Today in History - July 15
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668 Jul 15,
Constantine II (37), emperor of Byzantium, died.
(MC, 7/15/02)
1099 Jul 15, Jerusalem fell to the
crusaders who slaughtered the Jewish and Muslim inhabitants. The dead
numbered about 3,000.
(V.D.-H.K.p.109)(HN, 7/15/98)(SSFC, 4/13/03, p.E3)
1174 Jul 15, Baldwin (13), son of
Amalric I, was crowned Baldwin IV, king of Jerusalem.
(ON, 6/07, p.5)
1205 Jul 15, Pope Innocent III
decreed that the Jews were doomed to perpetual servitude and
subjugation due to crucifixion of Jesus.
(MC, 7/15/02)
1410 Jul 15, Lithuanian-Polish
forces defeated the Teutonic Knights at the Battle of Tannenberg,
Prussia, thereby halting the Knights’ eastward expansion along the
Baltic and hastening their decline. Vytautas and Jogaila with hired
mercenaries from Belarus along with Tartars and Czechs defeated the
Teutonic Knights between Grunvald (Zalgiriai) and Tannenberg southeast
of Malburg. Grand Master Ulrich von Jungingen and many of his nobles
were killed. The war officially ended with the Treaty of Thorn in which
the Knights gave up Zemaitija to Vytautas.
(COE)(H of L, 1931, p.52)(DrEE, 11/9/96, p.6)
1471 Jul 15, Eskender (d.1494),
Emperor of Ethiopia, was born. Eskender was killed at age 22 fighting
the Maya, a vanished ethnic group known for using poisoned arrows.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eskender)
1542 Jul 15, In 2007 an expert on
the "Mona Lisa" says he had ascertained with certainty that Lisa
Gherardini (b.1479), the symbol of feminine mystique, died on this day,
and was buried at the Sant'Orsola convent in central Florence where she
spent her final days.
(AFP, 1/19/07)
1573 Jul 15, Inigo Jones (d.1652),
father of English classical architecture, was born in London. He
restored St. Paul's Cathedral.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.14)(MC, 7/15/02)
1606 Jul 15, The painter Rembrandt
(d.1669) Harmenszoom van Rizn (Rijn), was born in Leiden, Netherlands.
His paintings included "Old Woman Cutting Her Nails," "Night Watch,"
"Self Portrait Leaning Forward" (1628), "Two Studies of Saskia Asleep"
(1635-1637), "Jupiter and Antiope" (1659) and "Aristotle Contemplating
the Bust of Homer." He started making etchings in the 1620s when the
medium was barely a 100 years old.
(WSJ, 10/1/96, p.A20)(SFC, 10/12/96, p.E3)(SFC,
5/17/97, p.E1)(AP, 7/15/97)
1663 Jul 15, King Charles II of
England granted John Clarke a charter for the colony of Rhode Island
guaranteeing freedom of worship. He granted the charter giving the
Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations an elected governor
and legislature. Roger Williams (1603-1683) authored the Rhode Island
and Providence Plantation Charter, which stated that religion and
conscience should never be restrained by civil supremacy.
(http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/ri04.asp)(AH, 4/07, p.21)
1685 Jul 15, James Scott, the Duke
of Monmouth and illegitimate son of Charles II, was executed on Tower
Hill in England, after his army was defeated at Sedgemoor.
(HN, 7/15/98)(MC, 7/15/02)
1700 Jul 15, Johann Christoph
Richter, composer, was born.
(MC, 7/15/02)
1741 Jul 15, George Steller, an
observer with Vitus Bering (1680-1741), claimed to see the American
mainland (Alaska). Bering, a Danish-born mariner, was on an exploratory
mission on behalf of Russia.
(WSJ, 9/12/00, p.A24)(SFEC, 3/23/97, p.T5)(ON, 2/06,
p.2)
1779 Jul 15, Clement Moore,
founder of the General Theological Seminary in New York City, was born.
(HN, 7/15/98)
1782 Jul 15, Farinelli (77),
Italian castrato, died.
(MC, 7/15/02)
1788 Jul 15, Louis XVI jailed 12
deputies who protest new judicial reforms.
(HN, 7/15/98)
1789 Jul 15, The electors of Paris
set up a "Commune" to live without the authority of the government.
(HN, 7/15/98)
1796 Jul 15, Thomas Bulfinch,
historian and mythologist (The Age of Fable), was born.
(HN, 7/15/01)
1806 Jul 15, Lieutenant Zebulon
Pike began his famous western expedition from Fort Belle Fountaine,
near St. Louis, Missouri. Pike was the US Army officer who in 1805 led
an exploring party in search of the source of the Mississippi River.
(HN, 7/15/99)(MC, 7/15/02)
1813 Jul 15, Napoleon Bonaparte's
representatives met with the Allies in Prague to discuss peace terms.
(HN, 7/15/98)
1815 Jul 15, Napoleon Bonaparte
was captured by the British Navy at Rochefort, France, while attempting
to escape to America.
(ON, 4/06,
p.5)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon)
1830 Jul 15, 3 Indian tribes,
Sioux, Sauk & Fox, signed a treaty giving the US most of Minnesota,
Iowa & Missouri.
(MC, 7/15/02)
1834 Jul 15, Lord Napier of
England arrived at Macao, China as the first chief superintendent of
trade.
(HN, 7/15/98)
1836 Jul 15, William Winter, drama
critic and essayist for The New York Times, was born.
(HN, 7/15/98)
1850 Jul 15, Mother Francis Xavier
Cabrini, the first American canonized saint, was born.
(HN, 7/15/98)
1857 Jul 15, British women and
children were murdered in the second Cawnpore Massacre during the
Indian Mutiny.
(HN, 7/15/98)
1857 Jul 15, Carl Czerny (66),
Austrian pianist, composer, died.
(MC, 7/15/02)
1862 Jul 15, Lt. Isaac Brown took
the Confederate ironclad C.S.S. Arkansas into the Mississippi River and
engaged 3 Union ships near Vicksburg. The CSS Arkansas vs. USS
Carondelet and Queen of the West engaged at Yazoo River.
(ON, 10/02, p.12)(MC, 7/15/02)
1863 Jul 15, Confederate raider
Bill Anderson and his Bushwackers attacked Huntsville, Missouri,
stealing $45,000 from the local bank.
(HN, 7/15/99)
1868 Jul 15, William Thomas Morton
(b.1819), dentist, died in NYC. He was responsible for the first
successful public demonstration of ether as an inhalation anesthetic.
Morton's accomplishment was the key factor to the medical and
scientific pursuit that we now refer to as anesthesiology.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Thomas_Green_Morton)
1868 Jul 15, The Torrent sank in
Alaska’s Cook Inlet after tidal currents, among the world's most
powerful, rammed it into a reef south of the Kenai Peninsula. About 130
Army soldiers had come north on the Torrent to build the first US
military fort in south-central Alaska. About 20 sailors and 15 of the
soldiers wives and children were also on board. All 155 people on board
survived. Remnants of the wreckage were found in 2007.
(AP,
10/8/07)(www.adn.com/life/story/9364436p-9278126c.html)
1869 Jul 15, Margarine was
patented by Hippolye Mega-Mouriss for use by French Navy.
(MC, 7/15/02)
1870 Jul 15, Georgia became the
last of the Confederate states to be admitted to the Union.
(AP, 7/15/97)
1870 Jul 15, Manitoba entered
confederation as the fifth Canadian province.
(AP, 7/15/07)
1883 Jul 15, Tom Thumb (44),
famous small person (40"), died of a stroke.
(MC, 7/15/02)
1895 Jul 15, Ex-prime minister of
Bulgaria Stephen Stambulov was murdered by Macedonian rebels.
(HN, 7/15/98)
1895 Jul 15, Stephen Stambulov,
ex-prime minister of Bulgaria was murdered by Macedonian rebels.
(HN, 7/15/98)
1897 Jul 15, The gold-laden ship
Excelsior from Alaska landed in San Francisco. Seattle mayor W.D. Wood
was visiting and immediately resigned his job, hired a ship, and
organized an expedition from SF to the Yukon territory.
(WSJ, 7/17/97, p.A20)
1897 Jul 15, W. Sheldon of NY
patented a seed counter for retail seed sales.
(SFC, 4/13/05, p.G4)
1901 Jul 15, Over 74,000
Pittsburgh steel workers went on strike.
(HN, 7/15/98)
1904 Jul 15, Dorothy Fields,
songwriter, was born.
(HN, 7/15/01)
1904 Jul 15, Anton Pavlovich
Chekhov (44), Russian writer (Uncle Vanya), died of tuberculosis.
Chekhov wrote his play "The Cherry Orchard" in this year. In 1998
Donald Rayfield published "Anton Chekhov: A Life." An assay of his
plays was written by Maurice Vallency: "The Breaking string." Vladimir
Nabokov examined his short stories in "Lectures on Russian Literature."
In 1988 V.S. Pritchett wrote a biography. In 1998 Philip Callow
published "Chekhov: The Hidden Ground," and Donald Rayfield published
"Anton Chekhov: A Life." In 1999 Peter Constantine translated and
published "Undiscovered Chekhov: Thirty-Eight New Stories."
(WUD, 1994, p.252)(WSJ, 11/5/97, p.A20)(WSJ, 3/9/98,
p.A16)(SFEC, 5/31/98, p.8)(SFEC, 2/14/99, BR p.6)(MC, 7/15/02)
1906 Jul 15, Richard W. Armour,
humorist, author of "Twisted Tales from Shakespeare," was born.
(HN, 7/15/98)
1907 Jul 15, The London Electrobus
Company began picking up passengers in the world’s biggest trials of
battery-powered buses. The service collapsed in 1909. It suffered from
an investment scam led by Baron de Martigny, a Canadian music-hall
artist, the front man for Edward Lehwess, a German lawyer and
con-artist. In 1906 Lehwess had sold the company a worthless patent
that caused investors to demand the return of some 80,000 pounds.
(Econ, 9/8/07, TQ p.10)
1912 Jul 15, British National
Health Insurance Act went into effect.
(MC, 7/15/02)
1913 Jul 15, Hammond Innes,
English novelist, was born.
(HN, 7/15/01)
1914 Jul 15, Gavin Maxwell,
Scottish writer and naturalist (Ring of Bright Water), was born.
(HN, 7/15/01)
1914 Jul 15, Mexican president
Huerta fled with 2 million pesos to Europe.
(MC, 7/15/02)
1916 Jul 15, The Boeing Co.,
originally known as Pacific Aero Products, was founded in Seattle by
William Boeing.
(AP, 7/15/97)
1917 Jul 15, Robert Conquest,
English author (Back to Life), was born.
(MC, 7/15/02)
1918 Jul 15, The Second Battle of
the Marne began during World War I.
(AP, 7/15/97)
1919 Jul 15, Iris Murdoch
(d.1999), philosopher-novelist, was born in Dublin. She wrote 28 novels
and in 1998 published "Existentialists and Mystics," a collection of
writings from 1950 to the 1980s. Herein she tried to "recover the moral
dimension of art."
(WSJ, 2/17/98,
p.A20)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iris_Murdoch)(SFC, 2/9/99, p.A20)
1922 Jul 15, 1st duck-billed
platypus was publicly exhibited in US at a NY zoo.
(MC, 7/15/02)
1929 Jul 15, Hugo Von
Hofmannsthal, playwright, poet, died.
(MC, 7/15/02)
1933 Jul 15, Julian Bream,
guitarist, was born.
(MC, 7/15/02)
1933 Jul 15, Wiley Post began the
1st solo flight around world.
(MC, 7/15/02)(ON, 12/03, p.12)
1937 Jul 15, Japanese attacked the
Marco Polo Bridge and invaded China.
(MC, 7/15/02)
1941 Jul 15, Florey and Heatley
presented freeze dried mold cultures (Penicillin).
(MC, 7/15/02)
1942 Jul 15, The first supply
flight from India to China over the 'Hump' was flown to help China's
war effort.
(HN, 7/15/99)
1944 Jul 15, In Amsterdam Anne
Frank (1929-1945) entered this in her diary: "In spite of everything I
still believe that people are really good at heart." In 1998 5
additional pages to her diary were reported. She died of typhoid in the
spring of 1945 at the Bergen-Belson concentration camp.
(AP, 8/4/98)(SFC, 8/19/98, p.A16)
1944 Jul 15, Greenwich Observatory
was damaged by German V1 rocket.
(MC, 7/15/02)
1946 Jul 15, Linda Ronstadt
(singer: group: The Stone Poneys: Different Drum; solo: Blue Bayou,
You're No Good, When Will I Be Loved, It's So Easy, Ooh Baby Baby, Hurt
So Bad; actress: Pirates of Penzance), was born in Tucson, Arizona.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_Ronstadt)
1947 Jul 15, Convertibility of
British sterling into US dollars, negotiated as part of a $5 billion US
loan to Britain in 1946, came into effect. It caused an immediate run
on the pound and was abandoned on August 20.
(WSJ, 6/20/08, p.A11)
1948 Jul 15, President Truman was
nominated for another term of office by the Democratic National
Convention in Philadelphia.
(AP, 7/15/97)
1948 Jul 15, John J. Pershing
(87), [Black Jack], US general (Mexico, WW I), died.
(MC, 7/15/02)
1952 Jul 15, Jesse Ventura, [James
Janos], wrestler, actor, politician (MN Governor), was born.
(MC, 7/15/02)
1953 Jul 15, Jean-Bertrand
Aristide, president of Haiti (1991, 1994-1995 ), was born.
(MC, 7/15/02)
1954 Jul 15, The Boeing “Dash 80,”
a prototype of the 707, made its first test flight.
(NPub, 2002, p.17)
1957 Jul 15, James M. Cox
(b.1870), 3-time Ohio governor and founder of Cox Enterprises, died.
Cox was defeated in the 1920 Presidential Election by fellow Ohioan
Senator Warren G. Harding of Marion, Ohio. He left his family a
business that included broadcast properties and a string of newspapers.
(WSJ, 6/2/07,
p.A5)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_M._Cox)
1958 Jul 15, President Eisenhower
ordered 5,000 U.S. Marines to Lebanon, at the request of that country's
president, Camille Chamoun, in the face of a perceived threat by Muslim
rebels; to help end a short-lived civil war.
(SFEC, 4/13/97, p.T8)(AP, 7/15/98)(HN, 7/15/98)
1960 Jul 15, John F. Kennedy
accepted the Democratic nomination for president of the United States.
(HN, 7/15/98)
1960 Jul 15, Lawrence Mervil
Tibbett (63), baritone, died after surgery.
(MC, 7/15/02)
1961 Jul 15, Spain accepted equal
rights for men and women.
(MC, 7/15/02)
1964 Jul 15, The Republican
National Convention was held at the Cow Palace in Daly City, Ca. It
elected Barry Goldwater as its presidential candidate. John Chancellor
was ejected from the convention for blocking an aisle during a
demonstration by the delegates. Here Goldwater proclaimed "Extremism in
defense of liberty is no vice."
(SFC, 7/13/96, p.A5)(WSJ, 8/5/96, p.A10)(AP, 7/15/97)
1965 Jul 15, US scientists
displayed close-up photographs of the planet Mars taken by "Mariner
Four." It passed over Mars at an altitude of 6,000 feet.
(AP, 7/15/00)
1967 Jul 15, In Alaska a major
blizzard caught 7 climbers high on Mount McKinley (Denali). Five of 12
climbers managed to reach safety, but 7 were caught and froze to death.
In 2007 James M. Tabor’s: “Forever on the Mountain: The Truth Behind
One of Mountaineering's Most Controversial and Mysterious Disasters,”
was published.
(WSJ, 1/17/07, p.D6)
1968 Jul 15, Commercial air travel
began between US & USSR.
(www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1968/1968%20-%201275.html)
1968 Jul 15, Intel was founded.
Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore had left Fairchild Semiconductor to form
NM Electronics in Mountain View, Ca. In 1997 Tim Jackson published
"Inside Intel: Andrew Grove and the Rise of the World’s Most Powerful
Chip Company." Grove joined Intel in this year and became its president
in 1979. They bought the rights to the name Intel from Intelco fro
$15,000.
(SFEC,10/26/97, BR p.3)(SFEC,12/21/97, p.A2)(SFC,
10/11/00, p.A6)(SFC, 7/16/03, p.B1)
1971 Jul 15, President Nixon
announced he would visit the People's Republic of China to seek a
"normalization of relations."
(AP, 7/15/97)
1974 Jul 15, A military coup took
place on Cyprus and archbishop-president Makarios fled. Nikos
Giorgiades Sampson (d.2001 at 66) served as president for 8 days
following the military coup that overthrew Archbishop Makarios. PM
Bulent Ecevit ordered Turkish troops to invade Cyprus following the
Greek Cypriot coup.
(www.cyprus-conflict.net/Greek%20v%20Turk%20narr%20-%201974.htm)
1975 Jul 15, Three American
astronauts blasted off aboard an Apollo spaceship hours after two
Soviet cosmonauts were launched aboard a Soyuz spacecraft for a mission
that included a linkup of the two ships in orbit.
(AP, 7/15/97)
1976 Jul 15, School Children in
Chowchilla, CA. were kidnapped by 3 young men, Richard (22) and James
Schoenfeld (24) and Newhall Woods (24). The 26 children were herded
into a moving van that was buried in a quarry near Livermore, Ca. and
held for $5 million ransom. The children escaped after 16 hours and
their captors were captured within 2 weeks. The men were sentenced to
life in prison.
(SFC, 7/14/96, Z1 p.1)(AP, 7/15/97)
1976 Jul 15, Indonesia passed a
law providing for annexation of East Timor, which the President of
Indonesia signed on 17 July. East Timor became the 27th province of the
Republic of Indonesia. The act was not recognized by the UN.
(G&M, 1/31/96,
p.A-9)(www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/timor-bkg.htm)
1978 Jul 15, President Carter, in
West Germany for an economic summit, presided over a "town meeting"
during which he fielded questions from about 1,000 Berliners.
(AP, 7/15/04)
1978 Jul 15, Bob Dylan performed
before some 200,000 fans at Blackbushe Airport, England, in the largest
open-air concert audience at the time (for a single artist).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackbushe_Airport)
1979 Jul 15, President Carter
delivered his "malaise" speech in which he lamented what he called a
"crisis of confidence" in America.
(AP, 7/15/97)
1983 Jun 15, The US Supreme Court
struck down state & local restrictions on abortion.
(www.rtl.org/html/hot_topics_html/supreme_court_decisions.html)
1983 Jul 15, In France a bomb
explodes in front of the THY counter at Orly airport. 8 people were
killed and more than sixty injured. A 29 years old Syrian-Armenian
named Varadjian Garbidjian confessed to having planted the bomb. He
admitted that the bomb was intended to have exploded once the plane was
airborne.
(http://armenians-1915.blogspot.com/2006/12/1273-this-month-in-history-armenian.html)
1985 Jul 15, A gaunt-looking Rock
Hudson appeared at a news conference with actress Doris Day to promote
her cable television program. It was later revealed Hudson was
suffering from AIDS.
(AP, 7/15/99)
1987 Jul 15, Former National
Security Adviser John Poindexter testified at the Iran-Contra hearings
that he had never told President Reagan about using Iranian arms sales
money for the Contras in order to protect the president from possible
political embarrassment.
(AP, 7/15/97)
1987 Jul 15, Izzatullah Wasifi
(29) was arrested at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas for selling 650 grams
(23 ounces) of heroin. Prosecutors said the drugs were worth $2 million
on the street. Wasifi served three years and eight months in prison
before winning parole. In 2007 Wasifi, a long time friend of Afghan
Pres. Hamid Karzai, was appointed as general-director of Afghanistan’s
General Independent Administration of Anti-Corruption and Bribery.
(AP, 3/9/07)
1987 Jul 15, In South Africa
Ashley Kriel, an anti-apartheid activist was killed. Police officer
Jeffrey Benzien later confessed to the killing and was absolved by the
Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1999.
(SFC, 2/19/99,
p.B12)(www.doj.gov.za/trc/decisions/1999/99_benzien.html)
1987 Jul 15, Taiwan ended 37 years
of martial law.
(www.gio.gov.tw/taiwan-website/5-gp/rights/politics_01.htm)
1988 Jul 15, The leadership of the
Teamsters Union chose William J. McCarthy to fill out the remaining
term of the late Jackie Presser as president, narrowly rejecting
Secretary-Treasurer Weldon Mathis, Presser's hand-picked successor.
(AP, 7/15/98)
1989 Jul 15, Leaders of the seven
major industrial democracies, meeting in Paris, voiced support for
democracy behind the Iron Curtain and condemned repression in China.
(AP, 7/15/99)
1990 Jul 15, Soviet President
Mikhail S. Gorbachev and visiting West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl
held talks on the issue of a united Germany’s membership in NATO.
(AP, 7/15/00)
1990 Jul 15, East Germany opened
its borders fully to Jews from the former Soviet republics.
(Econ, 5/7/05, p.48)
1990 Jul 15, Tens of thousands of
people marched in Moscow to protest the Communist Party’s control of
the government, the army and the KGB.
(AP, 7/15/00)
1991 Jul 15, Group of Seven
leaders opened their 17th annual economic summit in London, plunging
into debate over aid to the Soviet Union.
(AP, 7/15/01)
1991 Jul 15, Actor and game-show
host Bernard Whalen Convy (57) died in Los Angeles, Ca., of a brain
tumor. Early in his career, Convy was a member of a singing trio named
the Cheers. Their “Black Denim Trousers” was a top-ten hit (1955). He
was born July 23, 1933 in St. Louis, Missouri.
(www.imdb.com/name/nm0176622/)
1992 Jul 15, Arkansas Gov. Bill
Clinton claimed the Democratic presidential nomination at the party's
convention in New York City.
(AP, 7/15/97)
1993 Jul 15, Authorities in Los
Angeles announced eight arrests in connection with an alleged plot by
white supremacists to ignite a race war by bombing a black church and
killing prominent black Americans. Christopher Fisher, leader of the
Fourth Reich Skinheads, was later sentenced to more than 8 years in
federal prison while defendant Carl Daniel Boese was sentenced to
nearly 5 years in prison; both had pleaded guilty to arson and
conspiracy charges.
(AP, 7/15/03)
1994 Jul 15, During a baseball
game between the Cleveland Indians and the Chicago White Sox in
Chicago's Comiskey Park, umpire Dave Phillips ordered the bat of Albert
Belle of the Indians to be removed from the game for later examination
for illegal cork. The bat was then stolen by pitcher Jason Grimsley,
who crawled through air ducts to take it. The Indians won the game 3-2
and later returned the bat under umpire threats and Belle was given a
10-game suspension that was reduced to 7 games.
(SFEC, 4/11/99, p.A3)
1994 Jul 15, Microsoft Corp.
reached a settlement with the Justice Department, promising to end
practices it used to corner the market for personal computer software
programs. In a consent decree with the Justice Dept. Microsoft agreed
to change contracts with PC makers and other software companies ending
the government's antitrust investigation.
(AP, 7/15/99)(WSJ, 4/4/00, p.A16)
1995 Jul 15, A 19-year-old sales
clerk was rescued after being buried in the rubble of a collapsed
shopping mall in Seoul, South Korea, for 16 days.
(AP, 7/15/00)
1996 Jul 15, Republican
presidential candidate Bob Dole picked New York congresswoman Susan
Molinari to deliver the keynote address at the upcoming GOP convention.
(AP, 7/15/97)
1996 Jul 15, Arkansas Gov. Guy
Tucker stepped down following a felony conviction in the Whitewater
scandal. Lt. Gov. Mike Huckabee became governor.
(WSJ, 1/2/97, p.R2)(Econ, 2/3/07, p.33)
1996 Jul 15, The stock market took
a tumble. The Nasdaq index dropped 43.11 points, its 2nd largest
decline since 10/19/87 when it dropped 46.12 points.
(SFC, 7/16/96, p.A1)
1996 Jul 15 MSNBC, a 24-hour
all-news network, made its debut on cable and the Internet.
(AP, 7/15/97)
1996 Jul 15, An Algerian court
sentenced 128 Muslim militants to death in absentia for their
involvement in guerilla activities. Another 67 were sentenced in
absentia to life imprisonment.
(SFC, 7/16/96, p.A7)
1996 Jul 15, A Belgian plane,
Lockheed C-130, crashed during landing in the Netherlands and killed 32
people.
(WSJ, 7/16/96, p.A1)
1996 Jul 15, In India 58 Hindu
pilgrims died in stampedes during religious festivals at Ujjain, 465
miles south of New Delhi, and Hardwar, 125 miles north.
(WSJ, 7/16/96, p.A1)
1996 Jul 15, In Israel/Palestine
135,000 Jewish settlers live in the West Bank and 5,000 live in Gaza.
About 160,000 Israelis live in east Jerusalem, captured from Jordan in
1967 and then annexed. New settlements were being planned.
(SFC, 7/15/96, p.A10)
1996 Jul 15, In Nicaragua 6
soldiers were killed and one injured in an ambush in central Matagalpa
province.
(SFC, 7/16/96, p.A7)
1997 Jul 15, Marine biologists
diving from the Johnson Sea Link in the Gulf of Mexico discovered what
appeared to be a new species of worm of the family polychaetes. The
worms lived on top of frozen mounds of gas hydrates.
(SFC, 7/30/97, p.A11)
1997 Jul 15, Gianni Versace,
Italian fashion designer, was shot to death outside his home in Miami
Beach, Fla. Police searched for Andrew Philip Cunanan, 27, of San Diego
as the primary suspect. Suspected serial killer Andrew Phillip Cunanan,
was found dead eight days later. In 1999 Maureen Orth authored "Vulgar
Favors: Andrew Cunanan, Gianni Versace and the Largest Failed Manhunt
in US History."
(SFC, 7/17/97, p.A1)(AP, 7/15/98)(SFEC, 3/28/99,
p.D9)
1997 Jul 15, In Algeria Abassi
Madani, former leader of the Islamic Salvation Front, was released
after serving 5 years of a 12 year sentence.
(SFC, 7/16/97, p.C12)
1997 Jul 15, In Algeria a court
condemned 24 Muslim militants to death for their involvement in
guerrilla activities.
(SFC, 7/16/97, p.A10)
1997 Jul 15-1997 Jul 20, In
Colombia a right-wing death squad under Carlos Castano killed at least
49 suspected guerrilla sympathizers in Mapiripan, Meta province. In
1998 2 army sergeants, Juan Carlos Gamarra and Jose Miller Urena, were
linked to the massacre. In 2001 Gen. Jaime Humberto Uscategui was given
a 40-month sentence for failing to defend the town. In 2009 a court
convicted Uscategui of murder and sentenced him to 40 years in prison
for his role in the notorious massacre.
(SFC, 2/14/98, p.A8)(SFC, 7/11/98, p.A11)(SFC,
2/14/01, p.A16)(http://tinyurl.com/coyuh)(AP, 11/26/09)
1997 Jul 15, The Czech trade
deficit was labeled as the largest in the world relative to its economy.
(SFC, 7/16/97, p.A1)
1997 Jul 15, In Liberia pres.
candidate Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (58), a banker and UN official, led a
women’s solidarity march. She had recently emerged as the leading rival
of warlord Charles Taylor.
(SFC, 7/16/97, p.A9)(SFC, 7/19/97, p.A9)
1997 Jul 15, In Northern Ireland
pro-British militants shot and killed Bernadette Martin while she slept
beside her Protestant boyfriend.
(SFEC,10/26/97, p.A20)
1997 Jul 15, In Serbia Slobodan
Milosevic was elected president of the Yugoslav federation in a vote
that opposition parties said was illegal.
(SFC, 7/16/97, p.C12)
1997 Jul 15, Eastern Slavonia was
scheduled to be handed over to Croatian authorities. It had been seized
by the Serbs in 1991. [see Jan 15, 1998]
(SFC, 1/22/96, p.C1)
1998 Jul 15, The Congressional
Budget Office estimated federal surpluses of $1.55 trillion over the
next decade.
(AP, 7/15/99)
1998 Jul 15, Direct flights
between the US and Cuba resumed after 2 years. US authorities expanded
a "security zone" to include most of the Florida coast to prevent
anti-Castro protestors from entering Cuban waters.
(SFC, 7/16/98, p.A10)
1998 cJul 15, Richard Butler,
chief of UNSCOM, ordered Scott Ritter in mid-July to place a listening
device in Baghdad to enable the Americans to eavesdrop on Saddam
Hussein.
(SFEC, 1/10/99, p.A24)
1998 Jul 15, Three days of
ceremonies to bury Russia's last czar and his family, who were killed
by the Bolsheviks, began in the city of Yekaterinburg.
(AP, 7/15/99)
1998 Jul 15, Sudanese rebels
declared a 3 month cease fire to allow food shipments to reach hundreds
of thousands hungry people in the southwest.
(WSJ, 7/16/98, p.A1)
1998 Jul 15, It was reported that
Sweden’s highest administrative court ruled that anyone can read
“sacred documents” of the Church of Scientology. 150 confidential pages
of the “sacred documents” were restricted to only some 350 of 8 million
Scientologists. Copies were given to the Swedish parliament by a Church
enemy and made public. Scientology asserts, and the US agrees, that
copyright was violated. The case may wind up in the European Court of
Justice.
(SFC, 7/15/98, p.A8)(http://tinyurl.com/oq3lr)
1999 Jul 15, The Seattle Mariners
played their first game in their new home, Safeco Field, losing to the
San Diego Padres, 3-to-2.
(AP, 7/15/00)
1999 Jul 15, The Clinton
administration conceded that workers exposed to beryllium deserved
compensation for induced beryllium disease. Some 26,000 workers had
been exposed over the last 50 years and there were an estimated 500 to
1000 cases of the disease.
(SFC, 7/16/99, p.A5)
1999 Jul 15, The US House voted to
give Congress a pay raise of $4,600 in January and to double the next
president's salary to $400,000.
(WSJ, 7/16/99, p.A1)
1999 Jul 15, The Religious Liberty
Protection Act was signed by 107 House Democrats and 199 Republicans.
It said local and state officials must bend their rules to accommodate
religious claims.
(SFC, 8/14/99, p.C14)
1999 Jul 15, Pres. Clinton met
with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak for the beginning of 5 days of
talks.
(SFC, 7/16/99, p.A10)
1999 Jul 15, In Indonesia final
election results showed Megawati's PDI-P party winning 34% of 122
million votes with Golgar at 22%.
(SFC, 7/16/99, p.A10)
2000 Jul 15, Lennox Lewis stopped
Francois Botha at 2:39 of the second round to retain his WBC and IBF
heavyweight titles in London.
(AP, 7/15/01)
2000 Jul 15, Former Rhode Island
governor and longtime US senator John O. Pastore died at age 93.
(AP, 7/15/01)
2000 Jul 15, From China it was
reported that an attack force of 700,000 ducks and chickens, trained to
hunt and eat insects at the sound of a whistle, were placed in the
locust-plagued fields of Xinjiang province.
(SFC, 7/15/00, p.A24)
2000 Jul 15, In Colombia 13 police
officers were executed by rebels following their surrender to a missile
attack in Roncesvalles.
(SFC, 7/17/00, p.A13)
2000 Jul 15, Iran test-fired an
upgraded version of its 800-mil range, Shabab-3 missile.
(SFEC, 7/16/00, p.B9)
2000 Jul 15, In Sierra Leone UN
troops freed 222 Indian peacekeepers and 11 military observers held by
rebels since May 1. One Indian peacekeeper was killed and 7 others
injured.
(SFEC, 7/16/00, p.B9)(SFC, 7/18/00, p.A12)
2001 Jul 15, In Bangladesh PM
Sheikh Hasina left office. Pres. Shahabuddin Ahmad appointed Latifur
Rahman to head a caretaker administration. At least 4 people were
killed in street clashes.
(SFC, 7/16/01, p.A9)
2001 Jul 15, China's President
Jiang Zemin arrived in Russia to sign a friendship treaty, the first
between the former Communist rivals in more than 50 years.
(SFC, 7/16/01, p.A9)(AP, 7/14/02)
2001 Jul 15, In Colombia FARC
guerrillas kidnapped Alam Jara, former governor of Meta state.
(SFC, 7/17/01, p.A7)
2001 Jul 15, In Israel PM Sharon
and his Cabinet decided to build new towns in the Halutza Sands region
of the Negev Desert. Shimon Peres met with Arafat in Cairo and a gun
battle in Hebron left 20 Palestinians wounded.
(SFC, 7/16/01, p.A8)
2001 Jul 15, Gen. Pervez Musharraf
of Pakistan met with PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee and talked on issues
including, Kashmir, trade, terrorism and nuclear safeguards. They also
agreed to continue discussions for a 2nd day.
(SFC, 7/16/01, p.A12)
2001 Jul 15, In South Korea
landslides and flooding killed at least 40 people.
(SFC, 7/16/01, p.A9)
2002 Jul 15, The US Senate
voted 97-0 for a bill to crack down on corporate accounting
abuses.
(WSJ, 7/16/02, p.A1)
2002 Jul 15, John Walker Lindh
agreed to serve 20 years in prison for fighting in Afghanistan in a
plea bargain with the government. He was sentenced to 20 years in
prison on Oct 4.
(WSJ, 7/16/02, p.A1)(SFC, 10/5/02, p.A1)
2002 Jul 15, A federal agency
approved Navy plans for a sonar system to search out enemy submarines
despite potential injury to whales and dolphins.
(SFC, 7/16/02, p.A1)
2002 Jul 15, In Stanton, Ca.,
Samantha Runnion (5) was kidnapped. Her body was found the next day in
Riverside county. An autopsy revealed that she had been sexually abused
and died from a crushed abdomen. A sample of DNA was also found under
her fingernail. On July 19 police arrested Alejandro Avila (27),
previously acquitted for child molestation. In 2005 Avila was convicted
of kidnapping, murder and sexual assault. On May 16 a jury called for
the death penalty. He was sentenced to death on July 22.
(SFC, 7/17/02, p.A2)(SFC, 7/20/02, p.A1)(SFC,
4/29/05, p.A4)(SFC, 5/17/05, p.B8)(SFC, 7/23/05,
p.B7)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samantha_Runnion)
2002 Jul 15, A Canadian National
freight train derailed and caught fire near Allenton, Wisc., and 34 of
107 cars jumped the tracks.
(SFC, 7/16/02, p.A4)
2002 Jul 15, Osama bin Laden is
alive and planning another attack on the United States, said an Arab
journalist with close ties to the militant's associates.
(Reuters, 7/15/02)
2002 Jul 15, Pfizer Corp. agreed
to buy Pharmacia Corp. for stock valued at $60 billion.
(WSJ, 7/15/02, p.A1)
2002 Jul 15, In Mexico farmers
ended their protest of a proposed new airport for Mexico City and
released 19 hostages after the government promised to reconsider
construction terms.
(SFC, 7/16/02, p.A5)
2002 Jul 15, In Nigeria women
occupying a ChevronTexaco oil terminal agreed to end their eight-day
siege after the company offered to hire at least 25 villagers and to
build schools, electrical and water systems.
(AP, 7/15/02)
2002 Jul 15, A court in Pakistan
sentenced British-born Islamic militant Sheikh Ahmed Omar Saeed to
death for the kidnap and murder of U.S. reporter Daniel Pearl, drawing
a threat of reprisals and calls for Muslims to respond. A Pakistani
judge convicted four Islamic militants in the kidnap-slaying of Wall
Street Journal correspondent Daniel Pearl.
(Reuters, 7/15/02)(SFC, 7/15/02, p.A1)(AP, 7/15/03)
2002 Jul 15, Nationwide
demonstrations in Paraguay called for the ouster of Pres. Luis Gonzalez
Macchi, who imposed a state of emergency.
(SFC, 7/16/02, p.A4)(SFC, 7/17/02, p.A9)
2002 Jul 15, Philippine gunmen
shot dead four supporters of candidates as Filipinos voted in local
community elections after a bloody campaign that left scores of people
dead. The 90 day election campaign left 71 people dead.
(Reuters, 7/15/02)
2003 Jul 15, The American League
beat the National League in the All-Star Game 7-6.
(AP, 7/15/04)
2003 Jul 15, Scott McClellan
assumed his duties as White House press secretary.
(AP, 7/15/04)
2003 Jul 15, The Bush
administration reported that this year's deficit will reach $445
billion. The Bush administration dramatically raised its budget deficit
projections to $455 billion for the current fiscal year and $475
billion for the next, record levels fed by the limp economy, tax cuts
and the battle against terrorism.
(SFC, 7/16/03, p.A1)(AP, 7/15/04)
2003 Jul 15, Tex Schramm (83), who
turned the Dallas Cowboys into "America's Team," died in Dallas.
(AP, 7/15/04)
2003 Jul 15, Elisabeth Welch (99),
American-born singer, died in London.
(AP, 7/15/04)
2003 Jul 15, Four US crew members
were killed in a fiery crash of a Navy helicopter in Italy.
(AP, 7/16/03)
2003 Jul 15, Chad began pumping
oil to Cameroon, part of a project to help alleviate crushing poverty
in the two countries. The 4.2 billion project was funded by the World
Bank on the condition that the oil money be used for development. Pres.
Idris Deby later diverted the money to the general budget and for
weapons.
(AP, 7/16/03)(SFC, 12/21/07, p.A31)
2003 Jul 15, Roberto Bolano
(b.1953), Chilean author, died in Spain. His novel “2666” was published
posthumously in 2006. In 2007 his novel “The Savage Detectives” (1998)
was made available in English.
(www.absoluteastronomy.com/enc3/roberto_bola%C3%B1o)(SSFC, 4/1/07, p.M1)
2003 Jul 15, The Colombian
government and right-wing paramilitary fighters agreed to begin peace
talks.
(AP, 7/16/03)
2003 Jul 15, In India health
officials reported that mosquito-borne encephalitis had killed at least
110 children in Andhra Pradesh over the last 6 weeks.
(WSJ, 7/16/03, p.A1)
2003 Jul 15, Montserrat's governor
declared the Caribbean island a disaster zone, days after a volcanic
eruption spewed clouds of rock and ash over the British territory.
(AP, 7/16/03)
2003 Jul 15, Officials reported
that Syrian troops had begun dismantling bases in Lebanon.
(SFC, 7/16/03, p.A3)
2004 Jul 15, President Bush signed
into law a measure imposing mandatory prison terms for criminals who
use identity theft in committing terrorist acts and other offenses.
(AP, 7/15/05)
2004 Jul 15, The Senate approved a
plan to pay tobacco farmers $12 billion to give up federal quotas
propping up their prices.
(AP, 7/15/05)
2004 Jul 15, The new $650 million,
4.4-mile Las Vegas Monorail began operations with stops at 7 stations
between Sahara and Tropicana avenues.
(SSFC, 7/25/04, p.D2)
2004 Jul 15, Scientists reported
that excess carbon dioxide spilled into the air by humans over the past
2 centuries has been taken up by the oceans. They warned that a
continuation of this process could damage the ability of ocean
creatures to make their shells.
(SFC, 7/16/04, p.A4)
2004 Jul 15, The Gates Foundation
announced a $44.7 million award at the AIDS Conference in Bangkok to a
consortium of TB and AIDS researchers. The 2 diseases were often
linked. A UN report cited 7 countries as the hardest hit by the AIDS
pandemic: Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Lesotho, Zambia, Malawi, the Central
African Republic and Mozambique.
(WSJ, 7/15/04, p.B1)(SFC, 7/16/04, p.A6)
2004 Jul 15, Retired Air Force
Gen. Charles W. Sweeney, who piloted the plane that dropped the atomic
bomb on Nagasaki in the final days of World War II, died in Boston at
age 84.
(AP, 7/15/05)
2004 Jul 15, In Kumbakonam,
southern India, a short circuit ignited a thatched roof and fire raged
through the Lord Krishna Middle School, killing 94 children and
injuring more than 100. The children were trapped inside a locked
building. In 2006 an inquiry commission found that a mixture of
avarice, dishonesty and a blatant disregard of safety standards caused
the devastating fire.
(AP, 7/17/04)(SFC, 7/17/04, p.A3)(Reuters, 9/4/06)
2004 Jul 15, In Iraq attackers
detonated a car bomb near police and government buildings in the
western city of Haditha, killing 10 people. PM Alawi announced the
formation of a new national security agency to fight the insurgency.
(AP, 7/15/04)(SFC, 7/16/04, p.A12)
2004 Jul 15, Israel said it will
spend $11.1 million to change completed portions of its West Bank
barrier, building new roads, underpasses and tunnels to try to ease
Palestinian conditions.
(AP, 7/15/04)
2004 Jul 15, In western Nepal 11
suspected Maoist rebels including two local leaders were killed in
armed clashes with security forces.
(AFP, 7/15/04)
2004 Jul 15, In Tanzania the
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) sentenced former
finance minister Emmanuel Ndindabahizi to life imprisonment for his
role in the east African country's 1994 genocide.
(AP, 7/15/04)
2004 Jul 15, Thailand officials
said avian flu had been detected in 10 of its 76 provinces.
(SFC, 7/16/04, p.A3)
2005 Jul 15, A US federal appeals
court ruled that a Guantanamo detainee who once was Osama bin Laden's
driver could be tried by military tribunal. However, the Supreme Court
in June 2006 struck down the tribunals, saying they violated U.S. and
international law.
(AP, 7/15/06)
2005 Jul 15, In SF District Court
federal prosecutors in the BALCO case dropped 40 of 42 indictments
against 3 men accused of providing performance-enhancing drugs to elite
athletes.
(SFC, 7/16/05, p.A1)
2005 Jul 15, Bankrupt Enron Corp.
agreed to pay up to 1.52 billion dollars to settle charges of market
manipulation during the energy crisis that hit California and other
western US states in 2000 and 2001.
(AFP, 7/16/05)
2005 Jul 15, California Gov.
Schwarzenegger said he would quit his 2nd job as editor of two
bodybuilding magazines following criticism of the lucrative
moonlighting. Following this he soon severed ties with the Arnold
Classic, a premier bodybuilding event.
(SFC, 7/15/05, p.A1)(SFC, 7/23/05, p.A1)
2005 Jul 15, Suspected Taliban
gunmen kidnapped and hanged a pro-government tribal leader in southern
Afghanistan. Agha Jan was kidnapped the previous day with his two sons,
brother and two nephews from his home in southern Zabul province. The
relatives were released unharmed. Suspected Taliban fighters raided a
police post in southern Afghanistan, killing 7 policemen and losing 5
of their own men.
(AP, 7/15/05)(AP, 7/16/05)
2005 Jul 15, Officials said heavy
rains and flash floods have killed 20 people and inundated tens of
thousands of homes in Bulgaria and Romania.
(AP, 7/15/05)
2005 Jul 15, An official said
police in Egypt said they had arrested Magdy el-Nashar (33), an
Egyptian biochemist, sought in the probe of the London bombings. He was
taken into custody upon his arrival in Cairo from abroad.
(AP, 7/15/05)
2005 Jul 15, Hurricane Emily blew
over Grenada and gathered force in the eastern Caribbean with winds of
135 mph. At least one person was killed.
(AP, 7/15/05)
2005 Jul 15, In India hardline
Hindu activists broke the windows of a cinema, burned posters and
shouted "traitor" in protests against leading actor Salman Khan who
Indian media said had boasted of links with the underworld.
(Reuters, 7/15/05)
2005 Jul 15, Indonesian
authorities said 3 people had died of suspected bird flu in the last 10
days. They had no contact with poultry and raised concern over
human-to-human transmission. A small farm nearby was hit by the virus a
few months earlier. This raised the regionwide deaths from bird flu to
57, mostly in Thailand and Vietnam
(WSJ, 7/18/05, p.A10)(WSJ, 7/22/05, p.A10)
2005 Jul 15, In Iraq a frenzy of
attacks killed at least 30 people in 12 suicide bombings. 2 US Marines
were killed in a roadside bombing near the Jordanian border. A suicide
car bomb exploded on a bridge overlooking the home of President Jalal
Talabani, killing three of his guards. In Nasiriyah, judge Nurredin
Ahmed, a Kurd from the northern oil centre of Kirkuk, was shot dead at
his home. Akram Ahmed Rasul al-Bayati, a major general in the old
regime's disbanded military, and his son Ali, a policeman, were killed
after being arrested by police commandos on July 10.
(AP, 7/16/05)(AFP, 7/16/05)(SFC, 7/16/05, p.A3)
2005 Jul 15, The Israeli military
launched an airstrike at a van carrying a group of Hamas militants and
a cache of homemade rockets in a Gaza City street, killing 4 people.
(AP, 7/15/05)
2005 Jul 15, Two Japanese tankers
collided in the Pacific Ocean off the central Japan coast, sparking a
blaze that killed one sailor and left five others missing.
(AP, 7/15/05)
2005 Jul 15, Nepal's king
appointed a dozen loyalists to ministerial jobs.
(AP, 7/15/05)
2005 Jul 15, In Serbia a court
convicted 4 former members of the Avengers, a Serbian paramilitary
force, of abducting 16 Muslims from a bus in October, 1992, and taking
them to Bosnia to be tortured and executed. The men in custody, Djordje
Sevic and Dragutin Dragicevic, got 15 and 20 years respectively. Two
others, Milan Lukic and Oliver Krsmanovic, were on the run and were
tried in absentia, and received 20-year jail terms
(AP, 7/16/05)
2005 Jul 15, In South Africa a
passenger bus plunged down a ravine near the southcentral coast,
killing at least 24 people.
(AP, 7/15/05)
2005 Jul 15, Thailand's
government, reeling from bold attacks by suspected separatists in the
Muslim-dominated south, granted PM Thaksin Shinawatra sweeping powers
to tap phones, directly command security forces and order curfews.
(AP, 7/15/05)
2006 Jul 15, In a chilly prelude
to a Group of Eight (G8) summit in St. Petersburg, President Bush
blocked Russia's entry into the World Trade Organization. Russia and
the US failed to strike a bilateral deal allowing Russia to join the
WTO but agreed to set a deadline to wrap up talks within three months.
(AP, 7/15/07)(Reuters, 7/15/06)
2006 Jul 15, US authorities
extradited Jean Succar Kuri, a Mexican businessman with alleged ties to
associates of a powerful state governor, to face charges in Mexico of
child pornography, statutory rape and corruption of minors.
(AP, 7/16/06)
2006 Jul 15, Robert Wilson (64),
theater and opera director, opened his $12 million Watermill Center on
Long Island, NY. The arts center was setup to host conferences, student
workshops and serve as an intercultural exchange.
(Econ, 7/22/06, p.82)
2006 Jul 15, Phoenix, Ariz.,
residents were reported to be in fear of 2 serial killers, who have
struck in recent months. Six killings were being attributed to the
"Baseline Killer," whose name refers to the street where he is believed
to have committed his first crimes. The 2nd suspected predator, dubbed
the "Serial Shooter," has been definitively linked to the Dec. 29
wounding of one man and authorities believe he could be responsible for
a total of five shooting deaths.
(AP, 7/15/06)
2006 Jul 15, The space shuttle
Discovery undocked from the international space station.
(AP, 7/15/07)
2006 Jul 15, More than 40
insurgents were killed as hundreds of coalition troops, many dropped by
helicopter, wrested a desert town from the Taliban and U.S. forces
battled militants across southern Afghanistan.
(AP, 7/16/06)
2006 Jul 15, Arab foreign
ministers held an emergency summit in Cairo over Israel's expanding
assault on Lebanon, the worst Israeli attack on its neighbor in 24
years.
(AP, 7/15/06)
2006 Jul 15, A gas explosion in a
coal mine in Shanxi province killed at least 50 miners in the
Linjiazhuang Coal Mine in Jinzhong. In Hunan province 14 coal miners
were killed after rains burst a dam, flooding the pit and collapsing
buildings above ground at the Shenjiawan Colliery.
(AP, 7/17/06)
2006 Jul 15, Thousands of
Ecuadorian villagers fled their homes on the slopes of the Tungurahua
volcano since it began erupting lava and toxic gases.
(AP, 7/16/06)
2006 Jul 15, GDP for the Falkland
Islands was estimated at $25,000 per head. Fishing licenses around the
Falkland Islands generated some $40 million a year. Seismic studies
indicated a possible 500,000 barrels of oil in the surrounding waters.
Britain insisted that it would not discuss sovereignty of the islands
unless its 3,000 citizens there requested it.
(Econ, 7/15/06, p.38)
2006 Jul 15, In Haiti thousands of
demonstrators demanding the return of ousted president Jean-Bertrand
Aristide marched to the National Palace, pushing past riot police in a
dramatic show of support for the exiled former leader.
(AP, 7/16/06)
2006 Jul 15, A Honduras newspaper
quoted a senior military official that the United States is helping
Honduras establish a new military base to combat international drug
trafficking in the northeastern province of Gracias a Dios.
(AP, 7/15/06)
2006 Jul 15, Police investigating
Bombay's deadly train bombings swept through several neighborhoods,
rounding up more than 300 people for questioning.
(AP, 7/15/06)
2006 Jul 15, Heavy clashes between
Iraqi soldiers and gunmen in downtown Baghdad left 11 people wounded.
Provincial police in Ramadi confirmed that gunmen had killed a member
of the Iraqi Islamic Party. Gunmen kidnapped Ahmed al-Sammarai, the
head of Iraq's Olympic committee, and more than a dozen employees
storming a sports conference in Baghdad. The kidnappers wore camouflage
Iraqi police uniforms and security guards outside the meeting said they
did not interfere because they thought the gunmen were legitimate law
enforcement.
(AP, 7/15/06)(AP, 8/22/08)
2006 Jul 15, Israeli warplanes
pounded Hezbollah's south Beirut stronghold and roads around the
country killing at least 33 people. At least 12 Lebanese villagers,
including women and children, were killed in what appeared to be an
Israeli airstrike on a convoy of vehicles fleeing a village near the
border with Israel in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah expanded its rocket
fire, hitting another of Israel's main cities, and Israel warned that
the guerrillas could strike Tel Aviv. At least 88 people have died in
Lebanon, most of the them civilians, in the four-day Israeli offensive,
sparked by Hezbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers. On the Israeli
side, at least 15 have been killed, four civilians and 11 soldiers.
(AP, 7/15/06)(SSFC, 7/16/06, p.A1)
2006 Jul 15, Israeli aircraft
fired at least one missile at a house in Gaza City. Palestinian rescue
workers said two Palestinians were killed and many others wounded.
Since the offensive began in Gaza, 86 Palestinians have been killed,
many of them gunmen.
(AP, 7/15/06)
2006 Jul 15, US Middle East envoy
David Welch flew into Tripoli for talks with Libyan officials on
strengthening economic and financial ties between the two countries.
(AFP, 7/16/06)
2006 Jul 15, A landslide triggered
by monsoon rains swept through a village in northwest Nepal before
dawn, killing at least 17 people as they slept.
(AP, 7/15/06)
2006 Jul 15, In Karachi, Pakistan,
hundreds of youths set fire to a Pizza Hut, two gas stations and a
dozen vehicles after a funeral for an Islamic Shiite cleric killed in a
suicide attack.
(AP, 7/15/06)
2006 Jul 15, In St. Petersburg,
Russia, world leaders tore up a carefully prepared G8 summit agenda and
turned their attention to a growing crisis in the Middle East, hoping
to reach common ground on ways to stop the fighting. About 150
protesters faced off with police as they tried to exercise their right
of assembly.
(AP, 7/15/06)
2006 Jul 15, The UN Security
Council unanimously passed resolution 1718 condemning North Korea's
multiple missile launches on July 5 and imposed limited sanctions; a
defiant North said it would launch more missiles.
(AP, 7/16/07)(Econ, 2/28/09, p.63)
2007 Jul 15, The Los Angeles Times
reported that about 45 percent of all foreign militants targeting US
troops and Iraqi security forces were from Saudi Arabia, 15 percent
from Syria and Lebanon, and 10 percent from North Africa.
(AFP, 7/15/07)
2007 Jul 15, In SF 2 coyotes, a
male and female, were shot and killed in Golden Gate Park following
recent attacks on leashed dogs.
(SFC, 7/17/07, p.D1)
2007 Jul 15, In Cheyenne, Wyoming,
Robin Munis was shot in the head just after midnight Saturday as she
sang with the classic rock and country group Ty and the Twisters.
Police searched for David Munis (36), a National Guardsman with sniper
training who they suspect shot his wife. Police located David Munis’
pickup truck the next in rural Albany County. As they closed in on the
suspect and called for him to surrender, Munis shot himself in the
chest. He was flown to Laramie, Wyoming, where he was pronounced dead
on July 18th.
(AP, 7/15/07)(http://tinyurl.com/6669k3)
2007 Jul 15, A roadside bomb
killed six Afghans working for a Western security company in the east
of the country.
(Reuters, 7/15/07)
2007 Jul 15, Antun Gudelj (59), a
Croatian man charged with killing three police officials in the early
days of the 1991 Serb-Croat war, was extradited from Australia to
Croatia to face a new trial after an earlier pardon.
(AP, 7/15/07)
2007 Jul 15, Botswana's President
Festus Mogae (67) announced that he is to stand down next year after a
decade at the helm of the diamond-rich southern African nation.
(AFP, 7/15/07)
2007 Jul 15, Britain released
without charge 2 suspects in the failed car bomb attacks in London and
Glasgow last month.
(AFP, 7/15/07)
2007 Jul 15, JCDecaux launched a
bike rental system in Paris.
(Econ, 9/22/07, p.76)
2007 Jul 15, A minister said
India's southern coastal Kerala state was reeling from an outbreak of
mosquito-borne Chikungunya viral fever infections that have claimed 193
lives. Chikungunya, transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, was
first detected in 1955 in Africa and last year caused the deaths of
some 200 people on the French Indian ocean island of Reunion. Federal
health minister Anbumani Ramadoss told parliament last year that some
1.1 million Indians were infected with Chikungunya.
(AFP, 7/16/07)
2007 Jul 15, A car bomb packed
with explosives detonated in a central Baghdad square, killing 10
people and wounding 25. At least 18 other people were killed including
7 border guards in the northern Kani Khal area and 8 in shootings in
the northern cities of Mosul and Kirkuk and several areas south of
Baghdad. 22 bullet-riddled bodies were found dumped in various
locations of Baghdad, apparently the latest victims of sectarian
violence.
(AP, 7/15/07)(AP, 7/16/07)
2007 Jul 15, Mahmoud Darwish, the
world's most recognized Palestinian poet, delivered a stinging tirade
against Palestinian infighting in his first public appearance in
decades in the Israeli city of Haifa.
(AP, 7/16/07)
2007 Jul 15, Typhoon Man-yi, one
of the most powerful storms to hit Japan in decades, headed away from
Tokyo after leaving four people dead or missing.
(AFP, 7/15/07)
2007 Jul 15, A Libyan foundation
confirmed that families of Libyan children infected with AIDS have
accepted compensation topping 460 million dollars, which could lead to
a death sentence on six foreign medics being lifted.
(AFP, 7/15/07)
2007 Jul 15, Militants holed up in
a Palestinian refugee camp in north Lebanon fired more rockets that
landed in farm fields outside the camp as the army bombarded suspected
hideouts inside the besieged settlement. Politicians from Lebanon's
divided factions held a second day of talks in France to try to ease 8
months of deadlock.
(AP, 7/15/07)(AFP, 7/15/07)
2007 Jul 15, North Korea confirmed
it has shut its nuclear reactor that provides the secretive state with
material to make weapons-grade plutonium.
(Reuters, 7/15/07)
2007 Jul 15, Militants in
northwest Pakistan disavowed a peace pact with the government. Suicide
attacks and a roadside bomb together killed 44 people and wounded more
than 100.
(AP, 7/15/07)
2007 Jul 15, Marina Pisareva (47),
the deputy head of a small Russian division of German media company
Bertelsmann AG, was found dead at her summer house near Moscow,
possibly stabbed with her own dagger.
(AP, 7/16/07)
2007 Jul 15, Spanish officials
said police investigating a child pornography ring have arrested 66
people and seized computer hard drives containing 48 million
photographs and video images. The nationwide sweep came after a
10-month investigation.
(AP, 7/15/07)
2007 Jul 15, UN and African Union
representatives gathered in Tripoli to evaluate Darfur.
(AP, 7/15/07)
2008 Jul 15, US Federal Reserve
Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress the fragile economy is facing
"numerous difficulties" including persistent strains in financial
markets, rising joblessness and housing problems — despite the Fed's
aggressive interest rate reductions and other fortifying steps.
(AP, 7/15/08)
2008 Jul 15, The SEC said it would
immediately move to curb improper short selling in Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac as well as those of 17 financial firms. The move would be
effective July 21 and expire after 30 days. The SEC also planned to
consider extending the requirements to all stocks traded in the US.
(WSJ, 7/16/08, p.A1)
2008 Jul 15, Mei Ling Chen (46) of
Taiwan was arrested in Sunnyvale, Ca., after customs inspectors at SF
Int’l. Airport found $380,000 in counterfeit $100 bills in a package of
dried seafood.
(SFC, 7/18/08, p.B11)
2008 Jul 15, Robin Long (25), a US
Army deserter who had fled to Canada in 2005, was deported from British
Columbia back to the US.
(SFC, 7/16/08, p.A9)
2008 Jul 15, General Motors Corp.
said it will lay off salaried workers, cut truck production, suspend
its dividend and borrow $2 billion to $3 billion to weather a severe
downturn in the US market.
(AP, 7/15/08)
2008 Jul 15, Volkswagen announced
that it would build a $1 billion car plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., and
expected to open it as soon as 2011.
(WSJ, 7/30/08,
p.C10)(www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiFdSOp19gU)
2008 Jul 15, It was reported that
Hawaii’s Oahu island planned to export some 100,000 tons of trash a
year to the mainland. At current rates its 200-acre municipal landfill
would reach capacity in 15 years. Expanded recycling and a new boiler
were also in the works.
(WSJ, 7/15/08, p.A2)
2008 Jul 15, In California 2
vehicles collided on a bridge and fell into the Delta-Mendota Canal
near Westley. 6 farm workers and a septic truck driver died.
(SFC, 7/16/08, p.B3)(SFC, 7/17/08, p.B2)
2008 Jul 15, Gee Gee Engesser
(b.19126), animal trainer and “Blond Bombshell” of the circus, died in
Florida.
(WSJ, 8/23/08, p.A7)
2008 Jul 15, In southwestern
Afghanistan air strikes against extremist rebels killed 4 women and 5
children as well as several insurgents. NATO pulled soldiers out of the
outpost in Wanat village in northeastern Kunar province, which
militants had breached killing 9 US soldiers.
(AP, 7/16/08)
2008 Jul 15, Tens of thousands of
Argentine farmers and government supporters staged dueling protests
ahead of a Senate vote on a package of grain-export taxes that
generated months of bitter farm strikes.
(AP, 7/15/08)
2008 Jul 15, In Australia the
world's biggest Christian festival opened with a spectacular
harbor-side mass for up to 150,000 pilgrims taking part in World Youth
Day celebrations in Sydney headed by Pope Benedict XVI.
(AP, 7/15/08)
2008 Jul 15, Belgium PM Yves
Leterme offered King Albert the resignation of his government after he
acknowledged he would not make a deadline for a constitutional reform
deal despite months of talks. He offered to resign after realizing it
would be impossible to resolve deep divisions over increased autonomy
for French- and Dutch-speaking Belgians.
(AP, 7/15/08)
2008 Jul 15, Tropical Storm Bertha
headed back out over open ocean and away from the US mainland after it
battered Bermuda, knocking out electricity to thousands on the Atlantic
tourist island. Bertha entered its 13th day becoming the longest-lived
July tropical storm in history.
(AP, 7/15/08)
2008 Jul 15, China voiced concern
over an International Criminal Court prosecutor's decision to seek an
arrest warrant for Sudan's president on charges of genocide in the
African country's war-torn Darfur region.
(AP, 7/15/08)
2008 Jul 15, Croatia adopted a law
that allows Sunday shopping only over the summer and Christmas
holidays. It goes into effect January 1. The law also allows stores in
gas, bus and train stations to open on Sundays year-round, along with
those in hospitals. Bakeries, newsstands and flower shops are also
exempt from the ban.
(AP, 7/16/08)
2008 Jul 15, The EU agreed to an
emergency aid package for its fishing industry to cope with fuel prices.
(WSJ, 7/17/08, p.A8)
2008 Jul 15, In eastern India at
least 20 members of a wedding party were killed when the jeep carrying
them plunged into a roadside canal outside Patna, the capital of Bihar
state.
(AP, 7/15/08)
2008 Jul 15, Indonesia's president
acknowledged that his country carried out gross human rights abuses
during East Timor's 1999 break for independence, but stopped short of
offering a full apology and said no one would be prosecuted.
(AP, 7/15/08)
2008 Jul 15, In Iraq 2 suicide
bombers blew themselves up in a crowd of army recruits at the Saad
military camp in Baqouba, where devastating attacks persist despite
security improvements elsewhere. At least 28 people died. In western
Mosul, a bomb near an Iraqi police station killed four Iraqi civilians.
Half an hour later, one Iraqi police officer and seven civilians died
in a suicide car bombing in the east of the city. Three other bombs in
Mosul wounded 15 people. The US military said it had captured the
Iranian-trained leader of an explosives cell in Baghdad.
(AP, 7/15/08)
2008 Jul 15, Israel's Cabinet
overwhelmingly approved an emotionally charged deal to trade a Lebanese
militant convicted of killing three people for two Israeli soldiers
captured by Hezbollah guerrillas and believed to be dead. Israeli
troops arrested three Hamas council members in a dawn raid on the West
Bank city of Nablus. Witnesses and residents said a total of 12 Hamas
members were arrested.
(AP, 7/15/08)
2008 Jul 15, In Italy a judge in
Venice indicted Saber Fadhil Hussein for plotting a terrorist attack on
US bases in Iraq using ultra-light aircraft.
(SFC, 7/16/08, p.A9)
2008 Jul 15, Fishermen across
Japan went on a massive one-day strike to protest skyrocketing fuel
prices, the latest blow to the country's foundering fishing industry.
(AP, 7/15/08)
2008 Jul 15, Malaysian police
issued an arrest warrant for opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim in
connection with a sodomy accusation by a male former aide.
(AP, 7/15/08)
2008 Jul 15, In South Korea Won
Jeong-hwa (34) was arrested and later confessed that she was a spy
trained and commissioned by North Korea's intelligence agency. On Oct
15 she was sentenced to five years in prison for spying.
(AP, 8/27/08)(AP, 10/15/08)
2008 Jul 15, A plan for a
referendum on self-determination in Spain's northern Basque Country
became law in the region, setting the stage for a confrontation with
the government in Madrid which has termed the poll illegal.
(AP, 7/15/08)
2008 Jul 15, In Sri Lanka fighting
reportedly killed a total of 51 rebels and a soldier.
(AP, 7/16/08)
2008 Jul 15, In Switzerland
Hannibal Kadhafi (32), the son of Libya’s leader, was arrested along
with his wife Aline at a luxury hotel in Geneva after the servants, a
Moroccan and a Tunisian, alleged they had been abused by the couple.
The 2-day detention led to reprisals by Libya. Days after Hannibal
Kadhafi’s arrest, Swiss businessmen Max Goeldi and Rachid Hamdani were
detained in Libya on alleged visa violations. The servants later
dropped their legal complaints after receiving some compensation. In
November, 2009, Goeldi and Hamdani were handed over to the Swiss
embassy in Tripoli. Libya then announced that they would go on trial on
accusations of tax evasion and violating residency laws.
(AP, 9/2/08)(AP, 11/9/09)(AP, 11/12/09)
2008 Jul 15, Taiwan indicted 5
former ministers, who had served under former Pres. Chen Shui-bian, on
corruption charges relating to misuse of special expense accounts.
(SFC, 7/16/08, p.A15)
2008 Jul 15, Turkey’s military
said aircraft and artillery units had shelled rebel positions in Sirnak
province, killing 22 rebels.
(AP, 7/15/08)
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