November 18

Thursday 18, 2004:

Russia officially ratifies the Kyoto Protocol.

Tuesday 18, 2003:

The congress of the Communist Party of Indian Union (Marxist-Leninist) decides to merge the party into Kanu Sanyal's CPI(ML).

Monday 18, 2002:

Iraq disarmament crisis: United Nations weapons inspectors led by Hans Blix arrive in Iraq.

Sunday 18, 2001:

The Nintendo GameCube is released in North America

Thursday 18, 1999:

In Jasper, Texas, 24-year old Shawn Allen Berry is sentenced to life in prison, becoming the third person convicted in the racially-motivated dragging death of James Byrd, Jr..

Wednesday 18, 1998:

Alice McDermott wins the National Book Award with her novel Charming Billy.

Tuesday 18, 1997:

Gary Glitter is arrested in the United Kingdom on child porn charges.

Monday 18, 1996:

World-renowned bird expert Tony Silva is sentenced to seven years in prison without parole for leading an illegal parrot smuggling ring.

Thursday 18, 1993:

In South Africa, 21 political parties approve a new constitution.

Monday 18, 1991:

After the 3-month siege, the Croatian city of Vukovar is invaded by Serbians

Sunday 18, 1990:

Chris Eubank defeats Nigel Benn in arguably the greatest British boxing match ever.

Friday 18, 1988:

War on Drugs: US President Ronald Reagan signs a bill into law providing the death penalty for murderous drug traffickers.

Wednesday 18, 1987:

King's Cross fire: In London, 31 people die in a fire at the city's busiest underground station at King's Cross St Pancras.

Monday 18, 1985:

Calvin and Hobbes, a comic strip by Bill Watterson, was first published.

Thursday 18, 1982:

Duk Koo Kim died unexpectedly from injuries sustained during a 14-round match against Ray Mancini in Las Vegas, prompting reforms in the sport of boxing.

Saturday 18, 1978:

Jonestown mass suicide: In Jonestown, Guyana, Jim Jones leads his People's Temple in a mass murder-suicide; 913 die, including 276 children.

Thursday 18, 1971:

Hard rock band Led Zeppelin release an untitled album, often dubbed "Led Zeppelin IV," featuring "Rock & Roll," "Stairway to Heaven" and other classic songs.

Wednesday 18, 1970:

Singer Jerry Lee Lewis divorces his third wife, Myra Gail, after 12 years.

Sunday 18, 1962:

Niels Bohr, Danish physicist, dies at the age of 77.

Wednesday 18, 1959:

William Wyler's film Ben-Hur premieres at Loew's Theater in New York City.

Thursday 18, 1943:

World War II: 440 Royal Air Force planes bomb Berlin causing only light damage and killing 131. The RAF lost nine aircraft and 53 aviators.

Monday 18, 1940:

World War II: German leader Adolf Hitler and Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano meet to discuss Benito Mussolini's disastrous invasion of Greece.

Friday 18, 1938:

Trade union members elect John L. Lewis as the first president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations.

Monday 18, 1929:

1929 Grand Banks earthquake: Off the south coast of Newfoundland in the Atlantic Ocean, a Richter magnitude 7.2 submarine earthquake centered on Grand Banks, breaks 12 submarine transatlantic telegraph cables and triggers a tsunami that destroys many south coast communities in the Burin Peninsula area.

Sunday 18, 1928:

Release of the animated short Steamboat Willie, the first fully synchronized sound cartoon, directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks, featuring the second appearances of Cartoon stars Mickey and Minnie Mouse.

Thursday 18, 1926:

George Bernard Shaw refuses to accept the money for his Nobel Prize, saying, "I can forgive Alfred Nobel for inventing dynamite, but only a fiend in human form could have invented the Nobel Prize."

Monday 18, 1918:

Latvia declares its independence from Russia.

Saturday 18, 1916:

In France, British Expeditionary Force commander Douglas Haig calls off the battle which started on July 1, 1916.

Thursday 18, 1909:

Two United States warships are sent to Nicaragua after 500 revolutionaries (including two Americans) are executed by order of dictator José Santos Zelaya.

Saturday 18, 1905:

Prince Carl of Denmark becomes King Haakon VII of Norway.

Friday 18, 1904:

General Esteban Huertas steps down after the government of Panama fears he wants to stage a coup. The Panamanian army is disbanded the next day.

Wednesday 18, 1903:

The Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty is signed by the United States and Panama, giving the Americans exclusive rights over the Panama Canal Zone.

Sunday 18, 1883:

American and Canadian railroads institute five standard continental time zones, ending the confusion of thousands of local times.

Saturday 18, 1865:

Mark Twain's story The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County is published in the New York Saturday Press.

Monday 18, 1686:

Charles Francois Felix operates on King of France Louis XIV's anal fistula after practicing the surgery on several peasants.

Wednesday 18, 1626:

St. Peter's Basilica is consecrated

Saturday 18, 1493:

Christopher Columbus first sights what is now Puerto Rico. He will land on it the following day and name it San Juan Batista.

Sunday 18, 1477:

William Caxton produces "Dictes or Sayengis of the Philosophres", the first English book printed on a printing press.

Sunday 18, 1421:

A seawall at the Zuider Zee dike breaks, flooding 72 villages and killing about 10,000 people in the Netherlands.

Friday 18, 1307:

According to legend, William Tell shoots an apple off his son's head.

Saturday 18, 1302:

Pope Boniface VIII issued the Papal bull Unam sanctam ("The One Holy"), which historians consider one of the most extreme statements of Papal spiritual supremacy ever made.

Monday 18, 1095:

The Council of Clermont began. The council was called by Pope Urban II to discuss sending the First Crusade to the Holy Land.

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