Today in History - September 15
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1514 Sep 15,
Selim I entered Tabriz, Persia, and massacred much of the population.
(PCh, 1992, p.168)
1525 Sep 15, Jan de Bakker (26),
Roman Catholic priest also known under the name Pistorius, was burned
during the Reformation in the Netherlands.
(www.bautz.de/bbkl/p/pistorius_joh.shtml)
1613 Sep 15, Francois, duc de la
Rochefoucauld (d.1680), writer (Memoires), was born in Paris, France.
"When we cannot find contentment in ourselves it is useless to seek it
elsewhere."
(AP, 12/2/98)(www.bookrags.com)
1613 Sep 15, Thomas Overbury
(b.1581), Elizabethan poet, died in London. He was murdered by his
wife, Florence Maybrick, who used an enema of arsenic. The murder was
arranged by Frances Howard, Lady Essex, who felt attacked by Overbury’s
poem “A Wife.”
(WSJ, 6/24/05,
p.W9)(http://search.eb.com/shakespeare/micro/445/8.html)
1776 Sep 15, British forces
occupied New York City during the American Revolution. British forces
captured Kip's Bay, Manhattan, during the American Revolution.
(AP, 9/15/97)(HN, 9/15/99)
1788 Sep 15, An alliance between
Britain, Prussia and the Netherlands was ratified at the Hague.
(HN, 9/15/99)
1789 Sep 15, James Fenimore Cooper
(d.1851), American novelist, was born in Burlington, NJ. He is best
known for "The Pioneers" and "Last of the Mohicans." "The press, like
fire, is an excellent servant, but a terrible master."
(AP, 6/25/97)(HN, 9/15/99)
1789 Sep 15, The U.S. Department
of Foreign Affairs was renamed the Department of State.
(AP, 9/15/97)
1807 Sep 15, Former Vice President
Aaron Burr was acquitted of a misdemeanor charge two weeks after he was
found innocent of treason.
(AP, 9/15/07)
1814 Sep 15, The words of the
“Star-Spangled Banner,” written by Francis Scott Key following the Sep
13 attack on Fort Henry, was printed on a handbill without the name of
Francis Scott Key and originally known as "The Defense of Fort McHenry.”
(HNQ, 2/16/02)
1821 Sep 15, Independence was
proclaimed for Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and El
Salvador.
(NG, 6/1988, p.781)(AP, 9/15/97)
1830 Sep 15, British MP William
Huskisson (b.1770) was killed under the wheels of the “Rocket” train at
the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. He was the 1st
person to be run-over by a railroad train.
(SFEC,12/21/97, Z1
p.5)(www.wordiq.com/definition/William_Huskisson)
1835 Sep 15, HMS Beagle and
Charles Darwin reached the Galapagos Islands, a scattering of 19 small
islands and scores of islets.
(SFC, 12/4/94, p. T-5)(www.gct.org/darwinfact.html)
1857 Sep 15, William Howard Taft
was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He served as 26th president (R) of the
United States (1909-1913) and as chief justice. He is most remembered
for his "dollar diplomacy."
(AP, 9/15/97)(HN, 9/15/99)
1857 Sep 15, Mormon leader Brigham
Young called out the Nauvoo Legion to fight the U.S. Troops if they
enter Utah Territory.
(www.wordiq.com/definition/Utah_War)
1857 Sep 15, Timothy Alden of NYC
patented a typesetting machine.
(www.todayinsci.com/)
1858 Sep 15, The third debate
between senatorial candidates Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas
was held in Jonesboro, Ill.
(AP, 9/15/08)
1858 Sep 15, The Butterfield
Overland Mail Company began delivering mail from St. Louis to San
Francisco. The company's motto was: "Remember, boys, nothing on God's
earth must stop the United States mail!"
(HN, 9/15/99)
1858 Sep 15, Charles E Vicomte de
Foucauld (d.1916), French explorer and hermit, was born in Strasbourg,
France.
(www.manntaylor.com/foucauld.html)
1859 Sep 15, Isambard Brunel
(b.1806), engineer of England’s Thames Tunnel, died. He was the son of
Marc Brunel, the engineer who initiated the project. Isambard is best
known for the creation of the Great Western Railway, a series of famous
steamships, including the first with a propeller, and numerous
important bridges and tunnels. In 2002 R. Angus Buchanan authored
“Brunel: The Life and Times of Isambard Kingdom Brunel.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isambard_Kingdom_Brunel)(ON, 8/07, p.7)
1862 Sep 15, Confederates captured
the Union weapon arsenal at Harpers Ferry, WV, securing the rear of
Robert E. Lee's forces in Maryland.
(HN, 9/15/99)
1862 Sep 15, John T. Wilder, the
Union commander at Munfordville, used unconventional methods to stall
Confederate General Braxton Bragg’s advance through Kentucky. On
September 15, Bragg arrived to find some 4,000 men behind well-built
defenses--far more than he had anticipated. He brought up more units
and surrounded the area, but instead of pressing his advantage, agreed
to a suggestion made by his subordinate, Maj. Gen. Simon Bolivar
Buckner. Buckner suggested that he be allowed to parley with the
garrison and convince them of the hopelessness of their position. Bragg
grudgingly acquiesced.
(HNQ, 4/26/01)
1864 Sep 15, British explorer John
Speke (b.1827) died in England by his gun own during in an alleged
hunting accident. In 2006 W.B. Carnochan authored “The Sad Story of
Burton, Speke, and the Nile; or Was John Hanning Speke a Cad.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hanning_Speke)(WSJ, 5/20/06, p.P9)
1876 Sep 15, Bruno Walter
(d.1962), [B W Schlesinger], conductor (NY Phil), was born in Berlin,
Germany.
(www.britannica.com)
1881 Sep 15, Ettore Arco Isidoro
Bugatti (d.1947), race car builder (Amaz Bugattis), was born in Milan,
Italy.
(www.britannica.com)
1885 Sep 15, Juliusz Zarebski,
Polish composer, died at 31.
(www.dolmetsch.com/cdefsz.htm)
1889 Sep 15, Robert Benchley,
humorist, was born.
(HN, 9/15/00)
1890 Sep 15, Agatha Christie,
English writer of mystery novels, was born. Her books included "Death
on the Nile" and "And Then There Were None."
(HN, 9/15/99)
1890 Sep 15, Claude McKay, poet
and novelist, was born. He was part of the Harlem Renaissance.
(HN, 9/15/00)
1891 Sep 15, The Dalton gang held
up a train and took $2,500 at Wagoner, Okla.
(HN, 9/15/99)
1894 Sep 15, Jean Renoir (d.1979),
French film director, was born. He was the son of Pierre Renoir
(1841-1919), the impressionist painter. His work included “Grand
Illusion” and “The Rules of the Game.” “When a friend speaks to
me, whatever he says is interesting.”
(HN, 9/15/00)(AHD, p.1215)(AP, 10/11/00)
1894 Sep 15, Japan defeated China
in the Battle of Ping Yang (Pyongyang).
(http://24.1911encyclopedia.org/C/CH/CHINKIANG.htm)
1901 Sep 15, Sir Howard Bailey,
British engineer, was born. He gave his name to a prefabricated bridge
used extensively during World War II.
(HN, 9/15/99)
1904 Sep 15, Wilbur Wright made
his 1st controlled half-circle while in flight.
(www.centennialofflight.gov/user/fact_sept.htm)
1907 Sep 15, Fay Wray (d.2004),
film actress, was born in Alberta, Canada. She became best known for
her 1933 performance in “King Kong.”
(SFC, 8/10/04, p.B7)
1913 Sep 15, John Mitchell
(d.1988), Pres. Nixon's attorney general (1969-1972), was born. Under
Nixon he was a central figure in the Watergate scandal and served time
in jail.
(http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/mitchell5.html)
1914 Sep 15, President Woodrow
Wilson ordered the Punitive Expedition out of Mexico. The Expedition,
headed by General John Pershing, had been searching for Pancho Villa, a
Mexican revolutionary.
(HN, 9/15/99)
1916 Sep 15, The British
introduced armored tanks during the Battle of the Somme.
(HN, 9/15/00)
1917 Sep 15, Russia was proclaimed
a republic by Alexander Kerensky, the head of a provisional government.
(AP, 9/15/97)
1923 Sep 15, Gov. Walton (b.1881)
of Oklahoma declared a state of siege because of KKK terror. Walton was
elected governor in 1922 and impeached in 1923.
(www.cga.state.ct.us/2004/rpt/2004-R-0184.htm)
1926 Sep 15, Bobby Short, singer
and pianist (Carlisle Hotel), was born in Danville, Ill.
(HN,
9/15/00)(www.delafont.com/music_acts/bobby-short.htm)
1928 Sep 15, Scottish
bacteriologist Alexander Fleming discovered, by accident, that the mold
penicillin has an antibiotic effect. He shared a Nobel Prize in 1945.
[see 1929,1941]
(V.D.-H.K.p.354)(HN, 9/15/99)
1933 Sep 15, Rafael Fruhbeck de
Burgos, conductor, was born in Burgos, Spain.
(http://wkar.org/90.5/page.php?content=history)
1935 Sep 15, In Berlin, the Reich
under Adolf Hitler adopted The Nuremberg Laws which deprived German
Jews of their citizenship, made the swastika the official symbol of
Nazi Germany and established gradations of "Jewishness." "Full Jews,"
people with four "non-Aryan" grandparents, were deprived of German
citizenship and forbidden to marry members of the "Aryan race." German
Jews, had been barred since 1938 from government, medical, and legal
professions, and shut out from every area of German public life. After
the war Gen'l. Patton gave the documents to a friend and they were
stored in the Huntington Museum in Cal.
(AP, 9/15/97)(HN, 9/15/99)(SFC, 6/26/99, p.A3)
1937 Sep 15, Prime Minister of
England Neville Chamberlain flew to Germany to discuss the future of
Czechoslovakia with Adolf Hitler.
(HN, 9/15/99)
1938 Sep 15, Thomas Wolfe
(b.1900), US writer (Look Homeward Angel), died in Baltimore.
(www.britannica.com)
1938 Sep 15, There was a
conference at Berchtesgaden between Adolf Hitler and British Prime
Minister Neville Chamberlain.
(WUD, 1994, p.1682)
1939 Sep 15, The Polish submarine
Orzel arrived in Tallinn, Estonia, after escaping the German invasion
of Poland.
(HN, 9/15/99)
1940 Sep 15, The tide turned in
Battle of Britain in WW II. A reported 185 German planes were shot down
by Royal Air Force (RAF) pilots, forcing Nazi leader Adolf Hitler to
abandon his invasion plans.
(AP, 9/15/97)
1940 Sep 15, Sergeant Ray Holmes
(1915-2005) slammed his Hurricane into a German Dornier bomber to
prevent it attacking Buckingham Palace. The date of 15 September has
come to be known as Battle of Britain Day and has been commemorated
every year since.
(AP, 11/1/05)
1941 Sep 15, Nazis killed 800
Jewish women at Shkudvil, Lithuania.
(www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/shkudvil/shkudvil.html)
1942 Sep 15, The USS Wasp was
torpedoed by a Japanese submarine at Guadalcanal; the US Navy ended up
sinking the badly damaged aircraft carrier.
(www.b-26marauderarchive.org/PM/PM2105/PM4223.htm)(AP, 9/15/07)
1944 Sep 15, British bombers hit
the German pocket battleship Tirpitz with Tallboy bombs.
(www.history.navy)
1944 Sep 15, US troops landed on
Palau and Morotai Islands.
(www.navalhistory.flixco.info/H/135367/8330/a0.htm)
1945 Sep 15, Jesse Norman,
soprano, was born.
(HN, 9/15/00)
1946 Sep 15, Tommy Lee Jones,
actor (Executioner's Song, Bloody Monday, Fugitive), was born in San
Saba, Texas.
(www.britannica.com)
1946 Sep 15, Oliver Stone, film
director and screenwriter, was born. His work included “Platoon” and
“JFK.”
(HN, 9/15/00)
1948 Sep 15, Gerald Ford upset
Rep. Bartel J. Jonkman in the Michigan 5th Dist Rep. primary.
(www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov)
1949 Sep 15, "The Lone Ranger"
premiered on ABC television with Clayton Moore (d.1999) as the masked
hero and Jay Silverheels (1912-1980) as Tonto. Their 169 [221] episodes
ran to 1957. Moore was replaced by John Hart for the 1952-1953 season
due to a salary dispute.
(AP, 9/15/99)(SFC, 12/29/99, p.A1,11)(SSFC, 6/19/05,
Par p.2)
1949 Sep 15, Congress extended the
Reciprocal Trade Agreement for 2 years.
(EWH, 1968, p.1207)
1950 Sep 15, During the Korean
conflict, United Nations forces landed at Inchon in the south and began
their drive toward Seoul. Considered the greatest amphibious attack in
history, it was the zenith of General Douglas MacArthur's career. The
newly organized X Corps under the command of General Douglas MacArthur
launched an amphibious invasion of Korea’s western coast at Inchon, the
port of the Korean capital, Seoul. After two days of naval bombardment,
U.S. Marines seized the offshore island of Wolmi-do and proceeded
inland against surprisingly light resistance. By September 26, American
forces had captured Seoul.
(AP, 9/15/97)(HN, 9/15/99)(HNPD, 9//99)
1950 Sep 15, US troop landed on
Wolmi-Do island off of Seoul.
(www.history.navy.mil)
1951 Sep 15, "Gentlemen Prefer
Blondes" closed at Ziegfeld NYC after 740 performances.
(www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=1845)
1953 Sep 15, Eric Mendelsohn
(b.1887), German-born Jewish expressionist architect, died. From 1941
he lived in the US and established himself in San Francisco. The
Russell at 3778 Washington St. in SF is the only house he designed in
SF.
(SSFC, 3/8/09, p.B2)
1958 Sep 15, A commuter train
crashed through a drawbridge, killing 48 in Newark, NJ.
(www.emergency-management.net/traincrash.htm)
1959 Sep 15, Soviet Premier Nikita
Khrushchev arrived in the United States to begin a 13-day visit.
(AP, 9/15/97)
1961 Sep 15, The US resumed
underground nuclear testing. Operation Nougat began a series of 45
nuclear tests conducted (with one exception) at the Nevada Test Site.
(SSFC, 6/9/02,
p.F4)(www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Operation_Nougat)
1963 Sep 15, The Alou
brothers-Felipe, Matty, & Jesus-appeared in the San Francisco
outfield for 1 inning.
(www.baseball-fever.com/showthread.php?t=20238)
1963 Sep 15, The Ku Klux Klan
bombed the 16th St. Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Four young
black girls (Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, Addie Collins, and
Cynthia Wesley) were killed in the bombing as they prepared their
Sunday school lesson on "The love that forgives." Later on the same day
James Ware,16, and his brother Virgil, 14, were shot at while bicycling
home. Virgil was killed. Another James Ware went on to become a US
district judge and falsely used the James and Virgil Ware story for
self promotion. Judge Ware withdrew from a new appointment to the SF
9th Circuit Court of Appeals in 1997 after he admitted that he was not
the same James Ware. In Birmingham, Alabama, police dogs were set on
peaceful, Black demonstrators. The 1997 film "Four Little Girls" by
Spike Lee was a documentary of the church burning in Alabama. In 1977
Robert Chambliss (d.1985) was tried and convicted of murder. Suspect
Herman Cash died in 1994. In 2000 Thomas E. Blanton Jr. and Bobby Frank
Cherry (d.2004) turned themselves in after they were indicted by a
state grand jury. In 2001 Thomas Blanton was convicted of murder and
sentenced to life in prison. Cherry was convicted May 22, 2002, and
sentenced to life in prison.
(SFC, 4/14/96, p.Z1, p.1)(SFC, 8/16/96, p.D11)(SFEC,
3/16/97, p.T5)(SFEC, 5/18/97, DB p.45)(SFC,11/6/97, p.A9)(AP,
9/15/97)(SFC, 5/18/00, p.A1)(SFC, 5/2/01, p.A1)(SFC, 5/23/02, p.A1)(NW,
5/27/02, p.43)
1965 Sep 15, The science-fiction
series "Lost in Space" (set in the year 1997) premiered on CBS.
(AP, 9/15/97)
1970 Sep 15, Pres. Nixon
authorized a US-backed coup in Chile.
(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.F7)
1970 Sep 15, The Jordanian army
attacked Palestinian positions and expelled PLO officials and commandos
from Jordan. The PLO was driven out of Jordan and forced to move to
Lebanon.
(www.nmhschool.org/tthornton/mehistorydatabase/arabisraeliwars.php)(SFC,
2/8/99, p.A6)
1971 Sep 15, The 1st broadcast of
"Columbo" on NBC-TV.
(www.xmoppet.org/tv/columbo.html)
1971 Sep 15, A group of activists
set sail on the Phyllis Cormack for Alaska from Vancouver, Canada, to
stop a US nuclear weapons test in the Aleutian Islands. Panels reading
Green and Peace dangled from the bridge. Bob Hunter (d.2005), one of
the activists, became the 1st president of Greenpeace (1973-1977).
(GQ, summer ‘96, p.18)(SFC, 4/30/97, p.A9)(Econ,
5/14/05, p.89)
1973 Sep 15, Victor Jara (b.1932),
one of the best-known members of Latin America's "New Song" folk
movement, died. He had been arrested after the Chilean military coup
that overthrew Allende and taken to a soccer stadium used as a
detention camp. Court papers indicate Jara was tortured, his hands
smashed with rifle butts, and then was shot to death. In 2008 a court
charged retired Col. Mario Manriquez in the case, saying he was
"responsible" for the death.
(AP,
5/15/08)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Jara)
1978 Sep 15, Willy Messerschmitt
(b.1898), German aircraft builder, died in Munich.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willy_Messerschmitt)
1978 Sep 15, In Thailand PM
Kriangsak Chomanan submitted an amnesty bill for the "Bangkok 18"
left-wing students and labor activists jailed in connection with the
1976 crackdown. He also initiated an amnesty program for former members
of the Communist Party, a reconciliation policy that eventually helped
quash its insurgency.
(AP, 12/23/03)(http://tinyurl.com/2w4xdx)
1980 Sep 15, A B-52H bomber
carrying nuclear-armed AGM-69 missiles experienced a fuel leak in its
number three main wing tank and caught fire on the ground at Grand
Forks AFB in North Dakota.
(www.willthomasonline.net/willthomasonline/Broken_Arrows.html)
1980 Sep 15, Bill Evans (b.1929),
jazz pianist, died. In 1998 Peter Pettinger published “Bill Evans: How
My Heart Sings.”
(SFEC, 11/10/96, DB p.35)(WSJ, 8/28/98, p.W7)(SFC,
10/16/00, p.B1)
1981 Sep 15, The US Senate
Judiciary Committee voted unanimously to approve the Supreme Court
nomination of Sandra Day O'Connor.
(AP, 9/15/01)
1982 Sep 15, The 1st issue of "USA
Today" was published by Gannett Co., Inc.
(www.usatoday.com/media_kit/pressroom/pr_justfacts_usatoday.htm)
1982 Sep 15, Pope John Paul II
received PLO leader Yasser Arafat.
(http://religion-cults.com/pope/religions.htm)
1982 Sep 15, The Israeli army
reoccupied Beirut.
(SFC, 5/24/00,
p.A15)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabra_and_Shatila_massacre)
1982 Sep 15, Sadegh Ghotbzadeh,
Iran's former foreign minister, was executed after he was convicted of
plotting against the government.
(AP, 9/15/97)
1983 Sep 15, New York City Cops
beat to death Michael Stewart for graffiting the subway.
(http://shs.westport.k12.ct.us/jwb/Collab/CivRts/StewartRslt.htm)
1983 Sep 15, Israel’s premier
Begin (d.1992) resigned.
(www.cnn.com/almanac/9809/15/)
1984 Sep 15, Henry Charles Albert
David, Prince of Wales, 3rd in British succession, was born.
(www.princeofwales.gov.uk)
1985 Sep 15, In Sweden Olof Palme
(1927-1986) formed a minority government.
(www.brandt21forum.info/Bio-Palme.htm)
1986 Sep 15, The 1st pilot of "LA
Law" was broadcast NBC-TV.
(http://epguides.com/LALaw/)
1987 Sep 15, On the opening day of
his confirmation hearing, US Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork told the
Senate Judiciary Committee his philosophy was "neither liberal nor
conservative."
(AP, 9/15/97)
1989 Sep 15, Pulitzer
Prize-winning author Robert Penn Warren (b.1905), the first poet
laureate of the United States, died in Stratton, Vt., at age 84. He
authored 16 poetry collections and 10 novels that included the 1946
"All the King’s Men."
(WSJ, 2/27/97, p.A15)(AP, 9/14/99)
1990 Sep 15, France announced it
would send 4,000 more soldiers to the Persian Gulf and expel Iraqi
military attaches in Paris in response to Iraq’s raids on French,
Belgian and Canadian diplomatic compounds in Kuwait.
(AP, 9/15/00)
1991 Sep 15, Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin
entered the Democratic presidential race, promising to “take back
government from the privileged few.”
(AP, 9/15/01)
1991 Sep 15, Andre Baruch
(b.1908), radio and TV announcer, died at 83.
(www.findagrave.com/)
1992 Sep 15, FBI Director William
S. Sessions promised a new national campaign to stem a recent wave of
carjackings.
(AP, 9/15/97)
1992 Sep 15, Washington state Sen.
Patty Murray defeated former Congressman Don Bonker to win the
Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Brock
Adams.
(AP, 9/15/97)
1993 Sep 15 Katherine Ann Power,
former 60s radical who spent 23 years in hiding, surrendered to
authorities at Boston College law school in Newton. She faced charges
stemming from a 1970 bank robbery in which Boston police officer Walter
Schroeder Sr. (42) was killed. Power pleaded guilty to charges of armed
robbery and the reduced charge of manslaughter. On October 6, 1993, she
received a five-year federal term, to run concurrently with an 8-12
year state sentence. She was released in 1999.
(AP, 9/15/98)(www.holysmoke.org/sdhok/dep11.htm)
1994 Sep 15, In a terse ultimatum
from the Oval Office, President Clinton told Haiti's military leaders
in a prime-time address: "Your time is up. Leave now or we will force
you from power."
(AP, 9/14/99)
1994 Sep 15, An Arab Charter on
Human Rights was adopted by the Council of the League of Arab States.
(www.al-bab.com/arab/docs/international/hr1994.htm)
1995 Sep 15, The TV series “Xena:
Warrior Princess” featured Lucy Lawless as Xena.
(LSA, Spring, 2009,
p.45)(www.imdb.com/title/tt0112230/)
1995 Sep 15, Hurricane “Marilyn,”
the third major storm to batter the Caribbean in less than a month, hit
the Virgin Islands with heavy rains and 100 mile-an-hour winds.
(AP, 9/15/00)
1995 Sep 15, The UN Fourth World
Conference on Women adjourned in Beijing after approving a wide-ranging
platform running the gamut from promoting inheritance rights to
condemning rape in wartime. The Beijing Platform, signed by 189 states,
urged a review of all laws that punish women for having abortions.
(AP, 9/15/00)(Econ, 5/19/07, p.65)
1995 Sep 15, A Muslim-Croat
offensive won 1,500 square miles of land. More than 150,000 Serbs fled,
many to Eastern Slovonia.
(SFC,10/16/97, p.A12)
1996 Sep 15, Defense Secretary
William Perry was making the rounds among American allies in the
Persian Gulf region, seeking additional support for the U.S. stance
against Iraq. Bahrain agreed to play host to 26 American F-16 jet
fighters.
(AP, 9/15/97)
1996 Sep 15, In Germany it was
reported that rival Vietnamese gangs were battling a vicious turf war
for trading untaxed cigarettes smuggled in by organized crime. The
country was trying to coax Vietnam to accept the return of thousands of
men in exchange for aid and future credits.
(SFC, 9/15/96, p.A14)
1996 Sep 15, In Guatemala
crime boss Alfredo Moreno, a former army intelligence officer, was
arrested on charges of an enormous smuggling operation.
(SFC, 9/25/96, p.A9)
1996 Sep 15, In Italy Umberto
Bossi, populist politician and leader of the Northern League, planned
to declare the independence of the Federal Republic of Padania.
(WSJ, 9/13/96, p.A6)
1996 Sep 15, In Italy Lorenzo
Necci, head of the state-run railroad, was arrested for corruption,
embezzlement, abuse of office, falsification of balance sheets and
fraud.
(SFC, 9/17/96, p.A12)
1996 Sep 15, In Mexico Federal
police officer Ernesto Ibarra Santes (50) was gunned down in Mexico
City. He was in charge of drug trafficking in Baha California del
Norte, the center of operations for the narcotics cartel of the
Arellano Felix brothers. He had only taken the position on Aug 16.
(SFC, 9/16/96, p.A9)
1996 Sep 15, In North Korea the
Rajin-Sonbong Free Economic and Trade Zone, a 288 sq. ml. area with a
local population of 140,000, was being established behind barbed wire
in the northeast corner.
(SFC, 9/15/96, p.A15)
1996 Sep 15, In Singapore all
120,000 internet subscribers will have to go through proxy servers
which will screen them from dozens of sites that contain nudity and
sexual topics.
(SFC, 8/15/96, p.B2)
1997 Sep 15, Former Massachusetts
Gov. William Weld gave up his battle to be U.S. ambassador to Mexico.
(AP, 9/15/98)
1997 Sep 15, Two of the nation's
most popular diet drugs -- dexfenfluramine and fenfluramine -- were
pulled off the market because of new evidence they could seriously
damage patients' hearts.
(AP, 9/15/98)
1997 Sep 15, In Oman a US Navy
F/A-18 crashed and the pilot was killed.
(WSJ, 9/16/97, p.A1)(SFC, 9/20/97, p.A7)
1997 Sep 15, A Marine F/Aa-18
Hornet fighter jet crashed in North Carolina’s Pamlico sound and its 2
pilots were killed.
(SFC, 9/20/97, p.A7)
1997 Sep 15, From Afghanistan it
was reported that the Taliban has prohibited the cultivation of opium
poppies. Some 200,000 families produced a record 2,800 tons of opium in
1997, a 25% increase over 1996.
(SFC, 9/15/97, p.A14)
1997 Sep 15, In Algeria 7 people
were killed in Saida by masked assailants and four people had their
throats cut in Medea.
(SFC, 9/16/97, p.A12)
1997 Sep 15, In India at the port
city of Visakhapatnam a fire raged at the Hindustan Petroleum Corp. and
37 were reported dead.
(SFC, 9/16/97, p.A12)
1997 Sep 15, The IRA allied Sinn
Fein party entered Northern Ireland's peace talks for the first time.
All party talks for peace were to begin in Belfast.
(SFC, 7/5/97, p.A8)(AP, 9/15/98)
1997 Sep 15, In North Korea it was
reported that about 15% of people in the towns and villages of the
country may be dying of starvation and famine-related diseases in a
survey conducted by Korean-American organizations.
(SFC, 9/15/97, p.A10)
1997 Sep 15, In Norway Prime
Minister Thorbjoern Jagland said he would step down after support in
national elections reached only about 35%.
(SFC, 9/16/97, p.A12)
1997 Sep 15, In Oman a US Navy
F/A-18 crashed and the pilot was killed.
(WSJ, 9/16/97, p.A1)
1997 Sep 15, From Thailand it was
reported that layoffs, salary cuts and downsizing was spreading across
the economy under an expensive foreign debt load and a 40% fall in the
value of the baht.
(SFC, 9/15/97, p.A10)
1998 Sep 15, Mark McGuire of the
St. Louis Cardinals hit his 63rd home run against the Pittsburgh
Pirates.
(WSJ, 9/16/98, p.A1)(AP, 9/14/99)
1998 Sep 15, Nine states and the
District of Columbia held primaries. In New York, Rep. Charles Schumer,
a liberal, won the Democratic nod to challenge Republican Sen. Alfonse
D'Amato. (Schumer won.) In Washington state, Republican Rep. Linda
Smith won the right to challenge Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat. (Murray
was re-elected).
(AP, 9/14/99)
1998 Sep 15, Pres. Clinton and the
G-7 nations agreed to work together to deal with the world economic
crises.
(USAT, 9/15/98, p.1A)
1998 Sep 15, John That Luong (27),
convicted of smuggling Chinese immigrants into the US, was sentenced to
3 years and 9 months in Federal prison. Testimony at the 9-week trial
linked the smuggling to an international crime syndicate involved in
microchip robberies, extortion, gambling, prostitution, drug
trafficking and murder.
(SFC, 3/16/98, p.A1)(http://tinyurl.com/3yjamo)
1998 Sep 15, BankAmerica announced
trading losses of about $330 million so far in the 3rd quarter.
(WSJ, 9/16/98, p.A1)
1998 Sep 15, In Albania Sali
Berisha surrendered 2 tanks posted outside his headquarters following
threats of force. The government declared the unrest an attempted coup
and ordered a criminal investigation.
(SFC, 9/16/98, p.A11)
1998 Sep 15, For Argentina a World
Bank loan of some $4.5 billion was almost completed to help stabilize
the economy.
(WSJ, 9/16/98, p.A19)
1998 Sep 15, In Congo Pres. Kabila
restored four generals from late dictator Mobutu’s regime. Government
forces were said to be moving on Goma.
(WSJ, 9/16/98, p.A1)
1998 Sep 15, In the Galapagos
Islands the Cerro Azul volcano on Isabela Island began erupting and
threatened turtle colonies.
(SFC, 9/18/98, p.D8)
1998 Sep 15, In Indonesia a 2nd
week of looting and rioting continued.
(WSJ, 9/16/98, p.A19)
1998 Sep 15, Italian police
arrested Mariano Troia (65), one of the Mafia’s most notorious figures,
near Palermo.
(USAT, 9/16/98, p.14A)
1998 cSep 15, In Peru archeologist
found 6 frozen mummies sacrificed to Inca gods over 500 years ago near
the crater of the 19,100 foot El Misti volcano, 465 miles southeast of
Lima.
(SFC, 10/3/98, p.C1)
1999 Sep 15, Daimler-Chrysler
unveiled its new Java show car at the Frankfurt auto show.
(WSJ, 9/16/99, p.A25)
1999 Sep 15, In Oregon a leak at
the Umatilla Chemical Depot overcame 34 workers, who were building a
new incinerator. The depot contained over 3,000 tons of deadly nerve
and mustard agents, scheduled for incineration upon completion of the
project in October 2001.
(SFC, 8/1/00, p.A5)
1999 Sep 15, Hurricane Floyd hit
North Carolina and dropped 13-16 inches of rain. Extensive damaged was
reported in the Bahamas on the islands of Abaco, Eleuthera, Cat and San
Salvador. Damages from Floyd were later estimated at over $800 million
and 45 deaths were attributed to the storm.
(SFC, 9/16/99, p.A1,15)(WSJ, 9/20/99, p.A1)
1999 Sep 15, In New Jersey Mario
Ruiz Massieu (48), former Mexican top drug prosecutor, committed
suicide. He had been indicted on drug charges a month earlier. He left
a suicide note that implicated Pres. Zedillo in the 1994 killing of his
brother and presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio.
(SFC, 9/16/99, p.A12)(WSJ, 9/17/99, p.A1)(AP,
9/15/00)
1999 Sep 15, In Fort Worth, Texas,
lone gunman Larry Gene Ashbrook (47) of Forest Hill killed 7 people,
aged 14-36, at the Wedgewood Baptist Church before killing himself.
(SFC, 9/16/99, p.A1)(USAT, 9/17/99, p.1,3A)
1999 Sep 15, It was reported that
AIDS killed 2 million Africans in 1998.
(SFC, 9/16/99, p.A13)
1999 Sep 15, Algeria held a
referendum on Pres. Bouteflika's amnesty law. Voters endorsed the plan.
(SFC, 9/15/99, p.C3)(SFC, 9/17/99, p.D6)
1999 Sep 15, The UN authorized an
int'l. peacekeeping force in East Timor led by Australia with some
8,000 troops from a number of nations.
(SFC, 9/15/99, p.A15)(WSJ, 9/16/99, p.A1)
1999 Sep 15, In southern Russia a
truck exploded next to a 9-story apartment building in the Rostov
region and at least 11 people were killed. Chechen terrorists were
again blamed. The bomb in Volgodonsk killed at least 17 and wounded 500.
(SFC, 9/16/99, p.A12)(WSJ, 9/17/99, p.A1)(SFC,
9/17/99, p.A10)
2000 Sep 15, The new San Francisco
Int’l. Terminal opened at a cost of $950 million. SFO operations at
Terminal 2 ceased in December as part of a $2.5 billion airport master
plan.
(SFC, 9/16/00, p.A15)(SFC, 5/13/08, p.D4)
2000 Sep 15, In Australia the
XXVII Olympic Games opened in Sidney. The 2000 Summer Olympics opened
with a seemingly endless parade of athletes and coaches and a
spectacular display that included wild fantasy, blazing color, and
booming cheers; Aborigine runner Cathy Freeman ignited an Olympic ring
of fire.
(SFC, 9/16/00, p.A1)(AP, 9/15/01)
2000 Sep 15, Truckers across
Europe blocked highways to protest high fuel costs. Protests hit Spain,
Germany, Ireland, Poland and the Czech Republic.
(SFC, 9/16/00, p.A10)
2000 Sep 15, In Indonesia Pres.
Wahid called for the arrest of Hutomo Mandala Putra, aka Tommy Suharto,
in connection with the recent terrorist bombing. Putra met with police
on his own accord.
(SFC, 9/16/00, p.A10)
2000 Sep 15, In Italy the Mafia
was reported to be engaged in a $500 million business of illegal dog
fighting. An estimated 5,000 dogs died annually from the fighting.
(SFC, 9/15/00, p.A16)
2000 Sep 15, In Uganda the
chimpanzee population was estimated at about 3,000 and declining due to
refugees from Congo eating small apes.
(SFC, 9/15/00, p.D2)
2001 Sep 15, Pres. Bush stated:
“We are planning a broad and sustained campaign to secure our country
and eradicate the evil or terrorism.” Bush ordered US troops to get
ready for war and braced Americans for a long, difficult assault
against terrorists to avenge the Sept. 11 attacks. US Congress approved
a resolution authorizing Bush to use “all necessary and appropriated
force” against anyone associated with the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
(SSFC, 9/16/01, p.A1)(AP, 9/15/06)(SSFC, 3/16/08,
p.A8)
2001 Sep 15, In Mesa, Arizona,
Balbir Singh Sodhi, an Indian immigrant gas station owner, was shot to
death. A Lebanese clerk was targeted but not injured. Police later
arrested Frank Roque (42) for 2 shootings but not the 1st murder. Roque
was convicted of murder Sep 30, 2003.
(SFC, 9/17/01, p.A8)(SFC, 9/29/03, p.A3)
2001 Sep 15, Continental Airlines
said it would immediately furlough 12,000 of 56,000 workers. Total air
carrier capacity was expected to shrink 20%.
(WSJ, 9/17/01, p.A1)
2001 Sep 15, In Texas 4 barges
smashed into the Queen Isabella Causeway between South Padre Island and
the mainland. At least 5 people were killed.
(SSFC, 9/16/01, p.A28)(SFC, 9/17/01, p.A18)
2001 Sep 15, Fred De Cordova (90),
executive producer of "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson," died
in Woodland Hills, Calif.
(AP, 9/15/02)
2001 Sep 15, As many as 300,000
Afghans reportedly had fled Kandahar in fear of US air strikes against
their Taliban rulers who were harboring Osama bin Laden.
(SFC, 9/17/01, p.A8)(AP, 9/15/02)
2001 Sep 15, Iran ordered its
security forces to seal off its 560-mile border with Afghanistan.
(SSFC, 9/16/01, p.A7)
2001 Sep 15, Gunfire between
Israelis and Palestinians in Gaza and Jerusalem left 3 Palestinians
dead and 2 Israelis wounded.
(SSFC, 9/16/01, p.A28)
2001 Sep 15, North and South Korea
began a 4-day series of meetings.
(SSFC, 9/16/01, p.A28)
2001 Sep 15, Pakistan agreed to
close its border with Afghanistan and pledged full support to combat
int’l. terrorism.
(SSFC, 9/16/01, p.A7)
2001 Sep 15, In Zimbabwe 2 ruling
party militants were killed during clashes with workers on the Bibby
family farm. John Bibby (70) was arrested the next day as an accessory
to the murders.
(SFC, 9/17/01, p.A18)
2002 Sep 15, U.S. and British
warplanes bombed Iraqi installations in the southern no-fly zone. Major
air defense sites were being targeted.
(AP, 9/15/02)(SFC, 9/17/02, p.A12)
2002 Sep 15, In Knoxville,
Tennessee, a Norfolk Southern train derailed near and one car with
93,000 pounds of sulfuric acid ruptured. The liquid acid vaporized
creating a toxic cloud.
(SFC, 9/16/02, p.A7)
2002 Sep 15, Thousands of Muslims
gathered at a radical Islamic conference in London to confront what
organizers said was a choice between accepting life under a
"colonialist world view" or being labeled terrorists.
(AP, 9/15/02)
2002 Sep 15, Jews in Israel marked
Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year.
(AP, 9/15/02)
2002 Sep 15, In Macedonia the
opposition led by Branko Crvenkovski swept the ruling coalition from
power in the country's first elections since last year's armed
uprising. Premier Ljubco Georgievski confirmed the nationalists' defeat.
(AP, 9/16/02)(WSJ, 9/16/02, p.A1)
2002 Sep 15, At least 5 Iraqi
agents graduated from a 2-week course in surveillance techniques at the
"Special Training Center" in Moscow.
(SSFC, 4/13/03, p.A1)
2002 Sep 15, Sweden's voters
bucked the conservative trend in Europe, reaffirming support for the
country's generous welfare system. The ruling Social Democrats claimed
victory in the national elections.
(AP, 9/16/02)
2002 Sep 15, Derek Davies (71),
who ran the Far Eastern Economic Review for 25 years and turned the
magazine into a leading source of English-language news and analysis
about Asia died in France.
(AP, 9/17/02)
2003 Sep 15, US professional
women's soccer folded due to low attendance. The WUSA soccer league
shut down operations five days before the Women's World Cup, saying it
didn't have enough money to stay in business for a fourth season.
(WSJ, 9/16/03, p.A1)(AP, 9/15/04)
2003 Sep 15, In California a
judicial panel postponed the Oct 7 recall balloting because old ballot
equipment could deprive voters of their right to be counted. On Sep 23
the 9th Circuit Court ruled that the recall be held on Oct 7.
(AP, 9/16/03)(SFC, 9/16/03, p.A1)(SFC, 9/20/03,
p.A1)(SFC, 9/24/03, p.A1)
2003 Sep 15, A new human rights
report on Brazil said summary executions and killings by death squads,
often formed by police officers, are commonplace and frequently
tolerated by authorities.
(AP, 9/16/03)
2003 Sep 15, The Colombian army
reported that its forces in Operation Scorpion killed at least 17
suspected members of a rebel special forces unit.
(AP, 9/15/03)
2003 Sep 15, In India rain-swollen
rivers began receding in the state of Uttar Pradesh but the death toll
there from monsoon rains rose to 190 after 34 more people were reported
killed.
(AP, 9/15/03)
2003 Sep 15, In Iraq guerrillas
killed a US soldier in a rocket-propelled grenade attack in central
Baghdad.
(AP, 9/15/03)
2003 Sep 15, In Kenya gunmen burst
into the home of a senior delegate to a constitutional convention and
shot him to death.
(AP, 9/15/03)
2003 Sep 15, More than 100 South
Korean tourists flew to North Korea's capital on the first commercial
flight between the two countries since they were divided nearly six
decades ago.
(AP, 9/15/03)
2003 Sep 15, In Ingushetia,
Russia, a truck filled with explosives blew up outside a government
security building, killing at least three people and wounding at least
22.
(AP, 9/15/03)(WSJ, 9/16/03, p.A1)
2003 Sep 15, In Saudi Arabia a
fire that swept through el-Haer prison in Riyadh and 94 were reported
killed.
(AP, 9/16/03)
2003 Sep 15, Over 360 Somali
delegates in Kenya adopted a transitional charter that outlines a
future government for the troubled African nation.
(AP, 9/16/03)
2004 Sep 15, Pres. Bush requested
shifting $3.46 billion in reconstruction money for Iraq to security.
(WSJ, 9/16/04, p.A1)
2004 Sep 15, National Hockey
League owners agreed to lock out the players.
(AP, 9/15/05)
2004 Sep 15, Amazon unveiled a new
search engine called A9.com.
(Econ, 9/25/04, p.76)
2004 Sep 15, Johnny Ramone (55),
guitarist and co-founder of the seminal punk band "The Ramones," died
of cancer in Los Angeles.
(AP, 9/16/04)(Econ, 9/25/04, p.100)
2004 Sep 15, Three Americans
accused of torturing Afghans in a private jail were found guilty in a
Kabul court after a trial denounced by the defense as failing to meet
basic international standards of fairness.
(AP, 9/15/04)
2004 Sep 15, The Egyptian and
Syrian presidents linked calls by the UN and fellow Arab leaders for
Syrian troops to leave Lebanon to past UN resolutions demanding that
Israeli pull out of the West Bank and Golan Heights.
(AP, 9/15/04)
2004 Sep 15, In England the number
of people seeking unemployment benefits fell by 6,100 to 830,200, the
lowest level since July 1975.
(AFP, 9/15/04)
2004 Sep 15, Eight French speaking
African countries began retiring over 1 billion in decaying currency
with new CFA francs. Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast,
Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo had until Dec 31 to turn in old bills for
new ones.
(SFC, 9/15/04, p.C8)
2004 Sep 15, India and Bangladesh
ended a two-day meeting in Dhaka without any breakthroughs on the
sharing of water from common rivers.
(AP, 9/15/04)
2004 Sep 15, Security forces
discovered three beheaded bodies on a road north of Baghdad, and a car
bomb exploded in a town south of the capital, killing two people.
(AP, 9/15/04)
2004 Sep 15, Malaysia declared its
entire northern Kelantan state a quarantine zone to halt the spread of
bird flu.
(AP, 9/15/04)
2004 Sep 15, In Pakistan Pres.
Musharraf backed out of his pledge to give up his post as army chief.
(WSJ, 9/16/04, p.A1)
2004 Sep 15, Tropical Storm Jeanne
lashed Puerto Rico with damaging winds and rain that knocked out power,
flooded roads and killed two people. It soon strengthened from a
tropical storm into the 6th hurricane of the season.
(AP, 9/16/04)
2004 Sep 15, In Saudi Arabia
Edward Stuart Muirhead-Smith (55) was killed at the Max shopping center
in eastern Riyadh.
(AP, 9/16/04)
2004 Sep 15, A rebel faction said
peace talks with the Sudanese government and rebels from the troubled
Darfur region collapsed after three weeks without an accord.
(AP, 9/15/04)
2004 Sep 15, South Africa formally
recognized the pro-independence government in the annexed Moroccan
territory of Western Sahara (Sahrawi statehood), prompting Rabat to
recall its ambassador from Pretoria in protest.
(AP, 9/16/04)(Econ, 10/30/04, p.53)
2005 Sep 15, Pres. Bush gave a
speech from New Orleans outlining government plans to rebuild the
region devastated by Hurricane Katrina, as the disaster death toll
passed the 700 mark. His proposals included the creation of a “Gulf
Opportunity Zone” and “Worker Recovery Accounts.”
(AP, 9/15/05)(SFC, 9/16/05, p.A1)
2005 Sep 15, The US government
agreed to stockpile $100 million worth of inoculations against bird flu
under a contract with French vaccine maker Sanofi-Pasteur.
(SFC, 9/16/05, p.A4)
2005 Sep 15, In the 4th and final
day of Senate confirmation hearings on John Roberts’ appointment as
chief justice, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) said “You may very well
possess the most powerful intellect of any person to come before the
Senate for this position.”
(SFC, 9/16/05, p.A1)
2005 Sep 15, The American
Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (Fincen) branded Banco
Delta Asia of Macau as a willing pawn for the North Korean government
to engage in corrupt financial activities. This cause a $38 million run
on the bank. The ploy persuaded other lenders to sever ties with North
Korea and dealing a significant blow to North Korea’s financial system.
(Econ, 9/24/05, p.90)(WSJ, 2/13/06, p.A7)
2005 Sep 15, California’s Gov.
Schwarzenegger signed a bill to reduce obesity in schools.
(SFC, 9/16/05, p.A1)
2005 Sep 15, New York Attorney
General Eliot Spitzer announced indictments against 8 former senior
executives of Marsh & McLennan for bid rigging and price fixing in
the insurance industry.
(SFC, 9/16/05, p.C1)
2005 Sep 15, The Massachusetts
state Legislature voted to override Gov. Mitt Romney's veto of a
measure that will expand access to emergency contraception.
(AP, 9/15/05)
2005 Sep 15, Yahoo introduced a
search feature for instant answers at www.next.yahoo.com.
(SFC, 9/15/05, p.C2)
2005 Sep 15, Hurricane Ophelia
weakened slightly as it crawled along the North Carolina coast. Early
indications were that the storm had not caused the severe flooding many
feared.
(AP, 9/15/05)
2005 Sep 15, Guy Green (91), who
won an Academy Award for cinematography for the 1946 film "Great
Expectations," died of heart and kidney failure at his Beverly Hills
home.
(AP, 9/16/05)
2005 Sep 15, Producer Sid Luft
(89), who was credited with reviving the career of his then-wife, Judy
Garland, died in Santa Monica, Calif.
(AP, 9/15/06)
2005 Sep 15, Suspected Taliban
gunmen in Helmand province shot and killed Abdul Hadi, a candidate in
Afghanistan's legislative elections after dragging him from his house.
(AP, 9/16/05)
2005 Sep 15, British police
arrested Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, leader of the oil-rich
southern Nigerian state of Bayelsa, as part of a money laundering
investigation.
(AP, 9/16/05)
2005 Sep 15, China’s Pres. Hu
Jintao spoke at the UN and called for a “harmonious world.”
(Econ, 11/19/05, p.23)
2005 Sep 15, Colombian authorities
seized $4.5 million worth of counterfeit American currency during a
raid on a clandestine printing workshop in south Bogota. The network
had been sending the money to Ecuador and Venezuela, where the U.S.
dollar is widely accepted as legal tender.
(AP, 9/15/05)
2005 Sep 15, In the eastern Indian
state of Bihar a fire engulfed three illegal firecracker factories in a
village, killing at least 30 people.
(AP, 9/15/05)
2005 Sep 15, In northeastern India
a fire broke out in a damaged oil well, and Russian experts were
summoned to inspect the site.
(AP, 9/15/05)
2005 Sep 15, Separatist rebels in
Indonesia's Aceh province started handing over weapons to international
monitors.
(AP, 9/15/05)
2005 Sep 15, Iran's Pres. Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad said Iran is willing to provide nuclear technology to other
Muslim states. Hours later, European nations renewed an offer of
economic incentives if the Mideast nation would halt its uranium
enrichment.
(AP, 9/15/05)
2005 Sep 15, Iraq’s PM Ibrahim
al-Jaafari, speaking at a news conference in Dearborn, Mich., condemned
the latest round of bombings that left scores of his countrymen dead,
and vowed that his government's "rational, political struggle" would
prevail over "criminal acts."
(AP, 9/15/05)
2005 Sep 15, Two suicide car
bombers struck within a minute of each other and a half-mile apart in
southern Baghdad, killing 7 policemen and raising the day's death toll
from blasts in the capital to at least 31.
(AP, 9/15/05)
2005 Sep 15, A US Marine was
killed in an “indirect fire explosion” at Camp Ramadi in the western
province of al-Anbar.
(AP, 9/16/05)
2005 Sep 15, Israel called for
wider meetings with Arab nations and said efforts were under way to
arrange summit talks with Qatar, a day after Qatar urged the Arab world
to open up to the Jewish state following its Gaza Strip withdrawal.
(AP, 9/15/05)
2005 Sep 15, Israel's Supreme
Court upheld the legality of Israel's West Bank security barrier,
rejecting a ruling by the International Court of Justice that the
barrier violates Palestinian rights and should be torn down. It also
ruled that part of the barrier imposed major hardship on Palestinian
villagers and must be rerouted.
(AP, 9/15/05)(SFC, 9/16/05, p.A7)
2005 Sep 15, A Russian Su-27
fighter bomber crashed in Lithuania during a flight across the former
Soviet republic to the Russian Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad.
(AP, 9/15/05)
2005 Sep 15, A fire engulfed
Mexico's most famous fireworks market, setting off a chain of
explosions in Tultepec, a town northeast of the nation's capital. The
fire destroyed hundreds of open-air stands just ahead of Independence
Day celebrations.
(AP, 9/15/05)
2005 Sep 15, North Korea said it
won't give up its nuclear weapons without receiving a reactor for
generating power, stalling six-nation talks on Pyongyang's atomic
programs.
(AP, 9/15/05)
2005 Sep 15, Russia launched
experimental broadcasts of a 24-hour English-language satellite TV news
channel aimed at polishing its image abroad and presenting foreign
audiences with its view of the world.
(AP, 9/15/05)
2005 Sep 15, The Saudi government
ordered a Jiddah chamber of commerce to allow female voters and
candidates.
(AP, 9/16/05)
2005 Sep 15, In Serbia a judge
ordered the arrest of the wife of former Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic for failing to attend her corruption trial in Belgrade.
(AP, 9/15/05)
2005 Sep 15, The UN General
Assembly adopted the concept of “responsibility to protect” (R2P)
during its World summit in NYC.
(Econ, 6/28/08, p.51)(http://tinyurl.com/669gvu)
2005 Sep 15, Venezuelan Pres. Hugo
Chavez took Pres. Bush to task in front of a global summit for waging
war in Iraq without UN consent and won rousing applause for his
critique.
(AP, 9/16/05)
2006 Sep 15, The US joined with
the EU and Canada charging that China has erected illegal barriers to
the sale of U.S. and other foreign-made auto parts there.
(AP, 9/15/06)
2006 Sep 15, US Rep. Bob Ney,
R-Ohio, agreed to plead guilty to two criminal charges in the
congressional corruption probe spawned by disgraced lobbyist Jack
Abramoff.
(AP, 9/15/07)
2006 Sep 15, In Costa Mesa, Ca.,
the new $200 million Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall opened. It
was designed by Cesar Pelli (79).
(www.ocpac.org/about/PressDetail.asp?PressReleaseID=509)
2006 Sep 15, In California Gov.
Schwarzenegger signed legislation requiring the driver use of
hands-free devices for cell phones starting in 2008.
(SFC, 9/15/06, p.B1)
2006 Sep 15, In East St. Louis,
Ill., Jimella Tunstall (23) bled to death after sustaining an abdominal
wound caused by a sharp object. Her body was found Sep 21. On Sep 23
investigators found Tunstall’s 3 dead children in a washer and dryer.
Prosecutors charged Tiffany Hall (24), a family friend, with the murder
of Tunstall and her fetus.
(AP, 9/24/06)
2006 Sep 15, In Jackson,
Mississippi, Mayor Frank Melton was indicted along with 2 police
bodyguards on numerous felony charges stemming from his crime-fighting
tactics.
(SFC, 9/16/06, p.A3)
2006 Sep 15, In Missouri Stephenie
Ochsenbine (21) was slashed in the throat and had her week-old baby
stolen. Police recovered the baby on Sep 19. On Sep 20 Shannon Torrez
(36) was charged with kidnapping and assault and ordered held on $1
million bond. On September 12, 2008, Torrez was sentenced to 30 years
in prison.
(AP, 9/20/06)(http://tinyurl.com/3mgvbe)
2006 Sep 15, US automaker Ford
Motor Co. unveiled sweeping job cuts and plant closures to stem losses
and said it has no intention of selling its luxury brand Jaguar. Ford
said it would cut 10,000 more white-collar positions, up from a
previous goal of 4,000, and offer buyout and early retirement to all
75,000 hourly employees. Ford stock closed at $8.02.
(AFP, 9/15/06)(SFC, 9/16/06, p.C1)(WSJ, 9/16/06,
p.A1)
2006 Sep 15, A large
diabetes-prevention study found that the drug Rosiglitazone (Avandia),
made by GlaxoSmithKline, can help keep “pre-diabetics” from developing
Type 2 diabetes. The drug was already being used to treat the disease,
which afflicted over 200 million worldwide.
(SFC, 9/16/06, p.A3)
2006 Sep 15, In southern
Afghanistan about 60 suspected Taliban militants attacked a police
checkpoint in Uruzgan province, starting a battle in which four
militants died.
(AP, 9/16/06)
2006 Sep 15, China denounced
accusations by top US officials that it was selling weapons to Iran and
North Korea amid nuclear tensions with the two regimes. State media
said at least four children, among the hundreds of people sickened by
emissions from a lead smelter in western China, are likely to suffer
permanent brain damage.
(AP, 9/15/06)
2006 Sep 15, Cuba took over the
leadership of the Nonaligned Movement from Malaysia, with Defense
Minister Raul Castro standing in for his ailing brother Fidel.
(AP, 9/15/06)
2006 Sep 15, Iraq’s Interior
Minister said the government will ring Baghdad with a series of
trenches and traffic checkpoints to control movement. Police
found 30 bodies bearing signs of torture in Baghdad. A US Marine was
killed in Anbar province just hours after an American soldier was
killed by a roadside bomb northwest of Baghdad. In central Baghdad, a
gunman opened fire from the top of an abandoned building in a Sunni
Arab neighborhood, killing an Iraqi civilian and wounding five others.
Sheik Muhanad al-Gharairi was a spokesman for the Conference of People
of Iraq, a Sunni Arab party headed by Adnan al-Dulaimi, was killed by
gunmen.
(AP, 9/15/06)(SFC, 9/16/06, p.A1)
2006 Sep 15, Oriana Fallaci (76),
the Italian writer and journalist best known for her abrasive
interviews and provocative stances, died in Florence.
(AP, 9/15/06)(Econ, 9/23/06, p.97)
2006 Sep 15, Ivory Coast
protesters beat up the transport minister in response to the Aug 19
toxic sludge shipment that sickened 30,000 people.
(WSJ, 9/16/06, p.A1)
2006 Sep 15, Latvian President
Vaira Vike-Freiberga joined the race to become the next UN
secretary-general, becoming the first woman vying for the UN's top post.
(AP, 9/15/06)
2006 Sep 15, Mexico’s President
Vicente Fox backed down from a confrontation with thousands of leftist
sympathizers of Manuel Lopez Obrador, moving the annual Independence
Day celebration away from Mexico City's main square to avoid
protesters. Fox decided to move the ceremony to the central town of
Dolores Hidalgo, where Miguel Hidalgo made the first call for
independence from Spain in 1810. Supporters of leftist Andres Manuel
Lopez Obrador ended the street protest that clogged the heart of the
capital for nearly seven weeks, but they vowed to find other ways to
resist the incoming conservative president.
(AP, 9/15/06)
2006 Sep 15, Palestinian gunmen
opened fire on a car in Gaza City carrying Brig. Gen. Jad Tayeh, a top
Palestinian security officer, in a drive-by shooting that killed Tayeh
and four of his bodyguards.
(AP, 9/15/06)
2006 Sep 15, In Singapore Paul
Wolfowitz, the chief of the World Bank, took a hard line on corruption.
Rodrigo de Rato, his counterpart at the IMF, said policy-makers need to
be ready to adapt to a more difficult economic environment in the
coming year as delegates gathered for the sister institutions' annual
meetings. Wolfowitz said that Singapore had damaged its own reputation
by imposing "authoritarian" restrictions on the entry of activists for
the World Bank/IMF meetings.
(AP, 9/15/06)
2006 Sep 15, Alberto Linero (27)
and Alberto Sanchez (24) both privates in the Spanish air force,
exchanged vows in a reception room at Seville's town hall, in the first
known wedding among same-sex members of the military since Spain
legalized gay marriage last year.
(AP, 9/15/06)
2006 Sep 15, More than 100,000
chanting protesters marched through downtown Taipei, trying to pressure
Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian to resign over a series of
corruption scandals.
(AP, 9/15/06)
2006 Sep 15, Tanzania’s energy
minister said ongoing drought in east Africa has forced Tanzania to
impose power cuts seven days a week.
(AP, 9/15/06)
2006 Sep 15, Over strong
opposition from China, the UN Security Council put Myanmar on its
agenda in what US officials called a "major step forward" in American
efforts to increase pressure on the country's military dictatorship.
(AP, 9/15/06)
2006 Sep 15, The World Health
Organization declared its support for indoor use of DDT to control
mosquitoes in regions where malaria is a major health problem.
(SFC, 9/16/06, p.A5)
2006 Sep 15, In Yemen suicide
bombers tried to strike two oil facilities with explosives-packed cars.
Al-Qaida later claimed responsibility for the attempted suicide attacks
and vowed more strikes against the United States and its allies.
(AP, 9/15/06)(AP, 11/7/06)
2006 Sep 15, Zimbabwe said its
annual inflation rate has reached a new record high of more than 1,200%
in August despite the conversion to a new currency designed to halt the
upwards spiral.
(AFP, 9/15/06)
2007 Sep 15, In his Saturday radio
address, President Bush said while "formidable challenges" remained in
Iraq, the United States would start shifting more troops into support
roles. Several thousand anti-war demonstrators marched through downtown
Washington, DC, clashing with police at the foot of the Capitol steps
where more than 190 protesters were arrested.
(AP, 9/16/07)(AP, 9/15/08)
2007 Sep 15, Sarah Thomas became
the first female official to work a game in the Football Bowl
Subdivision, formerly I-A, serving as the line judge in the
Jacksonville State-Memphis game.
(AP, 9/15/08)
2007 Sep 15, Live music returned
Treasure Island in SF Bay for the first time in almost 70 years as a
2-day festival organized by Noise Pop and Another Planet Entertainment.
(SSFC, 9/16/07, p.B3)
2007 Sep 15, Brett Somers
(b.1924), Canada-born actress-comedian, died in Westport, Conn. She was
best known as a panelist on the 1970s game show, Match Game.
(AP,
9/15/08)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Somers)
2007 Sep 15, An estimated 40
insurgents armed with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades attacked an
Afghan police and coalition patrol in the Musa Qala district of nearby
Helmand province. The joint forces repelled the attack and called in
airstrikes, leaving a dozen suspected militants dead. A Bangladeshi
development worker was kidnapped by unknown men in a brazen daytime
attack on his office in Pul-i-Alam, about 30 miles south of Kabul.
(AP, 9/16/07)
2007 Sep 15, In China Zhao Yan
(45), a Chinese researcher for the NY Times, was released from prison
after serving three years of a fraud conviction that was strongly
criticized by the international community.
(AFP, 9/15/07)
2007 Sep 15, EU finance ministers
and central bankers agreed in Portugal to step up co-operation among
themselves to improve their handling of cross-border financial crises.
(AP, 9/15/07)
2007 Sep 15, Officials said nearly
13.5 million people have been marooned or displaced by floods in India
and Bangladesh. The flooding in South Asia caused by the
June-to-September monsoon has been described as the worst in decades,
with more than 3,300 people killed. Landslides and floods in Nepal
killed at least another 185 people since the start of monsoon.
(AP, 9/15/07)
2007 Sep 15, An al-Qaida front
group warned it will hunt down and kill Sunni Arab tribal leaders who
cooperate with the US and its Iraqi partners, saying the assassination
of the leader of the revolt against the terror movement was just a
beginning. Anti-US cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's followers announced their
withdrawal from the Shiite alliance in parliament. Al-Sadr's followers
hold 30 of the 275 parliament seats. An Iraqi soldier was killed when
gunmen attacked a checkpoint in Baqouba. Police and army officials said
eight civilians also were killed and five others wounded in attacks in
and around Baqouba. A car bomb struck a Baghdad bakery crowded with
customers lining up for bread, killing at least 11 people as they ended
their daytime Ramadan fast. The leader of al-Qaida in Iraq offered
money for the murder of a Swedish cartoonist and his editor who
recently produced images deemed insulting to Islam. Fallah Khalifa
Hiyas Fayyas al-Jumayli, an Iraqi also known as Abu Khamis, was seized.
The al-Qaida linked militant was believed responsible for the Sep 13
death of Sheik Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha.
(AP, 9/15/07)(AP, 9/16/07)
2007 Sep 15, Yasuo Fukuda (71),
the front-runner to become Japan's next prime minister, vowed to extend
his nation's support for US-led operations in Afghanistan. The Sept. 23
Liberal Democratic Party ballot to replace PM Shinzo Abe, who abruptly
resigned earlier this week, will pit the liberal Fukuda against the
more hawkish former Foreign Minister Taro Aso (66). Both candidates
have said Japan cannot afford to drop out of the global war on
terrorism.
(AP, 9/15/07)
2007 Sep 15, Lebanese troops
captured Abu Salim Taha, the spokesman for Fatah Islam, and 3 other
militants.
(AP, 9/15/07)
2007 Sep 15, In western Mexico a
bus carrying tourists including passengers of a flight from Phoenix
crashed, killing at least 17 people.
(AP, 9/16/07)
2007 Sep 15, Pakistan's ruling
party assured President Gen. Pervez Musharraf he will be elected to a
new five-year term, and the vote will likely take place the first week
of October. Maulana Hassan Jan, a prominent pro-Taliban cleric, was
shot and killed by assailants in a car in Peshawar. He was a senior
leader of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, a religious party that controls the
provincial government of the Northwest Frontier province.
(AP, 9/15/07)(SSFC, 9/16/07, p.A17)
2007 Sep 15, A meteorite made a
fiery crash to Earth in southern Peru and villagers were soon struck by
a mysterious illness.
(AFP, 9/17/07)
2007 Sep 15, Former world rally
champion Colin McRae (39) and his five-year-old son were among four
people killed in a helicopter crash in southern Scotland.
(AFP, 9/16/07)
2007 Sep 15, In Sierra Leone with
three-quarters of the vote counted opposition leader Ernest Bai Koroma
held a commanding lead in the presidential runoff.
(AP, 9/15/07)
2007 Sep 15, Hundreds of thousands
of Taiwanese took to the streets in support of the island's latest bid
for UN membership, which has been criticized by China and the US.
(AP, 9/15/07)
2007 Sep 15, In Thailand a
roadside bomb planted by suspected separatist rebels killed one soldier
and wounded five others in the insurgency-torn south. 2 men were killed
in a drive-by shooting by suspected militants in Pattani province.
(AP, 9/15/07)
2008 Sep 15, Lehman Brothers,
burdened by $60 billion in soured real-estate holdings, filed a Chapter
11 bankruptcy petition in US Bankruptcy Court after attempts to rescue
the 158-year-old firm failed. Bank of America Corp. said it is snapping
up Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. in a $50 billion all-stock transaction.
In 2009 Lawrence G. McDonald and Patrick Robinson authored “A Colossal
Failure of Common Sense: The Inside Story of the Collapse of Lehman
Brothers.”
(AP, 9/15/08)(Econ, 9/12/09, p.91)
2008 Sep 15, Oil prices plunged to
a seven-month low as the Gulf Coast energy infrastructure appeared
relatively unharmed after Hurricane Ike and traders bet that Lehman
Brothers' bankruptcy could ignite a massive liquidation of commodities.
Oil closed at $95.71, its first close below $100 since March 4.
(AP, 9/15/08)(WSJ, 9/16/08, p.A12)
2008 Sep 15, Hewlett-Packard said
it will cut 24,600 jobs as part of its plan to integrate Electronic
Data Systems Corp. (EDS).
(WSJ, 9/16/08, p.B1)
2008 Sep 15, An Australian jury
found Abdul Benbrika (48), a Muslim cleric, and five of his followers
guilty of planning to stage a "violent jihad" in Melbourne in 2005 to
force Australian troops out of Iraq. A 7th man was convicted the next
day. In 2009 Benbrika was sentenced to at least 12 years in prison.
(Reuters, 9/15/08)(AP, 9/16/08)(AP, 2/3/09)
2008 Sep 15, South American
presidents agreed to work urgently to prevent a political collapse in
Bolivia, where the government said it would charge a rebellious
governor with genocide for allegedly ordering the machine-gunning of
peasants.
(AP, 9/16/08)
2008 Sep 15, According to a new UN
report Brazilian police carried out a "significant proportion" of the
48,000 murders that swept Brazil last year, casting doubt on the
government's ability to curtail drug violence and reign in vigilante
militias.
(AP, 9/15/08)
2008 Sep 15, In London the sale of
pickled sharks, butterfly paintings and other pieces by Damien Hirst
(43), the provocative British artist, raised some US$127 million. The
sale continued the next day. Total sales reached $199 million.
(AP, 9/16/08)(Econ, 9/20/08, p.73)
2008 Sep 15, Richard Wright (65),
a founding member of the rock group Pink Floyd, died. Pink Floyd's
spokesman, Doug Wright, who is not related to the artist, said Wright
died after a battle with cancer at his home in Britain. The band
released a series of commercially and critically successful albums
including 1973's "Dark Side of the Moon," which has sold more than 40
million copies.
(AP, 9/16/08)
2008 Sep 15, China’s central bank
cut interest rates for the first time in over 6 years. Its benchmark
one year lending rate will fall .27% to 7.2% effective Sep 16.
(WSJ, 9/16/08, p.A10)
2008 Sep 15, Cuba said hurricanes
Gustav and Ike together delivered the worst hurricane-related blow in
Cuba's storm-battered history, causing "around US$5 billion" in
collective damage.
(AP, 9/16/08)
2008 Sep 15, In Egypt a speeding
truck collided with a tourist bus in Egypt's Sinai peninsula, killing
12 people and injuring 33.
(AP, 9/15/08)
2008 Sep 15, Europe's major
central banks moved quickly to calm markets, pumping billions of euros
and pounds into the financial system to shore up confidence in the
aftermath of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s bankruptcy filing in the
United States.
(AP, 9/15/08)
2008 Sep 15, French troops stormed
a yacht hijacked by Somali pirates, killing one, capturing six others
and freeing their two French hostages, who had been held since Sep 2.
(AP, 9/16/08)
2008 Sep 15, In Indonesia at least
23 people were killed in a stampede as they crowded an alley to receive
$4.25 in cash handouts for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
(AFP, 9/15/08)(WSJ, 9/16/08, p.A20)
2008 Sep 15, A new International
Atomic Energy Agency report said that Iran has repeatedly blocked a UN
investigation into allegations it tried to make nuclear arms and the
probe is now deadlocked.
(AP, 9/15/08)
2008 Sep 15, A suicide bomber blew
herself up among police officers who were celebrating the release of a
comrade from US custody, killing at least 22 people. Separate bombings
in Iraq killed 13 other people. A member of a Sunni group allied
with US forces was killed by a bomb stuck to his car in a mainly Sunni
neighborhood in northern Baghdad.
(AP, 9/15/08)(AP, 9/16/08)
2008 Sep 15, In Mauritania
suspected al-Qaeda militants killed 12 soldiers. The terror group had
promised to avenge the country’s recent coup.
(SFC, 9/16/08, p.A3)
2008 Sep 15, Mexican police and
soldiers quelled a riot at a Tijuana prison that left 4 inmates dead
and at least 31 prisoners and officials injured.
(AP, 9/16/08)(AP, 9/19/08)
2008 Sep 15, In Oaxaca, Mexico,
Omar Yoguez Singu (32) allegedly had consensual sex with Marcella Grace
Eiler (20) of Eugene, Oregon. He then killed her with a machete after
an argument. Her badly decomposed body was found Sep 24 in a shack 80
miles south of Oaxaca City. Friends of Singu beat him up after he
confessed to the crime and on Sep 24 turned him over to police.
(AP, 9/28/08)
2008 Sep 15, Hundreds of disco
workers protested in Kathmandu against a government crackdown on "nude
dancing" in its bid to improve the deteriorating law and order.
(Reuters, 9/15/08)
2008 Sep 15, Nigerian militants
attacked a Shell-operated oil facility, killing two and forcing the
evacuation of nearly 100 staff, in a third day of fighting with
security forces in the Niger Delta. Police in northern Nigeria arrested
a Muslim preacher who claims 86 wives and 107 children, charging him
with breaking Islamic laws governing marriage.
(AP, 9/15/08)(AP, 9/16/08)
2008 Sep 15, Pakistani troops
backed by helicopter gunships and fighter jets killed 15 suspected
militants as security forces advanced on Taliban strongholds near the
Afghan border.
(AP, 9/15/08)
2008 Sep 15, Rwandan voters went
to the polls for parliamentary elections contested only by movements
allied to the ruling party of Pres. Paul Kagame. His Rwandan Patriotic
Front (RPF) won 42 of 53 contested seats in a proclaimed turnout of
98.5%.
(AP, 9/15/08)(Econ, 9/27/08, p.61)
2008 Sep 15, In Somalia an African
Union peacekeeper was killed in a roadside bomb explosion in Mogadishu,
the 2nd AU member to be killed in there in as many days.
(AP, 9/15/08)
2008 Sep 15, Darfur rebels said
they were fighting back against attacking government troops for a
fourth day, the latest in a series of battles in Sudan's war-torn
western region.
(AP, 9/15/08)
2008 Sep 15, Thailand's ruling
party chose the brother-in-law of ousted former leader Thaksin
Shinawatra as its nominee to become the next prime minister,
immediately drawing opposition from anti-government protesters and
dozens of its own members.
(AP, 9/15/08)
2008 Sep 15, President Robert
Mugabe relaxed his iron hold on Zimbabwe for the first time in nearly
three decades of one-man rule, forced by escalating economic chaos into
sharing power with his bitter political rivals. PM Morgan Tsvangirai
used his first platform as head of government to call on Zimbabwe's
rival political parties to work together to "unite" the country.
(AP, 9/15/08)(AFP, 9/15/08)
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