Unix Timestamp: 1153699200
Monday, July 24. 2006, 12:00:00 AM UTC

A Thai military helicopter crashes near the Myanmar border, the third in a week, with three people feared dead in the latest crash. //www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43870208 (AP via MSNBC)

Voters in Glasgow East go to the polls for the Glasgow East by-election, 2008 with the Scottish National Party (SNP) claiming a historic victory over the Scottish Labour Party candidate after a massive swing in favour of the SNP. //ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5iXAaUblX8vtu9aeKkqvVErIPIW0w (Press Association via Google News) //www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/scotland/2456823/Glasgow-East-by-election-Labour-demands-recount-as-SNP-claims-victory.html ("The Telegraph")

The International Olympic Committee bans Iraq from participating in the 2008 Summer Olympics because the Government of Iraq seized control of Iraq's Olympic Committee. //www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601079sid=atWB1XRrVFMUrefer=home (Bloomberg)

Republic of Macedonia, Albania and Serbian autonomous province of Kosovo are experiencing blackouts as a result of the 2007 European heatwave that spreads over the Balkans. It also causes bushfires everywhere in the region between Croatia, Hungary, Serbia and Greece. //www.mia.com.mk/portal/page?_pageid=113,166290_dad=portal_schema=PORTALVestID=23216856prikaz=3 (MIA-Macedonian Informative Agency) //www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/07/24/europe/EU-GEN-Albania-Blackout.php (International Herald Tribune) //news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6914490.stm (BBC News)

The United States' provisional authority in Iraq releases photos of what are presumably the dead bodies of Uday and Qusay Hussein in an attempt to show the Iraqi people proof that the two were actually killed in a U.S. military operation.//www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/07/24/sprj.irq.sons/index.html

The Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands, Operation Helpem Fren, led by Australia, begins.

US Congressman James Traficant was expelled from the House of Representatives on a vote of 420 to 1. Traficant had been convicted of ten federal counts of corruption.

Tamil Tigers attack Bandaranaika International Airport in Sri Lanka, causing an estimated $500 million of damages.

The Dehiwala train bombing kills 56 commuters outside Colombo.

The government of India announces its New Industrial Policy, marking the start of India's economic reforms.

Led Zeppelin presents its last American concert in Oakland, California, at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. A brawl erupts between Led Zeppelin's crew and the staff of the promoter Bill Graham, resulting in criminal assault charges for several members of the Led Zeppelin group including the drummer John Bonham.

An explosion and fire aboard the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier "USS Forrestal" in the Gulf of Tonkin leaves 134 dead.

Georges Bidault moves to Belgium where he receives political asylum.

During an official state visit to Canada, French President Charles de Gaulle declares to a crowd of over 100,000 in Montreal: "Vive le Québec libre!" (Long live free Quebec!). The statement, interpreted as support for Quebec independence, delights many Quebecers but angers the Canadian government and many English Canadians.

An earthquake in Caracas, Venezuela leaves 240 dead.

U.N. Secretary General U Thant visits Moscow.

Vietnam War: Four F-4C Phantoms escorting a bombing raid at Kang Chi are targeted by antiaircraft missiles, in the first such attack against American planes in the war. One is shot down and the other 3 sustain damage.

At the opening of the American National Exhibition in Moscow, United States Vice PresidentRichard Nixon and USSR PremierNikita Khrushchev engage ine the Kitchen Debate.

Explorer program: Explorer 4 is launched.

The first life peerage under the Life Peerages Act 1958 is created in the United Kingdom.

Elizabeth II gives her son and heir apparentThe Prince Charles the customary title of Prince of Wales.

At New York City's Copacabana Club, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis perform their last comedy show together (their act started on July 25, 1946).

A great oil fire breaks out in the harbor of Naantali, Finland.

WWII: Operation Gomorrha begins: British and Canadian aeroplanes bomb Hamburg by night the American planes bomb the city by day. By the end of the operation in November, 9,000 tons of explosives will have killed more than 30,000 people and destroyed 280,000 buildings.

First ascent of the Eiger north face.

Alabama drops rape charges against the so-called "Scottsboro Boys".

Several members of the Barrow Gang are injured or captured during a running battle with local police near Dexter, Iowa.

The Menin Gate War Memorial is dedicated at Ypres, Belgium.

"Undated" ndash Hyperinflation in Germany has seen the number of marks needed to purchase a single American dollar reach 353,000 - more than 200 times the amount needed at the start of the year.

The Treaty of Lausanne, settling the boundaries of the modern Republic of Turkey, is signed in Switzerland by Greece, Bulgaria and other countries that fought in the First World War, bringing an end to the Ottoman Empire after 624 years.

French troops occupy Damascus and depose Faisal I of Syria as king.ref name=French occupation of Syria

The steamer "Eastland" capsizes in central Chicago, with the loss of 844 lives.

Hiram Bingham rediscovers Machu Picchu in Peru.

Ottoman forces capture the city of Shkodër to put down the Albanian Revolt of 1910.

August ndash Pan-American Union

Sack of Cuenca (Third Carlist War): After Carlist forces successfully defended Estella, Don Alfonso de Bourbon, brother of the Don Carlos VII, led 14,000 Catalan Carlists south to attack Cuenca 136 km from Madrid, held by Republicans under Don Hilario Lozano. After two days the outnumbered garrison capitulated but Don Alfonso permitted a terrible slaughter. The city is sacked. Subsequently another republican force defeats the disorderly Catalans who flee back to the Ebro.

Mathew Evans and Henry Woodward patent the first incandescent l with an electric light bulb.

Reconstruction: Tennessee becomes the first U.S. state to be readmitted to the Union following the American Civil War.

American Civil War ndash The Second Battle of Kernstown: Confederate General Jubal Early defeats Union troops led by General George Crook in an effort to keep the Yankees out of the Shenandoah Valley.

After 17 months of travel, Brigham Young leads 148 Mormon pioneers into Salt Lake Valley, resulting in the establishment of Salt Lake City.

The Liberal Wars end in Portugal.

War of 1812: General Phineas Riall advances toward Niagara Falls, Ontario to halt Jacob Brown's American invaders.

George Stephenson tests his first locomotive "Blucher" successfully in England.

War of 1812 ndash Battle of Lundy's Lane: Reinforcements arrive near Niagara Falls, Ontario for General Riall's British and Canadian force, and a bloody, all-night battle with Jacob Brown's Americans commences at 1800 hours Americans retreat to Fort Erie.

War of 1812 ndash Battle of Lundy\\\\\\\\'s Lane: Reinforcements arrive near Niagara Falls, Ontario for GeneralRiall's British and Canadian force, and a bloody, all-night battle with Jacob Brown's Americans commences at 1800 hours Americans retreat to Fort Erie.

Napoleon occupies Cairo.

Horatio Nelson is wounded at the Battle of Santa Cruz, losing an arm.

Governor General Lord Dorchester, by proclamation issued from the Chateau St. Louis in Quebec City, divides the British Province of Quebec into five Districts, namely: Gaspé, Nassau, Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, and Hesse.

The Treaty of Georgievsk is signed between the Imperial Russia and the Kingdom of Kartli and Kakheti (Georgia).

American Revolutionary War: American forces led by Commodore Dudley Saltonstall launch the Penobscot Expedition in what is now Castine, Maine, resulting in the worst naval defeat in U.S. history until Pearl Harbor.

July ndash The Great Siege of Gibraltar (fourteenth and last military siege) starts. This is an action by French and Spanish forces to wrest control of Gibraltar from the established British garrison. The garrison, led by George Augustus Eliott, later 1st Baron Heathfield of Gibraltar, survives all attacks and a blockade of supplies.

September ndash Battle of Baton Rouge: Spanish troops under Bernardo de Galvez capture the city from the British.

A Spanish treasure fleet of 10 ships under General Don Juan Ubilla leaves Havana, Cuba for Spain. Seven days later, nine of them sink in a storm off the coast of Florida (some centuries later, treasure salvage is found from these wrecks).

Foundation of a French emporium named Fort Ponchartrain (later to become Detroit, Michigan).

René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle sails from France, again, with a large expedition designed to establish a French colony on the Gulf of Mexico, at the mouth of the Mississippi River.

Edmund Halley enters Queen's College at Oxford, as an undergraduate.

Edmund Halley enters Queen's College at Oxford, as an undergraduate.

The Swedish King Sigismund III Vasa is dethroned by his uncle Duke Charles, who takes over as regent of the realm until 1604, when he becomes King Charles IX.

Milan is captured by the Spanish.

Travelling to India, a group of Portuguese explorers sack the city-state of Kilwa in East Africa, killing the king for failing to pay tribute.

The Battle of Harlaw is fought between Donald of Islay, Lord of the Isles and an army commanded by Alexander Stewart, Earl of Mar.

Ballintubber Abbey is founded by King Cathal Crovdearg O'Connor of Connaught in Ireland.

Pope Honorius III officially approves the Order of Preachers (the Dominican Order).

The French Albigensian Crusaders of the castle of Beaucaire surrender to Raymond, future count of Toulouse.

Pope Honorius III succeeds Pope Innocent III as the 177th pope.

Emperor Gaozong abdicates to Emperor Xiaozong.

The Japanese era 長承 (Choushou) begins.

Barnwell Castle is erected in Northtonshire, England.

St. Malachy is made bishop of Armagh in Ireland, to impose the Roman liturgy on the independent Irish Church.

Battle of Nocera: Ranulf II of Alife defeats Roger II of Sicily.

Abd al-Mu'min becomes Almohadcaliph in North Africa.

Dermot MacMurrough has the abbey of Kildare in Ireland burned and the abbess raped.

Tughril II starts his rule of Iraq.

Fountains Abbey and Rievaulx Abbey are founded in Yorkshire, Basingwerk Abbey is founded in Wales.

Under the Song Dynasty, China's first permanent standing navy is established in this year, with the headquarters of the admiral stationed at Dinghai.

Cha again invades Vietnam.