Today In History April 18

HIGHLIGHTS IN HISTORY ON THIS DATE

1663 - Turks declare war against Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I.

1775 - Paul Revere rides from Charlestown to Lexington to warn the Massachusetts colonists of the arrival of British troops at the start of the War of American Independence.

1831 - Publication starts of The Sydney Herald (later The Sydney Morning Herald), Australia's oldest still-existing newspaper.

1906 - A giant earthquake strikes San Francisco. The quake and resulting fires devastate the city, leaving more than 1000 dead and 200,000 people homeless.

1909 - 15th-century French heroine Joan of Arc is beatified at a ceremony at the Vatican.

1912 - Turkey announces closure of Dardanelles Straits to shipping.

1934 - The first laundromat, the Washeteria, is opened at Fort Worth, Texas, by JF Cantrell.

1955 - German-born physicist Albert Einstein dies in Princeton, New Jersey, aged 76.

1962 - West Indies Federation is terminated.

1968 - London Bridge is sold to American Robert McCullough for STG1 million. It was later re-erected in Arizona.

1974 - Washington District Court conducting the Watergate proceedings issues a subpoena on President Richard Nixon to produce tape recordings and other material demanded by the Special Prosecutor.

1976 - About 40,000 Israelis march into occupied West Bank area of Jordan, demanding that Israel annex the territory.

1978 - US Senate votes 68-32 to turn the Panama Canal over to Panamanian control on December 31, 1999.

1979 - A Los Angeles judge awards "palimony" as compensation for the ending of a de facto relationship.

1980 - Former Rhodesia becomes independent Zimbabwe.

1982 - The name of the capital of Zimbabwe is changed from Salisbury to Harare.

1983 - Suicide bomb attack kills 62 at the US Embassy in Beirut.

1988 - US Navy destroys two offshore Iranian oil platforms and bombs two Iranian Navy frigates in retaliation for mine explosion that damaged US frigate.

1995 - The United Nations calls in NATO jets to quiet a battle in the suburbs of Sarajevo that threatens to spiral out of control.

1996 - More than 100 Lebanese refugees are killed when Israeli artillery shells rip into a crowded UN peacekeepers base where they are sheltering.

1998 - The first official talks in four years between North and South Korea end with the two sides unable to resolve a dispute over aid to the starving North and reuniting families.

2000 - Robert L Yates Jr is arrested in Spokane, Washington, and charged with murdering a teenage prostitute. (Yates later confessed to killing 13 people, and was sentenced to 408 years in prison.)

2001 - US and Chinese diplomats begin talks over the April 1 collision of a US spy plane and Chinese fighter jet.

2002 - Afghanistan's former king, Mohammad Zaher Shah, returns to his country after 29 years in exile.

2005 - An Italian court orders four people to stand trial for the murder of Roberto Calvi, decades after the financier with ties to the Vatican was found hanging from a London bridge, his suit pockets stuffed with rocks and bank notes.

2006 - Rioting in Honiara after Snyder Rini is elected Solomons PM. Australia sends almost 400 troops in the days and weeks following the violence.

2012 - Photos showing US soldiers urinating on the remains of rebels in Afghanistan cause a new upsurge in violence there.

2014 - An avalanche sweeps down a climbing route on Mount Everest, killing at least 12 Nepalese guides and leaving four missing in the deadliest disaster on the world's highest peak.

2015 - Five teenagers are arrested in pre-dawn raids in Melbourne, with police alleging two were planning a terror attack on Anzac Day events; A motorcycle-riding suicide bomber attacks people queuing outside a bank in eastern Afghanistan, killing at least 35 and wounding 125. The country's president blames Islamic State.

2016 - Johnny Depp and Amber Heard apologise for smuggling their dogs Boo and Pistol into Australia.

2017 - British Prime Minister Theresa May calls an early election on June 8, saying it is the only way to guarantee political stability for years ahead.

2018 - Saudi Arabia ends its 35-year ban on movies, with the premiere of Marvel's superhero film Black Panther.

2019 - After week one of the federal election campaign, Labor leader Bill Shorten's climate change policies leave his party in hot water.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS

Franz von Suppe, Austrian composer (1819-1895); Leopold Stokowski, English conductor (1882-1977); Jessie Street, Australian women's rights campaigner (1889-1970); Barbara Hale, kynghidongduong.vn US actor (1922-2017); Hayley Mills, British actor (1946-); Melody Thomas Scott, US actor of The Young And The Restless fame (1956-); Eric Roberts, US actor (1956-); Jane Leeves, British actor (1961-); Conan O'Brien, US talk show host (1963-); Melissa Joan Hart, US actor (1976-); America Ferrera, du lịch ba li US actor (1984-); Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, British model and actor (1987-); Jessica Gomes, Australian model (1985-); Samantha Jade, Australian singer (1987-).

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power. - Abraham Lincoln, former US president (1809-1865)