Today in History July - 18
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64CE Jul 18, The
Great Fire of Rome began. After the fire Nero began to build his Golden
House in the center of the city.
(V.D.-H.K.p.78)(AP, 7/18/97)
1374 Jul 18, Francesco Petrarch
(69), Italian poet (Italia Mia), died.
(SSFC, 7/25/04, p.E3)
1534 Jul 18, Zacharias Ursinus,
German theologian (Heidelberger Catechism), was born.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1536 Jul 18, The authority of the
pope was declared void in England.
(AP, 7/18/97)
1552 Jul 18, Rudolf II of
Habsburg, emperor of Germany (1576-1612), was born.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1572 Jul 18, William of Orange was
recognized as viceroy of Holland, Friesland and Utrecht.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1610 Jul 18, Michelangelo Merisi
da Caravaggio (b.1571), Italian artist, died in Porto Ercole at age 38.
His paintings included “David With the Head of Goliath,” in which he
used his own image for Goliath. In 1999 Helen Langdon authored the
biography: "Caravaggio: A Life." In 2000 Peter Robb authored the
biography: "M: The Man Who Became Caravaggio."
(Econ, 2/26/05, p.82)(WSJ, 5/4/05,
p.D8)(http://tinyurl.com/8jjs6)
1670 Jul 18, Giovanni Battista
Bononcini, Italian (opera) composer, was born.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1716 Jul 18, A decree ordered all
Jews expelled from Brussels.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1721 Jul 18, Jean Antoine Watteau
(b.1684), French rococo painter, died. His work included "Le Mezzetin."
(WUD, 1994 p.1614)(MC, 10/10/01)(MC, 7/18/02)
1737 Jul 18, The Turkish army beat
the Austrians in the Battle at Banja Luka.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1770 Jul 18, Isabel Godin, having
traveled from Ecuador the length of the Amazon, reunited with her
husband Jean Godin in French Guiana.
(ON, 5/05, p.4)
1792 Jul 18, American naval hero
John Paul Jones died in Paris at age 45. His body was preserved in rum
in case the American government wished him back. In 1905 his body was
transported to the US and placed in a crypt in Annapolis. In 2003 Evan
Thomas authored "John Paul Jones: Sailor, Hero, Father of the American
Navy."
(AP, 7/18/97)(SSFC, 6/22/03, p.M3)
1789 Jul 18, Robespierre, a deputy
from Arras, France, decided to back the French Revolution.
(HN, 7/18/98)
1811 Jul 18, William Makepeace
Thackeray (d.1863), English novelist and satirist, was born. His books
were published as monthly serials. "Next to excellence is the
appreciation of it."
(HN, 7/18/98)(AP, 10/28/00)
1812 Jul 18, Great Britain signed
the Treaty of Orebro, making peace with Russia and Sweden.
(HN, 7/18/98)
1814 Jul 18, British capture
Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1817 Jul 18, Jane Austen (b.1775),
English writer, died at age 41.
(SFEC,11/9/97, BR
p.3)(www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/janelife.html)
1830 Jul 18, Uruguay adopted a
liberal constitution.
(HN, 7/18/98)
1861 Jul 18, Union and Confederate
troops skirmished at Blackburn's Ford, Virginia, in a prelude to the
Battle of Bull Run.
(HN, 7/18/98)
1863 Jul 18, A 2nd assault in the
Battle of Fort Wagner, SC, left US1500 and CS174 casualties. Union
troops of the Massachusetts 54th Infantry assaulted Battery Wagner on
Morris Island in the harbor at Charleston, SC. The ultimately
unsuccessful attack, the 1st major engagement by a unit of freed black
soldiers, was later celebrated in the 1989 film “Glory.”
(www.awod.com/cwchas/wagner.html)(LP, Spring 2006,
p.58)
1863 Jul 18, William Dorsey Pender
(29), US Confederate gen-maj, died of injuries.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1864 Jul 18, President Lincoln
asked for 500,000 volunteers for military service.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1864 Jul 18, Confederate Brig.
Gen. John Bell Hood (33), commanding a corps under Gen. Johnston, was
promoted to the temporary rank of full general, and given command of
the Army of Tennessee just outside the gates of Atlanta.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bell_Hood)
1870 Jul 18, Pontifical
infallibility was proclaimed at the Vatican Council. It proclaimed as
dogma that the Pope when speaking ex cathedra can make no mistake in
solemn declarations of what must be believed in matters of faith and
morals. The 20th ecumenical council, soon adjourned due to the outbreak
of the Franco-Prussian War.
(PTA, 1980, p.510)(MC, 7/18/02)
1872 Jul 18, Britain introduced
the Ballot Act for voting by secret ballot. [see Aug. 15]
(AP, 7/18/97)(HN, 7/18/98)
1872 Jul 18, Benito Juarez (66),
general (battle of Acapulco) and Pres. of Mexico (1858-1872), died of a
heart attack in the National Palace.
(MC, 7/18/02)(WSJ, 8/13/97, p.A12)
1877 Jul 18, Thomas Edison
recorded the human voice for the first time. He shouted “Haloo” into a
mouthpiece and played back a moving tape.
(HN, 7/18/01)(ON, 2/07, p.11)
1887 Jul 18, Vidkum Quisling,
Norwegian minister of Defense, premier (1942-45), was born. He was
considered a traitor to his country for allowing an easy takeover by
Nazi Germany.
(HN, 7/18/98)(MC, 7/18/02)
1890 Jul 18, Charles Wilson, Pres.
of General Motors (1940-53), Sec. of Defense (1953-57), was born.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1892 Jul 18, Thomas Cook (83),
English tour director (Thomas Cook & Son), died.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1894 Jul 18, Charles Marie Leconte
de Lisle (born 1818), French poet, died.
(MC, 7/18/02)(WUD, 1994, p.817)
1899 Jul 18, Horatio Alger Jr.
(67), American clergyman, author (Disagreeable Woman), died. His books,
reissued in cheaper editions, became huge bestsellers. In 1928 Herbert
Mayes authored a biography that was highly fabricated. In 1985 Gary
Scharnhorst and Jack Bales authored "The Lost Life of Horatio Alger,
Jr."
(WSJ, 8/27/03, p.B1)(MC, 7/18/02)
1902 Jul 18, Charles W.J.
Mengelberg, Dutch composer, conductor, was born.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1902 Jul 18, Jessamyn West,
American author (The Friendly Persuasion), was born.
(HN, 7/18/01)
1906 Jul 18, S.I. Hayakawa,
(Sen-R-CA), educator (Language in Action), was born.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1906 Jul 17, American playwright
Clifford Odets was born in Philadelphia.
(AP, 7/18/06)
1907 Jul 18, Florenz Ziegfeld's
"Follies of 1907," premiered in NYC. [see Jul 8]
(MC, 7/18/02)
1909 Jul 18, Andrei Gromyko, USSR
diplomat and President (1985-89), was born. [see Jul 5]
(MC, 7/18/02)
1911 Jul 18, Hume Cronyn, actor
(World According to Garp, Cocoon), was born in London, Ontario.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1913 Jul 18, Richard "Red"
Skelton, legendary clown, was born in Vincennes, Ind. During a career
that stretched through medicine shows, vaudeville, motion pictures,
radio and television, the gentle Skelton created a beloved host of
characters from the silent tramp Freddie the Freeloader (shown at left)
to the Mean Widdle Kid, who coined the catch phrase, "I dood it!"
Skelton's sentimental humor, so popular in the '40s, '50s and '60s, did
not change with the times and in 1970, CBS canceled The Red Skelton
Show. Skelton refused to retire, touring the college lecture circuit
and painting clown faces that sold for as much as $80,000. Red Skelton
died at age 84 on September 17, 1997.
(HNPD, 7/18/98)(MC, 7/18/02)
1914 Jul 18, US army air service
1st came into being as part of the Signal Corps.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1918 Jul 18, Nelson Mandela, first
black president of South Africa, was born in Qunu, S. Africa. [see Jun
11]
(HN, 7/18/98)(MC, 7/18/02)
1918 Jul 18, During World War I,
American and French forces launched a counteroffensive against the
Germans during the Second Battle of the Marne.
(AP, 7/18/08)
1921 Jul 18, John Glenn, Jr.,
first man to orbit the Earth, was born in Cambridge, OH.
(HN, 7/18/98)(MC, 7/18/02)
1921 Jul
18, The prosecution gave its opening remarks in the trial of the
Chicago Black Sox, accused of throwing the 1919 World Series.
(www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/blacksox/chronology.html)
1922 Jul 18, A fire began at the
Manufacturers Transit Company’s 7-storey warehouse on Jane St. in
Greenwich Village, NYC. Explosions erupted and newspapers called it
“the Greenwich Village Volcano.” 2 firemen were killed. A final
eruption destroyed 2 houses on Jul 23. Assistant fire chief
“Smokey Joe” Martin (d.1945) directed the fire fighting efforts.
(ON, 4/03, p.8)
1925 Jul 18, Hitler published
"Mein Kampf" (My Struggle). It became the bible for the Nazi Party. The
book is filled with anti-Semitic writings, a disdain for morality,
worship of power, and the blueprints for world domination.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1927 Jul 18, Ty Cobb hit safely
for the 4,000th time in his career.
(AP, 7/18/97)
1929 Jul 18, Screamin' Jay
Hawkins, American blues singer, was born.
(HN, 7/18/01)
1930 Jul 18, American Sugar
Refining Company, American Tobacco B, Atlantic Refining, General
Railway Signal, Goodrich, Nash Motors and Curtiss-Wright were removed
as components of the Dow Jones. Borden, Eastman Kodak, Goodyear, Ligget
& Myers, Standard Oil of California, United Air Transport and
Hudson Motor were added to the DJIA.
(WSJ, 4/2/04, p.C1)(WSJ, 4/8/04, p.C4)
1932 Jul 18, The United States and
Canada signed a treaty to develop the St. Lawrence Seaway.
(AP, 7/18/97)
1933 Jul 18, Yevgeny Yevtushenko,
Russian poet, was born in Zima, Russia.
(HN, 7/18/01)(MC, 7/18/02)
1934 Jul 18, Cotton-mill workers
in the US south went on strike. The UTW locals in the northern part of
Alabama launched a strike in Huntsville, Alabama, then spread to
Florence, Anniston, Gadsden, and Birmingham. While the strike was
popular, it was also ineffective: many employers welcomed it as a means
of cutting their expenses, since they had warehouses full of unsold
goods. A documentary called the "Uprising of ‘34" was made in 1995 and
scheduled for PBS on 6/27/95.
(WSJ, 6/13/95,
p.A-1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textile_workers_strike_%281934%29)
1935 Jul 18, Annie Smith Peck
(b.1850), one of the world’s renowned mountain climbers, died in New
York. In 1932 she authored “Flying over South America: Twenty Thousand
Miles by Air.”
(www.britannica.com/women/articles/Peck_Annie_Smith.html)
1935 Jul 18, Ethiopian King Haile
Selassie urged his countrymen to fight to the last man against the
invading Italian army. He had previously warned the League of Nations
of the dangers of appeasement.
(HN, 7/18/98)
1936 Jul 17, Gen. Francisco Franco
was flown from the Canary Island, where he served as military governor,
to Spanish Morocco where he led a rebellion against the elected Popular
Front. This began the Spanish civil war. The first word of the
rebellion was reported by Lester Ziffren (1906-2007) of the United
Press. The rebel Nationalist movement under Francisco Franco gained
support from the fascist regimes in Italy and Germany in opposition.
(SFC, 11/12/96, p.A12)(SFC, 7/13/01, WBb p.3)(WSJ,
11/24/07, p.A8)
1937 Jul 18, Hunter S. Thompson
(d.2005), journalist, was born in Louisville, Ky.
(SFC, 2/21/05,
p.A8)(www.nndb.com/people/312/000022246/)
1938 Jul 18, Douglas "Wrong Way"
Corrigan arrived in Ireland. He had left NY for Calif. [see Jul 17]
(MC, 7/18/02)
1938 Jul 18, Vladimir M. Kirshon
(35), Russian playwright, was executed.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1939 Jul 18, Edwin H. Armstrong
(1890-1954), US radio engineer, started the 1st FM (frequency
modulation) radio station in Alpine, NJ.
(SSFC, 10/24/04, Par p.5)
1940 Jul 18, The Democratic
national convention in Chicago nominated President Roosevelt for an
unprecedented third term in office.
(AP, 7/18/00)
1940 Jul 18, The 1st successful
helicopter flight was made at Stratford, Ct.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1941 Jul 18, SS troops drowned 40
Jews in Dvina River in Belorussia.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1942 Jul 18, The German
Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe, the first jet-propelled aircraft to fly
in combat, made its first flight. Walter Nowotny was a rising your star
in the Luftwaffe, chosen by Hitler to be the point man to lead the new
jet fighter under the tutelage of General of Fighters Adolf Galland who
was assigned to prove the airplane in battle. The Axis hopes were
dashed when Nowotny was attacked by American pilots during landing and
crashed. Col. Edward R. "Buddy" Haydon was one of those American pilots.
(www.fighter-planes.com/info/me262.htm)(HNQ, 9/2/02)
1943 Jul 18, The US Navy airship
K-74 was shot down by anti-aircraft fire from a German U-boat.
(HN, 7/18/98)
1943 Jul 18, There was a British
assault on Catania, Sicily.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1944 Jul 18, U.S. troops capture
Saint-Lo, France, ending the battle of the hedgerows.
(HN, 7/18/98)
1944 Jul 18, British Mosquitos
attacked Cologne and Berlin.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1944 Jul 18, Hideki Tojo was
removed as Japanese premier and war minister because of setbacks
suffered by his country in World War II.
(AP, 7/18/97)
1947 Jul 18, President Truman
signed the Presidential Succession Act, which placed the Speaker of the
House and the Senate President Pro Tempore next in the line of
succession after the vice president.
(HFA, '96, p.34)(AP, 7/18/97)
1947 Jul 18, An African American
patient, code-named CAL-3, was unwittingly injected with plutonium in a
SF hospital as part of a treatment for apparent bone cancer.
(SFEC, 10/31/99, BR p.3)
1947 Jul 18, King George VI signed
the Indian Independence Bill. In 2008 Peter Clarke authored “The Lat
Thousand Days of the British Empire.
(http://indiainteracts.com/columnist/2007/08/15/The-60-days-to-Aug-15-1947India-at-60/)(WSJ,
6/20/08, p.A11)
1947 Jul 18, British seized the
"Exodus 1947" ship of Jewish immigrants to Palestine. The British Royal
Navy intercepted the ship President Warfield, which had been renamed
Exodus by its passengers, forcing the 4,000 Jewish would-be immigrants
aboard back to Displaced Person camps in Germany. Britain was still the
ruling power in Palestine, which was being wracked by conflict
resulting from Jewish national aspirations. The return of the Jewish
immigrants, many of them survivors of Nazi persecution, heightened
anti-British sentiment among Jews in Palestine and elsewhere. Yossi
Harel, commander of the Exodus, died in 2008 at age 90.
(MC, 7/18/02)(HNQ, 12/4/98)(AP, 4/26/08)
1950 Jul 18, Richard Branson,
British music entrepreneur (Virgin Atlantic), was born.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Richard_Branson)
1950 Jul 18, Carl Clinton Van
Doren (b.1885), US literary critic and biographer, died in Torrington,
Connecticut.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Clinton_Van_Doren)
1951 Jul 18, Pope Pius XII
established the Archdiocese of Seattle and named Rev. Thomas A.
Connolly as its 1st archbishop.
(SFC, 7/13/01, WBb p.6)
1954 Jul 18, Coded messages
were delivered to Israeli agents via Israel Radio to blow
up a number of buildings in Egypt in order to delay Britain’s departure
from the Suez Canal. They planned to blame the acts on Muslim radicals
but the plan was uncovered. This came to be known as the Lavan Affair
after Pinhas Lavan, leader of Unit 13, refused to accept responsibility
on the grounds that the operation was conducted without his knowledge.
The events are documented in "Ben Gurion’s Spy" (1996) by Shabtai
Teveth.
(WSJ, 8/9/96, p.A5c)
1955 Jul 18, A summit opened in
Geneva, Switzerland, attended by Pres. Eisenhower, Soviet Premier
Nikolai Bulganin, British PM Anthony Eden and French Premier Edgar
Faure.
(AP, 7/18/05)
1955 Jul 18, 1st electric power
generated from atomic energy was sold commercially.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1961 Jul 18, In Spain ETA’s first
violent action tried to derail a train carrying supporters of dictator
Gen. Francisco Franco.
(AP, 3/22/06)
1964 Jul 18, Riots erupted in the
African American communities of NYC and Rochester, NY. The NYC race
riot began in Harlem and spread to Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn.
(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.F5)(MC, 7/18/02)
1968 Jul 18, Intel was
incorporated as N M Electronics (the letters standing for Noyce and
Moore), but quickly changed its name to Intel, formed from the first
syllables of the words integrated and electronics.
(http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_gx5202/is_2004/ai_n19123399)
1968 Jul 18, The UK enacted
sanctions against Rhodesia for a 2nd time.
(WUD, 1994, p.1687)(http://tinyurl.com/c5kcs9)
1969 Jul 18, A car driven by Sen.
Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., plunged off a bridge on Chappaquiddick
Island near Martha's Vineyard. His passenger, 28-year-old Mary Jo
Kopechne, died.
(TMC, 1994, p.1969)(AP, 7/18/97)
1970 Jul 18, Arthur Brown was
arrested for stripping on stage in Palermo, Sicily.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1971 Jul 18, New Zealand and
Australia announced they would pull their troops out of Vietnam.
(HN, 7/18/98)
1972 Jul 18, Egypt’s President
Sadat demanded that the USSR withdraw all military advisors from Egypt.
(http://files.osa.ceu.hu/holdings/300/8/3/text/67-5-236.shtml)
1973 Jul 18, Jack Hawkins
(b.1910), English actor, died in London. His films included “Ben Hur”
and “Bridge Over River Kwai.” His autobiography, “Anything For a Quiet
Life,” was published after his death.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Hawkins)
1978 Jul 18, Cyrus Vance
(1917-2002), US Sec. of State, met with the Egyptian and Israeli
Foreign Ministers at Leeds Castle, England.
(www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/trvl/ls/13038.htm)
1980 Jul 18, A US Federal court
voided the Selective Service Act as it didn’t include women. The issue
was resolved on June 25, 1981, when the Supreme Court ruled in Rostker
v. Goldberg that “that Congress acted well within its constitutional
authority when it authorized the registration of men, and not women.”
(www.american.edu/dgolash/rostker.htm)
1980 Jul 18, India became the
eighth country to demonstrate it could send a satellite to orbit above
Earth with the launch of the satellite Rohini 1 on a Satellite Launch
Vehicle (SLV) rocket in the state of Andhra Pradesh.
(www.spacetoday.org/Satellites/Iran/IranianSat.html)(NG, 5/88, p.598)
1982 Jul 18, In Guatemala soldiers
and paramilitary troops massacred 267 people in the remote hamlet of
Plan de Sanchez. In 2001 local communities filed genocide charges
against congressional head Efrain Rios Montt, who was the
dictator at the time of the massacre. In 2005 Guatemala apologized for
the government-directed massacre of 226 people in Plan de Sanchez.
(SFC, 6/6/01, p.C3)(SFC, 6/14/01, p.A15)(AP, 7/19/05)
1984 Jul 18, Walter F. Mondale won
the Democratic presidential nomination in San Francisco.
(AP, 7/18/99)
1984 Jul 18, James Huberty (41)
opened fire at a McDonald's fast-food restaurant in San Ysidro, Calif.,
killing 21 people before being shot dead by police.
(AP, 7/18/97)(SFC, 4/17/07, p.A8)
1986 Jul 17, The world got its
first look at the remains of the Titanic as videotapes of the British
luxury liner, which sank in 1912, were released by researchers from
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
(AP, 7/18/06)
1987 Jul 18, President Reagan used
his weekly radio address to call on Congress to give more aid to the
Nicaraguan Contras.
(AP, 7/18/97)
1987 Jul 18, Molly Yard was
elected the new president of the National Organization for Women,
succeeding Eleanor Smeal.
(AP, 7/18/97)
1988 Jul 18, Texas Treasurer Ann
Richards delivered the keynote address at the Democratic national
convention in Atlanta, needling Republican nominee-apparent George Bush
as having been "born with a silver foot in his mouth."
(HN, 7/18/98)
1989 Jul 18, Actress Rebecca
Schaeffer (21) was shot to death at her Los Angeles home by obsessed
fan Robert Bardo, who was later sentenced to life in prison.
(AP, 7/18/99)
1990 Jul 18, Dr. Karl Menninger,
the dominant figure in American psychiatry for six decades, died in
Topeka, Kansas, four days short of his 97th birthday.
(AP, 7/18/00)
1991 Jul 18, Socialist Party
leader Andre Cools was murdered. Cools had worked for more regional
autonomy for Wallonia, the French-speaking southern half of Belgium,
and the Dutch-speaking Flanders. The murder was believed to be done by
hit men after Cools threatened to reveal certain underworld activities.
6 men were convicted for the murder in 2004.
(SFC, 9/9/96, p.A11)(AP, 1/7/04)
1991 Jul 18, Shiite Muslim
kidnappers in Lebanon demanded the release of two Lebanese brothers
being held in Germany, warning there could be "grave consequences."
(AP, 7/18/01)
1992 Jul 18, Britain's opposition
Labor Party chose John Smith as its leader, replacing Neil Kinnock.
(AP, 7/18/97)
1992 Jul 18, In Peru 9 students
and a univ. teacher were killed at La Cantuta Univ. Later retired
Gen’l. Rodolfo Robles charged that an army death squad, the Colina
Group, was responsible. Death squad members were convicted and then
released in a 1995 general amnesty. In 2008 a former general and three
members of a military death squad were found guilty of participating in
the kidnapping and murder.
(SFC, 11/27/96, p.A13)(SFC, 12/2/96, p.A14)(SFC,
8/23/01, p.A8)(AP, 4/9/08)
1993 Jul 18, FBI Director William
Sessions continued to resist White House suggestions he step down,
saying he would resign only if President Clinton asked him to. Sessions
was fired by Clinton the next day.
(AP, 7/18/03)
1993 Jul 18, In Pakistan Shariq
and Ishaq Khan resigned under army pressure. An interim government,
headed by former world bank VP Moeen Qureshi, called for new elections.
(SFC, 1/30/97, p.A9)
1994 Jul 18, Crayola announced the
introduction of scented crayons.
(www.nomenu.com/MDArchives/Vol17/m17d005.html)
1994 Jul 18, In Buenos Aires a
terrorist attack killed 86 (96) people at the city’s Jewish Center, the
Argentine Israelite Mutual Aid Society (AMIA). Some 300 people were
injured. In 1996 three senior policemen and a retired officer were
charged in connection to the bombing. Iran denied any role. Police
inspector, Juan Jose Ribelli, accepted a $2.5 million several days
before the attack for providing the car in which the bomb exploded. It
was later revealed that he and his colleagues sold protection to car
thieves in return for stolen goods. In 2000 Ahmad Behbahani (32) told a
60 Minutes journalist from a refugee camp in Turkey that Iran was
behind the 1994 bombing in Argentina. In 2002 it was reported that Iran
paid Pres. Menem $10 million to cover up Iran’s involvement. In 2004 a
federal court acquitted 5 men of being accessories to the bombing. [see
Nov 9, 2005]
(SFC, 7/15/96, p.A12)(WSJ, 8/1/96 p.A1)(WSJ,
11/24/97, p.A1)(SFC,12/9/97, p.B10)(HN, 7/18/98)(SFC, 6/6/00,
p.A10)(SFC, 7/22/02, p.A1)(SFC, 9/3/04, p.A18)(NYT, 10/8/04, p.A12)
1994 Jul 18, In Rwanda the Tutsi
rebel movement (RPF) under Tutsi rebel leader Paul Kagame took power.
It promised to rebuild the courts and execute the guilty for the
slaughter of an estimated 500-800 thousand Tutsis. Two million
refugees, mostly Hutus, fled to refugee camps in Zaire and Tanzania.
Kagame studied at the US Army Command and General Staff College at Fort
Leavenworth in 1990. In 2005 Jean Hatzfeld, French journalist, authored
“Machete Season: The Killers in Rwanda Speak.”
(SFC, 417/96, p.A-9)(SFC, 8/9/96, p.A10)(SFC,
10/22/96, p.B1)(WSJ, 11/15/96, p.A16)(AP, 7/18/99)(SSFC, 6/26/05, p.C3)
1995 Jul 18, US Senate Republicans
opened a new round of Whitewater hearings.
(AP, 7/18/00)
1995 Jul 18, Opening statements
were presented in the trial of Susan Smith, the South Carolina woman
charged with drowning her two young sons.
(AP, 7/18/00)
1996 Jul 18, Recovery efforts
continued off Long Island, N.Y., for the bodies of the 230 people who
died in the fiery crash of TWA Flight 800; President Clinton urged
Americans not to immediately assume the crash was the work of
terrorists.
(AP, 7/18/97)
1996 Jul 18, In Sri Lanka 4,000
Tamil rebels overran a military base 175 miles NE of Colombo and
overcame 1,200 defenders.
(WSJ, 7/19/96, p.A1)
1997 Jul 18, Representative George
Miller of Martinez, Ca., demanded a full accounting by the federal EPA
concerning inspections of the Central Valley dairies, where dairy waste
was threatening underground water supplies.
(SFC, 7/19/97, p.A1,13)
1997 Jul 18, Federal agents in
California arrested eight seafood importers accused of smuggling
contaminated seafood by bribing customs brokers and FDA inspectors.
(SFC, 7/19/97, p.A15,18)
1997 Jul 18, German businessman
Thomas Kramer was slapped with a record $323,000 penalty by the Federal
Election Commission for making illegal U.S. political contributions.
(HN, 7/18/98)
1997 Jul 18, All key systems on
the Russian space station Mir returned to near-normal, about 24 hours
after the already disabled spacecraft had lost power.
(HN, 7/18/98)
1997 Jul 18, Sir James Goldsmith
(b.2/26/33), British-French financier and corporate raider, died in
Spain at age 64.
(SFEC, 7/20/97, p.B6)
1997 Jul 18, In Cambodia Prince
Ranariddh called off armed resistance and proposed a caretaker
government and new elections.
(SFC, 7/19/97, p.A8)
1997 Jul 18, In Mexico police
arrested Orlando Arroyo Palaces, aka "Long Hair," in San Luis Rio
Colorado for the murder of journalist Flores Gonzalez. He had been
supposedly hired by Ishmael Guttered, brother of Jaime Gonzalez
Gutters, who was arrested last month.
(SFC, 7/19/97, p.A11)
1997 Jul 18, In Northern Ireland
the Sinn Fein party urged its allies in the IRA to call a cease fire.
(SFC, 7/19/97, p.A8)
1997 Jul 18, In the Philippines
the government signed a general cease-fire with the Moro Islamic
Liberation Front, the country's 2nd largest Muslim rebel group.
(SFC, 7/19/97, p.A11)
1997 Jul 18, In Sierra Leone
leaders of the ruling junta pledged to implement an immediate cease
fire and to restore constitutional government.
(SFC, 7/19/97, p.A11)
1998 Jul 18, Residents along the
northern coast of Papua New Guinea were left reeling after a
23-foot-high tidal wave hit the night before, killing an estimated
3,000.
(AP, 7/18/99)
1998 Jul 18, South African
President Nelson Mandela capped his 80th birthday by marrying Graca
Machel, the widow of a Mozambican president and black liberation leader.
(AP, 7/18/08)
1998 Jul 18, The Yugoslav army
claimed that 30 rebels were killed while infiltrating from Albania. A
4-day battle began at Orahovac and the bodies of 58 ethnic Albanians
were buried. It was later alleged that most were buried in a mass grave
at an alleged garbage dump.
(SFEC, 7/19/98, p.A6)(SFC, 8/6/93, p.A14)
1999 Jul 18, David Cone of the New
York Yankees pitched a perfect game against the Montreal Expos, leading
his team to a 6-to-0 victory.
(AP, 7/18/00)
1999 Jul 18, Paul Lawrie won the
British Open after Jean Van de Velde triple-bogeyed on the 72nd hole.
(AP, 7/18/00)
1999 Jul 18, Authorities looking
into the disappearance of the plane carrying John F. Kennedy Junior,
his wife and sister-in-law announced that the "search and rescue"
operation had become "search and recovery."
(AP, 7/18/00)
1999 Jul 18, US air strikes in
southern Iraq killed 14 civilians and wounded 17 others according to
the Iraqi military.
(SFC, 7/19/99, p.A10)
1999 Jul 18, British ambassador
Nick Browne presented his credentials to Pres. Khatami of Iran
following a decade-long break in relations.
(SFC, 7/19/99, p.A12)(SFC, 2/9/02, p.A9)
2000 Jul 18, Shrugging off a veto
threat from President Clinton, the Senate voted 61-to-38 in favor of
eliminating the so-called "marriage penalty" by cutting taxes for
virtually every married couple.
(AP, 7/18/01)
2000 Jul 18, Sen. Paul Coverdell
(Republican, Georgia) died in Atlanta at age 61 from a cerebral
hemorrhage.
(SFC, 7/19/00, p.A3)(AP, 7/18/01)
2000 Jul 18, In Angola rebels
abducted 14 church workers and as many as 20 civilians from the Swiss
mission of Our Lady of La Salette in Dunde.
(SFC, 7/20/00, p.C3)
2000 Jul 18, Chinese Pres. Jiang
Zemin and Russia’s Pres. Putin denounced the US proposed missile
defense program as a violation of the 1972 ABM treaty. They also vowed
to strengthen a strategic partnership between their countries.
(SFC, 7/19/00, p.A10)
2001 Jul 18, Pres. Bush landed in
England to meet with PM Tony Blair prior to the G-8 summit in Genoa.
(SFC, 7/19/01, p.A10)
2001 Jul 18, The FAA warned of an
overseas threat and urged the "highest" level of caution.
(SFC, 5/17/02, p.A1)
2001 Jul 18, In Baltimore a 60-car
CSX freight train carrying hazardous materials derailed and caught fire
in a tunnel near Camden Yards. 54 cars burned and phone cables were
melted. The last burning car was pulled out July 23.
(SFC, 7/19/01, p.A3)(WSJ, 7/20/01, p.A1)(SFC,
7/24/01, p.A4)
2001 Jul 18, Thunderstorms in
southwestern Ohio killed 3 people.
(SFC, 7/19/01, p.A6)
2001 Jul 18, In Texas a natural
gas well exploded in Buffalo and 2 people were killed.
(SFC, 7/19/01, p.A6)
2001 Jul 18, Mimi Farina,
folksinger and founder of the Bread and Roses charity, died at age 56.
She was the sister of Joan Baez. She and Richard Farina (d.1966), her
1st husband, wrote the song "Pack Up Your Sorrows."
(SFC, 7/19/01, p.A25)
2001 Jul 18, In Egypt a trial
began for 52 men arrested on charges of obscene behavior and contempt
of religion. The men were arrested May 11 at the Queen Boat nightclub
in Cairo. On Nov 14, 23 men were sentenced up to 5 years in prison and
29 were acquitted. In 2002 Pres. Mubarak tossed out the verdicts
against all but 2 of the 52 defendants.
(SFC, 7/18/01, p.A12)(SFC, 11/15/01, p.A19)(SFC,
5/31/02, p.A13)
2001 Jul 18, In Nigeria a
30-member robbery gang killed up to 22 people in the town of Awkuzu in
Anambra state. They began with the house of Francis Okafor, a vigilante
member.
(SFC, 7/21/01, p.E2)
2001 Jul 18, It was reported that
Osman Durmus, the Health Minister in Turkey, had introduced regulations
for state schools to expel non-virgin girls training as health workers.
(SFC, 7/19/01, p.A11)
2002 Jul 18, Accused Sept. 11
conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui tried to plead guilty to charges that
could have brought the death penalty, but a federal judge in
Alexandria, Va., insisted he take time to think about it.
(AP, 7/18/03)
2002 Jul 18, US Army Sec. Thomas
White defended his sale of $12 million in Enron stock before the
company went bust. Records showed that he had made 77 phone calls to
Enron in the 10 months ending Feb 2002.
(SFC, 7/19/02, p.A3)
2002 Jul 18, The California
Supreme Court ruled that the state's marijuana law can help pot smokers
avoid being tried for drug offenses.
(SFC, 7/19/02, p.A1)
2002 Jul 18, It was reported that
drought in western US states was causing the biggest grasshopper
invasion in 50 years. Nebraska was among the hardest hit.
(SFC, 7/18/02, p.A2)
2002 Jul 18, Bob Pittman stepped
down as chief operating officer of AOL Time Warner in a shake-up at the
world's largest media company.
(AP, 7/18/03)
2002 Jul 18, A Canadian Forces
helicopter crashed in a remote region of Labrador, killing two pilots
and injuring two other helicopter personnel.
(Reuters, 7/18/02)
2002 Jul 18, Rebels attacked a
central Colombian town and clashed with police in an hours long battle,
leaving four civilians and four rebels dead and destroying dozens of
houses and government buildings.
(AP, 7/18/02)
2002 Jul 18, In Germany Chancellor
Schroeder fired defense minister Rudolf Scharping for accepting some
$72,000 in payments from a public relations firm.
(SFC, 7/19/02, p.A18)
2002 Jul 18, Greek police reported
the capture of Alexandros Giotopoulos (58), the alleged head of the
November 17 terror group. Police also reported confessions from members
Christodoulos Xiros and brother Vassilis Xiros to bombings and
assassinations.
(SFC, 7/19/02, p.A14)
2002 Jul 18, In India legislators
elected Abdul Kalam, father of their nuclear missile program, as the
country's 12th president.
(WSJ, 7/19/02, p.A9)
2002 Jul 18, In India separatist
guerrillas ambushed a police convoy in Dijungmukh, Assam state, and 7
police officers were killed.
(SFC, 7/19/02, p.A16)
2002 Jul 18, In Pakistan Anwar
Kenneth (40), a Christian, was convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to
death by hanging. He had called Islam a fake religion and said he was
Jesus Christ.
(SFC, 7/19/02, p.A16)
2002 Jul 18, In western Uganda a
fuel truck and a bus collided, killing more than 60 people in a fiery
explosion near Lutoto.
(AP, 7/19/02)(SFC, 7/19/02, p.A16)
2003 Jul 18, The Bush
administration declassified an 8-page part of the October, 2002,
National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) dubbed key judgments in the wake
of criticism on intelligence used to justify the war in Iraq.
(WSJ, 2/10/06, p.A4)
2003 Jul 18, Basketball star Kobe
Bryant was charged with sexually assaulting a 19-year-old woman at a
Colorado spa; Bryant denied the charge, saying he was guilty only of
adultery. Prosecutors later dropped the case.
(AP, 7/18/08)
2003 Jul 18, Scientists reported
the discovery of a link between a seratonin-controlling gene and
depression.
(SFC, 7/18/03, p.A23)(WSJ, 7/18/03, p.A1)
2003 Jul 18, Eight Afghan soldiers
were killed when their vehicle was blown apart by a remote controlled
mine.
(AP, 7/18/03)
2003 Jul 18, The body of British
scientist David Kelly, a weapons expert at the center of a storm over
British intelligence on Iraq, was found a day after he'd committed
suicide.
(AP, 7/18/08)
2003 Jul 18, The Philippine
government announced a cease-fire deal with a Muslim rebel group.
(AP, 7/18/03)
2003 Jul 18, Zimbabwe government
inspectors and police ordered bakeries to pay fines Friday for
violating price controls.
(AP, 7/18/03)
2004 Jul 18, The political film
“Outfoxed” premiered at over 3,000 house parties nationwide. Funding
and distribution were done by the liberal online hub MoveOn.org: “We
watch Fox so you don’t have to.”
(SFC, 7/19/04, p.A1)
2004 Jul 18, A spokesman said
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger would not apologize for mocking
certain lawmakers as "girlie men," despite criticisms from Democrats
that the remark was sexist and homophobic.
(AP, 7/18/05)
2004 Jul 18, Anne Gorsuch Burford
(62), Former Environmental Protection Agency chief, died in Aurora,
Colo.
(AP, 7/18/05)
2004 Jul 18, Bolivians voted in
favor of exporting the nation's vast natural gas reserves in a
referendum designed by the president to defuse social unrest. Voters
mandated higher taxes and greater government control over oil and gas.
(AP, 7/19/04)(Econ, 7/24/04, p.36)(Econ, 4/23/05,
p.38)
2004 Jul 18, Idjarruri Karaja
(40), an activist who worked to include Indian rights in Brazil's
constitution, died of complications from kidney surgery.
(AP, 7/20/04)
2004 Jul 18, In Chechnya Tamara
Khadzhiyeva of United Russia, a local leader of Russia's main
pro-presidential party, was fatally shot in Shali. The region's
prosecutor said it was a contract killing linked to next month's
presidential election.
(AP, 7/18/04)
2004 Jul 18, Militants killed
Essam al-Dijaili, the head of Iraq’s military's supply department, in a
drive-by shooting as he walked into his house in Baghdad.
(AP, 7/19/04)
2004 Jul 18, American jets hit a
position in Fallujah purportedly used by foreign militants, demolishing
a house and killing 14 people.
(AP, 7/18/04)
2004 Jul 18, Mexico and Cuba said
they will reinstate ambassadors in each other's countries at the end of
the month.
(AP, 7/18/04)
2004 Jul 18, In Nepal Maoist
guerrillas abducted at least 50 students and a dozen teachers from a
school near the capital to try to force them to back a campaign against
the constitutional monarchy.
(AP, 7/19/04)
2004 Jul 18, Gunmen angry over
Yasser Arafat's overhaul of his security forces burned down Palestinian
Authority offices in Gaza.
(AP, 7/18/04)
2004 Jul 18, Pedro Santana Lopes
was sworn in as PM of Portugal's 16th constitutional government at a
ceremony with President Jorge Sampaio.
(AP, 7/18/04)
2004 Jul 18, Economists and
international donors said mismanagement in Zimbabwe by Pres. Robert
Mugabe's regime is behind an annual inflation rate now close to 400
percent.
(AP, 7/18/04)
2005 Jul 18, President Bush told
India's PM Singh he wants to expand economic and diplomatic ties
between the two countries but was expected to pledge only token help
for India's nuclear energy technology. America agreed to grant India
“full civil nuclear energy cooperation.”
(AP, 7/18/05)(Econ, 7/23/05, p.37)
2005 Jul 18, The United States
extradited a Moroccan held at Guantanamo Bay who was indicted in Spain
for his alleged links to an al-Qaida cell.
(AP, 7/19/05)
2005 Jul 18, In Alabama Eric
Rudolph was sentenced to life in prison without parole for a 1998
abortion clinic bombing in Birmingham. On Aug 22 he was sentenced to 4
life terms for the 1996 Olympics bombing in Atlanta, and 1997 attacks
on an abortion clinic and gay nightclub.
(SFC, 7/19/05, p.A3)(WSJ, 8/23/05, p.A1)
2005 Jul 18, California Gov.
Schwarzenegger signed legislation to allow construction to go forward
on the new eastern half of the Bay Bridge.
(SFC, 7/19/05, p.B1)
2005 Jul 18, California reinstated
a program to issue identity cards to patients who have been prescribed
medical marijuana.
(SFC, 7/19/05, p.B1)
2005 Jul 18, San Diego acting
Mayor Michael Zucchet and councilman Ralph Inzunza were convicted in
federal court of taking illegal campaign cash from a strip club owner.
Councilwoman Toni Atkins succeeded Zucchet.
(SFC, 7/19/05, p.A10)
2005 Jul 18, News Corporation
announced it was buying Intermix Media, owner of MySpace.com, for $580
million.
(Econ, 1/21/06,
p.68)(www.newscorp.com/news/news_251.html)
2005 Jul 18, LaToyia Figueroa, who
was five months' pregnant, was last seen in West Philadelphia. Police
recovered her remains a month later. On August 20, 2005, They arrested
Steven Poaches, her former boyfriend and the father of the unborn
child. On October 17, 2006, in a nonjury trial, Common Pleas Judge M.
Teresa Sarmina found Stephen Poaches, guilty of two counts of
first-degree murder in the deaths of 24-year-old LaToyia Figueroa and
her fetus. Poaches waived his right to appeal and, in exchange,
prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty. He was given an
automatic life sentence with no parole.
(AP,
8/20/05)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaToyia_Figueroa)
2005 Jul 18, Paul Duke (78),
former anchor of the NBC news show “Washington Week in Review,” died.
He began moderating the show in 1974.
(SFC, 7/20/05, p.B6)
2005 Jul 18, Gen. William
Westmoreland (b.1914) died. As commander of U.S. forces in Vietnam,
Westmoreland oversaw the introduction of ground troops in South Vietnam
and a dramatic increase in the number of U.S. troops there. In vain, he
sought permission to engage enemy forces in their sanctuaries in
Cambodia, Laos and North Vietnam.
(AP, 7/19/05)
2005 Jul 18, Argentina issued
dollar bonds for the 1st time since its massive default in 2001.
(Econ, 7/23/05, p.34)
2005 Jul 18, A British jury
convicted Faryadi Sarwar Zardad, a former Afghan warlord, of torture
and hostage-taking (1991-1996). It was the first trial in Britain of a
foreigner for crimes committed in his homeland. The next day Zardad was
sentenced to 20 years in prison.
(AP, 7/19/05)(AP, 7/20/05)
2005 Jul 18, China evacuated over
600,000 people from coastal areas after typhoon Haitang slammed into
Taiwan, killing up to four people.
(Reuters, 7/18/05)
2005 Jul 18, The EU said it will
allow member countries to adopt different approaches in patenting
biotech drug innovations.
(WSJ, 7/19/05, p.A12)
2005 Jul 18, Under orders from an
international court, Guatemala apologized for the government-directed
massacre of 226 people in Plan de Sanchez on July 18, 1982.
(AP, 7/19/05)
2005 Jul 18, Bayan Jabr, Iraq's
interior minister, accused Syria of not making a serious effort to
crack down on insurgents in its territory or prevent them from crossing
into Iraq, adding that he had pictures and addresses of militant
leaders in Syria.
(AP, 7/18/05)
2005 Jul 18, Insurgents killed 8
police and government workers in seven separate shootings across
central Iraq. Ambushes and shootings across Iraq left at least 26
people dead.
(AP, 7/18/05)(SFC, 7/19/05, p.A11)
2005 Jul 18, Lebanon's newly
elected Parliament, dominated by an anti-Syrian coalition, approved an
amnesty motion for the release of former Christian warlord Samir
Geagea, who was linked to the 1987 bombing death of PM Rashid Karami.
(AP, 7/18/05)(SFC, 7/19/05, p.A9)
2005 Jul 18, Malaysia launched its
first bond fund on the stock exchange as part of an Asian scheme to
augment underdeveloped capital markets.
(AP, 7/18/05)
2005 Jul 18, Hurricane Emily
slammed into Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula as a powerful Category 4 storm.
(AP, 7/18/05)
2005 Jul 18, Pakistani police
arrested a man accused of killing 14 homeless people in the past three
weeks by bludgeoning them to death with bricks.
(AP, 7/19/05)
2005 Jul 18, Pakistan arrested 5
Taliban leaders.
(WSJ, 7/19/05, p.A1)
2005 Jul 18, Slobodan Milosevic's
paramilitary commander, his secret police chief and five others were
convicted and sentenced for the 2000 killing of Ivan Stambolic, former
Serbian president who was Milosevic's political rival.
(AP, 7/18/05)
2005 Jul 18, In a program to be
screened on ABC TV, the fisheries chief of the Solomon Islands in the
South Pacific says Japan poured money into the country in exchange for
its support over whaling and cheap access to tuna. Similar charges were
made by former officials from the tiny Caribbean nations of Dominica
and Grenada.
(AP, 7/18/05)
2005 Jul 18, Suriname's parliament
was deadlocked over choosing a new president, with no candidate
securing the two-thirds majority needed to become the leader.
(AP, 7/19/05)
2005 Jul 18, In Turkey 4 soldiers
were killed when the PKK detonated a bomb in Hakkari.
(Econ, 7/23/05, p.48)
2006 Jul 18, The US Senate voted
after two days of emotional debate to expand federal funding of
embryonic stem cell research, sending the measure to President George
Bush for a promised veto.
(AP, 7/18/07)
2006 Jul 18, A doctor and two
nurses who labored at a flooded-out New Orleans hospital in Hurricane
Katrina's chaotic aftermath were arrested and accused of killing four
trapped and desperately ill patients with injections of morphine and
sedatives.
(AP, 7/18/07)
2006 Jul 18, The Club Deluxe on
Haight Street in SF celebrated the 1st anniversary of its open mike
poetry and jazz. It was initiated by New York poets Jennifer Barone and
Ingrid Keir and jazz musician Dan Heffez.
(SFC, 7/22/06, p.E1)
2006 Jul 18, The Seattle Sonics
basketball team said a group of Oklahoma businessmen had purchased the
club for $350 million. The new ownership group said it plans to keep
the team in Seattle, if it can work out a deal for a new arena in the
next 12 months. Officials in Seattle said they planned to hold the
Sonics to their lease, which expires in 2010.
(Econ, 7/29/06, p.33)(http://tinyurl.com/qga3e)
2006 Jul 18, A heat wave in the US
left at least 7 people dead including 5 in Oklahoma and 2 in
Pennsylvania.
(SFC, 7/19/06, p.A2)
2006 Jul 18, US researchers
reported that men and boys with autism have fewer neurons in the
amygdala, a part of the brain involved in emotion and memory.
(AP, 7/18/06)
2006 Jul 18, The Afghan government
announced plans to re-establish a Vice and Virtues Ministry, but it
assured the public the office would not resemble the Taliban version
that became a symbol of the brutal regime toppled by US forces in 2001.
One coalition soldier was killed in fighting in Uruzgan province.
(AP, 7/18/06)(SFC, 7/20/06, p.A13)
2006 Jul 18, China reported its
fastest economic growth in a decade and warned that booming
construction and bank loans could fuel inflation, raising expectations
that Beijing might nudge up interest rates and possibly the value of
its currency.
(AP, 7/18/06)
2006 Jul 18, The UN said fighting
between the army and leftist guerrillas in western Colombia has forced
hundreds of civilians from their homes and trapped others in their
villages.
(AP, 7/19/06)
2006 Jul 18, Egypt and Israel
reopened the Rafah border crossing for the first time in three weeks,
triggering a rush to the border by thousands of Palestinians who had
been waiting in Egypt.
(AP, 7/18/06)
2006 Jul 18, In India
Lashkar-e-Qahhar (Army of Terror), a little-known Islamic militant
group that claimed responsibility for the Bombay train bombings, warned
that it was planning attacks against government and historic sites in
India in an e-mail to an Indian television station. Indian police
called the e-mail a hoax.
(AP, 7/18/06)(AP, 7/19/06)
2006 Jul 18, In India several
telecom operators confirmed that they had blocked a number of Web sites
on orders from India’s Dept. of Telecommunications.
(WSJ, 7/19/06, p.A8)
2006 Jul 18, In southern Iraq a
suicide car bomber detonated explosives in a crowd of laborers gathered
across the street from a major Shiite shrine in Kufa, killing 59 people
and wounding 105. National Security Adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie said
Diyar Ismail Mahmoud (known as Abu al-Afghani), a Jordanian who killed
two U.S. soldiers last month, was fatally wounded in a clash with
security forces. The country's largest Sunni Arab party called for a
conference of all religious and political leaders to end sectarian
killing and save the country from sliding into civil war.
(AP, 7/18/06)(WSJ, 7/19/06, p.A1)
2006 Jul 18, The UN reported that
nearly 6,000 civilians were slain across Iraq in May and June, a spike
that coincided with rising sectarian attacks. The report said 2,669
civilians died in May and 3,149 in June, the first full month of the
al-Maliki government.
(AP, 7/19/06)
2006 Jul 18, Israel struck a
Lebanese army base outside Beirut and flattened a house near the
border, killing 31 people in a new wave of bombings. Hezbollah fired
more rockets at northern Israel, killing one Israeli and wounding
several others. Israel said its offensive in Lebanon could last several
more weeks and involve large numbers of ground forces.
(AP, 7/18/06)(WSJ, 7/19/06, p.A1)
2006 Jul 18, Authorities freed
about 100 Poles forced into virtual slavery as Italian and Polish
police arrested 25 people involved in a human trafficking ring that
brought farm workers to Italy.
(AP, 7/19/06)
2006 Jul 18, Kyrgyz police in Osh
arrested six men suspected of taking part in an uprising in neighboring
Uzbekistan last year and seized 14 ounces of TNT from them.
(AP, 7/19/06)
2006 Jul 18, Pakistan welcomed a
move by Britain to ban one of the major rebel groups, the Baluchistan
Liberation Army. Islamabad outlawed the group in April. In eastern
Pakistan 3 men convicted of gang-raping a woman during a robbery in
2000 were hanged after President Musharraf rejected their plea for
mercy.
(AP, 7/18/06)(AFP, 7/21/06)
2006 Jul 18, In the southern
Philippines Armando Pace (56), who often attacked corruption among
politicians and the illegal drug trade in Digos city, was gunned down
as he was riding home on a motorcycle. He was the ninth journalist
killed in the country this year and the 82nd since 1986, based on a
count by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines.
(AP, 7/18/06)
2006 Jul 18, In Somalia Islamic
militiamen who rule Mogadishu arrested about 60 people for watching
videos in several overnight raids.
(AP, 7/19/06)
2006 Jul 18, South Korea's
disaster agency said a fifth straight day of monsoon rains have left 19
people dead and 31 missing.
(AP, 7/18/06)
2006 Jul 18, In northern Sri Lanka
a roadside bomb killed one person and wounded six others, including
four government soldiers.
(AP, 7/18/06)
2006 Jul 18, Nearly 300 striking
doctors in Zimbabwe ignored government demands for them to return to
hospital wards. The junior doctors walked out on July 13 after
authorities extended their seven-year attachment to state hospitals by
another year, to be spent working at rural facilities.
(AP, 7/19/06)
2007 Jul 18, US President George
W. Bush ordered the creation of a "working group" of top aides to
review the safety of imports from China and all around the world.
Michael Leavitt, Health and Human Services Secretary, was selected to
chair the panel.
(AP, 7/18/07)(SFC, 7/19/07, p.A3)
2007 Jul 18, A massive geyser of
steam and debris erupted through a midtown Manhattan street near Grand
Central Terminal as an 83-year-old steam pipe ruptured. One woman,
identified as Lois Baumerich (57) of Hawthorne, N.J., died from cardiac
arrest.
(AP, 7/19/07)
2007 Jul 18, NYC and New Jersey
claimed $170.2 million in anti-terrorism funds, LA and Long Beach, Ca.,
claimed $72.6 million, DC claimed $61.7 million, Chicago got $47.3
million, the SF Bay Area got $34.1 million and Houston got $25 million.
(SFC, 7/19/07, p.B3)
2007 Jul 18, Jerry Hadley
(b.1952), opera tenor, died in Poughkeepsie, NY. He had been in the
hospital since July 10, when he was admitted after shooting himself
with an air rifle.
(SFC, 7/19/07, p.A2)
2007 Jul 18, Sekou Sundiata
(b.1948), black poet and activist born as Robert Franklin Feaster, died
of heart failure in Westchester, NY.
(SFC, 7/28/07, p.B5)
2007 Jul 18, Suspected Taliban
militants ambushed a convoy of Afghan police officers driving through
Zabul province, killing six. Suicide bombers in Khost killed three
police officers. Militants fatally shot two police officers in southern
Kandahar province, where four suspected Taliban were killed in a clash
with NATO and Afghan forces. In Paktia province, an attack on a road
construction crew left one person from the Philippines dead and three
guards wounded. Taliban fighters also ambushed police in Logar
province, killing six of the officers. Armed men kidnapped two Germans
and two Afghans working on a dam project in central Afghanistan. One of
the Germans, Ruediger Diedrich, was found shot dead three days later;
the others were later released.
(AP, 7/18/07)(AP, 7/19/07)(AP, 7/18/08)
2007 Jul 18, Bosnia's war crimes
court acquitted Momcilo Mandic, the most senior ethnic Serb official
indicted by Bosnian authorities, of all charges related to crimes
during the 1992-95 war.
(Reuters, 7/18/07)
2007 Jul 18, In London 3 Muslim
men were jailed for 6 years for their role in a heated protest outside
the Danish embassy in 2006, following the publication of cartoons in a
Danish newspaper making fun of the Prophet and of Muslims generally. A
4th man was sentenced to 4 years.
(Econ, 7/21/07, p.55)
2007 Jul 18, Eritrean state media
said Sudanese army commanders and former rebel leaders from the east of
the country have signed a military deal in Asmara, bolstering a peace
agreement signed last year. Bringing an end to 10 years of sporadic
fighting, a peace deal was signed last year with the Sudanese
government, which is to allocate the Eastern groups a total of 600
million dollars over five years for development.
(AFP, 7/18/07)
2007 Jul 18, Guatemalan police
rescued a two-month-old boy who had been stolen from his home and
arrested four people who were allegedly preparing the baby for illegal
adoption.
(AP, 7/18/07)
2007 Jul 18, In India at least 26
people were killed and 15 others injured when a seven-story building
collapsed in Mumbai.
(AP, 7/19/07)
2007 Jul 19, An armed group killed
11 members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard in clashes in the
country's lawless southeast. A report said the Guards clashed with drug
traffickers in a mountainous area near Iran's borders with Pakistan and
Afghanistan and killed four of them.
(AP, 7/21/07)
2007 Jul 18, The Iraqi government
said Turkish artillery and warplanes bombarded areas of northern Iraq
and called on Turkey to stop military operations and resolve the
conflict diplomatically. A series of roadside bombs exploded in
separate areas of east Baghdad, killing 11 people and wounding more
than a dozen. US troops killed three al-Qaida suspects as they tried to
slip out of Baqouba. 4 US soldiers and their Iraqi interpreter were
killed in a roadside bombing in east Baghdad.
(AP, 7/18/07)(AP, 7/19/07)
2007 Jul 18, Two boats carrying
would-be migrants crossing the Mediterranean to Europe sank between
Italy and Libya, leaving five people dead, including a child. Eleven
others were missing and presumed dead. An Italian Navy ship pulled 22
survivors from the water.
(AP, 7/19/07)
2007 Jul 18, A top Nigerian lawyer
accused former president Olusegun Obasanjo of corruption and asked the
anti-graft commission (EFCC) to investigate his financial activities
while in office. A Nigerian oil official said the economy has lost more
than one billion dollars a month and hundreds of thousands of barrels
of crude a day since 2006 due to unrest in the Niger Delta. In northern
Nigeria a radical Sunni Islamic preacher was shot dead near a mosque.
Sunni Muslims in Sokoto said they suspected members of the rival Shiite
community.
(AFP, 7/18/07)(AFP, 7/19/07)
2007 Jul 18, Suspected militants
attacked security forces in northwest Pakistan, killing 16 soldiers and
wounding up to 21 others in two separate strikes against military
convoys.
(AP, 7/18/07)
2007 Jul 18, An explosion tore
through a crowd of mourners at a cemetery in southern Russia, wounding
at least 10 people, including four police officers. The funeral was for
an ethnic Russian woman who had been fatally shot along with her two
grown children July 16 in Ingushetia.
(AP, 7/19/07)
2007 Jul 18, South Korea's nuclear
envoy said North Korea followed up the shutdown of its sole operating
reactor with a pledge to disclose all its nuclear weapons programs and
disable them by the end of the year.
(AP, 7/18/07)
2007 Jul 18, Telecoms giant
Ericsson said it had won a 2.0-billion-dollar order from India's Bharti
Airtel to expand its network into rural areas, the largest order ever
received by the Swedish company.
(AP, 7/18/07)
2007 Jul 18, A Ukraine bus taking
vacationers to the Black Sea overturned when its brakes failed, killing
six people and injuring 46.
(AP, 7/19/07)
2008 Jul 18, The Batman sequel
"The Dark Knight" opened and set a single-day box office record by
taking in $66.4 million.
(AP, 7/19/08)
2008 Jul 18, Nebraska’s new
safe-haven law went into effect allowing parents to abandon unwanted
children, under age 19, at state-licensed hospitals with no questions
asked. The law was later amended after parents and guardians, some from
out of state, dropped off children as old as 17.
(SFC, 8/23/08, p.A4)(SFC, 10/21/08, p.A3)
2008 Jul 18, New Hampshire decided
to accept an offer from Venezuela of free heating oil for the state’s
poor.
(WSJ, 7/19/08, p.A2)
2008 Jul 18, In Houston, Texas,
one of the nation's largest mobile cranes collapsed at LyondellBasell
refinery, killing four workers. An additional 7 workers were injured
when the crane collapsed during routine maintenance at the chemical
plant.
(AP, 7/19/08)
2008 Jul 18, In Afghanistan a
roadside blast the Nava district of Helmand province. Three guards were
killed and four wounded. 2 French aid workers were taken from their
guest house in the early hours in the central province of Day Kundi,
one of the poorest areas of Afghanistan. On August 2 Action Against
Hunger said the aid workers had been released.
(AP, 7/18/08)(AFP, 8/2/08)
2008 Jul 18, In Algeria the
government of Mali and ethnic Tuareg rebels reached a truce agreement
in dangerous northern Mali. One faction of the Tuareg group refused to
sign the deal, saying it did not do enough to help the Tuaregs.
(AP, 7/22/08)
2008 Jul 18, Argentina’s President
Cristina Fernandez canceled a widely protested farm export tax hike
following months of protest and a stunning rejection by the Senate. She
issued a resolution reducing the export taxes to their previous level.
(AP, 7/18/08)(Econ, 7/26/08, p.43)
2008 Jul 18, In Australia Pope
Benedict XVI warned Christian leaders that the push to unite Christian
churches was at a "critical juncture" and called on people of all
religions to join together against violence.
(AFP, 7/18/08)
2008 Jul 18, A border clash
triggered by a smuggling attempt left two Bangladeshi troops dead and
one Indian soldier seriously wounded.
(AP, 7/18/08)
2008 Jul 18, In Brazil police said
at least eight alleged drug traffickers were killed during a raid in a
Rio de Janeiro shantytown.
(AP, 7/18/08)
2008 Jul 18, A report of the
European Union Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) was leaked to the media.
According the report, which was sent to Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister
Plugchieva two weeks ago, businessman Lyudmil Stoykov, who sponsored
the president's election campaign, and his associate Mario Nikolov, who
is a sponsor of Parvanov's Bulgarian Socialist Party, were involved in
large-scale abuses of EU funds.
(http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90853/6452879.html)
2008 Jul 18, Cuba’s Communist
officials decreed that private farmers and cooperatives can use up to
100 acres (40 hectares) of idle government land, as President Raul
Castro works to revive the floundering agricultural sector.
(AP, 7/19/08)
2008 Jul 18, In Iraq two suspected
insurgents, linked to the June 26 suicide attack, were captured in a
near Tarmiyah, north of Baghdad.
(http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080801/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq)
2008 Jul 18, Israel’s Shin Bet
security service said investigators had arrested six men in June and
July suspected of trying to set up an al-Qaida-linked terror network,
including one who wanted to shoot down President Bush's helicopter.
(AP, 7/18/08)
2008 Jul 18, Suspected Muslim
rebels threw a grenade at a crowded bus terminal in the Indian portion
of Kashmir, wounding 35 people, including seven children.
(AP, 7/19/08)
2008 Jul 18, Mexico's president
replaced a 1791 time capsule discovered atop Mexico City's cathedral
with a new one containing messages from golf star Lorena Ochoa,
novelist Carlos Fuentes and a boy genius.
(AP, 7/19/08)
2008 Jul 18, In northwestern
Pakistan, at least 10 Taliban died in fierce fighting between two rival
militant groups. The Taliban threatened to begin executing hostages
captured on July 12 unless the government releases their comrades.
(AP, 7/19/08)(SFC, 7/19/08, p.A5)
2008 Jul 18, Senegal’s President
Abdoulaye Wade said Sudan President Omar al-Beshir has agreed to
restore relations with Chad, more than two months after Khartoum
severed ties accusing Ndjamena of backing Darfur rebels.
(AFP, 7/18/08)
2008 Jul 18, In Singapore Peter
Lloyd (41), a TV reporter for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
(ABC), was charged with trafficking about one gram of methamphetamine
to a Singaporean for 100 Singapore dollars (73.5 US) at a hotel early
this month.
(AFP, 7/18/08)
2008 Jul 18, In Spain, a spokesman
said police in the southern city of Seville have been left red-faced
after more than 100 kilos of drugs were stolen from police headquarters
and replaced with talcum powder.
(AFP, 7/18/08)
2008 Jul 18, In Spain a
Saudi-organized conference of the world's great religions called for an
international agreement to combat terrorism, "a universal phenomenon
that requires unified international efforts."
(AFP, 7/18/08)
2008 Jul 18, South Africa’s Pres.
Thabo Mbeki announced plans to work with the UN and African Union as he
attempts to mediate a settlement in Zimbabwe.
(SFC, 7/19/08, p.A8)
2008 Jul 18, Sri Lankan warplanes
carried out air raids over the rebel-controlled northern region of
Mullaittivu, targeting a Tiger logistics base. The military said
fighting in the northern Vavuniya district left nine rebels killed. 7
insurgents were killed along the Welioya front, while 3 more were
killed in Jaffna. Angry protesters halted trains and clashed with
policemen in Colombo as authorities began demolishing their homes,
saying they were unauthorized constructions that encroached on
government lands.
(AFP, 7/18/08)(AP, 7/18/08)(AP, 7/19/08)
2008 Jul 18, Tropical Storm
Kalmaegi wreaked havoc across Taiwan, leaving at least 19 people dead
and seven missing.
(AFP, 7/20/08)
2008 Jul 18, Thailand sent more
military reinforcements to a disputed part of the Cambodian border,
after the tense four-day standoff nearly erupted into gunfire during
the night.
(AFP, 7/18/08)
2008 Jul 18, In Tunisia 2
officials and three others were convicted of plotting terror attacks
and to overthrow the government.
(WSJ, 7/19/08, p.A1)
2008 Jul 18, In southeastern
Turkey 10 members of the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) were
killed in clashes with Turkish military forces.
(Reuters, 7/19/08)
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