Today in History - September 26
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1342 Sep 26, John
I, ruler of Poland, died.
(MC, 9/26/01)
1396 Sep 26, Sultan Bajezid I
beheaded several hundred crusaders.
(MC, 9/26/01)
1580 Sep 26, Francis Drake
returned to Plymouth, England, at the end of his voyage to circumvent
the globe. Drake was knighted and awarded a prize of 10 thousand
pounds. His crew of 63 split a purse of 8 thousand pounds.
(TL-MB, p.23)(HN, 9/26/99)(ON, 7/03, p.8)
1669 Sep 26, The island of Crete
fell to the Ottoman Turks after 465 years as a colony of Venice.
(WSJ, 7/21/08, p.A11)
1687 Sep 26, The Venetian army
attacked the Acropolis in Athens while trying to eject Turks. Marauding
Venetians sent a mortar through a gable window of the Parthenon and
ignited a Turkish store of gunpowder. This damaged the northern
colonnade of the Parthenon. The Parthenon was destroyed in the war
between Turks and Venetians.
(SFEC, 6/6/99, p.A26)(MC, 9/26/01)
1729 Sep 26, Moses Mendelssohn,
German philosopher, critic, Bible translator, was born. [see Sep 6]
(MC, 9/26/01)
1772 Sep 26, New Jersey passed a
bill requiring a license to practice medicine.
(MC, 9/26/01)
1774 Sep 26, John Chapman
(d.1845), later known as Johnny Appleseed, was born in
Massachusetts. A pioneer agriculturalist of early America,
Chapman began his trek in 1797, collecting apple seedlings from western
Pennsylvania and establishing apple nurseries around the early American
frontier. Chapman was a Swedenborgian missionary, a land speculator and
an eccentric dresser (he hated shoes and seldom wore them. He planted
orchards across western Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana from seed.
(www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=94)(T&L, 10/1980,
p.42)(ON, 4/09, p.10)
1777 Sep 26, The British army
launched a major offensive during the American Revolution, capturing
Philadelphia. [see Sep 25]
(HN, 9/26/99)(AP, 9/26/97)
1783 Sep 26, Jane Taylor,
children's writer, was born. She was best known as the author of
"Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star."
(HN, 9/26/99)
1786 Sep 26, France and Britain
signed a trade agreement in London.
(HN, 9/26/99)
1789 Sep 26, Thomas Jefferson was
appointed America's first Secretary of State; John Jay the first chief
justice of the United States; Samuel Osgood the first
Postmaster-General; and Edmund Jennings Randolph the first Attorney
General.
(AP, 9/26/97)
1791 Sep 26, J.L.A. Theodore
Gericault, French painter, was born.
(MC, 9/26/01)
1815 Sep 26, Russia, Prussia and
Austria signed a Holy Alliance. "Justice, charity and peace" were to be
the precepts that guided the Holy Alliance as envisioned by Czar
Alexander I of Russia. The alliance of Russia, Austria and Prussia was
formed after the downfall of Napoleon and later all European rulers
signed the agreement except the prince regent of Great Britain, the
pope and the sultan of Turkey. With no specific aims beyond mutual
assistance, the provisions of the Holy Alliance were so vague that it
had little effect on European diplomacy. Metternich quietly replaced
the entire alliance by the purely political alliance of 20 November,
1815, between Austria, Prussia, Russia and England.
(www.newadvent.org/cathen/07398a.htm)(HNQ, 7/7/98)
1820 Sep 26, The legendary
frontiersman Daniel Boone died quietly at the Defiance, Mo., home of
his son Nathan, at age 85.
(HN, 9/26/99)
1826 Sep 26, The Persian cavalry
was routed by the Russians at the Battle of Ganja in the Russian
Caucasus.
(HN, 9/26/99)
1829 Sep 26, Scotland Yard, the
official British criminal investigation organization, was formed. [see
Sep 29 and June, 1842]
(HN, 9/26/99)
1835 Sep 26, Gaetano Donizetti's
opera "Lucia di Lammermoor," premiered in Naples.
(MC, 9/26/01)
1864 Sep 26, General Nathan
Bedford Forrest and his men assaulted a Federal garrison near Pulaski,
Tennessee.
(HN, 9/26/99)
1887 Sep 26, Barnes Wallis,
British aeronautical engineer, was born. He invented the "Bouncing
Bombs" that destroyed German dams during World War II.
(HN, 9/26/99)
1888 Sep 26, T.S. Eliot (d.1976),
American-Anglo poet, critic, and dramatist, was born. His poetry
included "The Waste Land" and "Ash Wednesday." "Those who say they give
the public what it wants begin by underestimating public taste and end
by debauching it."
(AP, 3/28/99)(HN, 9/26/99)
1889 Sep 26, Martin Heidegger,
existentialist philosopher and writer, was born in Germany. He wrote
"Being and Time," and criticized the tyranny of modern technology over
man.
(WUD, 1994, p.657)(WSJ, 8/28/97, p.A12)(MC, 9/26/01)
1891 Sep 26, Charles Munch
(d.1968), Alsatian conductor (French Legion D'Honeur), was born in
Strasbourg.
(WUD, 1994 p.941)(MC, 9/26/01)
1892 Sep 26, John Philip Sousa and
his newly formed band performed publicly for the first time, at the
Stillman Music Hall in Plainfield, N.J.
(AP, 9/26/07)
1892 Sep 26, The Diamond Match Co.
patented book matches. [see Sep 27]
(MC, 9/26/01)
1897 Sep 26, Pope Paul VI
(Giovanni Battista Montini), the 262nd pope of the Roman Catholic
Church, was born.
(MC, 9/26/01)
1898 Sep 26, George Gershwin,
American composer, was born as Jacob Gershvin in Brooklyn, N.Y. He
wrote many popular songs for musicals, along with his brother Ira, and
is best known for "I Got Rhythm" and "Rhapsody in Blue." His work
included "An American in Paris." As Gershwin was putting together his
famous "Rhapsody in Blue" in 1924, jazz was gaining widespread
popularity. But Gershwin sought to do something new: "Jazz, they said,
had to be in strict time. It had to cling to dance rhythms. I resolved
to kill that misconception with one sturdy blow." Audiences loved it.
He and his brother Ira collaborated in 1934 to create "Porgy and Bess,"
an opera that explored African-American culture. Many of its songs have
become ingrained in American popular culture. Just a few years later,
when he was only 38, Gershwin died of a brain tumor.
(SFEC, 8/16/98, DB p.37)(AP, 9/26/98)(HNPD, 9/26/99)
1901 Sep 26, Leon Czolgosz, who
murdered President William McKinley, was sentenced to death.
(HN, 9/26/99)
1902 Sep 26, Umberto "Albert"
Anastasia, US gangster (fond of being shaved), was born.
(MC, 9/26/01)
1904 Sep 26, GB Shaw's "How He
Lied to Her Husband," premiered in NYC.
(MC, 9/26/01)
1904 Sep 26, Lafcadio Hearn
(b.1850), Greece-born, Irish-American travel writer, died in Japan. He
moved to Japan in 1890 and is especially well-known for his collections
of Japanese legends and ghost stories, such as “Kwaidan: Stories and
Studies of Strange Things” (1904). In 2009 Christopher Benfey edited
“Lafcadio Hearn: American Writings.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lafcadio_Hearn)
1907 Sep 26, Anthony F. Blunt,
British historian and spy for USSR, was born.
(MC, 9/26/01)
1907 Sep 26, New Zealand went from
being a colony to a dominion within the British Empire.
(AP, 9/26/07)
1908 Sep 26, An ad for the Edison
Phonograph appeared in "The Saturday Evening Post". The phonograph
offered buyers free records by both the Democratic and Republican US
presidential candidates.
(MC, 9/26/01)
1913 Sep 26, Ernst Schnabel,
German sailor and dramatist (Anne Frank), was born.
(MC, 9/26/01)
1913 Sep 26, The first boat was
raised in the locks of the Panama Canal.
(HN, 9/26/99)
1914 Sep 26, Jack LaLanne, fitness
guru, was born.
(MC, 9/26/01)
1914 Sep 26, The Federal Trade
Commission was established to regulate interstate commerce and foster
competition by preventing monopolies in business.
(AP, 9/26/97)(HN, 9/26/99)
1916 Sep 26, A Bishop spoke
against Catholics joining trade unions
(MC, 9/26/01)
1918 Sep 26, The Meuse-Argonne
offensive against the Germans began during World War I.
(AP, 9/26/08)
1918 Sep 26, German Ace Ernst Udet
shot down two Allied planes, bringing his total for the war up to 62.
(HN, 9/26/00)
1923 Sep 26, Sir Aubrey Herbert
(b.1880), Englishman, died. He worked for Albania’s independence and
was twice offered the throne of Albania. He authored the WW 1 journal
“Mons, Anzac & Kut.”
(www.ku.edu/carrie/texts/world_war_I/Mons/mons.htm)(Econ, 12/18/04,
p.16)
1925 Sep 26, The Italian submarine
"Sebastiano Veniero" was lost off Sicily with 54 dead.
(MC, 9/26/01)
1930 Sep 26, Fritz Wunderlich,
tenor (Stuttgart 1955-58), was born in Kusel, Germany.
(MC, 9/26/01)
1934 Sep 26, The British liner
Queen Mary was launched. [see May 27, 1936]
(MC, 9/26/01)
1937 Sep 26, Bessie Smith, known
as the ‘Empress of the Blues,’ died in a car crash on Highway 61 near
Clarksdale, Mississippi.
(HN, 9/26/00)(HT, 5/97, p.40)
1938 Sep 26, Hitler issued his
ultimatum to Czech government, demanding Sudetenland.
(MC, 9/26/01)
1940 Sep 26, During the London
Blitz, the underground Cabinet War Room suffered a hit when a bomb
exploded on the Clive Steps.
(HN, 9/26/99)
1940 Sep 26, Japanese troops
attacked French Indochina (Vietnam).
(MC, 9/26/01)
1941 Sep 26, The U.S. Army
established the Military Police Corps.
(HN, 9/26/01)
1941 Sep 26, In Ukraine some
33,711 Jews of Kiev were killed over 3 days before Yom Kippur in the
ravine at Babi Yar by the Nazis. Over the next 2 years some 100-200
thousand more people, mostly Jews, were killed at the site.
(SFC, 10/29/96, p.A6)(SFC, 6/25/01, p.A8)(SFC,
6/26/01, p.A8)(AP, 11/16/07)
1943 Sep 26, The Germans placed an
extortion on the Jews of Rome with an order to produce 50 kg of gold
within 2 days or face massive deportations. Pope Pius XII offered to
loan the Jewish community 15 kg of gold with interest and with
repayment due within 4 years after the war. Rome’s Jews and citizens
came up with sufficient gold to make the Pope’s offer needless.
(WSJ, 5/8/97, p.A23)
1945 Sep 26, Bryan Ferry, singer
in group Roxy Music and solo, was born.
(MC, 9/26/01)
1945 Sep 26, Bela Bartok,
Hungarian pianist and composer, died at 64. [see Sep 25]
(MC, 9/26/01)
1948 Sep 26, Olivia Newton-John
singer and actress, was born. (You're the One that I Want, If Not for
You, Let Me Be There, I Honestly Love You, Have You Never Been Mellow,
Please Mr. Please, Physical, Magic; actress: Grease, Xanadu, Two of a
Kind).
(MC, 9/26/01)
1949 Sep 26, Jane Smiley,
novelist, was born. Her work included "A Thousand Acres, Moo."
(HN, 9/26/00)
1950 Sep 26, The California state
legislature passed a bill requiring state employees to sign a loyalty
oath.
(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.F2)
1950 Sep 26, General Douglas
MacArthur's American X Corps, fresh from the Inchon landing, linked up
with the U.S. Eighth Army after its breakout from the Pusan Perimeter.
United Nations troops recaptured the South Korean capital of Seoul from
the North Koreans. [see Sep 27]
(AP, 9/26/97)(HN, 9/26/99)
1950 Sep 26, Because of forest
fire in British Columbia a blue moon appeared in England.
(MC, 9/26/01)
1950 Sep 26, Indonesia was
admitted to the UN.
(www.gimonca.com/sejarah/sejarah09.shtml)
1951 Sep 26, Prof. Youngblood
demonstrated an artificial heart in Paris.
(MC, 9/26/01)
1952 Sep 26, George Santayana
(88), US philosopher and poet (Last Puritan), died in Italy. He was a
student and professor at Harvard but left the US in 1912. His work
includes: "The Life of Reason" and "Realms of Being;" a novel "The Last
Puritan;" and autobiography "Persons and Places." In 2000 Irving Singer
authored "George Santayana: Literary Philosopher."
(WSJ, 11/7/00, p.A24)(AP, 9/26/06)
1953 Sep 26, US and Spain signed a
defense treaty with 4 US bases to be set in Spain .
(MC, 9/26/01)
1953 Sep 26, Polish government
fired and imprisoned Cardinal Wyszynski.
(MC, 9/26/01)
1954 Sep 26, Ronald Reagan made
his 1st appearance as host of the "General Electric Theater," and
continued on for 8 years.
(SSFC, 6/6/04, A14)
1954 Sep 26, A typhoon hit Japan.
5 ferryboats sank killing about 1,600. The Japanese ferry boat Toya
Maru sank in the Strait of Tsugaru and 1172 died.
(MC, 9/26/01)
1955 Sep 26, The New York Stock
Exchange suffered $44 million loss, the heaviest one-day loss since
1929 following word that Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower had suffered a
heart attack.
(AP, 9/26/03)
1956 Sep 26, Linda Hamilton
actress, was born. (Terminator series, Beauty and the Beast, Children
of the Corn).
(MC, 9/26/01)
1956 Sep 26, Lucien Febvre, French
historian (Un Destin, Martin Luther), died at 78.
(MC, 9/26/01)
1957 Sep 26, The musical "West
Side Story" by Leonard Bernstein and Jerome Robbins opened on Broadway
and ran for 734 performances. The loose adaptation of William
Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" produced several hit songs, including
"Maria" and "Tonight".
(SFC, 8/9/96, p.D1)(AP, 9/26/97)(MC, 9/26/01)
1957 Sep 26, Dag Hammarskjold was
re-elected secretary-general of UN.
(MC, 9/26/01)
1959 Sep 26, Vera, Japan, was hit
by a typhoon; about 5,000 died. [see Sep 17,27]
(MC, 9/26/01)
1960 Sep 26, Ted Williams hit his
521st HR off Jack Fisher for his last time at bat.
(MC, 9/26/01)
1960 Sep 26, The first televised
debate between presidential candidates Vice Pres. Richard M. Nixon and
John F. Kennedy took place in Chicago. Diplomat Henry Cabot Lodge was
Nixon’s vice-presidential nominee.
(SFEM, 4/28/96, p.12)(SFC, 5/7/96, p.A-6)(AP,
9/26/97)
1960 Sep 26, Fidel Castro made the
longest speech in UN history, 4 hrs, 29 mins.
(WSJ, 8/5/06, p.A9)
1961 Sep 26, Roger Maris hit HR
#60 off Jack Fisher, tying Babe Ruth's record.
(MC, 9/26/01)
1961 Sep 26, Nineteen-year-old Bob
Dylan made his New York singing debut at Gerde’s Folk City. [see April
11, Sep 11]
(HN, 9/26/00)
1962 Sep 26, The cult film
"Carnival of Souls" premiered in Lawrence, Kan., where parts of it had
been filmed.
(AP, 9/26/02)
1962 Sep 26, TV comedy series
"Beverly Hillbillies" premiered on CBS. The Beverly Hillbillies,
produced by Paul Henning (1912-2005), became the top ranking network
show on television for two seasons with rankings of 36 and 39.1%. The
show ran to 1971.
(WSJ, 4/24/95, p.R-5)(WSJ, 5/26/98, p.B1)(SFC,
3/26/05, p.B5)
1962 Sep 26, In North Yemen a
group of military officers led by Col. Adbullah al-Sallal and supported
by Egypt overthrew the Imam and established a republic. Zaydi Imam
al-Badr had been in power for only a week having succeeded his father
who had presided over a feudal kingdom where 80 per cent of the
population lived as peasants and which was controlled through bribery,
an arbitrary and coercive tax system and a policy of divide and rule.
The coup was led by Colonel Abdullah al-Sallal and a pro-Nasser, Arab
nationalist group within the Yemeni military, which proclaimed the
Yemen Arab Republic.
(http://markcurtis.wordpress.com/2007/02/13/the-covert-war-in-yemen-1962-70/)
1963 Sep 26, Lee Harvey Oswald
traveled on a Continental Trailways bus to Mexico.
(MC, 9/26/01)
1965 Sep 26, Queen Elizabeth
decorated the Beatles with the Order of the British Empire.
(MC, 9/26/01)
1967 Sep 26, Hanoi rejected a U.S.
peace proposal.
(HN, 9/26/99)
1968 Sep 26, Hawaii Five-O
premiered on CBS TV and continued to 1980. It starred Jack Lord (d.1998
at 77) and was the longest running police show in TV history. It’s
theme song was "Walk Don’t Run" by the Ventures. Lord (born as John
Joseph Patrick Ryan) was a painter off TV and his canvasses sold
privately for top dollar.
(SFC, 7/11/96, p.D4)(SFC, 1/22/98, p.D3)
1968 Sep 26, In Portugal Prof.
Marcello Caetano replaced Antonio Salazar as Prime Minister.
(WUD, 1994, p.1687)
1969 Sep 26, The family comedy
series "The Brady Bunch" premiered on ABC-TV.
(AP, 9/26/99)
1969 Sep 26, The Beatles last
album, "Abbey Road," was released in the United Kingdom. The last hit
LP for the "fab four" zoomed quickly to the #1 spot on the charts and
stayed there for 11 weeks.
(www.johnlennon.com/html/history.aspx)(HN,
9/26/99)(Beat. For., 1995, p. 58)
1972 Sep 26, Richard M. Nixon met
with Emperor Hirohito in Anchorage, Alaska, the first-ever meeting of a
U.S. President and a Japanese Monarch.
(HN, 9/26/99)
1973 Sep 26, The US federal
Rehabilitation Act with Section 504 was passed concerning
nondiscrimination and affirmative action. It took effect in May 1977.
(www.dotcr.ost.dot.gov/Documents/ycr/REHABACT.HTM)
1973 Sep 26, Concorde flew from
Washington DC to Paris in 3hr. 33m.
(www.concordesst.com/02.html)
1973 Sep 26, Anna Magnani
(b.1908), Academy Award winning Italian actress, died in Rome.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Magnani)
1974 Sep 26, The NYT published a
front page article on the impact of the chlorofluorocarbon, used in
aerosols, on the ozone.
(www.ciesin.org/docs/011-464/011-464.html)
1975 Sep 26, Herman G. Fisher
(b.1898), co-founder of the Fisher-Price toy company (1930), died. In
1930 he got together with Irving Price and Helen Schelle to establish a
toy company under the name of Fisher-Price.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_Fisher)
1977 Sep 26, Sir Freddie Laker
began his cut-rate "Skytrain" service from London to NY. Laker airways
collapsed into bankruptcy in 1982.
(SSFC, 2/12/06, p.B8)(www.cnn.com/almanac/9709/26/)
1977 Sep 26, Israel announced a
cease-fire on Lebanese border.
(HN, 9/26/99)
1978 Sep 26, NY District Court
Judge Constance Baker Motley ruled that women sportswriters cannot be
banned from NYC sports locker rooms.
(http://openweb.tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/1978-9/1978-09-27-CBS-17.html)
1978 Sep 26, British unions, fed
up with wage restraints, launched their “winter of discontent,” to the
humiliation of James Callaghan’s government.
(http://web.onetel.net.uk/~davewalton/archive/local/winterofdiscontent.html)(SSFC,
3/27/05, p.A21)(Econ, 9/15/07, p.69)
1979 Sep 26, The body of a young
woman was found in Blackie’s Pasture in Tiburon, Ca., She had been
stabbed over 40 times with an ice pick and burned. In 2007 DNA evidence
identified her as Tammy Vincent (17). She had testified this year
against several people arrested during a raid in SeaTac, Wash., of 2
establishments believed to be prostitution fronts.
(SFC, 10/2/07, p.B2)
1980 Sep 26, "Divine Madness"
starring Bette Midler, was released in the US.
(www.imdb.com/title/tt0080634/releaseinfo)
1980 Sep 26, The Cuban government
abruptly closed Mariel Harbor, ending the freedom flotilla of Cuban
refugees that began the previous April. By this time the danzon,
"Cuba’s national dance," had all but disappeared.
(AP, 9/26/97)(SFC,12/13/97, p.A14)
1980 Sep 26, A bomb attack at the
Oktoberfest in Munich killed 13 people.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oktoberfest)
1981 Sep 26, The twin-engine
Boeing 767 made its maiden flight in Everett, Wash.
(AP, 9/26/97)
1983 Sep 26, The Soviet Union's
early warning system wrongly signaled the launch of a US Minuteman
intercontinental ballistic missile. Lt. Col. Stanislav Petrov, in
charge of the system, decided the alarm was false and did not launch a
retaliatory strike. Because of military secrecy and international
policy, Petrov's actions were kept secret until 1998. In 2004 the
San-Francisco-based Association of World Citizens presented Petrov a
World Citizen Award.
(AP,
5/22/04)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Petrov)
1983 Sep 26, Cosmonauts Titov and
Strekalov were saved by their escape system when the rocket that was to
carry their Soyuz T-10-1 mission into space caught fire on the
launchpad.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_disaster)
1985 Sep 26, Shamu, the killer
whale, was born in Orlando, Florida. She was the first killer whale
born in captivity to survive.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamu)
1986 Sep 26, William Hubbs
Rehnquist was sworn in as the 16th chief justice of the United States,
while Antonin Scalia joined the Supreme Court as its 103rd member.
Rehnquist would serve as Chief Justice until September 3, 2005 when he
died from thyroid cancer.
(AP,
9/26/97)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Rehnquist#Declining_health_and_death)
1987 Sep 26, In his Saturday radio
address, President Reagan said he was reluctantly signing legislation
restoring the automatic deficit-reducing provisions of the Gramm-Rudman
Act.
(AP, 9/26/97)
1987 Sep 26, "Star Trek: The Next
Generation," debuted on TV.
(www.imdb.com/title/tt0094030/)
1988 Sep 26, In a farewell speech
to the U.N. General Assembly, President Reagan saw "a moment for hope"
for peace in the world, citing a new U.S.-Soviet treaty to sharply
reduce nuclear arms due during the following year.
(AP, 9/26/98)
1989 Sep 26, In a speech to the UN
General Assembly, Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze accepted
President Bush's call for deep cuts in US and Soviet chemical weapon
stockpiles. Shevardnadze called for the total destruction of Soviet and
US chemical weapons.
(AP, 9/26/99)(www.fas.org/nuke/control/bwc/chron.htm)
1989 Sep 26, The last Vietnamese
soldiers left Cambodia. Vietnam withdrew the last of 26,000 troops.
(SFC, 6/14/97, p.A15)(PC, 1992 ed, p.1113)
1990 Sep 26, The Motion Picture
Association of America announced it had created a new rating, "NC-17,"
designed to bar moviegoers under the age of 17 from certain films
without the commercial stigma of the old "X" rating.
(AP, 9/26/00)
1990 Sep 26, Alberto Moravia,
Italian writer (Woman in Red), died at 82.
(MC, 9/26/01)
1991 Sep 26, AIDS patient Kimberly
Bergalis pleaded with Congress to enact mandatory AIDS testing for
health care workers.
(AP, 9/26/01)
1991 Sep 26, In Oracle, Arizona, 4
men and 4 women began a two-year self-sufficiency stay inside a $150
million, sealed-off structure on 3.15 acres known as Biosphere 2.
(AP, 9/26/97)(Wired, 2/98, p.172)(SSFC, 2/20/05,
p.F5)
1992 Sep 26, A Nigerian military
transport plane crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all 163 people
aboard.
(AP, 9/26/97)
1992 Sep 26, South African
President F.W. de Klerk and African National Congress leader Nelson
Mandela held their first meeting in three months, during which they
agreed on the urgent need for an interim government.
(AP, 9/26/97)
1993 Sep 26, Eight people emerged
from the glass dome of Biosphere Two in the Arizona desert after being
sealed inside for two years in an experiment dogged by setbacks and
controversy. In 2006 Jane Poynter, one of the participants, authored
“The Human Experiment, Two Years and Twenty Minutes Inside Biosphere 2.”
(SFC, 11/25/96, p.A3)(AP, 9/26/98)(SFC, 10/10/06,
p.C2)
1994 Sep 26, Addressing the U.N.
General Assembly, President Clinton announced he had lifted most U.S.
sanctions against Haiti and urged other nations to follow suit.
(AP, 9/26/99)
1994 Sep 26, US Senate Majority
Leader George Mitchell declared health care reform dead for the
session.
(AP, 9/26/99)
1994 Sep 26, Jury selection began
in Los Angeles for the murder trial of O.J. Simpson.
(AP, 9/26/99)
1995 Sep 26, The prosecution began
its closing argument in the murder trial of O.J. Simpson.
(AP, 9/26/00)
1995 Sep 26, Bosnia’s warring
factions agreed on guidelines for elections and a future government.
(AP, 9/26/00)
1995 Sep 26, A bond trader at
Japan’s Daiwa Bank was charged with doctoring records to hide $1.1
billion in losses.
(AP, 9/26/00)
1996 Sep 26, President Clinton
signed a bill ensuring two-day hospital stays for new mothers and their
babies.
(AP, 9/26/97)
1996 Sep 26, ValuJet received
federal permission to fly again three months after it was grounded
following a deadly crash.
(AP, 9/26/97)
1996 Sep 26, Richard Allen Davis,
the killer of 12-year-old Polly Klaas, was formally sentenced to death
in San Jose, Calif. It was his criminal record which resulted in
California's "Three strike law” for repeat offenders. He is currently
on death row in San Quentin State Prison, California.
(AP,
9/26/97)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Allen_Davis)
1996 Sep 26, Astronaut Shannon
Lucid returned to Earth in the shuttle Atlantis after 188 days aboard
the Russian Mir space station, the longest time for any American man or
woman.
(SFC, 9/26/96, p.A20)(AP, 9/26/97)
1996 Sep 26, Patricia Billings,
amateur sculptor and med tech, demonstrated her fire-proof material
GeoBond. It was made of gypsum, cement, and a secret off-the-shelf
ingredient that in combination would not burn even under flames over
2,000 degrees.
(WSJ, 9/26/96, p.A1)
1996 Sep 26, The New England
Journal of Medicine reported new research that would provide a simple
test for mad cow disease based on a protein specific to the disease.
(SFC, 9/26/96, p.A11)
1996 Sep 26, A total lunar
eclipse, the last before the year 2000, was scheduled.
(SFC, 9/24/96, p.A18)
1996 Sep 26, The US announced the
return to Haiti of documents confiscated 2 years ago from the Haitian
army and pro-military party.
(SFC, 9/27/96, p.A13)
1996 Sep 26, Former Pres.
Najibullah (1986-1990) and his brother, former security chief Shahpur
Ahmedzi, were executed and hung when the Taliban fighters moved into
Kabul. They had been in hiding since being overthrown 4 years ago.
Officials hoped that the former king, Zahir Shah, would return to lead
the country.
(SFC, 9/27/96, p.A12)
1996 Sep 26, In Armenia tanks were
called in after 59 people were injured in protests over the re-election
of the president.
(SFC, 9/27/96, p.A12)
1996 Sep 26, In Italy the foreign
minister announced that the country would no longer make land mines
that are used against people.
(SFC, 9/27/96, p.A16)
1997 Sep 26, Gap Inc. dressed the
NY stock exchange in khakis fashion, the first casual dress day in
exchange history.
(SFEC, 8/29/99, p.C1)
1997 Sep 26, US and Russia signed
a package of arms control agreements that extended parts of START II to
2007. Systems were still required to be disabled by 2003. Other accords
modified the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty of 1972 with Belarus,
Kazakstan, the Ukraine and Russia to allow flexibility for the
development of short range systems.
(SFC, 9/27/97, p.A10)
1997 Sep 26, In Algeria militants
attacked the village of El Hadj and killed 15 people.
(SFC, 9/30/97, p.A12)
1997 Sep 26, In Bosnia political
broadcasts began in Banja Luka under an agreement by rival factions to
share the airwaves on alternate days.
(SFEC, 9/28/97, p.A26)
1997 Sep 26, A German court
convicted Nikola Jorgic, a Bosnian Serb, for leading a death squad that
killed 22 Muslims in Grapska during the war.
(SFC, 9/27/97, p.A12)
1997 Sep 26, An Indonesian Garuda
Air A-300 crashed while approaching Medan Airport in north Sumatra and
all 234 passengers were killed. Low visibility from the areas fires
were thought to have contributed the tragedy.
(SFC, 9/27/97, p.A1)(WSJ, 9/29/97, p.A1)(AP, 9/26/98)
1997 Sep 26, In Italy Bob Dylan
performed at religious congress in Bologna before a crowd 200,000 and
Pope John Paul II.
(SFEC, 9/28/97, p.A3)
1997 Sep 26, Two earthquakes hit
central Italy east of Umbria and at least 11 people were killed. The
basilica of Assisi, St. Mary of the Angels, built on the site where St.
Francis died, was severely damaged. 4 people were killed while
assessing damage from the first quake. An estimated 100,000 buildings
in the Umbria and Marche regions were damaged.
(SFC, 9/27/97, p.A1)(SFEC, 8/1/99, p.A18)
1997 Sep 26, In Sicily a court
convicted 24 mobsters for the 1992 bombing of the top anti-mafia
prosecutor. Salvatore "Toto" Riina, the reputed "boss of bosses" was
among those convicted for having plotted the assassination of Giovanni
Falcone.
(SFC, 9/27/97, p.A12)
1998 Sep 26, The nation's first
march on cancer took place on the National Mall in Washington.
(AP, 9/26/99)
1998 Sep 26, Betty Carter,
Grammy-winning jazz singer, died of pancreatic cancer in New York at
age 69.
(SFC, 9/28/98, p.D3) (AP, 9/26/99)
1998 Sep 26, From Zimbabwe it was
reported that timber companies were poisoning hundreds of baboons
causing them to die a slow painful death over 7-10 days.
(SFC, 9/26/98, p.A5)
1998 Sep 26, In Kosovo the
Yugoslav army and Serbian police shot and killed 15 women, children and
elderly of the Deliaj clan in Gornji Obrinje. Three men were burned to
death and 3 more villagers were killed in nearby Donji Obrinje.
(SFC, 9/30/98, p.A1)
1999 Sep 26, America won its first
Ryder Cup since 1993 after trailing the European team 10-to-6 going
into the final round. To the anger of the Europeans, US players, along
with caddies, officials and wives, stormed the green to congratulate
Justin Leonard for a 45-foot putt that all but won the tournament for
the Americans.
(AP, 9/26/00)
1999 Sep 26, The 182-nation IMF
put in place a new debt-relief initiative to help the world's poorest
nations. In a joint meeting with the World Bank coordinated relief was
planned to erase up to $100 million in debt.
(SFC, 9/27/99, p.A18)
1999 Sep 26, In Afghanistan the
Taliban bombed Taloqan for a 2nd day and 11 people, most of them
children were killed.
(SFC, 9/27/99, p.A18)
1999 Sep 26, In Ecuador Pres.
Jamil Mahuad announced that only interest on bonds not guaranteed by
the US Treasury would be paid. A $98 million payment interest payment
on its Brady bonds was due the next day.
(SFC, 9/28/99, p.C16)
1999 Sep 26, In Egypt a weekend
referendum for Pres. Mubarek (71) gave him 94% support with a 79%
turnout. Opposition groups boycotted the vote and called for democracy
and the lifting of the state of emergency in force since 1981.
(SFC, 9/28/99, p.C16)
1999 Sep 26, In India separatist
guerrillas of the National Liberation Front of Tripura ambushed and
killed 8 soldiers in the northeastern Dhalai district of Tripura.
(SFC, 9/27/99, p.A18)
1999 Sep 26, In Mexico 63 people
were killed in a series of explosions in the city of Celaya, 120 miles
northwest of Mexico City. Powder from fireworks was blamed. Three
government officials were later arrested for abetting illegal sales of
fireworks and officials seized some 14 tons of gunpowder. 6 government
officials and 7 business owners were later arrested in connection with
the explosion.
(SFC, 9/27/99, p.A16)(SFC, 9/30/99, p.D14)(SFC,
10/13/99, p.A12)
1999 Sep 26, In Serbia some 45,000
people marched against Pres. Milosevic in Belgrade.
(SFC, 9/27/99, p.A18)
1999 Sep 26, In Taiwan 2 brothers,
Sun Chi-kwang (20) and Sun Chi-feng (26), were pulled from wreckage
after being trapped for 5 1/2 days.
(SFC, 9/27/99, p.A12)
1999 Sep 26, In Turkey 11 leftist
inmates were killed and a simmering prison uprising erupted as dozens
of guards were seized across the country.
(WSJ, 9/28/99, p.A1)
2000 Sep 26, At the Sydney
Olympics, the U.S. softball team completed a stunning comeback by
edging Japan 2-to-1 in extra innings to win its second straight gold
medal.
(AP, 9/26/01)
2000 Sep 26, The annual meetings
of the World Bank and IMF officials officially opened in Prague with
delegates from 182 nations. Protestors numbered far less than the
expected 20,000. An estimated 6,000 protestors battled police with
homemade gasoline bombs and cobblestones from the streets.
(SFC, 9/26/00, p.A11)(SFC, 9/27/00, p.A14)
2000 Sep 26, Actor Richard
Mulligan died at age 67.
(AP, 9/26/01)
2000 Sep 26, A Greek ferry, the
Express Samina, with 510 passengers sank near the Aegean Sea island of
Paros. At least 75 people were killed. The captain and 4 crew members
were arrested following the collision of the ship with a well-known
rock marked by a visible light. Survivors said crew members were
watching a soccer match on tv. The ship was operated by Minoan Flying
Dolphins.
(SFC, 9/27/00, p.A18)(SFC, 9/28/00, p.A12)(SFC,
9/30/00, p.A12)
2000 Sep 26, In the Philippines
the Supreme Court announced an 18-month sentence for Tommy Suharto for
corruption.
(SFC, 9/27/00, p.A15)
2000 Sep 26, Philippine Abu Sayyaf
rebels claimed to have escaped from Jolo Island.
(SFC, 9/27/00, p.A15)
2000 Sep 26, The Yugoslav
government under Slobodan Milosevic conceded loss in the presidential
elections but called for a runoff saying Kostunica won only 48% vs. 40%
for Milosevic. The move that prompted mass protests leading to
Milosevic's ouster.
(SFC, 9/27/00, p.A1)(AP, 9/26/01)
2001 Sep 26, Pres. Bush met with
US Sikh and Muslim leaders and declared that discrimination against
such groups would not be tolerated.
(SFC, 9/27/01, p.A3)
2001 Sep 26, US authorities
arrested 9 men suspected of fraudulently obtaining licenses to carry
hazardous materials.
(SFC, 9/27/01, p.A3)
2001 Sep 26, In Cincinnati, Ohio,
Stephen Roach, a white police officer, was acquitted of all charges in
the April shooting of Timothy Thomas (19). The acquittal sparked more
unrest.
(SFC, 9/27/01, p.A11)(WSJ, 9/28/01, p.A1)
2001 Sep 26, In Vacaville,
California, FBI agents arrested Bryan Douglas Rosenquist (39) and
Michelle Elaine Serrao (41) for embezzling almost $12 million from BofA.
(SFC, 9/27/01, p.A13)
2001 Sep 26, Enron Pres. Kenneth
Lay urged his employees to buy Enron stock. Lay sold shares from
2000-2001 for a gain of $146 million. Enron filed for bankruptcy on Dec
2.
(SFC, 1/19/02, p.A1)
2001 Sep 26, In Afghanistan
protesters turned a Taliban march into an attack on the mothballed US
Embassy in Kabul.
(SFC, 9/27/01, p.A8)
2001 Sep 26, In Algeria suspected
Islamic militants killed 22 people in Larbaa. 12 of the dead were
killed while celebrating a wedding.
(SFC, 9/28/01, p.D6)
2001 Sep 26, During a visit to
Armenia, Pope John Paul the Second paid his respects to the vast number
of Armenians who perished under Ottoman rule.
(AP, 9/26/02)
2001 Sep 26, Israel’s Shimon
Peres and Yasser Arafat met for peace talks at the urging of the United
States. They pledged a new drive for peace and agreed to resume
cooperation between their security forces as Palestinian gunmen and
Israeli troops exchanged gunfire. Gaza fighting left a Palestinian
youth dead.
(SFC, 9/26/01, p.C2)(SFC, 9/27/01, p.A11)(WSJ,
9/27/01, p.A1)(AP, 9/26/02)
2001 Sep 26-27, In Northern
Ireland riots took place on north Belfast’s Crumlin road. 46 police
officers were wounded by gasoline bombs, rocks and fire-crackers. The
Ulster Defense Association (UDA) was blamed.
(SFC, 9/29/01, p.B2)
2001 Sep 26, Russian military
officers met with colleagues from 9 former Soviet republics to discuss
joint action against terrorists.
(SFC, 9/27/01, p.A8)
2001 Sep 26, Spain detained 6
Algerians with alleged links to Osama bin Laden and a group planning
attacks on US targets in Europe.
(SFC, 9/27/01, p.A3)
2001 Sep 26, Sudan began rounding
up extremists that have used the country as an operating base.
(SFC, 9/27/01, p.A8)
2001 Sep 26, Typhoon Lekima hit
Taiwan causing mudslides and power losses. 2 fishermen drowned and 1
was missing.
(SFC, 9/27/01, p.A11)
2001 Sep 26, Turkey approved
constitutional reforms that eased restrictions on broadcasting and
publishing in the Kurdish language.
(SFC, 9/27/01, p.A11)
2002 Sep 26, WorldCom former
controller David Myers pleaded guilty to securities fraud, saying he
was told by "senior management" to falsify records in what became the
largest corporate accounting scandal in US history. Myers was later
sentenced to one year and one day in prison.
(AP, 9/26/07)
2002 Sep 26, Gap Inc, 6 other US
firms and 23 local manufacturers settled a class-action lawsuit over
alleged sweatshop abuses on Saipan. The deal created a $20 million fund
for back wages and a monitoring system.
(SFC, 9/27/02, p.A1)
2002 Sep 26, In Norfolk, Nebraska,
3 men shot and killed 4 bank employees and a customer at a US Bank
branch. Jose Sandoval, Jorge Galindo and Erick Fernando Vela were
arrested after a few hours 75 miles away. A 4th suspect was arrested
later. 3 were convicted of first-degree murder while a fourth pleaded
guilty.
(SFC, 9/27/02, p.A4)(AP, 9/26/07)
2002 Sep 26, US immigration
officials seized Maher Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian, after his name
popped up on a watch list at JFK. US officials refused to allow legal
council or a phone call. The CIA questioned him and then handed him
over to Syrian intelligence where he was held and tortured for 10
months before being released. The case came to be called an instance of
"torture by proxy." In 2006 a Canadian government report said the US
"very likely" sent the software engineer to Syria, where he was
tortured, based on the false accusation by Canadian authorities that he
was suspected of links to al-Qaida.
(SSFC, 1/4/04, p.D1)(AP, 9/19/06)
2002 Sep 26, A new edition of the
Shorter Oxford English Dictionary was published and contained such new
words as: Jedi, Klingons, Grinches, gearheads, bunny-huggers and
bunny-boilers.
(AP, 9/26/02)
2002 Sep 26, In Colombia
prosecutors accused 71 police officers, including a former top
anti-drug official, of taking more than $2 million in U.S. aid.
(AP, 9/26/02)
2002 Sep 26, In Guyana gunmen
opened fire at a bar popular with some ruling party members, killing
three people and injuring seven others, including the country's chief
prosecutor who was involved in a high-profile treason trial.
(AP, 9/26/02)
2002 Sep 26, Israeli helicopter
gunships fired missiles into Gaza City, killing two Palestinians in an
escalation of violence. The attack was bid to kill Hamas bomb maker
Mohammed Deif.
(AP, 9/26/02)(WSJ, 9/27/02, p.A1)
2002 Sep 26, Zerah Warhaftig (96),
a signer of Israel's declaration of independence and a rescuer of
Jewish refugees during World War II, died.
(AP, 9/27/02)
2002 Sep 26, In Mexico Martha
Sahagun de Fox launched a conference of first ladies of the Americas
with a promise to forge creative answers to the problem of child
poverty.
(AP, 9/26/02)
2002 Sep 26, NATO planned to
issued invitations in November to Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania,
Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. Expansion would commit the current 19
members to defend the borders of the new members.
(SFC, 9/26/02, p.A1)
2002 Sep 26, In Pakistan a
passenger train derailed as it crossed a weakened bridge in the
southwest, killing 16 people and injuring 70 others.
(AP, 9/26/02)
2002 Sep 26, A Russian military
helicopter was shot down in the Russian republic of Ingushetia near the
border with Chechnya, killing two crewmen. At least 14 Russian
servicemen were killed in fierce fighting with rebels.
(AP, 9/26/02)(SFC, 9/27/02, p.A10)
2002 Sep 25-2002 Sep 26, Over 760
passengers and crew were believed to have perished when the crowded MS
Joola, a state-run Senegalese ferry, heaved to its side shortly before
midnight in a fierce storm off the coast of Gambia. There were only 62
known survivors. The toll was later raised to 1,863 dead.
(SSFC, 9/29/02, p.A18)(WSJ, 9/30/02, p.A1)(AP,
2/3/03)(SFC, 3/24/06, p.A12)
2002 Sep 26, In Venezuela
thousands took to the streets of Caracas to protest a decree giving the
government the authority to ban protests in several areas.
(AP, 9/26/02)
2003 Sep 26, President Bush and
Russian President Vladimir Putin opened a two-day summit at Camp David.
(AP, 9/26/04)
2003 Sep 26, The US government
issued a recall for Segway scooters, citing instances in which riders
fell off when the batteries ran low.
(AP, 9/26/04)
2003 Sep 26, US troops fired on
two cars at a checkpoint in Fallujah, killing four Iraqis and injuring
five others. Over 4 days Sheikh Mishkhen al Jumaili lost 9 relatives
including his son.
(AP, 9/27/03)(SFC, 10/6/03, p.A1)
2003 Sep 26, Burkina Faso
President Blaise Compaore demanded the elimination of U.S. export
subsidies on cotton.
(AP, 9/27/03)
2003 Sep 26, In Cuba Brazil's
Pres. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva signed business accords with Castro
that included an agreement to renegotiate Havana's $40 million debt
with Brazil.
(AP, 9/27/03)
2003 Sep 26, Robert Palmer (54), a
rock singer known for his sharp suits and hits including "Addicted to
Love," died in Paris of a heart attack.
(AP, 9/26/03)
2003 Sep 26, German authorities
reported that they have broken up 38 child-pornography rings with links
to tens of thousands of suspects around the world, including the US.
(AP, 9/27/03)
2003 Sep 26, A Palestinian gunman
killed 2 people including a baby girl in an Israeli settlement outside
Hebron.
(SFC, 9/27/03, p.A8)
2003 Sep 26, In Ivory Coast gunmen
broke into a bank and sparked a night-long street battle that left over
20 people dead. French troops rushed in the next day to try to impose
order.
(AP, 9/27/03)
2003 Sep 26, Nawabzada Nasrullah
Khan (85), head of Pakistan's main opposition alliance and one of its
greatest democracy advocates, died.
(AP, 9/27/03)
2003 Sep 26, In Singapore Vignes
Mourthi (23), found guilty of drug trafficking last year after his
arrest in September 2001 for smuggling 27 grams (0.98 ounces) of heroin
and Moorthi Angappan, convicted of helping him, were hanged. Over the
past four years, 88 people have been hanged, mostly for drug offenses.
The government says the death penalty effectively deters drug addiction.
(AP, 9/26/03)
2004 Sep 26, Hurricane Jeanne
blasted ashore in Florida with drenching rains and 120 mph wind. At
least 1.5 million people were without power. An estimated 6 people were
killed.
(AP, 9/26/04)(WSJ, 9/27/04, p.A1)
2004 Sep 26, Gordon Brown,
Britain’s chancellor of the Exchequer, repeated his proposal that the
IMF should revalue its gold reserves and use proceeds to cancel some
Third World debt.
(SSFC, 9/26/04, p.A12)
2004 Sep 26, Colombia's army
killed at least 13 right-wing fighters during sustained combat with a
renegade paramilitary group that has refused to participate in
government peace talks.
(AP, 9/27/04)
2004 Sep 26, Haitians surrounded
by the destruction of Tropical Storm Jeanne prayed for the 1,500 dead
during church services and gave thanks their lives were spared, while
the UN rushed more peacekeepers in to stem looting in the ravaged city
of Gonaives. Tropical Storm Jeanne wiped out 7% of Haiti’s GDP.
(AP, 9/27/04)(Econ, 2/14/09, p.45)
2004 Sep 26, Suicide attackers
detonated a pair of car bombs outside an Iraqi National Guard compound
west of the capital, wounding American and Iraqi forces. A rocket hit a
busy Baghdad neighborhood, killing at least one person and wounding
eight.
(AP, 9/26/04)
2004 Sep 26, In Pakistan Amjad
Hussain Farooqi, accused in two attempts on the life of President Gen.
Pervez Musharraf in December 2003, died in a four-hour shootout at a
house in the southern town of Nawabshah. He was also wanted for his
alleged role in the 2002 kidnapping and beheading of Wall Street
Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
(AP, 9/27/04)
2004 Sep 26, Turkey’s Parliament
voted overwhelmingly to approve penal code reforms aimed at boosting
its chances of starting membership talks with the European Union.
(AP, 9/26/04)
2004 Sep 26, A French national was
shot and killed in the Saudi Arabian city of Jiddah.
(AP, 9/26/04)
2004 Sep 26, Ezzedin Sheikh
Khalil, a senior Hamas operative, was killed in a car bombing outside
his house in Damascus, the first such killing of a leader of the
Islamic militant group in Syria. The hit was claimed by Israeli
security officials.
(AP, 9/27/04)(Econ, 10/2/04, p.47)
2005 Sep 26, Cindy Sheehan (48),
the California mother of a soldier killed in Iraq, was arrested along
with a number of others for demonstrating against the war in Iraq in
front of the White House without a permit. 40 people were arrested for
demonstrating at the Pentagon.
(SFC, 9/27/05, p.A2)
2005 Sep 26, A military court in
Texas convicted Pfc. Lynndie England (22) on 6 of 7 counts of
conspiracy and maltreatment of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison.
England was found guilty of one count of conspiracy, four counts of
maltreating detainees and one count of committing an indecent act. She
was acquitted on a second conspiracy count. She was the next day
sentenced to 3 years in prison.
(SFC, 9/27/05, p.A1)(AP, 9/28/05)
2005 Sep 26, In Mineola, NY,
ex-Roslyn schools chief Frank Tassone (58) admitted he stole millions
of dollars in taxpayer money to finance everything from his breakfast
bagel to European jaunts on the Concorde. Records showed that Tassone
and a former school official withdrew the district's money from ATMs
almost every day between February 2001 and October 2002, with Tassone
taking out a monthly average of $21,747. As part of a plea bargain
Tassone will spend four to 12 years in prison and pay back an estimated
$2 million.
(AP, 9/26/05)
2005 Sep 26, A judge in El Paso,
Texas, cited conventions against sending a person to a country where he
could face torture. Luis Posada Carriles, a Cuban militant, was wanted
in Venezuela for a 1976 airliner bombing. President Hugo Chavez said
the decision by a US immigration judge in the case of Posada protects a
terrorist and shows the "cynicism of the empire," a term he uses for
President Bush's government.
(AP, 9/28/05)
2005 Sep 26, Dr. Milan Henzl,
Czech-born obstetrician and gynecologist, died in Palo Alto, Ca. As a
research scientist at Syntex he developed the anti-fungal drug
butoconazole (Femstat) for yeast infections and nafarelin (Synarel) for
endometriosis.
(SFC, 10/6/05, p.B7)
2005 Sep 26, Leo Sternbach (97),
Austrian-born chemist and inventor of valium, died in North Carolina.
He had created an entirely new class of tranquilizers named
benzodiazepines, which were safer and more effective than previous
treatments such as barbiturates, opiates, alcohol and herbs. His other
breakthroughs included the sleeping pills Dalmane and Mogadon, Klonopin
for epileptic seizures and Arfonad, for limiting bleeding during brain
surgery.
(http://anxiety-panic.com/history/h-1960.htm)(SFC,
10/1/05, p.B4)
2005 Sep 26, A drug policy group
said Afghanistan could reduce its destabilizing heroin trade by
licensing an opium crop to produce medical morphine for export, but the
UN dismissed the idea as unlikely to work and the government called it
premature.
(AP, 9/26/05)
2005 Sep 26, In Afghanistan 2 US
troops were killed in separate militant attacks.
(AP, 9/27/05)
2005 Sep 26, Archaeologists in
northern Austria reported finding the remains of two newborns dating
back 27,000 years while excavating a hillside near Krems. The newborns
were buried beneath mammoth bones and with a string of 31 beads,
suggesting that the internment involved some sort of ritual.
(AP, 9/26/05)
2005 Sep 26, China's navy
commissioned the first in a new class of domestically designed and
built warships. The missile frigate Wenzhou, named after a port city in
eastern China, entered service at a ceremony attended by East China
Fleet commander Zhao Guojun.
(AP, 9/27/05)
2005 Sep 26, Typhoon Damrey
slammed into southern China's resort island of Hainan, killing at least
two people, collapsing houses and sweeping away rice, rubber and banana
crops.
(AP, 9/26/05)
2005 Sep 26, Dubai launched its
Dubai Int’l. Financial Exchange (DIFX). Its 1st securities were
certificates linked to the world’s main stock market indices and issued
by Deutsche Bank, one of its founding members.
(Econ, 10/1/05, p.71)
2005 Sep 26, The death of a
27-year-old woman took Indonesia's death toll from bird flu to six as
the government announced that 400,000 tablets of donated medicine to
fight the virus would soon arrive in the country.
(AP, 9/26/05)
2005 Sep 26, The US military freed
500 Iraqi detainees from Abu Ghraib prison, a goodwill gesture
requested by the Iraqi government ahead of the Muslim holy month of
Ramadan.
(AP, 9/26/05)
2005 Sep 26, An al-Qaeda leader in
the northern city of Mosul surrendered to the Iraqi military. Abu
Nasser, another al-Qaeda leader, died along with several others in a
raid on the group's headquarters in Karabila. A US Marine was killed by
a roadside bomb in the town of Khaldiyah, west of Baghdad.
(AP, 9/27/05)
2005 Sep 26, A US Marine commander
said insurgents loyal to al-Zarqawi had taken over at least 5 Iraqi
towns on the border with Syria, ordering residents to leave of face
death.
(SFC, 9/27/05, p.A1)
2005 Sep 26, Roadside bombs killed
three US soldiers in two separate attacks. A suicide car bomber
attacked a police checkpoint guarding several government ministries,
killing at least six people and wounding 13. Elsewhere five teachers
and their driver who were shot to death in a classroom by suspected
insurgents disguised as policemen.
(AP, 9/26/05)
2005 Sep 26, The Canadian general
who supervised the tortuous process said the Irish Republican Army has
given up its entire arsenal of weapons.
(AP, 9/26/05)
2005 Sep 26, Israeli aircraft
attacked suspected weapons factories throughout the Gaza Strip, pushing
forward an offensive against Palestinian militants despite a pledge by
a top Hamas leader to halt rocket fire against Israel.
(AP, 9/26/05)
2005 Sep 26, Italian PM Silvio
Berlusconi was cleared of charges of false bookkeeping in a case
involving funding for the former Socialist party.
(AP, 9/26/05)
2005 Sep 26, Japan's Cabinet
approved legislation to privatize the country's trillion-dollar postal
service, pushing ahead with its plan to create the world's largest
financial institution.
(AP, 9/26/05)
2005 Sep 26-2005 Sep 27, Intense
rains throughout southern Mexico and parts of Central America caused
rivers to overflow, killing at least 3 people and forcing thousands to
flee their homes.
(AP, 9/28/05)
2005 Sep 26, Dutch bank ABN Amro
said it had signed a contract with Banca Popolare Italiana and its
allies to buy their 39.37 percent stake in Banca Antonveneta for a
total outlay of 3.2 billion euros (3.85 billion dollars).
(AP, 9/26/05)
2005 Sep 26, In Peru Shining Path
founder Abimael Guzman, whose messianic communist vision inspired a
rebellion that left almost 70,000 people dead, went on trial again with
his attorney predicting he'll receive the same life sentence that was
thrown out two years ago.
(AP, 9/26/05)
2005 Sep 26, Spain’s high court
convicted 18 Muslim immigrants of terrorism-related charges. Imad Eddin
Barakat Yarkas, a suspected al-Qaida cell leader, was sentenced to 27
years in prison. He was convicted of conspiring to commit murder in
connection with the Sept. 11 attacks in the US, concluding Europe's
biggest trial of alleged members of the terrorist group. Among those
convicted was an Al-Jazeera TV correspondent, who had interviewed bin
Laden. He was sentenced to 7 years.
(Reuters, 9/26/05)(SFC, 9/27/05, p.A3)
2005 Sep 26, The UN high
commissioner for human rights said at least 400 and as many as 500
people were killed in political violence in Togo since the Feb 5 death
of Pres. Gnassingbe Eyadema, and security forces were mostly to blame.
(AP, 9/27/05)
2005 Sep 26, In Tashkent 3
defendants accused of launching a revolt to bring Islamic rule to
Uzbekistan told a court they trained at military camps in neighboring
Kyrgyzstan, backing the government's claim of a conspiracy that
included foreign fighters and funding.
(AP, 9/26/05)
2005 Sep 26, Hugo de los Reyes
Chavez, father of Venezuelan Pres. Hugo Chavez and governor of Barinas
state, ordered the seizure of a plant owned by the country's largest
food company, the latest move in the federal government's land reform
program.
(AP, 9/26/05)
2006 Sep 26, President Bush
ordered release of a declassified version of a government intelligence
report that said the war in Iraq had become a "cause celebre" for
Islamic extremists.
(AP, 9/26/07)
2006 Sep 26, Former Enron chief
financial officer Andrew Fastow was sentenced by a federal judge in
Houston to six years in prison for his role in the fallen energy
company's bankruptcy.
(AP, 9/26/07)
2006 Sep 26, In Florida, brothers
Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela (67) and Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela (62),
who headed the Colombia’s Cali cocaine cartel, were sentenced to 30
years in prison. They agreed to forfeit $2.1 billion worth of assets
linked to the drug trade as part of their plea agreement. In exchange
half a dozen of their relatives would not face prosecution.
(SFC, 9/27/06, p.A12)
2006 Sep 26, EMI Classics released
a CD of Paul McCartney’s four-movement oratorio “Ecce cor meum.” This
was his 3rd large-scale choral work.
(WSJ, 9/21/06, p.D6)
2006 Sep 26, Paul Allen,
co-founder of Microsoft Corp., announced a $41 million computerized
atlas of the 20,000 genes in the brain of a mouse. The atlas was made
available online at www.brainatlas.org.
(SFC, 9/27/06, p.A9)(Econ, 9/30/06, p.91)
2006 Sep 26, Researchers reported
that Earth’s temperature has climbed to a 12,000-year high and that it
has been warming at a rate of .36° Fahrenheit per decade for the
last 30 years.
(SFC, 9/26/06, p.A5)
2006 Sep 26, Iva Toguri D’Aquino,
(nee Iva Ikuko Toguri, 1916-2006), a Japanese-American convicted in
1949 for being wartime radio propagandist "Tokyo Rose," died in
Chicago. [see Sep 5, 1945]
(SFC, 9/28/06, p.A18)(Econ, 10/7/06, p.93)
2006 Sep 26, In Afghanistan a
suicide bomber struck outside the compound of a southern governor,
killing 18 people, including several Muslim pilgrims seeking paperwork
to travel to Mecca. A bomb in Kabul killed an Italian soldier and a
child.
(AP, 9/26/06)
2006 Sep 26, In Brazil officials
said Rio will spend $1 million to map two sprawling shantytowns as the
first step toward granting land titles to residents who otherwise have
no property rights in the sprawling slums.
(AP, 9/26/06)
2006 Sep 26, In Chile thousands of
public school teachers held a generally peaceful march in Santiago to
demand higher pay.
(AP, 9/26/06)
2006 Sep 26, The European
Commission recommended that Bulgaria and Romania join the EU next year,
but under some of the harshest terms ever faced by new members.
(AP, 9/26/06)
2006 Sep 26, Iraqi security forces
arrested another leader of the 1920 Revolution Brigades, a group
accused of numerous attacks on US forces. A series of bomb explosions
killed at least 21 people and wounded dozens in and around Baghdad,
where police also found 23 tortured bodies, apparently victims of
sectarian death squads.
(AP, 9/26/06)(AP, 9/27/06)(WSJ, 9/27/06, p.A1)
2006 Sep 26, In Japan nationalist
Shinzo Abe, a proponent of a robust alliance with the US and a more
assertive military, easily won election in parliament to become the
country’s youngest postwar prime minister. Abe faced a government debt
equivalent to 170% of GDP. Junichiro Koizumi formally stepped down as
prime minister. His achievements included changing the way politics was
carried out, advancing big economic reforms, and extending Japan’s role
in foreign affairs.
(AP, 9/26/06)(Econ, 9/16/06, p.14)(Econ, 9/23/06,
p.44)
2006 Sep 26, Officials said a cow
in northern Japan is suspected of having the country's 29th case of mad
cow disease.
(AP, 9/26/06)
2006 Sep 26, Palestinian militants
fired at least two rockets from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel,
wounding at least one person.
(AP, 9/26/06)
2006 Sep 26, Russia and Iran
signed a deal in Moscow whereby Russia will ship fuel to a
controversial atomic power plant it is building in Iran by March.
(AP, 9/26/06)
2006 Sep 26, In Turkey 56 Kurdish
mayors stood trial, accused in a freedom-of-speech case on charges of
helping terrorists by arguing to keep a Kurdish TV station on the air.
(AP, 9/26/06)
2006 Sep 26, The UN and Sudan
discussed the deployment of UN military advisers to reinforce African
Union peacekeepers in Darfur, in a possible compromise in their
standoff over the war-torn region.
(Reuters, 9/26/06)
2006 Sep 26, The Vatican said it
has excommunicated Zambia’s Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, for defying
the Holy See by installing four married men as bishops. The prelate had
already angered the Vatican by getting married in 2001.
(AP, 9/26/06)
2006 Sep 26, A former chief of
environmental protection in the US Virgin Islands pleaded guilty to
charges of conspiracy to defraud the islands' government of more than
$1 million. Hollis Griffin (43) acknowledged engaging in a five-year
bribery scheme that paid up to $350,000 in kickbacks to at least four
government officials in exchange for consulting contracts worth $1.4
million.
(AP, 9/26/06)
2007 Sep 26, The United Auto
Workers union and General Motors Corp reached a tentative contract,
ending a national strike by 73,000 workers with a groundbreaking deal
that includes a health-care trust fund. The Voluntary Employee
Beneficiary Association (VEBA) will be administered by the union and
take on some $51 billion in health-care liabilities.
(AP, 9/26/07)(Econ, 9/29/07, p.67)
2007 Sep 26, A judge declared a
mistrial in Phil Spector's murder trial because the jury was deadlocked
10-2 in favor of convicting the music producer of killing actress Lana
Clarkson.
(AP, 9/26/08)
2007 Sep 26, Chevron Corp.
Announced a $15 billion stock 3-year stock buyback program.
(SFC, 9/27/07, p.C3)
2007 Sep 26, A new study by
doctors of Kaiser Permanente said even moderate drinking increases the
risk of breast cancer for women.
(SFC, 9/27/07, p.A1)
2007 Sep 26, Barry Bonds went 0
for 3 in his last baseball game with the SF Giants.
(SFC, 9/27/07, p.A1)
2007 Sep 26, Abu Dhabi signed a $1
billion deal with Warner Brothers to jointly produce big budget films
and video games.
(Econ, 10/6/07, p.76)(http://tinyurl.com/37xosj)
2007 Sep 26, In southern
Afghanistan two battles that began the previous day killed more than
165 Taliban fighters and a US-led coalition soldier. Two foreign Red
Cross workers who aided in freeing a group of South Korean hostages
last month have been abducted in Afghanistan as they were trying to
help secure the release of a German captive.
(AP, 9/26/07)(AP, 9/27/07)
2007 Sep 26, Canadian police
charged the two co-founders of now-defunct Portus Alternative Asset
Management Inc with 12 counts of fraud, money laundering, and
possession of property obtained by crime, the result of a lengthy
international investigation.
(Reuters, 9/26/07)
2007 Sep 26, The EU accused the US
of trying to weaken aircraft maker Airbus and causing 27 billion
dollars (19 billion euros) in losses by paying subsidies to US rival
Boeing.
(AFP, 9/26/07)
2007 Sep 26, The French government
unveiled its 2008 budget with a deficit forecast at €41.7 billion
($58.8 billion).
(Econ, 9/29/07, p.53)
2007 Sep 26, Iraq's PM al-Maliki
in NYC said national reconciliation was the key to ending the daily
barrage of violence in his country. He called on world leaders to help
bring bickering factions together but offered few political solutions
of his own. A wave of bombings and shootings swept Iraq, killing more
than 50 people. A suicide truck bomber struck a Sunni tribal leader's
house near the Syrian border, killing at least five people in the
latest attack by suspected Sunni extremists on provincial officials and
tribal figures. A parked car bomb exploded near a group of black market
gasoline vendors in Shurqat, killing five people and wounding seven. At
least eight people were killed and 10 wounded in scattered violence in
Baqouba, while the bullet-riddled bodies of a Shiite man and three sons
also were found left on a street in an eastern section of the city.
Northeast of Baghdad a policeman was killed and two others injured in
Khan Bani Saad, and a civilian was killed and one wounded by random
gunfire in Khalis.
(AP, 9/26/07)(AP, 9/27/07)
2007 Sep 26, In Indian Kashmir 4
suspected Muslim militants were killed as they crossed into southern
Poonch and northern Kupwara districts from the Pakistani-zone of the
divided state. Government troops also shot dead two "wanted" commanders
of the pro-Pakistan rebel group Hizbul Mujahedin in southern Doda
district.
(AFP, 9/26/07)
2007 Sep 26, An Israeli missile
strike targeted a jeep carrying members of the Army of Islam. Five
passengers were killed, the Army of Islam said. The Israeli military
said the jeep was carrying rockets ready for use. In northern Gaza,
Israeli tanks and bulldozers briefly entered the town of Beit Hanoun,
following rocket fire from the area. At one point, a tank shell was
fired toward a group of people between two houses, killing four and
wounding 25.
(AP, 9/27/07)
2007 Sep 26, In Myanmar at least
four people including three Buddhist monks were killed as security
forces used weapons and tear gas to crush protests that have erupted
nationwide against the military junta.
(AFP, 9/26/07)
2007 Sep 26, Transparency
International's 2007 index ranked Myanmar and Somalia as the most
corrupt nations. Both received the lowest score of 1.4 out of 10.
Denmark, Finland and New Zealand were ranked the least corrupt, each
scoring 9.4.
(AP, 9/26/07)
2007 Sep 26, The Nepali Congress
party, the Maoists' main partner in last November's peace deal,
endorsed a republican agenda, ending a traditional position of support
for some kind of royal role in the impoverished Himalayan nation.
(AFP, 9/27/07)
2007 Sep 26, Erik Hazelhoff
Roelfzema (b.1917), the Dutch World War II resistance hero better known
as the "Soldier of Orange," died at his home in Hawaii. His fame in the
Netherlands leaped after he published his book, "Soldaat van Oranje"
(Soldier of Orange) in 1971. He became known outside the country after
the book was made into a film of the same name by director Paul
Verhoeven in 1977, starring Rutger Hauer in the title role.
(AP, 9/29/07)(SFC, 10/9/07, p.B4)
2007 Sep 26, Dr. Judith Asuni
(60), A US aid worker, was arrested in the oil-rich Niger Delta along
with German nationals Florian Orpitz (35), and Andy Lehmann (26), and
one Nigerian, Danjuma Saidu. Asuni was said to have facilitated the
Germans' visit to Nigeria and helped them enter the petroleum
installation to film. Asuni was granted bail on Oct 23.
(AFP, 10/7/07)(AP, 10/23/07)
2007 Sep 26, Russia unveiled its
regional 95-seat Superjet-100, a government-backed effort to
re-energize the country's ailing aviation industry and get into a
market now dominated by Bombardier and Embraer.
(AP, 9/26/07)
2007 Sep 26, Officials said Turkey
and Iraq have agreed to sign a counterterrorism deal cracking down on
separatist Kurdish rebels holed up in bases in northern Iraq.
(AP, 9/26/07)
2007 Sep 26, In southern Vietnam a
section of a bridge under construction collapsed, killing at least 52
workers and injuring 97 others. The bridge was being built across the
Hau River, a branch of the Mekong River, in the southern city of Can
Tho.
(AP, 9/26/07)
2008 Sep 26, Barack Obama and John
McCain shared a stage in their first of three presidential debates. It
primarily focused on foreign policy.
(AP, 9/27/08)
2008 Sep 26, The Utah legislature
adjourned after addressing a $354 million budget deficit in a 2-day
special session, primarily through a three percent across-the-board cut
in state agency spending, while preserving a $500 million reserve fund
to address a potential future shortfall.
(www.statescape.com/SessionUpdates/SessionUpdates.asp)
2008 Sep 26, Marian McQuade
(b.1917), lobbyist for the elderly and National Grandparents Day, died.
Her efforts led Pres. Carter to designate the holiday in 1979. She got
West Virginia to be the first state to create a Grandparents Day in
1974.
(WSJ, 10/4/08, p.A12)
2008 Sep 26, Paul Newman (b.1925),
the Academy-Award winning superstar who personified cool as the
anti-hero of such films as "Hud," "Cool Hand Luke" and "The Color of
Money," died after a long battle with cancer at his farmhouse near
Westport, Conn.
(AP, 9/27/08)
2008 Sep 26, In Afghanistan a
suicide bomber targeting a militia commander killed five people, and
wounded seven others in eastern Khost province. Three policemen were
killed in Ghazni province when militants linked to Taliban attacked
their patrol. Troops backed by gunship helicopters killed five
Taliban-linked militants in Ghazni province. Taliban militants released
118 Afghan laborers.
(AP, 9/26/08)(AFP, 9/27/08)
2008 Sep 26, Yves Rossy of
Switzerland leapt from a plane and into the record books, crossing the
English channel in 13 minutes on a homemade jet-propelled wing.
(AP, 9/26/08)
2008 Sep 26, In eastern Indonesia
a packed ferry caught fire and sank between two coastal villages in the
Maluku islands, killing at least eight people.
(AP, 9/27/08)
2008 Sep 26, Pakistan said that
its troops had killed 1,000 Islamist militants in a month-long
offensive in the Bajaur region in which 27 soldiers died. Five top
Al-Qaeda and Taliban commanders were among those killed. Police raided
a militant hideout in Karachi, triggering a shootout during which three
suicide bombers blew themselves up. The body of a man held in handcuffs
was found in the rubble. The prisoner in the rubble was identified as a
wealthy supplier of fuel and goods to US and NATO forces in
Afghanistan. A bomb blast caused a train to derail in eastern Punjab
province, killing 6 people including 3 children.
(AP, 9/26/08)(AFP, 9/26/08)
2008 Sep 26, In the Philippines
three soldiers were killed after they tripped landmines planted near a
New People's Army camp outside Lingig township in Surigao del Sur
province. Informants reported that eight guerrillas had been killed
since Sep 24 when army soldiers overran a rebel camp.
(AP, 9/26/08)
2008 Sep 26, Russian President
Dmitry Medvedev announced plans to create an upgraded nuclear
deterrence system for Russia by 2020, including a space defense system
and new nuclear submarines.
(AP, 9/26/08)
2008 Sep 26, Somali pirates
hijacked the Liberian-flagged oil tanker MV Genius, a Greek-owned ship
with 19 crew. The MV Genius was ransomed and released on Nov 21.
(AP, 11/22/08)
2008 Sep 26, In Sri Lanka at least
52 Tamil Tiger rebels were killed in heavy fighting between troops and
the guerrillas just outside the insurgents' northern capital. Fighting
along the northern region of Weli Oya and Jaffna left eight rebels and
two soldiers dead.
(AFP, 9/27/08)
2008 Sep 26, Turkmenistan's
highest legislative body unanimously approved a new constitution that
increased the president's powers but also broadened the role of
parliament.
(AP, 9/26/08)
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