On this date in history:

In 1918, Russian Czar Nicholas II and his family were killed by Bolsheviks who had held them captive for two months. Though the whereabouts of their bodies was unknown for years, later DNA tests confirmed their identities and they were buried together in a St. Petersburg cathedral in 1998.

In 1936, the Spanish Civil War began with an army revolt led by Gen. Francisco Franco.

In 1955, Arco, Idaho, a town of 1,300 people, became the first community in the world to receive all its light and power from atomic energy.

In 1955, Disneyland opened in Anaheim, Calif.

In 1975, three U.S. and two Soviet spacemen linked their orbiting Apollo and Soyuz spacecraft for historic handshakes 140 miles above Earth.

In 1981, 114 people were killed and 200 injured in the collapse of two suspended walkways at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Kansas City, Mo.

In 1996, TWA Flight 800, New York to Paris, crashed off the Long Island coast, killing all 230 people aboard the Boeing 747.

In 2006, an earthquake under the Indian Ocean triggered a tsunami that struck the Indonesian island of Java, killing about 700 people.

In 2007, a Brazilian Airbus airliner skidded off a runway as it landed at Sao Paulo's Congonhas Airport and crashed into a building. Authorities placed the death toll at 200.

In 2009, Walter Cronkite, television news broadcaster often referred to as the most trusted man in America, died at age 92.

In 2012, the Boy Scouts of America announced a policy of banning homosexuals from membership would remain in effect. The restriction was removed in 2013.

In 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 carrying 298 people was shot down over rebel-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine near the Russian border. All aboard the Boeing 777 were killed, including dozens of children.

Copyright 2018 by United Press International