Today in History - September 21

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454        Sep 21, In Italy, Aetius, the supreme army commander, was murdered in Ravenna by Valentinian III, the emperor of the West.
    (HN, 9/21/98)

1066        Sep 21, At the Battle at Fulford Norway king Harald III Hardrada beat the British militia.
    (MC, 9/21/01)

1327        Sep 21, Edward II of England, a homosexual, was murdered by order of his wife, Queen Isabella and Baron Robert Mortimer.
    (HN, 9/21/98)(www.stonewallsociety.com/famouspeople/king.htm)

1348        Sep 21, Jews in Zurich Switzerland were accused of poisoning wells.
    (MC, 9/21/01)

1372        Sep 21, Frederik I van Hohenzollern, monarch of Brandenburg (1417-40), was born.
    (MC, 9/21/01)

1415        Sep 21, Frederick III, German Emperor (1440-1493), was born in Innsbruck Austria.
    (MC, 9/21/01)

1435        Sep 21, Treaty of Atrecht. Philippe le Bon of Burgundy and French king Charles VII signed a treaty at Arras. Philippe broke with the English and recognized Charles as France’s only king.
    (PCh, 1992, p.145)

1451        Sep 21, Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa ordered the Jews of Holland to wear a badge.
    (MC, 9/21/01)

1452        Sep 21, Girolamo Savonarola (d.1498), was born in Ferrara. He became a Dominican monk, reformer, dictator of Florence (1494-98) and martyr. He was best known for his bonfires of the vanities in which corrupt books and images were set alight.
    (Hem.,4/97,p.53)(WUD, 1994, p.1272,1672)(WSJ, 7/10/98, p.W11)(MC, 9/21/01)

1519        Sep 21, Hans Backofen (Backoffen), German sculptor, died at about 49.
    (MC, 9/21/01)

1520        Sep 21, Suleiman I (the Magnificent), son of Selim, became the Ottoman sultan in Constantinople.
    (TL-MB, 1988, p.12)(HN, 9/21/98)

1558        Sep 21, Charles V (b.1500), King of Spain (Carlos I), former Holy Roman Emperor (1519-1556), died. In 2006 lab tests showed that Charles suffered from gout.
    (TL-MB, 1988, p.19)(http://tinyurl.com/kq9sq)

1575        Sep 21, A major hurricane hit Puerto Rico on the feast day of St. Matthew and became known as the San Mateo hurricane.
    (SSFC, 8/6/06, Par p.24)

1588        Sep 21, Medina Sidonia's Spanish Armada flagship, the San Martin, arrived at Santander, Spain. Almost half of the 130 ships were lost. 20k of 30k men died. 1,500 died in battle, the rest from shipwreck, massacre, starvation or disease. In 1981 David Howarth authored "The Voyage of the Armada." In 1988 Peter Kemp authored "The Campaign of the Spanish Armada."
    (ON, 3/02, p.6)

1589        Sep 21, The Duke of Mayenne of France, head of the Catholic League, was defeated by Henry IV of England at the Battle of Arques.
    (HN, 9/21/98)(MC, 9/21/01)

1591        Sep 21, French bishops recognized Henri IV as king of France.
    (MC, 9/21/01)

1599        Sep 21, The Globe Theater had its first recorded performance. The 20-sided timber building for Shakespeare’s plays was constructed on the South Bank of the Thames, England. The troupe Lord Chamberlain's Men built the Globe Theater. Timbers came from a dismantled old theater and the new structure held some 3,000 spectators in 3 galleries. In 2005 James Shapiro authored “A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599.”
    (Hem, Mar. 95, p.138)(WSJ, 6/17/97, p.A16)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R34)(Econ, 11/5/05, p.92)

1621        Sep 21, King James of England gave Canada to Sir Alexander Sterling.
    (MC, 9/21/01)

1648        Sep 21, In Poland at the Battle at Pilawce Bohdan Chmielricki beat John II Casimir.
    (PCh, 1992, p.241)(MC, 9/21/01)

1673        Sep 21, James Needham returned to Virginia after exploring the land to the west, which would become Tennessee.
    (HN, 9/21/98)

1676        Sep 21, Benedetto Odescalchi was elected as Pope Innocent XI.
    (MC, 9/21/01)

1677        Sep 21, John and Nicolaas van der Heyden patented a fire extinguisher.
    (MC, 9/21/01)

1692        Sep 21, Two men and seven women were executed for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts.
    (MC, 9/21/01)

1745        Sep 21, A Scottish Jacobite army commanded by Lord George Murray routed the Royalist army of General Sir John Cope at Prestonpans. At the Battle at Preston Pans Bonnie Prince Charles beat the English army.
    (HN, 9/21/98)(MC, 9/21/01)

1746        Sep 21, A French expeditionary army occupied Labourdonnais and Dupleix Madras.
    (MC, 9/21/01)

1756        Sep 21, John Loudon McAdam, engineer who invented and gave his name to macadamized roads, was born.
    (HN, 9/21/98)

1761        Sep 21, King George III of England was crowned. George was German and had been Elector of Hanover. Coincidentally, the composer Handel, who was working in London when King George was crowned, had gone to London after skipping out on his last job...working for George in Hanover. Fortunately for Handel, King George forgave him.
    (MC, 9/21/01)

1776        Sep 21, Nathan Hale was arrested in NYC by the British for spying for American rebels.
    (SFC, 9/20/03, p.A2)
1776        Sep 21, NYC burned down in the Great Fire 5 days after British took over.
    (MC, 9/21/01)

1780        September 21-22, General Benedict Arnold, American commander of West Point, met with British spy Major John André to hand over plans of the important Hudson River fort to the enemy. Unhappy with how General George Washington treated him and in need of money, Arnold planned to "sell" West Point for 20,000 pounds--a move that would enable the British to cut New England off from the rest of the rebellious colonies. Arnold's treason was exposed when André was captured by American militiamen who found the incriminating plans in his stocking. Arnold received a timely warning and was able to escape to a British ship, but André was hanged as a spy on October 2, 1780. Condemned for his Revolutionary War actions by both Americans and British, Arnold lived until 1801.
    (HNPD, 9/21/98)

1792        Sep 21, Collot D'Herbois proposed to abolish the monarchy in France. The French National Convention voted to abolish the monarchy. 1st French Republic formed
    (AP, 9/21/97)(MC, 9/21/01)

1804        Sep 21, Another major hurricane hit Puerto Rico on the feast day of St. Matthew and became known as the San Mateo II hurricane [see 1575].
    (SSFC, 8/6/06, Par p.24)

1814        Sep 21, "Star Spangled Banner" was published as a poem.
    (MC, 9/21/01)

1817        Sep 21, Carter Littlepage Stevenson, Major General (Confederate Army), was born.
    (MC, 9/21/01)

1823        Sep 21, The Angel Moroni 1st appeared to Joseph Smith (b.1823), according to Smith (founder of Mormon Church). Smith in New York claimed that an angel named Moroni led him to ancient golden plates that revealed the untold story of America during biblical times.
    (SFC, 4/8/96, p.A-1,6)(MC, 9/21/01)

1832        Sep 21, Sir Walter Scott (b.1771), Scottish novelist who wrote "Ivanhoe" and "Rob Roy," died at Abbotsford near Melrose in the Scottish Borders. Scott was later credited with inventing the genre of historical fiction.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Scott)(SSFC, 3/11/07, p.G3)

1837        Sep 21, Charles Lewis Tiffany (1812-1902) founded his jewelry and china stores.
    (MC, 9/21/01)(SSFC, 9/7/03, p.I4)

1862        Sep 21, William Benjamin Gould and 7 other black men stole a boat and rowed past Fort Caswell, NC. They were picked up the next day by the Union warship Cambridge. In 2002 Prof. W.B. Gould published his great-grandfather’s diary "Dairy of a Contraband: The Civil War Passage of a Black Sailor."
    (SFC, 9/2/02, p.A1)
1862        Sep 21, 300 Indians were sentenced to hang in Mankato, Minnesota.
    (MC, 9/21/01)

1863        Sep 21, Union troops under Major Gen’l. William S. Rosencrans defeated at Chickamauga sought refuge in Chattanooga, Tennessee, which was then besieged by Confederate troops. There they lost 10,000 horses and mules to starvation.
    (HT, 4/97, p.52)(HN, 9/21/98)

1866        Sep 21, Charles Jean Henri Nicolle, bacteriologist, was born. He discovered that typhus fever is transmitted by body louse and was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1928.
    (HN, 9/21/98)(MC, 9/21/01)
1866        Sep 21, H.G. Wells (d.1946), English novelist and historian was born as Herbert George Wells in Bromley, Kent, England. His work included the novel "Marriage" and "The Time Machine" (1895). The science fiction writer is best known for "The Time Machine" (1895), "The Invisible Man" and "The War of the Worlds."
    (WSJ, 11/21/96, p.A20)(www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Jwells.htm)

1872        Sep 21, John Henry Conyers of SC became the 1st black student at Annapolis.
    (MC, 9/21/01)

1883        Sep 21, The 1st direct US-Brazil telegraph connection was made.
    (MC, 9/21/01)

1893        Sep 21, Frank Duryea drove the 1st US made gas propelled car. [see Sep 22]
    (MC, 9/21/01)

1895        Sep 21, Juan de la Cierva, aeronautical engineer who invented the autogyro, was born.
    (HN, 9/21/98)
1895        Sep 21, The Duryea Motor Wagon Company, the 1st auto manufacturer, opened.
    (MC, 9/21/01)

1896        Sep 21, General Horatio Kitchener's army occupied Dongola, Sudan. Gen’l. Herbert Kitchener led the British conquest of the Sudan. The "kit bag," another name for a knapsack, was named after him.
    (SFEC, 3/29/98, Z1 p.8)(WSJ, 8/25/98, p.A14)(MC, 9/21/01)

1897        Sep 21, The New York Sun ran its famous editorial that answered a question from 8-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon: "Is there a Santa Claus?" Francis P. Church wrote, in part: "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy."
    (AP, 9/21/97)

1902        Sep 21, Allen Lake was born. He founded Penguin Books in 1935.
    (HN, 9/21/00)

1903        Sep 21, The 1st cowboy film, "Kit Carson," premiered in US.
    (MC, 9/21/01)

1904        Sep 21, Exiled Nez Perce leader Chief Joseph died in Washington state reportedly of a "broken heart." In 1984 “Chief Joseph’s Own Story” was published.
    (HN, 9/21/98)(SFC, 6/13/97, p.A13)

1912        Sep 21, Chuck Jones, animator and director of Warner Brothers cartoons Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, was born.
    (HN, 9/21/00)(MC, 9/21/01)

1913        Sep 21, The 1st aerobatic maneuver, a sustained inverted flight, was performed in France.
    (MC, 9/21/01)

1915        Sep 21, Anthony Comstock (b.1844), former US Postal Inspector and politician dedicated to ideas of Victorian morality, died. The anti-porn campaigner had used his position to seize 50 tons of books and 4 million pictures.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Comstock)(Econ, 3/15/08, p.44)
1915        Sep 21, Stonehenge was sold by auction for 6,600 pounds sterling ($11,500) to a Mr. Chubb, who bought it as a present for his wife. He presented it to the British nation three years later.
    (HN, 9/21/98)

1920        Sep 21, Jay Ward, cartoonist (Rocky & his Friends, Bullwinkle), was born.
    (MC, 9/21/01)

1921        Sep 21, Pope Benedictus XV donated 1 million lire to feed Russians.
    (MC, 9/21/01)
1921        Sep 21, In Oppau, Germany, an explosion at the Bradishe Aniline chemical works, a nitrate manufacturing plant, destroyed the plant and a nearby village with 561 deaths and over 1500 persons injured.
    (HSAB, 1994, p.46)(MC, 9/21/01)

1922        Sep 21, Pres Warren G. Harding signed a joint resolution of approval to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
    (MC, 9/21/01)
1922        Sep 21, The US passed a tariff act. The Fordney-McCumber Tariff bill (named after Joseph Fordney, chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, and Porter McCumber, chair of the Senate Finance Committee) was signed by President Warren Harding. In the end, the tariff law raised the average American ad valorem tariff rate to 38 percent.
    (Econ, 12/20/08, p.126)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fordney-McCumber_Tariff)

1926        Sep 21, San Francisco held a benefit to raise money for victims of a Sep 17 Florida hurricane that killed 374-600 people.
    (SFC, 9/21/01, WB p.5)

1928        Sep 21, "My Weekly Reader" magazine made its debut.
    (MC, 9/21/01)

1929        Sep 21, Fighting between China and the Soviet Union broke out along the Manchurian border.
    (HN, 9/21/98)

1930        Sep 21, Johann Ostermeyer patented the flashbulb.
    (MC, 9/21/01)

1931        Sep 21, Larry Hagman, Fort Worth Tx, actor (I Dream of Jeannie, JR-Dallas), was born.
    (MC, 9/21/01)
1931        Sep 21, Britain went off the gold standard. The pound devalued 20%.
    (AP, 9/21/97)(WSJ, 1/10/09, p.W8)

1933        Sep 21, The trial against Marinus der Lubbe opened. He was accused of starting the Feb 27 Reichstag fire.
    (MC, 9/21/01)

1934        Sep 21, A typhoon struck Honshu Island, Japan, and killed 4,000.
    (MC, 9/21/01)

1936        Sep 21, The German army held its largest maneuvers since 1914.
    (HN, 9/21/98)
1936        Sep 21, The Spanish fascist junta named Franco generalissimo, supreme commander. [see Oct 1]
    (MC, 9/21/01)

1937        Sep 21, The women's airspeed record was set at 292 mph by American pilot Jacqueline Cochran.
    (HN, 9/21/98)
1937        Sep 21, "The Hobbit," by J.R.R. Tolkien (b.1892), was first published.
    (WSJ,2/11/97, p.A18)(AP, 9/21/97)

1938        Sep 21, A Category 3 hurricane struck parts of New York and New England, causing widespread damage and claiming more than 600 lives. Winds hit 183 MPH in New England and 700 were killed. The storm hit Long Island and Connecticut and caused $308 million in damage.
    (AP, 9/21/97)(WSJ, 5/31/06, p.B1)
1938        Sep 21, Winston Churchill condemned Hitler's annexation of Czechoslovakia.
    (MC, 9/21/01)

1939        Sep 21, Reinhard Heydrich met in Berlin to discuss final solution of Jews.
    (MC, 9/21/01)

1941        Sep 21, The US launched its 1st Liberty-ship, "Patrick Henry."
    (MC, 9/21/01)
1941        Sep 21, The German Army cut off the Crimean Peninsula from the rest of the Soviet Union.
    (HN, 9/21/98)

1942        Sep 21, British forces attacked the Japanese in Burma.
    (HN, 9/21/98)
1942        Sep 21, Nazis executed 116 hostages in Paris.
    (MC, 9/21/01)

1944        Sep 21, U.S. troops of the 7th Army, invading Southern France, crossed the Meuse River.
    (HN, 9/21/98)
1944        Sep 21, The last British paratroopers at bridge of Arnhem surrendered.
    (MC, 9/21/01)

1946        Sep 21, The Cleveland Indians played their final game in League Park, ending a 55-year stay.
    (MC, 9/21/01)

1947        Sep 21, Stephen King, author, was born in Portland, Maine. He is best known for supernatural and horror tales including Carrie (1974), Shining (1977) and Kujo (1981).
    (HN, 9/21/00)(SSFC, 7/2/06, Par p.16)
1947        Sep 21, Marsha Norman, playwright, was born. Her work included "Getting Out" and "'Night Mother."
    (HN, 9/21/00)

1948        Sep 21, Milton Berle made his debut as permanent host of "The Texaco Star Theater" on NBC television.
    (AP, 9/21/98)

1949        Sep 21, The Communist People’s Republic of China was proclaimed under Mao Tse Tung with Chou En-Lai as Premier. "Today, the Chinese people have stood  up." Mao-Tse-Tung led his people to power after half a century (50 yrs.) of civil strife. The Chinese Communists drove Chiang Kai-shek to Formosa. The capitalist stronghold of Shanghai fell to Mao Tse-tung Communist guerrillas. The Communist People’s Liberation Army brought with them to Beijing a northeastern folk dance called yang ge.
    (TOH, 1982, p.1949)(WSJ,12/10/93)(TMC, 1994, p.1945)(WSJ, 10/26/95, p.A-12)(WSJ, 8/5/96, p.A1)(AP, 9/21/97)
1949        Sep 21, In Germany the Allied Occupation Statute came into force. The functions of the military government were transferred to the Allied high commission. The Federal Republic of [West] Germany was created under the 3-power occupation.
    (EWH, 1968, p.1180)(MC, 9/21/01)
1949        Sep 21, Manipur merged with India. The former independent kingdom was strong-armed into joining India.
    (http://manipuronline.com/Manipur/merger.htm)(Econ, 11/7/09, p.43)

1953        Sep 21, North Korean pilot Lieutenant Ro Kim Suk landed his aircraft at Kimpo airfield outside Seoul. The Soviet Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15, powered by a jet engine superior to those then used in American fighter planes, first saw combat in Korea during November 1950, where its performance shifted the balance of air power to Russian-backed North Korea. On April 26, 1953, two U.S. Air Force B-29s dropped leaflets behind enemy lines, offering a $50,000 reward and political asylum to any pilot delivering an intact MiG-15 to American forces for study. Although Ro denied any knowledge of the bounty, he collected the reward, and American scientists were able to examine the MiG-15.
    (HNPD, 8/28/00)

1954        Sep 21, The 1st nuclear submarine, USS Nautilus, commissioned. [see Sep 30]
    (MC, 9/21/01)

1955        Sep 21, The last allied occupying troops left Austria.
    (MC, 9/21/01)

1956        Sep 21, Anastasio Somoza, Nicaraguan dictator, was assassinated by Roliberto Lopez. [see Sep 22]
    (MC, 9/21/01)

1957        Sep 21, "Perry Mason," starring Raymond Burr, premiered on CBS-TV. The show ran to 1965 and returned in 1985.
    (AP, 9/21/97)(SFC, 8/20/99, p.D6)
1957        Sep 21, Norway's King Haakon VII died in Oslo at age 85.
    (AP, 9/21/07)

1964        Sep 21, Malta became an independent member of the British Commonwealth.
    (AP, 9/21/97)(Econ, 7/14/07, p.57)(www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5382.htm)

1966        Sep 21, Jimmy Hendrix changed the spelling of his name to Jimi.
    (MC, 9/21/01)

1970        Sep 21, "NFL Monday Night Football" made its debut on ABC TV as the Cleveland Browns defeated the visiting New York Jets, 31-to-21.
    (SFC, 12/7/96, p.A1)(AP, 9/21/00)
1970        Sep 21, In Jordan King Hussein sent a plea to Israel for air support via the British embassy. Israel did not respond. The Black September crises left 2,000 people dead in 13 days of fighting.
    (SFC, 1/3/01, p.A12)

1972        Sep 21, Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law in Philippines.
    (www.geocities.com/pinoytv/martiallaw.htm)

1973        Sep 21, The painting "Blue Poles" by Jackson Pollock (1912-1956) sold for $2,000,000 to the Australian National Gallery.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_in_Australia)
1973        Sep 21, The US Senate confirmed Henry Kissinger to be Secretary of State under Pres. Nixon.
    (AP, 9/21/98)
1973        Sep 21, A secret CIA report indicated that severe repression was planned in Chile and that 300 students were killed in the technical university when they refused to surrender to the military. The report was made public in 1999.
    (SFC, 7/1/99, p.C3)

1974        Sep 21, US Mariner 10 made a 2nd fly-by of Mercury.
    (NH, 5/01, p.38)(www.astronautix.com/craft/marner10.htm)
1974        Sep 21, Jacqueline Susann (b.1918), author, died of cancer. Her books included "Valley of the Dolls" (1966). In 1987 Barbara Seaman authored Susann's biography: "Lovely Me." In 2000 the film "Isn't She Great" starred Bette Midler as Susann.
    (SFC, 1/26/00, p.B1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacqueline_Susann)

1975        Sep 21, Self-proclaimed revolutionary Sara Jane Moore attempted to kill President Gerald Ford as he walked from a San Francisco hotel. A bullet she fired slightly wounded a man in the crowd. [see Sep 22]
    (MC, 9/21/01)

1976        Sep 21, Benjamin Graham (b.1894), London-born economist and professional investor, died. He is known as the father of value investing. His books included “Security Analysis” written with David Dodd (1934), and “The Intelligent Investor” (1949). Warren Buffett studied under him at Columbia Univ.
    (WSJ, 10/5/06, p.D5)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Graham)
1976        Sep 21, Chilean exile Orlando Letelier, one time foreign minister to Chilean President Salvador Allende, was killed when a bomb exploded in his car in Washington D.C. He was assassinated by order from Chile by Gen’l. Manuel Contreras, head of the secret police known as DINA. Ronni Moffitt (25), an American colleague of Letelier, was also killed. Contreras was convicted of the order in 1993 and sentenced to a 7-year prison term. In 2000 Gen. Pinochet was linked to the killing.
    (SFC, 6/27/97, p.A14)(SFC, 7/1/99, p.C3)(SFEC, 5/28/00, p.A7)(AP, 9/21/01)

1977        Sep 21, After weeks of controversy over past business and banking practices, President Carter's embattled budget director, Bert Lance, resigned.
    (AP, 9/21/97)

1978        Sep 21, Two Soviet cosmonauts set a space endurance record after 96 days in space.
    (HN, 9/21/98)

1981        Sep 21, The US Senate unanimously confirmed the nomination of Sandra Day O'Connor to become the first female justice on the Supreme Court.
    (AP, 9/21/01)
1981        Sep 21, Belize gained independence from Britain and joined the UN under protests from Guatemala.
    (www.belizenet.com/bzeguat/chap10.html)

1982        Sep 21, National Football League players began a 57-day strike, their first regular-season walkout ever.
    (AP, 9/21/97)
1982        Sep 21, Amin Gemayel, brother of Lebanon's assassinated president-elect, Bashir Gemayel, was himself elected president. He stayed in office until 1988.
    (WSJ, 9/12/96, p.A16)(AP, 9/21/02)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amin_Gemayel)

1983        Sep 21, In a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Interior Secretary James G. Watt jokingly described a special advisory panel as consisting of "a black ... a woman, two Jews and a cripple." Although Watt later apologized, he ended up resigning.
    (AP, 9/21/98)
1983        Sep 21, In the Philippines at least 7 people were killed in anti Marcos demonstrations in Manila.
    (http://tinyurl.com/3xjunn)

1984        Sep 21, In Cleveland, Ohio, Romell Broom (28) raped a murdered Tryna Middleton (14) after abducting her at knife-point as she walked home from a football game with friends. His execution in 2009 was delayed as executioners failed to find a good vein for lethal injection.
    (www.associatedcontent.com/article/2185057/romell_brooms_execution_fails_over.html)

1986        Sep 21, In the 38th Emmy Awards the winners included Golden Girls, Cagney & Lacey and Michael J. Fox.
    (http://tinyurl.com/yxktmg)

1987        Sep 21, NFL players went on strike at midnight mainly over the issue of free agency.
    (AP, 9/21/97)(http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/almanac/video/1987/)
1987        Sep 21, A U.S. helicopter gunship disabled an Iranian vessel, the "Iran Ajr," that was caught laying mines in the Persian Gulf; four Iranian crewmen were killed, 26 wounded and detained.
    (AP, 9/21/97)

1988        Sep 21, The Soviet women's gymnastics team won the gold medal at the Seoul Summer Olympics, with Romania placing second and East Germany third.
    (AP, 9/21/98)

1989        Sep 21, General Colin Powell was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
    (HN, 9/21/98)
1989        Sep 21, Hurricane Hugo, packing winds of up to 135 mph, crashed into Charleston, S.C.
    (AP, 9/21/99)
1989        Sep 21, In Alton, Texas, 21 students died when their school bus collided with a truck and careered into a water-filled pit.
    (AP, 9/21/99)

1990        Sep 21, During a meeting of the Supreme Soviet, President Mikhail S. Gorbachev scolded legislators for dragging its feet on an economic rescue plan, and asked for sweeping new emergency powers to stabilize the economy.
    (AP, 9/21/00)

1991        Sep 21, An 18-hour hostage drama ended in Sandy, Utah, as Richard L. Worthington, who had killed a nurse and seized control of a hospital maternity ward, finally freed his nine captives, including a baby who was born during the siege. Worthington committed suicide in prison in 1994.
    (AP, 9/21/01)
1991        Sep 21, Yugoslav army tanks and artillery began an invasion of eastern Croatia. The Croats said that some 600 soldiers and 1200 civilians perished in the 3-month bombardment of Vukovar by rebel Serbs,
    (SFC, 6/11/96, p.A14)    (SFC, 6/28/97, p.A10)

1992        Sep 21, President Bush addressed the U.N. General Assembly, offering U.S. support to strengthen international peacekeeping.
    (AP, 9/21/97)
1992        Sep 21, Former defense secretaries Melvin Laird and James R. Schlesinger told a congressional committee the Pentagon had known American airmen were alive in Laos at the end of the Vietnam War and were not returned.
    (AP, 9/21/97)

1993        Sep 21, The police drama "NYPD Blue" premiered on ABC.
    (AP, 9/21/98)
1993        Sep 21, The US National and Community Service Trust Act became law under the Clinton administration. It included AmeriCorps, a volunteer national service program for young adults to teach children to read and  to build homes for those in need. A modest living allowance was provided along with up to $4,725 in education vouchers for completing one year of service. By 2002 there were some 50,000 participants earning $9,300 per year with education benefits to $9,500.
    (www.nationalservice.gov/pdf/cncs_statute_1993.pdf)(SFEC,11/30/97, p.A3)(SSFC, 1/6/02, p.A3)
1993        Sep 21, Russian President Boris Yeltsin announced he was ousting the hard-line, Communist-dominated Congress that had long opposed his reforms.
    (AP, 9/21/98)

1994        Sep 21, Prosecutors from Los Angeles and Santa Barbara counties announced that Michael Jackson would not face child molestation charges; however, the case would remain open until 1999.
    (AP, 9/21/99)

1995        Sep 21, US House Republicans unveiled partial details of their plan for Medicare aimed at achieving $270 billion in savings over seven years.
    (AP, 9/21/00)

1996        Sep 21, President Clinton and Republican rival Bob Dole agreed to face off in two debates without Ross Perot.
    (AP, 9/21/97)
1996        Sep 21, John F. Kennedy Jr. married Carolyn Bessette in a secret ceremony on Cumberland Island, Ga.
    (AP, 9/21/97)
1996        Sep 21, The board of all-male Virginia Military Institute voted to admit women.
    (AP, 9/21/97)
1996        Sep 21, In Brazil the first magazine dedicated to blacks, Raca Brasil, sold out 200,000 copies in 5 days.
    (SFC, 9/21/96, p.A8)
1996        Sep 21, Thai Prime Minister Banharn Silpa-archa resigned after 14 months in offices under charges of corruption and ineptitude.
    (SFC, 9/21/96, p.A10)

1997        Sep 21, Saying their persistent demands for a special investigation had been vindicated, senior Republicans insisted Attorney General Janet Reno seek appointment of an independent counsel to look into White House fund-raising activities, a day after the Justice Department revealed it had begun a preliminary review.
    (AP, 9/21/98)
1997        Sep 21, American billionaire George Soros, vilified by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad as the cause of the national financial crises, defended himself and called his accuser "a menace to his own country."
    (SFC, 9/22/97, p.A10)
1997        Sep 21, In Algeria an armed group killed 53 people in Beni-Slimane and then mutilated and burned the bodies.
    (SFC, 9/22/97, p.A9)
1997        Sep 21, From Chile it was reported that the hantavirus had caused the death of 13 people in recent months.
    (SFEC, 9/21/97, p.A27)
1997        Sep 21, From Poland election results indicated that Solidarity won 189 of the 460 seats of the parliament with about 34% of the vote.
    (WSJ, 9/23/97, p.A1)

1998        Sep 21, Congress released the video tape of Pres. Clinton’s grand jury testimony. President Clinton's videotaped grand jury testimony was publicly broadcast; in it, Clinton tussled with prosecutors over "the truth of my relationship" with Monica Lewinsky.
    (SFC, 9/22/98, p.A1)(AP, 9/21/99)
1998        Sep 21, In New York Wadih el Hage, a Texas American citizen who served as the personal secretary for Osama bin laden in Sudan, was indicted for lying to a Manhattan grand jury investigating bin Laden.
    (SFC, 9/22/98, p.A6)
1998        Sep 21, Hurricane Georges roared through Puerto Rico and the northeast Caribbean. Georges threatened the islands of the Caribbean. The storm hit Puerto Rico and killed at least 5 people as winds reached 130 mph. One woman was killed on St. Kitts.
    (SFC, 9/20/98, p.A13)(SFC, 9/22/98, p.A1) (AP, 9/21/99)
1998        Sep 21, Florence Griffith Joyner (38), winner of 3 gold medals in the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, died of an apparent heart seizure at her home in Mission Viejo, Calif. She held the women’s record in the 100- and 200-meter dashes.
    (SFC, 9/22/98, p.A1)(WSJ, 9/22/98, p.A1)(AP, 9/21/99)
1998        Sep 21, In Afghanistan a 2nd day of rocket barrages killed at least 10 people in Kabul.
    (WSJ, 9/22/98, p.A1)
1998        Sep 21, In Bosnia Biljana Plavsic conceded defeat to nationalist Nikola Poplasen. Nine hard-line candidates were disqualified. For the presidency Serb Zivko Radisic defeated Momcilo Karjisnik, Muslim leader Alija Izetbegovic won, and Croat Ante Jelavic defeated Kresimir Zubak.
    (SFC, 9/22/98, p.A8)(WSJ, 9/22/98, p.A1)(SFC, 9/26/98, p.A10)
1998        Sep 21, From China it was reported that the government had begun cracking down on the efforts of dissidents to organize the fledgling China Democratic Party.
    (SFC, 9/20/98, p.A16)
1998        Sep 21, In Lesotho opposition protestors clashed with South African and Botswanan troops at the royal palace. A faction of the Lesotho army rebelled 11 days ago and deposed the new military leadership. They charged that the May elections swept by the Lesotho Congress party were rigged.
    (SFC, 9/22/98, p.A7)
1998        Sep 21, In Malaysia thousands of protestors clashed with police as the finale to the Commonwealth Games proceeded. The Suaram human rights group said that 34 people were arrested.
    (SFC, 9/22/98, p.A7)
1998        Sep 21, In Russia the central bank began issuing 900 million new rubles valued at $55 million.
    (WSJ, 9/22/98, p.A1)
1998        Sep 21, In Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Mustafa Mahmoud Said Ahmen of Egypt and Rashid Saleh Hemed of Tanzania were charged with murder in connection with the bombing of the US Embassy.
    (SFC, 9/22/98, p.A6)

1999        Sep 21, The House Banking Committee opened an inquiry into allegations of a huge money-laundering scheme involving the Russian mob and the Bank of New York.
    (AP, 9/21/00)
1999        Sep 21, The FDA approved Synercid, a new antibiotic from Rhone-Poulenc. Hoechst merged with Rhone-Poulenc in 1999 to form Aventis.
    (WSJ, 9/22/99, p.A1)(Econ, 7/10/04, p.58)
1999        Sep 21, Peter Singer, the new DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton Center for Human Values, held his first classes. Singer held that the notion of life as sacred is a medieval concept and should be replaced with a utilitarian calculus "aimed at reducing suffering and maximizing happiness."
    (WSJ, 9/24/99, p.W21)
1999        Sep 21, In Columbia the government gave approval to Occidental Petroleum to drill a test well near the boundary of the 3,600 U'wa Indians.
    (SFC, 9/22/99, p.A14)
1999        Sep 21, In London the new Globe Theater was scheduled to open on the 400th anniversary of its first recorded performance. On the same day the adjoining year-round Inigo Jones theater will open.
    (WSJ, 6/17/97, p.A16)
1999        Sep 21, Prime Minister Ehud Barak of Israel was the 1st foreign leader to visit the new capital in Berlin.
    (SFC, 9/22/99, p.A14)
1999        Sep 21, Japan’s PM Keizo Obuchi easily won re-election as head of his party. This ensured that public money would continue to be used to spur economic recovery.
    (SFC, 9/22/99, p.A14)
1999        Sep 21, In Taiwan a 7.6 earthquake killed estimated total of 2,161. The 12-story Sungshan hotel collapsed and at least 73 people were killed. Prosecutors later charged 5 people with negligence in the design and construction of the building.
    (SFC, 11/9/99, p.A14)(AP, 9/21/00)(http://nisee.berkeley.edu/taiwan/)
1999        Sep 21, In Serbia demonstrations against Pres. Milosevic were led by the Alliance for Change in Belgrade and 18 other cities with lower than expected turnout.
    (SFC, 9/22/99, p.A16)

2000        Sep 21, In West Bengal, India, the release of water from 2 dams left tens of thousands of people stranded. Floods following torrential rains left at least 59 people dead.
    (WSJ, 9/22/00, p.A1)
2000        Sep 21, A Belgrade court found Pres. Clinton and other world leaders guilty of war crimes for the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. 14 leaders were sentenced in absentia to 20 years in prison. The 120-page indictment charged the leaders for the deaths of 546 Yugoslav army soldiers, 138 Serbian police officers and 504 civilians, including 88 children.
    (SFC, 9/22/00, p.A16)
2000        Sep 21, An Iranian appeals court reduced the prison terms for 10 Jews convicted of "cooperating" with Israel, in a case that had drawn international criticism.
    (AP, 9/21/01)
2000        Sep 21, In Spain Jose Luis Ruiz Casado (42), a town councilor, was shot and killed in Sant Adria de Besos outside of Barcelona. The ETA was blamed.
    (SFC, 9/22/00, p.D2)
2000        Sep 21, In Southeast Asia the death toll from floods reached 235. The Red Cross issued an appeal for emergency aid to Cambodia.
    (SFC, 9/22/00, p.D2)

2001        Sep 21, US entertainers hosted a national telethon: "America: A Tribute to Heroes," to raise money for the victims of the Sep 11 attacks that was carried on more than 30 networks.
    (SFC, 9/22/01, p.A1)(AP, 9/21/02)
2001        Sep 21, A US unmanned reconnaissance plane was downed in Afghanistan. 
    (SSFC, 9/23/01, p.A14)(WSJ, 9/24/01, p.A1)
2001        Sep 21, The US Congress passed a $15 billion relief package for the nation’s air carriers.
    (SFC, 9/22/01, p.A1)
2001        Sep 21, The DJIA fell 140 to 8,235, while the Nasdaq fell 47 to 1,423, a 3 year low.
    (SFC, 9/22/01, p.A1,11)
2001        Sep 21, Ana Belen Montes, an employee of the US Defense Intelligence Agency since 1985, was charged with spying for Cuba. She pleaded guilty in 2002 and was sentenced to 25 years in jail.
    (SFC, 9/22/01, p.A20)(WSJ, 3/20/02, p.A1)(SFC, 10/16/02, p.A9)
2001        Sep 21, A US Taurus rocket, made by Orbital Sciences, carrying a NASA satellite failed to launch and probably plunged into the Indian ocean.
    (SFC, 9/22/01, p.A20)
2001        Sep 21, Ronald C. Sheffield, a federal security officer was shot and killed in the Patrick V. McNamara building in Detroit. The gunman was seriously wounded.
    (SFC, 9/22/01, p.A20)
2001        Sep 21, In Afghanistan the ruling Taliban rejected Pres. Bush’s ultimatum and to give up Osama bin Laden. The Taliban also threatened to hang Afghan aid workers if they communicate with their int’l. counterparts.
    (SFC, 9/22/01, p.A7)(SFC, 9/25/01, p.A1)
2001        Sep 21, Terrorist suspects were arrested in Britain (4), France (7), Germany (2 warrants), Peru (3 detained) and Yemen (20 detained). Lofti Raissi, an Algerian pilot arrested in Britain, was later described as the "lead instructor" to 4 of the hijackers. Raissi was released Feb 12, 2002, for lack of evidence.
    (SFC, 9/22/01, p.A3)(SFC, 9/29/01, p.A1)(SFC, 2/13/02, p.A16)
2001        Sep 21, In Estonia Arnold Ruutel (73), a former Communist leader, was chosen as president by a special government assembly.
    (SFC, 9/22/01, p.A20)
2001        Sep 21, In France a suspected accidental explosion at a TotalFinaELF chemical fertilizer plant in Toulouse killed 29 people and injured at least 650.
    (SFC, 9/22/01, p.A20)(WSJ, 9/24/01, p.A1)
2001        Sep 21-Oct 2, In Tehran Iran’s Revolutionary Guards opened the First Universal Exhibition of Sacred Culture and Defense with a theme of Islamic revolution and holy war. It commemorated the 21st anniversary of the war with Iraq.
    (WSJ, 9/27/01, p.A1)
2001        Sep 21, Islamic groups planned a general strike to protest Pakistan’s support of the anti-terrorist coalition.
    (SFC, 9/21/01, p.A20)

2002        Sep 21, Erika Harold, Miss Illinois, was crowned in Atlantic City, NJ, as Miss America 2003.
    (SSFC, 9/22/02, p.A2)
2002        Sep 21, Angelo Buono Jr., whose gruesome killing of young Los Angeles women in the 1970s earned him the nickname Hillside Strangler, died in a California prison; he was 67.
    (AP, 9/21/03)
2002        Sep 21, In Indonesia 10 people were killed and 15 wounded in an explosion at a fireworks factory in the town of Slawi in Central Java province.
    (Reuters, 9/21/02)
2002        Sep 21, Iraq rejected U.S. efforts to secure a U.N. resolution threatening war, with Iraqi state-run radio announcing Baghdad will not abide by unfavorable new resolutions adopted by the U.N. Security Council.
    (AP, 9/21/02)
2002        Sep 21, In Liberia government forces and rebels battled for at least three northern and northwestern towns in a new outbreak of fighting near the border with Guinea.
    (AP, 9/21/02)
2002        Sep 21, Explosions rocked Yasser Arafat's compound, including one that showered him with debris, as the Israeli army systematically blew up or bulldozed nearly every building around him in the Palestinian Authority's headquarters.
    (AP, 9/21/02)
2002        Sep 21, In Slovakia Vladimir Meciar, the authoritarian former prime minister, appeared to edge out his rivals in elections, but he was without the support needed to catapult him to power in the face of united opposition.
    (AP, 9/21/02)

2003        Sep 21, At the 55th Annual Emmy Awards "The West Wing" won for best drama.
    (SFC, 9/22/03, p.D1)
2003        Sep 21, NYSE board of directors announced the appointment of John S. Reed (64) as interim chairman and CEO.
    (WSJ, 9/22/03, p.C1)
2003        Sep 21, NASA’s $1.5 billion Galileo mission ended a 14-year exploration of the solar system's largest planet and its moons with the spacecraft crashing by design into Jupiter at 108,000 mph.
    (SFC, 9/22/03, p.B8)(AP, 9/21/04)
2003        Sep 21, A US DynCorp plane crashed while fumigating cocaine-producing crops in volatile northern Colombia, killing the American pilot: "preliminary information indicates the aircraft was struck by hostile ground fire." The military contractor said it was the 5th shot down by rebels.
    (AP, 9/22/03)(WSJ, 9/23/03, p.A1)
2003        Sep 21, In Bolivia a rural roadblock near Warista ended in a clash with police and soldiers that left at least 4 people dead.
    (SSFC, 9/28/03, p.C2)
2003        Sep 21, The latest outbreak of fighting between Hutu rebels and the army in Burundi's decade-long civil war has killed at least 12 people on the outskirts of Bujumbura.
    (AP, 9/23/03)
2003        Sep 21, Paul Martin was elected by Canada's Liberal Party to succeed Jean Chretien as prime minister.
    (AP, 9/21/04)
2003        Sep 21, In Germany Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's party suffered a bitter defeat in state elections that focused on Germany's stagnating economy.
    (AP, 9/21/03)
2003        Sep 21, In India's portion of Kashmir a bomb hidden inside a videocassette recorder exploded in a busy market, killing 3 people and wounding 28 others.
    (AP, 9/21/03)
2003        Sep 21, In Iraq corporate and personal income taxes were capped at 15%. All foreign government entities and their employees were declared exempt.
    (WSJ, 10/28/03, p.A4)
2003        Sep 21, The leader of the Maldives appealed for calm after two days of rioting killed 3 people and sent shock waves through this tiny Indian Ocean island nation.
    (AP, 9/21/03)

2004        Sep 21, The new $219 million Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian opened in Washington DC. It included some 800,000 artifacts collected by George Gustav Heye (1874-1957).
    (SFC, 9/16/04, p.A1)
2004        Sep 21, President Bush, defending his decision to invade Iraq, urged the U.N. General Assembly to stand united with the country's struggling government.
    (AP, 9/21/05)
2004        Sep 21, The US Federal Reserve raised the overnight federal-funds interest rate a quarter point to 1.75%.
    (SFC, 9/22/04, p.C1)
2004        Sep 21, Yusuf Islam, formerly known as singer Cat Stevens, was taken off a London-to-Washington United Airlines flight because his name had shown up on a government "no-fly" list.
    (AP, 9/21/05)
2004        Sep 21, US forces killed 6 Afghan guerrillas following a rocket attack on a helicopter.
    (WSJ, 9/22/04, p.A1)
2004        Sep 21, China's PM Wen Jiabao hailed a series of agreements with neighboring Kyrgyzstan including an agreement on the thorny issue of the countries' common border.
    (AFP, 9/21/04)
2004        Sep 21, The UN Children's Fund and the World Food Program launched a $123 million program to reduce the mortality rate of children in Ethiopia.
    (Reuters, 9/21/04)
2004        Sep 21, The death toll across Haiti from Tropical Storm Jeanne topped 700, with some 500 of them in Gonaives. Officials expected to find more dead.
    (AP, 9/21/05)
2004        Sep 21, In India incessant rains caused flash floods that knocked down houses and killed at least 33 people in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
    (AP, 9/22/04)
2004        Sep 21, Former General Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono took a seemingly unassailable lead in Indonesia's presidential election.
    (AP, 9/21/04)
2004        Sep 21, Iran revealed that it started converting tons of raw uranium as part of a process that could be used to make nuclear arms.
    (AP, 9/21/04)
2004        Sep 21, A posting on an Islamic Web site claimed that the al-Qaida-linked group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has slain US hostage Jack Hensley.
    (AP, 9/21/04)(WSJ, 9/23/04, p.A1)
2004        Sep 21, A Turkish construction company announced that it was halting operations in neighboring Iraq in a bid to save the lives of 10 employees kidnapped by militants.
    (AP, 9/21/04)
2004        Sep 21, Israeli military officials said the US will sell them 4,500 smart bombs in a deal valued as much as $319 million.
    (SFC, 9/22/04, p.A15)
2004        Sep 21, Italian and Lebanese authorities reported the arrest of 10 alleged terrorists, thwarting plans to blow up the Italian Embassy in Beirut in a car bomb attack.
    (AP, 9/21/04)
2004        Sep 21, Liechtenstein ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty, bringing to 116 the number of nations that have endorsed the pact.
    (AP, 9/22/04)
2004        Sep 21, In northern Nigeria Islamic militants fighting to create a Taliban-style state launched their first attacks since January, assaulting two police stations in the northeast and killing six people.
    (AP, 9/23/04)
2004        Sep 21, In Paraguay Cecilia Cubas (31), the daughter of former Pres. Raul Cubas, was kidnapped. Her body was found stuffed down a well at a house on the outskirts of Asuncion, in February 2005.
    (Econ, 10/23/04, p.36)(AP, 4/5/08)
2004        Sep 21, Hundreds of Syrian soldiers stationed in the hills near Lebanon's capital began dismantling their bases in an effort to appease a U.N. Security Council demand that all 20,000 Syrian troops leave the country.
    (AP, 9/21/04)
2004        Sep 21, Inmates rioted at a western Venezuela prison, killing at least six fellow inmates and injuring 35 others before hundreds of national guardsmen restored order.
    (AP, 9/22/04)
2004        Sep 21, Seeking more influence over global decisions, Brazil, Germany, India and Japan joined forces to lobby for a permanent UN Security Council seat and pledged to work together to reform the United Nations.
    (AP, 9/22/04)

2005        Sep 21, Hurricane Rita intensified into a Category 5 storm with 140 mph winds and threatened to devastate the Texas coast or already-battered Louisiana by week's end. More than 1.3 million people in Texas and Louisiana were evacuated The death toll from Katrina topped 1,000.
    (AP, 9/21/05)(SFC, 9/22/05, p.A1)(AP, 9/21/06)
2005        Sep 21, A grand jury report in Philadelphia charged 2 former Catholic leaders, Cardinal John Krol and Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, with a coverup of sexual abuse and named 63 priests with records of abusive behaviour. No criminal charges could be filed because of limits of state law.
    (SFC, 9/22/05, p.A7)
2005        Sep 21, In Salt Lake City, Utah, Mayor Rocky Anderson signed an executive order granting domestic partner benefits to city workers.
    (SFC, 9/22/05, p.A3)
2005        Sep 21, A JetBlue Airbus circled Southern California for hours, crippled by a faulty landing gear, while inside the cabin, passengers were able to watch the drama unfold on live television; the plane landed safely.
    (AP, 9/21/06)
2005        Sep 21, Stephen M. Ressa (27) of Rialto, Ca., drove a stolen car into a crowd on the Las Vegas Strip killing 2 people and injuring dozens.
    (SFC, 9/23/05, p.A6)
2005        Sep 21, Molly Yard (93), former National Organization for Women president died in Pittsburgh.
    (AP, 9/21/06)
2005        Sep 21, The speaker of Brazil's lower house resigned amid charges he extorted bribes from a local businessman, the latest casualty of corruption scandals that have rocked Brazil's government.
    (AP, 9/21/05)
2005        Sep 21, A court convicted Rev. Denis Vadeboncoeur (65), a Canadian priest, of raping a teenage member of his Normandy parish and sentenced him to 12 years in prison, the second conviction for the clergyman who went to jail for similar crimes in Quebec.
    (AP, 9/21/05)
2005        Sep 21, EU nations agreed that Turkey must recognize EU member Cyprus during its membership talks, warning that non-recognition could lead to paralysis in the negotiations.
    (AP, 9/21/05)
2005        Sep 21, India said at least 64 people have died and hundreds of thousands displaced after powerful storms left a trail of devastation across the Indian and Bangladeshi coasts in the Bay of Bengal.
    (AP, 9/21/05)
2005        Sep 21, Indonesia scrambled to calm public fears of a possible bird flu epidemic after two more children suspected of having the disease died in the capital of Jakarta.
    (AP, 9/21/05)
2005        Sep 21, At least eight people were killed in a gun battle in Baghdad between troops and insurgents.
    (AP, 9/21/05)
2005        Sep 21, Gunmen in Mosul shot to death Ahlam Youssef, an engineer who works for al-Iraqiya television, and her husband, said Bassem al-Fadli, a manager at the station's headquarters in Baghdad.
    (AP, 9/21/05)
2005        Sep 21, About 500 civilians and policemen, some waving pistols and AK-47s, rallied in the southern city of Basra and denounced "British aggression" following London's decision to use force to free two of its soldiers being held by Iraqi police.
    (AP, 9/21/05)
2005        Sep 21, The UN World Food Program warned that its emergency operations in Iraq, which feed about 3 million people, were at risk because donors have only come up with 44 percent of the necessary money.
    (AP, 9/21/05)
2005        Sep 21, Domenica Siniscalco, Italy's economy minister, resigned in a row over the Bank of Italy and the budget, dealing a major blow to PM Silvio Berlusconi months before an election that polls say he is likely to lose.
    (AP, 9/22/05)(Econ, 9/24/05, p.61)
2005        Sep 21, Japan's Parliament re-elected Junichiro Koizumi as prime minister following the ruling coalition's landslide electoral victory last week, and he pledged to plow ahead with privatization of the postal service and other reforms.
    (AP, 9/21/05)y
2005        Sep 21, Unidentified gunmen in Bishkek killed Bayaman Erkinbayev (38), a Kyrgyz lawmaker and wealthy businessman. He had survived an assassination attempt 5 months ago.
    (AP, 9/22/05)
2005        Sep 21, In Lebanon police arrested four men who allegedly sold cell phone chips to members of the plot to assassinate former PM Rafik Hariri.
    (AP, 9/23/05)
2005        Sep 21, A cabinet minister who helped lead Mexico's anti-drug fight, his deputy and seven others died in a helicopter crash in the mountains west of Mexico City. The helicopter, carrying Public Safety Secretary Ramon Martin Huerta, Federal Preventive Police Chief Tomas Valencia, five other passengers and a crew of two, had taken off from a military parade ground in Mexico City.
    (AP, 9/22/05)
2005        Sep 21, North Korea accused the US of intending to disarm the communist country and then "crush it to death with nuclear weapons," two days after a landmark disarmament agreement that was expected to ease tensions.
    (AP, 9/21/05)
2005        Sep 21, In eastern Pakistan a fireworks explosion triggered a fire at a roadside restaurant, leaving five people dead and fifteen injured.
    (AP, 9/21/05)
2005        Sep 21, Pilots of a chartered jet carrying 289 Gambian soccer fans faked the need for an emergency landing in Peru so passengers could watch their nation's team play a key match.
    (AP, 9/22/05)
2005        Sep 21, The Kremlin issued a letter from President Vladimir Putin to Jordanian King Abdullah II, delivered personally by Moscow-backed Chechen President Alu Alkhanov during his Middle Eastern tour. Putin said in the letter that the situation in Chechnya was "steadily normalizing." Jordan has a large Chechen Diaspora.
    (AP, 9/21/05)
2005        Sep 21, Russian authorities blamed a hepatitis A outbreak in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia's third largest city, on an accident in the sewer network. More than 790 people, including 149 children under age 14, remained hospitalized.
    (AP, 9/21/05)
2005        Sep 21, In Saudi Arabia 2 men were beheaded in Riyadh, after being convicted of kidnapping and raping a woman.
    (AP, 9/21/05)
2005        Sep 21, South Korea announced it was developing highly sophisticated combat robots that could complement the roles of human soldiers on battlefields.
    (AP, 9/21/05)
2005        Sep 21, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged the United States and 10 other key countries to ratify the 1996 nuclear test-ban treaty so it can finally take effect, but like Pakistan, India, Israel and North Korea, the U.S. administration refuses to do so. It has been signed by 175 countries and ratified by 123 countries. But it will only take effect when 44 countries that participated in the Conference on Disarmament in 1996 and possessed nuclear research and power reactors have ratified it. To date, 33 of the 44 countries have ratified the treaty, but there seems little prospects of getting all 11 holdouts to change their positions.
    (AP, 9/22/05)
2005        Sep 21, In Venezuela Pres. Chavez said his government would cancel existing mining concessions and not award new ones.
    (WSJ, 9/23/05, p.A15)

2006        Sep 21, The US White House and rebellious Senate Republicans announced agreement on rules for the interrogation and trial of suspects in the war on terror.
    (AP, 9/21/07)
2006        Sep 21, The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced it would recommend all Americans ages 13 to 64 be routinely tested for HIV.
    (AP, 9/21/07)
2006        Sep 21, In NYC Venezuela’s Pres. Chavez visited the Mount Olive Baptist Church in Harlem and promised to double the amount of discounted heating oil his country is shipping to needy Americans. His offer included 100 gallons of heating oil for each of 12,000 households in rural Alaska.
    (SFC, 9/22/06, p.A3)(SSFC, 10/8/06, p.A27)
2006        Sep 21, In Santa Cruz, Ca., Kirby Scudder (50), former bike messenger, set up 500 giant flashlights to shine skyward every 30 feet along West Cliff Drive overlooking the Pacific Ocean in his tribute to International Peace Day. The lights came on at 9PM.
    (SFC, 9/21/06, p.B1)(SFC, 9/22/06, p.B7)
2006        Sep 21, The US space shuttle Atlantis returned safely to its Florida home port, capping a successful mission to resume International Space Station construction after the 2003 Columbia accident.
    (AP, 9/21/06)
2006        Sep 21, Time Warner Inc. said it would sell AOL France's Internet access unit to Neuf Cegetel for $365 million as it overhauls its online business in Europe to boost advertising.
    (AP, 9/21/06)
2006        Sep 21, In Afghanistan a NATO helicopter killed 8 suspected insurgents in Helmand province.
    (AP, 9/24/06)
2006        Sep 21, The death toll in Bangladesh and India rose to at least 95 and nearly 1,000 remained missing after storms capsized boats, toppled houses and washed away roads.
    (AP, 9/21/06)
2006        Sep 21, Chile's President Michelle Bachelet said her decision to allow the government to distribute free morning-after contraception pills to girls as young as 14 was a matter of "equality" within Chilean society.
    (AP, 9/21/06)
2006        Sep 21, Iraq’s Defense Ministry said insurgents are no longer using just volunteers as suicide car bombers but are instead kidnapping drivers, rigging their vehicles with explosives and blowing them up. Italy formally handed over security responsibility of the southern Dhi Qar province to Iraqi forces, the second of the country's 18 provinces to be handed over to local control. 2 people were killed and another nine were wounded when a car bomb exploded near an electricity company office in Baghdad. The number of Iraqi civilians killed in July and August hit a record-high 6,599. An American soldier was killed after his vehicle was hit by a roadside bombing in eastern Baghdad.
    (AP, 9/21/06)(AP, 9/22/06)
2006        Sep 21, Israeli forces killed at least 5 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as gunmen fired rockets into Israel.
    (SFC, 9/22/06, p.A13)
2006        Sep 21, A Japanese court ruled that an order forcing Tokyo teachers to stand before Japan's flag and sing an anthem to the emperor violated the constitution, a rare victory for the country's waning pacifist movement.
    (AP, 9/21/06)
2006        Sep 21, Jordan sentenced 7 people to death for triple hotel bombings that killed 60 people in Amman last November. Sajida al-Rishawi (35), an Iraqi woman, was sentenced to death. 6 others were sentenced to death in absentia.
    (AP, 9/21/06)
2006        Sep 21, Vladimiro Montesinos (61), Peru's former spymaster, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for engineering a deal that sent 10,000 assault rifles to Colombian guerrillas.
    (AP, 9/22/06)
2006        Sep 21, In Russia Gennady Melikyan, deputy chairman of the Central Bank, was appointed top regulator to replace the recently murdered Andrei Kozlov.
    (WSJ, 9/22/06, p.A6)
2006        Sep 21, Thailand's new military rulers said that four top members of deposed PM Thaksin Shinawatra's administration had been detained. The regime also assumed the duties of parliament, which was dissolved when the government was ousted in a coup earlier this week, and banned meetings by all political parties.
    (AP, 9/21/06)
2006        Sep 21, Elif Shafak, one of Turkey's leading authors, was acquitted of "insulting Turkishness" in her novel "The Bastard of Istanbul," that touched on the mass killings of Armenians during the final years of the Ottoman Empire. The University of Arizona assistant professor gave birth to a daughter on Sep 16 and did not attend her trial.
    (AP, 9/21/06)
2006        Sep 21, Vietnam deported an American pro-democracy activist, state-run television reported. Cong Thanh Do (47) of San Jose, Ca., was accused of plotting to overthrow the government.
    (AP, 9/21/06)

2007        Sep 21, The United States said it is donating 97 million dollars (69 million euros) to Ethiopia in recognition of the Horn of Africa country's "strategic importance."
    (AP, 9/21/07)
2007        Sep 21, US Sec. of State Condoleeza Rice said the US and France have agreed on increasing diplomatic and economic pressure to force Iran to abandon its nuclear program.
    (SFC, 9/21/07, p.A3)
2007        Sep 21, Google filed with the EU competition regulator for permission to buy rival DoubleClick for $3.1 billion.
    (Reuters, 9/21/07)
2007        Sep 21, Chris Kavanagh, Berkeley rent board member, was arrested in Oakland, Ca., and charged with fraud for allegedly claiming a false residence in Berkeley to hold office there.
    (SFC, 9/21/07, p.B1)
2007        Sep 21, Mattel Inc, apologized for damaging China's reputation after recent massive recalls of its Chinese-made toys, admitting it targeted some goods that were actually up to scratch.
    (AP, 9/21/07)
2007        Sep 21, Kirby Archer (35) and Guillermo Zarabozo (19) hired the yacht Joe Cool in Miami for a ride to Bimini. Two days later the US Coast Guard found the yacht drifting and 12 miles away a life raft, drifting northward with the Gulf Stream current. In it were Archer and Zarabozo, with a supply of water, their luggage, and some other curious objects: a blow gun, darts, several knives, and 22 $100 bills. They said pirates had attacked the yacht and killed the 4-person crew. Arkansas prosecutors have accused Archer of robbing the Wal-Mart in Batesville, where he worked for less than a year as a customer service manager. On Oct 10 prosecutors charged the 2 men with murder. Archer later pleaded guilty to murder and kidnapping. On Feb 19, 2009, Zarabozo was convicted of murder.
    (AP, 10/14/07)(SFC, 2/20/09, p.A10)
2007        Sep 21, One student was mortally wounded, another injured, at Delaware State University, and the campus was locked down as police searched for a gunman. On Sep 24 police arrested Loyer Braden (18), a DSU freshman on charges of attempted murder. He was later indicted on a second-degree murder charge.
    (SFC, 9/25/07, p.A6)(AP, 9/21/08)
2007        Sep 21, Alice Ghostley (b.1926), the Tony Award-winning actress, died in LA. She was best known on television for playing Esmeralda on "Bewitched" (1969-1972 and Bernice on "Designing Women" (1987-1993).
    (AP, 9/22/07)
2007        Sep 21, The Rev. Rex Humbard (88), whose televangelism ministry once spanned the globe, died in Atlantis, Fla.
    (AP, 9/21/08)
2007        Sep 21, The Red Cross warned that a massive aid effort is needed to cope with floods in 18 countries across Africa that have already affected at least 1.5 million people and killed at least 270 in Ghana, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, Togo, Uganda and other countries.
    (AFP, 9/21/07)
2007        Sep 21, A bomb attack in western Kabul against a convoy of French troops killed one French soldier and injured 8 Afghan civilians near the blast. Airstrikes against "anti-coalition militants" in the Garmsir district of Helmand province killed about 40 fighters.
    (AFP, 9/21/07)
2007        Sep 21, A bomb attack near a city east of Algiers injured two French citizens, one Italian and six Algerians, including five police.
    (AFP, 9/21/07)
2007        Sep 21, Australia’s ex-senator Bob Collins (b.1946), who served as a minister in the early 1990s, died, days before he was due to face a hearing on 21 charges of child sex abuse dating back three decades.
    (AFP, 9/26/07)
2007        Sep 21, Playboy opened its first store in Europe at the heart of London's shopping district, continuing its evolution from adult magazine to international merchandising brand.
    (AP, 9/21/07)
2007        Sep 21, A new case of foot-and-mouth disease was confirmed in cattle on a farm in southern England.
    (AP, 9/21/07)
2007        Sep 21, In Canada, delegates from almost 200 countries agreed to eliminate ozone-depleting substances faster than originally planned. The agreement was reached at a conference in Montreal to mark the 20th anniversary of the Montreal protocol, which was designed to cut chemicals found to harm the ozone layer.
    (Reuters, 9/22/07)
2007        Sep 21, Chile's Supreme Court ruled that former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori must be extradited to face human rights and corruption charges in Peru.
    (AP, 9/21/07)
2007        Sep 21, Iraqi officials said 25 people have been arrested linked to the assassination of Abu Risha, the leader of the US-backed revolt by Sunni Arab tribesmen in the western Anbar province against al-Qaida in Iraq. Cholera was confirmed in a baby in Basra, the farthest south the outbreak has been detected. American convoys under the protection of Blackwater USA resumed, four days after the US Embassy suspended all land travel by its diplomats and other civilian officials in response to the alleged killing of civilians by the security firm. Followers of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani refused to attend Friday sermons in their mosques in the southern city of Basra, in protest of the overnight assassination of two aides to the country's top Shiite cleric, one in Diwaniyah province and the other in the southern Basra area. A roadside bomb killed a Romanian soldier near Tallil in southern Iraq.
    (AP, 9/21/07)
2007        Sep 21, In Myanmar about 1,500 Buddhist monks marched through downtown Yangon to protest against Myanmar's military government, beginning their fourth day of demonstrations at a pagoda that has long served as a national symbol for dissent.
    (AP, 9/21/07)
2007        Sep 21, Sources said the presumed head of the Nigerian armed group the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), who goes under the name of Jomo Gbomo, has been arrested in Angola.
    (AFP, 9/21/07)
2007        Sep 21, North Korea and Syria held high-level talks in Pyongyang, amid suspicions that the two countries might be cooperating on a nuclear weapons program.
    (AP, 9/21/07)
2007        Sep 21, President Gen. Pervez Musharraf appointed a new intelligence chief and promoted five other generals in a staff shake up just days after signaling he would quit the military if elected to a new five-year term. Outside the Supreme Court, hundreds of flag-waving supporters of Pakistan's biggest Islamic party held an anti-Musharraf rally as judges heard petitions challenging his right to run for re-election. Police said At least 27 people have died after consuming poisonous alcohol in southern Pakistan. Around 25 soldiers were released after hectic negotiations between a government-backed tribal jirga and rebels in South Waziristan.
    (AP, 9/21/07)(AFP, 9/22/07)
2007        Sep 21, Today was the United Nations' International Day of Peace.
    (AFP, 9/21/07)

2008        Sep 21, At the 60th annual Primetime Emmy Awards HBO led with 26 trophies.
    (AP, 9/22/08)
2008        Sep 21, The US Federal Reserve said it had granted a request by the country's last two major investment banks, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, to change their status to bank holding companies.
    (AP, 9/21/08)
2008        Sep 21, Oracle’s 5-day OpenWorld customer conference opened in SF with some 43,000 people attending.
    (SFC, 9/22/08, p.D1)
2008        Sep 21, NYC police arrested more than a dozen people for stealing pieces of Yankee Stadium during the 85-year-old ballpark's final game.
    (AP, 9/23/08)
2008        Sep 21, Wallace N. Rasmussen (b.1914), former head of Beatrice Foods (1976-1979), died at his home in Nashville, Tenn.
    (WSJ, 10/4/08, p.A12)
2008        Sep 21, The UN said guns fell silent across much of Afghanistan for the 26th anniversary of the International Day of Peace that saw pledges by the US, NATO, the Afghan government and the Taliban to halt attacks. Taliban militants attacked a security company guarding a road construction crew in the southern province of Ghazni, killing two guards. In southwestern Afghanistan suspected Taliban militants kidnapped about 156 civilian laborers who were traveling in three buses in the Bala Buluk area.
    (AP, 9/21/08)(AFP, 9/22/08)
2008        Sep 21, Egypt's foreign ministry said an illegal migrant boat carrying 83 Egyptians headed for Europe has gone missing off the coast of Greece after leaving Egypt 3 days ago.
    (AP, 9/21/08)
2008        Sep 21, Hermann Simm, a middle ranking civil servant in Estonia’s defense ministry, was arrested along with his wife and charged with spying for an unnamed foreign power. He had set up and run a system for handling top secret documents from NATO allies and handled security clearances for Estonian officials in the military, security and intelligence services.
    (Econ, 11/8/08, p.68)
2008        Sep 21, Hong Kong authorities said they found traces of melamine in a batch of Chinese-made Nestle commercial milk. The next day they forced Nestle to recall the milk line.
    (WSJ, 9/23/08, p.A22)
2008        Sep 21, Iraqi interior ministry Brig. Adel Abbas was killed along with his driver in a drive-by shooting in western Baghdad. A finance ministry director was seriously wounded when a bomb exploded in his car, also in western Baghdad. An American soldier was killed when his patrol came under small-arms fire in Baghdad.
    (AP, 9/21/08)(AP, 9/22/08)
2008        Sep 21, Israel’s PM Ehud Olmert, crippled by a series of corruption investigations, announced he would resign, clearing the way for his foreign minister to try to succeed him as Israel's next leader.
    (AP, 9/21/08)
2008        Sep 21, In southern Nigeria MEND declared a ceasefire following a week of attacks on oil industry targets.
    (AFP, 9/21/08)
2008        Sep 21, Pakistani troops and tribesmen opened fire on two US helicopters that crossed into the country from neighboring Afghanistan. The helicopters did not return fire and re-entered Afghan airspace without landing.
    (www.wtop.com/?nid=105&sid=1479095)
2008        Sep 21, Pirates in speedboats hijacked a Greek bulk carrier with 19 crew members off eastern Somalia. On Dec 8 Somali pirates freed the 19-man crew and MV Captain Stephanos, the Greek-owned and Bahamas-flagged bulk carrier.
    (AP, 9/22/08)(AP, 12/10/08)
2008        Sep 21, Somali refugees abandoned by smugglers in the dangerous waters of the Gulf of Aden were rescued. They had drifted for 18 days, and at least 52 died before the group was rescued off the Yemeni coast. Seventy-one people survived the journey.
    (AP, 9/28/08)
2008        Sep 21, In northeast Spain suspected Basque separatists threw petrol bombs at a police station in Ondorroa to lure officers outside before detonating a car bomb, which injured 10 people. The attack came only hours after a car bomb exploded in the regional capital of Vitoria. Nobody was injured. Authorities suspected ETA.
    (AFP, 9/21/08)
2008        Sep 21, In western Turkey 13 newborn, premature babies died over the weekend at Izmir's Tepecik hospital. In August, investigators looking into the deaths of 27 newborns at an Ankara hospital concluded that a staff shortage had increased the risk of infection. Tainted IV treatment was later suspected.
    (AP, 9/22/08)(AP, 9/27/08)

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