rescue
workers found the bodies of 16 people who drowned while trying to
illegally enter Spain by crossing the Strait of Gibraltar in an
inflatable boat.
(AP, 1/19/03)
2003 Jan 18, Serhiy Naboka (47),
one of Ukraine's best-known journalists, and a reporter for a
U.S.-funded radio station, was found dead in his hotel room.
(AP, 1/18/03)
2003 Jan 18, In Venezuela at least
100,000 anti-government protesters staged a candlelight march in
Caracas.
(AP, 1/19/03)
2004 Jan 18, The New England
Patriots earned their second trip to the Super Bowl in three seasons by
defeating the Indianapolis Colts 24-14 in the AFC championship game;
the Carolina Panthers defeated the Philadelphia Eagles, 14-3, in the
NFC championship game.
(AP, 1/18/05)
2004 Jan 18, A U.S. helicopter
attacked a house in Saghatho village in southern Afghanistan, killing
11 people, four of them children. The US military said that only 5
militants were killed.
(AP, 1/19/04)(SFC, 1/20/04, p.A3)
2004 Jan 18, London billionaire
twins Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay (69) announced their plan to
buy a controlling interest in Hollinger Inc., the Toronto-based parent
of publisher Hollinger Intl. led by Conrad Black. The sale was blocked
in Feb.
(ADN, 1/20/04, p.F2)(WSJ, 3/1/04, p.B4)
2004 Jan 18, In Georgia an
explosion at a scientific institute in Tbilisi killed two people and
injured two others. It occurred during a transfer of nitrogen, an
indication that a canister of the gas could have blown up.
(AP, 1/19/04)
2004 Jan 18, Marches in
Port-au-Prince, Haiti, continued against Pres. Aristide. Gunmen hiding
inside a state-run TV station killed at least one marcher and wounded
several other.
(SFC, 1/19/04, p.A3
2004 Jan 18, A suicide bomber blew
up a pickup truck packed with 1,000 pounds of explosives outside the
headquarters of the U.S.-led coalition, killed at least 31 people and
injuring about 120, most of them Iraqis.
(AP, 1/19/05)
2004 Jan 18, Pakistani agents
arrested seven al-Qaida suspects and confiscated weapons during a raid
in the southern city of Karachi.
(AP, 1/18/04)
2005 Jan 18, Secretary of State
nominee Condoleezza Rice, at her Senate confirmation hearing, insisted
the United States was fully prepared for the Iraq war and its aftermath
and refused to give a timetable for U.S. troops to come home.
(AP, 1/18/06)
2005 Jan 18, Oscar Sanchez, owner
of a family restaurant in Dallas, was kidnapped in what police believed
was a stage car wreck. His body was found a week later. Jose Felix, a
former teacher, and Edgar "Richie" Acevedo, a waiter at the
restaurant, were responsible for the kidnapping and slaying. Within
weeks Felix was captured in Chicago. In October Mexican federal
authorities captured Edgar "Richie" Acevedo in Cabo San Lucas.
(AP, 10/15/05)
2005 Jan 18, More than 900
right-wing paramilitary fighters surrendered their weapons, but a
leading international rights group criticized the demobilization
process and said the Colombian government is letting war criminals off
the hook.
(AP, 1/19/05)
2005 Jan 18, Cuba's National
Gazette published a new resolution by the Commerce Ministry that
beginning on Feb. 7, smoking will be prohibited in theaters, stores,
buses, taxis and other enclosed public areas.
(AP, 1/18/05)
2005 Jan 18, In France Airbus
unveiled the 840-passenger A380, the world's biggest passenger jet, in
a glitzy ceremony in which the leaders of France, Britain, Germany and
Spain hailed Europe's victory over the US as the new king of the
commercial skies.
(AP, 1/18/05)
2005 Jan 18, In Iraq a suicide
bombing killed three people outside the offices of a leading Shiite
political party. Insurgents released a video showing 8 Chinese workers
held hostage by gunmen who claim the men are employed by a construction
company working with U.S. troops, in the latest abduction of foreigners
in Iraq. 2 US soldiers died elsewhere.
(AP, 1/18/05)(WSJ, 1/19/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 18, U.S. soldiers opened
fire on a car as it approached their checkpoint in northern Iraq,
killing 2 civilians in the vehicle's front seats. 6 children riding in
the backseat were unhurt.
(AP, 1/19/05)
2005 Jan 18, A tsunami conference
began in Japan with calls to expand warning systems.
(WSJ, 1/19/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 18, Palestinian leader
Mahmoud Abbas summoned militant leaders to cease-fire talks in the Gaza
Strip and said he is hopeful he can persuade them to halt attacks on
Israel.
(AP, 1/18/05)
2006 Jan 18, Pres. Bush ordered
assets of Asef Shawkat, head of Syria’s military intelligence, to be
frozen and barred trade with him because of violent meddling in Lebanon.
(WSJ, 1/19/06,
p.A1)(www.iht.com/getina/files/303997.html)
2006 Jan 18, The US Supreme Court
ruled unanimously that a lower court was wrong to strike down New
Hampshire abortion restrictions, but steered clear of a major ruling on
the volatile issue.
(AP, 1/18/06)
2006 Jan 18-2006 Jan 19, The US
Justice Dept. filed a motion requiring Google to disclose information
about consumer Web searches. Google refused to comply.
(WSJ, 1/20/06, p.A3)
2006 Jan 18, Knicks forward
Antonio Davis climbed into the stands out of concern for his wife and
was ejected without a scuffle during New York's overtime loss at
Chicago. He was suspended for five games.
(AP, 1/18/07)
2006 Jan 18, Thomas Murphy, former
head of General Motors (1974-1981), died in Florida.
(WSJ, 1/19/06, p.A1)
2006 Jan 18, In China senior
envoys from the United States, North Korea and China held a
"beneficial" meeting on the stalled six-party talks on Pyongyang's
nuclear program.
(AFP, 1/19/06)
2006 Jan 18, In China alarmed by
the spread of bird flu beyond East Asia, nations pledged nearly $2
billion to fight the disease, far exceeding expectations at the
fundraising conference in Beijing. The US promised $334 million.
(AP, 1/18/06)
2006 Jan 18, In Colombia some
3,000 armed troops were deployed to the Sierra Macarena National Park,
one of Colombia's most pristine national parks, as part of an operation
to clear the rebel-controlled region of coca plants and the
laboratories used to make cocaine.
(AP, 1/18/06)
2006 Jan 18, President Fidel
Castro announced a long-awaited renovation of Cuba's energy system to
combat blackouts that have afflicted the island nation for the past two
summers.
(AP, 1/18/06)
2006 Jan 18, Egypt released 233
Sudanese migrants detained after security forces broke up a protest
camp in a Cairo square last month.
(AP, 1/19/06)
2006 Jan 18, The European
Parliament rejected plans to liberalize port services across the
European Union that had sparked mass strikes by dock workers and a
violent protest in front of the EU legislature in France.
(AP, 1/18/06)
2006 Jan 18, In Germany thousands
of doctors marched through Berlin to demand changes to the state health
care system, including better pay and less bureaucracy.
(AP, 1/18/06)
2006 Jan 18, In Iraq gunmen killed
at least 10 security guards and seized an African engineer from Malawi
in an ambush. 2 Americans were killed in a roadside bombing in Basra.
The sister of Iraq's interior minister was freed by kidnappers about
two weeks after being seized in Baghdad. The bodies of three men were
found in a Baghdad apartment with gunshot wounds to the head. Sadad
al-Batah, a Sunni Arab tribal leader related to Defense Minister
Saadoun al-Dulaimi, was killed along with his nephew and a third
person. 30 people were dragged from their cars and shot execution style
in Nibaei.
(AP, 1/18/06)(SFC, 1/19/06, p.A8)
2006 Jan 18, Former PM Shimon
Peres said Israel would be ready to open negotiations with the
Palestinians on a permanent peace accord after Israeli elections on
March 28.
(AP, 1/18/06)
2006 Jan 18, In western Ivory
Coast 4 pro-government protesters were killed when UN peacekeepers
opened fire to repel an attack on their base in a third day of anti-UN
riots.
(AP, 1/18/06)
2006 Jan 18, Japan's main stock
market index tumbled for a second day led by a sell-off in technology
shares in a session that was halted 20 minutes early because of heavy
trading volume amid a widening criminal investigation of the Internet
startup Livedoor. Technical glitches forced an emergency closing for
the 1st time in the exchanges 57-year history.
(AP, 1/18/06)(WSJ, 1/19/06, p.A1)(Econ, 1/21/06,
p.64)
2006 Jan 18, North Korean leader
Kim Jong Il said he is committed to a peaceful resolution of the
standoff over his country's nuclear ambitions, as Pyongyang confirmed
that the reclusive Kim had visited China over the past week.
(AP, 1/18/06)
2006 Jan 18, Interfax news
reported that Russian natural gas monopoly Gazprom has reduced supplies
to European customers because of a cold snap at home.
(AP, 1/18/06)
2006 Jan 18, Gervan Lubbe, a South
African inventor, was reported to have developed an anti-malaria
wristwatch to help combat one of Africa's biggest killers by monitoring
the blood of those who wear it and sounding an alarm when the parasite
is detected.
(AP, 1/18/06)
2006 Jan 18, Syrian authorities
released five pro-democracy activists, including two prominent former
legislators, after they had served nearly four years of their five-year
prison sentences.
(AP, 1/19/06)
2006 Jan 18, In Thailand 2
fishermen were sentenced to death in the rape and murder of a British
tourist, a crime that prompted the PM to demand the maximum penalty.
Bualoi Posit (23) and Wichai Somkhaoyai (24) pleaded guilty to the New
Year's Day slaying of Katherine Horton, a 21-year-old student from
Wales.
(AP, 1/18/06)
2006 Jan 18, An American couple
claiming to be of Lao royal descent were shot dead in northeastern
Thailand. Anouwong Sethathirath IV (49) and Oulayvanh Sethathirath (38)
were killed at a Buddhist monastery in Nong Khai. The next day Thai
police said they might have been targeted by Laos' government on
suspicions that they were working against the communist regime.
(AP, 1/19/06)
2007 Jan 18, The United States
criticized China for conducting an anti-satellite weapons test in which
an old Chinese weather satellite was destroyed by a ballistic missile
on Jan 11.
(AP, 1/18/07)
2007 Jan 18, Federal Reserve
Chairman Ben Bernanke warned the US Congress that failure to take
action soon to deal with the budgetary strains posed by an aging US
population could lead to serious economic harm.
(AP, 1/18/07)
2007 Jan 18, Truck driver Tyrone
Williams was spared the death penalty and sentenced in Houston to life
in prison for his role in the deaths of 19 illegal immigrants crammed
in a sweltering tractor-trailer.
(AP, 1/18/08)
2007 Jan 18, The heated
controversy at ABC's top show, "Grey's Anatomy," boiled over as the
network rebuked co-star Isaiah Washington for an anti-gay comment and
Washington issued a lengthy apology.
(AP, 1/18/08)
2007 Jan 18, A suicide bomber
detonated his explosives next to Afghan soldiers in an eastern Afghan
market, killing one soldier and wounding three.
(AP, 1/18/07)
2007 Jan 18, South America's most
prominent leaders met in Rio for a two-day summit of the fractured
Mercosur economic bloc. Leaders sought to refocus Mercosur on the needs
of the region's poor as Venezuela's outspoken president called for
remaking Mercosur to fit his vision of "21st century socialism."
(AP, 1/18/07)
2007 Jan 18, In China hundreds of
riot police clashed with villagers protesting against an alleged land
grab by officials in the southern province of Guangdong.
(AP, 1/19/07)
2007 Jan 18, In Dubai a high-rise
apartment building under construction caught fire, injuring up to 25
workers and trapping others in thick smoke as rescue crews scrambled to
reach them.
(AP, 1/18/07)
2007 Jan 18, East Timor and the UN
launched an appeal for $16.6 million to help resettle and reintegrate
about 100,000 people displaced by violence which wracked the country
last year.
(AFP, 1/18/07)
2007 Jan 18, India prepared to
send 125 of its crack policewomen to Liberia to act as UN peacekeepers,
the first time the world body has deployed an all-female unit.
(AFP, 1/18/07)
2007 Jan 18, In India a boat
carrying people to a religious festival sank on the Krishna River. As
many as 66 pilgrims were feared drowned.
(AP, 1/19/07)
2007 Jan 18, In Iraq at least 59
people were killed or found dead. 3 car bombs detonated within minutes
of each other in front of a wholesale vegetable market near a Shiite
enclave on the edge the predominantly Sunni neighborhood of Dora in
southern Baghdad, killing at least 10 people and wounding 30. The US
military acknowledged that coalition forces had searched the Sudanese
Embassy in Baghdad.
(AP, 1/18/07)(SFC, 1/19/07, p.A10)
2007 Jan 18, President Felipe
Calderon signed an accord with businesses to curb soaring tortilla
prices and protect Mexico's poor from speculative sellers and a surge
in the cost of corn driven by the US ethanol industry.
(AP, 1/18/07)
2007 Jan 18, Truck driver Albano
Ramirez Santos tried to commit suicide by throwing himself onto the
tracks of the Mexico City subway and was later beaten to death by
police. Santos was reportedly despondent over the theft of his truck.
(AP, 1/21/07)
2007 Jan 18, Myanmar’s state media
accused pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi of evading taxes by
spending her money from the 1991 Nobel Peace prize and other awards
overseas.
(AP, 1/18/07)
2007 Jan 18, A Philippine Marines
platoon battled about 30 extremists under Abu Sayyaf veteran Radullan
Sahiron in the Jolo town of Patikul. Ten Abu Sayyaf members and three
government troops died in the hour-long fight, while three militants
were captured.
(AP, 1/18/07)
2007 Jan 18, President Vladimir
Putin ordered Russia's ambassador to Georgia to return to the Georgian
capital after recalling him four months ago, saying that the two
countries must "normalize" badly strained ties.
(AP, 1/18/07)
2007 Jan 18, South Korean
regulators fined the Hyundai Motor Co. 23 billion won ($24.5 million)
for violating competition rules.
(Econ, 1/27/07, p.67)
2007 Jan 18, Borys Tarasyuk,
Ukraine's foreign minister, accused the Cabinet of PM Yanukovych of
cutting off funds to his ministry, leaving it unable to pay its
employees or contribute dues to international organizations.
(AP, 1/19/07)
2007 Jan 18, Venezuelan lawmakers
gave initial approval to a bill granting President Hugo Chavez the
power to rule by decree for 18 months so that he can impose sweeping
economic, social and political change.
(AP, 1/19/07)
2008 Jan 18, Pres. Bush called for
a $145 billion stimulus package centered on tax breaks to rejuvenate
the US economy.
(SFC, 1/19/08, p.C1)
2008 Jan 18, In eastern
Afghanistan more than 20 Taliban rebels were killed and over a dozen
wounded in a joint operation between Afghan and Western forces.
(AFP, 1/19/08)
2008 Jan 18, Two activists who had
jumped on board a Japanese whaling boat were returned to their ship by
Australian officials.
(AP, 1/18/08)
2008 Jan 18, British PM Gordon
Brown brought a high-profile delegation of business leaders to China
for a visit focused on expanding economic ties between the countries.
Brown began a major effort to position Britain as China's premier
international business partner, offering London as a base for
distribution of the Asian nation's state fund for private investment.
(AP, 1/18/08)
2008 Jan 18, Mohammed Mansour
Jabarah (25), a Canadian citizen of Iraqi descent, who admitted
plotting to bomb US embassies in Singapore and the Philippines in 2002
was sentenced to life in prison after telling the court he had been
"brainwashed" by al Qaeda.
(Reuters, 1/18/08)
2008 Jan 18, Central African
Republic PM Elie Dote tendered his resignation and that of his
government. His resignation came amid a social crisis gripping the
country, marked by government disruptions and near-paralysis in public
schools due to a civil servant strike over salaries launched earlier
this month.
(AFP, 1/18/08)
2008 Jan 18, Egypt angrily
rejected a European parliament resolution criticizing its human rights
record, with Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit saying it revealed both
arrogance and ignorance.
(AP, 1/18/08)
2008 Jan 18, In Iraq heavy
security was set up in Karbala, where some 30,000 troops watched over
hundreds of thousands of pilgrims performing the culmination of Ashoura
rites. Militant Sunnis look upon Ashoura with contempt. They believe
some of its rituals, like self flagellation and the use of images,
amount to pagan worship and violate Islamic teachings. In Basra at
least 44 people were killed, including seven officers, two civilians
and 35 gunmen, after the fighting with members of the Soldiers of
Heaven cult. Cult leader Ahmed Hassan Yamani was among the dead along
with 4 police officers. About 60 gunmen were arrested. Aziz Khazim
Alwan, the governor of Dhi Qar, of which Nasariyah is the capital, said
at least 28 people were killed in that city, including 10 police.
(AP, 1/18/08)(AP, 1/19/08)(SFC, 1/19/08, p.A7)
2008 Jan 18, Defense officials
said Israel has closed all border crossings into Gaza, cutting off food
and humanitarian supplies to the coastal strip in a bid to pressure its
Hamas rulers to stop a barrage of rocket attacks on Israeli towns.
Israeli air strikes in Gaza killed two civilians and one militant while
Palestinians fired 16 rockets into southern Israel.
(AP, 1/18/08)
2008 Jan 18, A court in Palermo
convicted Sicily's Gov. Salvatore Cuffaro of helping a Mafia boss and
sentenced him to five years in prison.
(AP, 1/18/08)
2008 Jan 18, In Kenya a weakened
opposition said it would turn to economic boycotts and strikes to keep
up pressure over the East African nation's disputed election. 12 new
deaths raised the toll to at least 22 people killed in three days of
protests called by the opposition, all but five blamed on police.
(AP, 1/18/08)(AP, 1/19/08)(SFC, 1/19/08, p.A3)
2008 Jan 18, Libya defended plans
to carry out a massive expulsion of illegal immigrants, rejecting
criticism from a human rights group that doing so would violate
international law.
(AP, 1/18/08)
2008 Jan 18, It was reported that
the EU’s environment commissioner has threatened to take Malta to the
European Court of Justice to force an end spring shooting of
turtledoves and quail. Bird hunting and trapping is a traditional
pastime in Malta where migrating stop twice every year. Numerous
protected birds have been killed.
(WSJ, 1/18/08, p.A1)
2008 Jan 18, Renault-Nissan signed
an accord with the Moroccan government for what it says will be one of
its largest automobile-making operations in the world, set to be
constructed near Tangiers.
(AFP, 1/18/08)
2008 Jan 18, Ian Paisley, head of
Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), stepped away from
the helm of the Free Presbyterian Church, which he had founded in 1951.
(Econ, 1/26/08, p.55)
2008 Jan 18, In South Waziristan,
Pakistan, “security forces used artillery, mortars and small-arms fire
to engage the miscreants. Reportedly, 50-60 miscreants were killed and
(the) rest of them dispersed.” Militants ambushed a convoy moving from
the main town of Wana, in the Chaghmalai area of South Waziristan,
prompting a fierce-one hour gunbattle. Between 20 and 30 rebels were
killed. Security forces captured 40 militants in the Chaghmalai area. 2
Sunni extremists on death row for a 2004 attack on a procession that
killed 42 Shiites escaped from their cell in southwest Baluchistan
province.
(AFP, 1/18/08)(AP, 1/18/08)(Reuters, 1/19/08)
2008 Jan 18, Russian President
Vladimir Putin clinched a key pipeline deal with Bulgaria that
strengthens Moscow's grip on European gas markets before issuing a
stern warning about the future status of Kosovo.
(AP, 1/18/08)
2008 Jan 18, In South Korea a fish
merchant was critically ill after setting himself ablaze during a rally
demanding greater compensation for South Korea's worst oil spill.
(AP, 1/18/08)
2008 Jan 18, UN chief Ban Ki-moon
picked Hollywood heart-throb George Clooney, a passionate advocate for
an end to war and famine in Sudan's Darfur region, as the world body's
latest Messenger of Peace.
(AFP, 1/18/08)
2008 Jan 18, In Yemen gunmen
believed to be al-Qaida militants opened fire on a tourist convoy near
the ancestral home of Osama bin Laden, killing two Belgian women and
their Yemeni driver.
(AP, 1/18/08)
2009 Jan 18, Bob May (69),
American TV and film actor, died. He donned the Robot's suit in the hit
1960s television show "Lost in Space" (1965).
(AP, 1/19/09)
2009 Jan 18, The Polar Mist
unexpectedly sank 25 miles (40 kilometers) off the Argentine coast,
near the mouth of the Straits of Magellan, as it was being tugged to
dry land. 8 crew members had been rescued 2 days earlier. The owners of
its cargo said nearly $22 million in unrefined gold and silver went
down with it, and they asked insurer Lloyd's of London to foot the bill
for the costly recovery operation. Argentine news media and maritime
experts asked whether the precious metals were aboard at all. On July
14 divers recovered nearly a ton of unrefined silver from the ship
easing suspicions about insurance claims on the vessel. Divers
concluded their mission on August 2 to retrieve 9.5 tons of unrefined
gold and silver.
(AP, 4/8/09)(AP, 7/16/09)(AP, 8/3/09)
2009 Jan 18, Australia listed the
world's largest sea turtle, the leatherback, as endangered due to the
threats posed by overfishing and the unsustainable harvesting of its
eggs and meat.
(AFP, 1/18/09)
2009 Jan 18, The roof of a
Brazilian church in Sao Paulo caved in shortly after a religious
service, killing 9 people and injuring 106 more.
(AP, 1/19/09)
2009 Jan 18, British television
presenter Tony Hart (83) died. He had charmed generations of children
with his artsy antics.
(AP, 1/18/09)
2009 Jan 18, Central African
Republic President Francois Bozize dissolved the government, after
pledging to form a unity government at recent peace talks.
(AFP, 1/18/09)
2009 Jan 18, China’s public
security bureau of Lhasa, Tibet, launched a "strike hard" campaign
against crime, with raids on residential areas, Internet cafes, bars,
rented rooms, hotels and guesthouses.
(AP, 1/28/09)
2009 Jan 18, Denmark said it is
expanding its financial rescue package by lending the country’s banks
and mortgage $17.8 billion.
(SFC, 1/19/09, p.D1)
2009 Jan 18, Dubai said it has
reached a deal with Nigeria to invest in the African nation's
conflict-ravaged oil industry and other sectors of the economy.
(AP, 1/18/09)
2009 Jan 18, In El Salvador polls
ahead of six-party elections indicated the Farabundo Marti National
Liberation Front, a former guerrilla group known as the FMLN, will
increase its 32-seat plurality in the 84-member legislature while
winning the capital and most of the 262 mayors races up for grabs.
(AP, 1/18/09)
2009 Jan 18, Militants in
Hamas-ruled Gaza agreed to a weeklong cease-fire with Israel, after
three weeks of violence that Palestinian medics say has killed more
than 1,200 people, about half of them civilians. The announcement came
about 12 hours after Israel declared its own unilateral ceasefire. On
March 19 a final tally of Palestinians killed in Israel's recent war on
Gaza's Hamas rulers was reported to be 1,417, including 926 civilians.
A Palestinian human rights groups published the names, ages and other
information about the dead on its Web site.
(AP, 1/18/09)(AP, 3/19/09)
2009 Jan 18, Kyrgyzstan began to
come under a massive cyber attack attributed to Russian
“cyber-militia.” Less than 20% of the country’s 5.3 million population
had online access. Proposed reasons for the attacks included the US use
of an air base for operations in Afghanistan or a hit on the fledgling
Kyrgyz opposition, which has used the Internet to express its
discontent.
(WSJ, 1/28/09, p.A10)
2009 Jan 18, Moldovan poet Grigore
Vieru (b.1935) died in a car crash. He was admired for his courage in
promoting Romanian, the country's native language, when Moldova was a
Soviet republic. In the 1970s, he wrote "The Little Bee," Moldova's
first Romanian-language school manual for young children.
(AP, 1/19/09)
2009 Jan 18, Nigerian militants
attacked a loading vessel, a tanker and a tug boat at a crude oil
platform operated by Shell in Bonny and took 8 crew members hostage.
One person was killed in the attack. Nigerian rebels holding two
British oil workers said they had moved 3 British hostages to another
location after what it claimed was a botched rescue attempt by
government troops.
(AFP, 1/18/09)(AP, 1/18/09)
2009 Jan 18, Pakistan’s
information minister said the government will push to quickly reopen
girls' schools destroyed by Islamic militants in the northwest Swat
valley.
(AP, 1/18/09)
2009 Jan 18, Russia and Ukraine
announced a deal to end the bitter dispute that has blocked Russian
natural gas from Europe following talks between Russian PM Vladimir
Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Yulia Tymoshenko. Under the terms,
Ukraine will pay 20 percent less than the European "market price" price
for gas this year, which Russia says is $450 per 1,000 cubic meters.
That's more than twice as much as the $179.50 Ukraine paid in 2008.
(AP, 1/18/09)
2009 Jan 18, The UN-African Union
peacekeeping mission said rebels from the Justice and Equality Movement
have taken control of Muhajaria town in the western Sudan region of
Darfur.
(AP, 1/19/09)
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