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Other Notable Events, November 18

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Published in History & Quotes

In 1477, The Sayings of the Philosophers was published, the earliest known book printed in England to carry a date.

In 1883, the United States adopted Standard Time and set up four zones -- Eastern, Central, Mountain and Pacific.

1928, Mickey Mouse made his screen debut in the landmark Steamboat Willie at the Colony Theater in New York City. The Walt Disney cartoon, with Disney doing the voice of Mickey, was the first with synchronized sound.

In 1963, push-button telephones made their debut. Touch-tone service was available as an option for an extra charge.

In 1978, more than 900 people died in a mass suicide-murder led by the Rev. Jim Jones at the People's Temple commune in Guyana, following the slaying of U.S. Rep. Leo Ryan, D-Calif. It was the largest mass suicide in modern history.

In 1991, the Lebanese Shiite Muslim faction, the Islamic Jihad, freed Church of England envoy Terry Waite and U.S. professor Thomas Sutherland.

In 1994, Palestinian police opened fire on Islamic militants outside a mosque in the Gaza Strip, sparking riots that killed at least 14 people and injured 200.

In 1996, Harold Nicholson, a 16-year CIA veteran, was arrested for spying.

In 1999, 12 people died when the Aggie Bonfire collapsed at Texas A&M University. It was a tradition at the school to construct the bonfire before A&M played Texas in football.

In 2003, the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that the state's prohibition against same-sex marriages was unconstitutional.

In 2004, Britain outlawed fox hunting in England and Wales.

In 2005, suicide bombings killed more than 50 people in Iraq, most of them in or near two Shiite mosques close to the Iranian border.

 

In 2006, a Connecticut woman who pleaded guilty to sending cookies loaded with rat poison to the U.S. Supreme Court was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

In 2007, authorities in Bangladesh upped the death toll from Cyclone Sidr to at least 2,000 people. Many more were reported missing and some 600,000 were homeless from the storm that ruined much of the country's food supply.

Also in 2007, a methane explosion in a Ukrainian coal mine killed at least 88 miners.

In 2008, pirates hijacked a Saudi oil tanker anchored about 480 miles off the coast of Somalia, loaded with about 2 million barrels of oil, worth about $100 million.

In 2009, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., introduced a healthcare package he said could extend coverage to more than 30 million Americans with a price tag of $849 billion over 10 years.

In 2010, Somalia was rated the world's top terror state, surpassing Afghanistan, Pakistan and Colombia, in a British global study.

Also in 2010, a United Nations report said the bill for global food imports would top $1 trillion for the second time, putting the world dangerously close to a new food crisis.

In 2011, an Idaho man who reportedly called U.S. President Barack Obama the anti-Christ was charged with trying to assassinate him in a shooting incident outside the White House.

Also in 2011, thousands of Occupy Wall Street demonstrators clashed with New York police in a show of strength in the movement's original home that was echoed nationwide.

And, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it was revoking its approval of the use of Avastin for women with breast cancer after concluding that safety and effectiveness had not been proven for that use. Avastin remained on the market as treatment for other types of cancer.


Copyright 2012 by United Press International

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