Unix Timestamp: 1221696000
Thursday, September 18. 2008, 12:00:00 AM UTC

A magnitude 6.9 earthquake occurs in northwestern Sikkim, northern India, causing shaking in parts of India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Tibet Autonomous Region. At least thirty seven deaths are reported. //timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/UP-residents-shaken-up-by-mild-quake-tremor/articleshow/10030535.cms ("Times of India") //bdnews24.com/details.php?id=206404cid=2 (Bangladesh News 24 Hours) //www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/09/18/india.earthquake/ (CNN) //www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/indian-earthquake-kills-19/story-e6frg6so-1226140593200 ("The Australian")

The United States Federal Reserve cuts a key short-term interest rate by a half-percentage point, resulting in a stock market rally. //money.cnn.com/2007/09/18/markets/markets_0445/index.htm?eref=rss_topstories (CNN Money)

The Bank of England injects £4.4 billion of liquidity into the U.K. Financial System as a response to the Subprime Mortgage Financial Crisis, after £2 billion of deposits are removed from the Northern Rock bank in the three days after it applied for emergency funding from the Bank. //news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7000035.stm (BBC)

Soyuz TMA-9 has launched at 04:08 UTC from Baikonur in Kazakhstan onboard with two member of ISS Expedition 14 Mikhail Tyurin, Michael Lopez-Alegria and with Anousheh Ansari, the first female space tourist. //news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5355022.stm (BBC) //www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html (NASA)

Afghan parliamentary election: Former Northern Alliance warlords and their followers claim victory.

Hurricane Isabel makes landfall as a Category 2 Hurricane on North Carolina's Outer Banks. It directly kills 16 people in the Mid-Atlantic area.

A passenger aboard a South African Airways jet tries to break into the cockpit during a flight from Cape Town to Atlanta. The passenger, James Drake, is arrested upon arrival. He had also been arrested in 1987 after trying to break into another airplane's cockpit.

After three days of negotiations in Sattahip, Thailand, the Tamil Tigers agreed to drop their demand for independence from Sri Lanka, and accepted autonomy in the north and northwest of the country.

The 2001 anthrax attacks commence as anthrax letters are mailed from Hamilton Township, Mercer County, New Jersey, to ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, the "New York Post", and the "National Enquirer".

The 2001 anthrax attacks commence as letters containing anthrax spores are mailed from Princeton, New Jersey to ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, the "New York Post", and the "National Enquirer". 22 in total are exposed 5 of them die.

Wales votes in favour of devolution and the formation of a National Assembly for Wales.

A North KoreanSang-O class submarine runs aground in South Korea. The crew are described as spies by the South Korean government and killed by the South Korean military.

The International Olympic Committee awards the 1996 Summer Olympics to Atlanta, Georgia.

Joe Kittinger becomes the first person to cross the Atlantic, solo, in a hot air balloon.

The rock group Kiss officially appear in public without makeup for the first time on MTV.

The Lebanese Christian Militia (the Phalange) kill thousands of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee cs with the overlooking of Israeli troops in West Beirut. The massacre is in retaliation for the assassination of pro-Israel president-elect, Bachir Gemayel, as well as several Palestinian massacres against Lebanese Christians.

France abolishes capital punishment.

"Courageous (U.S.)", skippered by Ted Turner, sweeps "Australia (Australia)" in the 24th America's Cup.

Fugitive Patricia Hearst is captured in San Francisco.

The two German Republics, the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), are admitted to the United Nations.

São Paulo Metro is inaugurated in Brazil.

"Love Is a Many Splendored Thing" debuts on U.S. daytime television and is the first soap opera to deal with an interracial relationship. CBS censors find it too controversial and ask for it to be stopped, causing show creator Irna Phillips to quit.

Baldur von Schirach and Albert Speer are released from Spandau Prison.

Toyota Corolla car introduced.

Valerie Percy, 21-year-old daughter of then U.S. Senate candidate Charles H. Percy, is stabbed and bludgeoned to death in the family mansion on Chicago's North Shore.

Botswana achieves independence.

Scotland Yard arrests Buster Edwards, suspected of involvement in the Great Train Robbery.

Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton found the Black Panther Party.

October

Timothy Leary forms the spiritual group League for Spiritual Discovery.

In Athens, King Constantine II of Greece marries Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark, who becomes Europe's youngest Queen at age eighteen years, nineteen days.

Rioters burn down the British Embassy in Jakarta, to protest the formation of Malaysia.

UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld dies in an air crash en route to Katanga, Congo.

Negotiations for a ceasefire in Korea are postponed.

A three-train crash at Harrow railway station in England kills 112 people.

The Soviet Union vetoes Japan's application for membership in the United Nations.

Tennessee Williams's adaptation of "A Streetcar Named Desire" premieres, becoming a critical and box-office smash.

Typhoon Makurazaki in Japan kills 3,746 people.

In the early hours of the day, representatives of the French and British governments call on Czechoslovak President Edvard Beneš to tell him France and Britain will not fight Hitler if he decides to annex the Sudetenland by force. Late in the afternoon the Czechoslovak government capitulates to the French and British demands.

Sir Eric Phipps, British Ambassador to France, reports to London, all that is best in France is against war, almost at any price, being opposed only by a small, but noisy and corrupt, war group. Phipps's report creates major doubts about the ability and/or willingness of France to go to war.

Unable to survive the previous day's capitulation to the demands of the English and French governments, Czechoslovak premier Milan Hodža resigns. General Jan Syrovy takes his place.

Winston Churchill warns of grave consequences to European security if Czechoslovakia is partitioned. The same day, Soviet Foreign Commissar Maxim Litvinov makes a similar statement in the League of Nations.

Following the capitulation of the Czech government to Germany's demands both Poland and Hungary demand slices of Czech territory where their nationals reside.

During a meeting between Neville Chamberlain and the recently elected Premier of France, Édouard Daladier, and Daladier's Foreign Minister, Georges Bonnet, it becomes apparent neither the English nor the French governments are prepared to go to war over the Sudetenland. The Soviet Union declares it will come to the defence of Czechoslovakia only if France honours her commitment to defend Czech independence.

At 1:30 AM, Adolf Hitler and Neville Chamberlain conclude their talks on the Sudetenland. Chamberlain agrees to take Hitler's demands, codified in the Godesberg Memorandum, personally to the Czech Government. The Czech Government rejects the demands, as does Chamberlain's own cabinet. The French Government also initially rejects the terms and orders a partial mobilizaton of the French army.

The New England Hurricane of 1938 strikes Long Island and southern New England, killing over 300 along the Rhode Island shoreline and 600 altogether.

The Czechoslovak army mobilizes.

Neville Chamberlain arrives in the city of Bad Godesberg for another round of talks with Hitler over the Sudetenland crisis. Hitler raises his demands to include occupation of all German Sudeten territories by October 1. That night after a telephone conference, Chamberlain reverses himself and advises the Czechoslovaks to mobilize.

As the Polish army masses along the Czech border the Soviet Union warns Poland if it crosses the Czech frontier Russia will regard the 1932 non-aggression pact between the two countries void.

Olsen and Johnson's musical comedy revue "Hellzapoppin'" begins its 3-year run on Broadway.

The Columbia Phonographic Broadcasting System (later known as "CBS") is formed and goes on the air with 47 radio stations.

Great Miami Hurricane: A strong hurricane devastates Miami, Florida, leaving over 100 dead and causing several hundred million dollars in damage (equal to nearly $100 billion dollars today).

September 26 ndash Newspaper printers strike in New York.

Hungary joins the League of Nations.

A typhoon and tsunami kill an estimated 10,000 in Hong Kong.

Fashoda incident: A diplomatic dispute between France and the United Kingdom ends in victory for the British.

The union of Eastern Rumelia with Bulgaria is proclaimed at Plovdiv.

Great Comet of 1882: Her Majesty's Astronomer at the Cape, David Gill, reported watching the comet rise a few minutes before the Sun and described it as The nucleus was then undoubtedly single, and certainly rather under than over 4″ in diameter in fact, as I have described it, it resembled very much a star of the 1st magnitude seen by daylight.

The New York stock market crash triggers the Panic of 1873, part of the Long Depression.

Old Faithful Geyser is observed and named by Henry D. Washburn during the Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition to Yellowstone.

The University of the South holds its first convocation in Sewanee, Tennessee.

Battle of Castelfidardo: The Piedmontese decisively defeat the Papal forces, allowing them to continue their march into Neapolitan territory, and effectively reducing the Papal States to the territory around Rome.

"The New York Times" is founded.

The Fugitive Slave Law is passed by the United States Congress.

Amherst College is founded in Massachusetts.

Chile forms its First National Junta, which is the country's first step towards its independence.

A new theatre to hold the Royal Opera House opens in London to replace the first, burnt down in a fire in 1808. The price increases lead to the Old Price Riots which last for 64 days.

"Lyrical Ballads" is published anonymously by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth, inaugurating the English Romantic movement in literature.

The town (later city) of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, is founded.

The Treaty of Belgrade brings the Russo-Turkish War (1735–1739) to an end.

The Narragansetts sign a treaty with the English in Boston meanwhile, Massachusetts troops are ambushed near Northton, Massachusetts.

Beginning of the 13th Baktun in the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar (12.0.0.0.0).

Peace of Crépy: Peace is declared between Charles and Francis. The war between France and England continues.

Christopher Columbus lands at Costa Rica.

Vasco da Gama arrives at Lisbon, returning from India, and is received by King Manuel of Portugal.

Battle of Chojnice: The Polish army is defeated by a smaller but more professional Teutonic army during the Thirteen Years' War.

The press of Johannes Gutenberg (at Mainz on the Rhine) produces the first printed documents bearing a date.

Isaac Sarfati sends a circular letter to Rhineland, Swabia, Moravia and Hungary, praising the happy conditions of the Jews under the crescent in contrast to the great torture chamber under the cross and urging them to come to Turkey.

December ndash King Henry having regained his sanity, the Duke of York is dismissed as Protector.

Statutes of Nieszawa enacted in Poland.

Battle of Savra: Serbian forces under Balša II and Ivaniš Mrnjavčević are defeated by Ottoman commander Hayreddin Pasha near Berat.

Andrew, Duke of Calabria is assassinated in Naples (d. in Aversa).

Battle of Chrysopolis: Constantine I definitively defeats Licinius at Chrysopolis, and becomes sole Emperor, thus ending the period of the Tetrarchy. Licinius escapes and gathered around 30,000 of his surviving troops at Nicomedia.

Construction begins on the Forum of Nerva in Rome.

Marcus Ulpius Traianus becomes governor of Upper Germany.

Under Nerva, the Roman Senate regains much of the power usurped by Domitian.

The Arch of Titus is completed in Rome.

Emperor Domitian is stabbed to death by a freedman at age 44 after a 15-year reign in a palace conspiracy involving officers of the Praetorian Guard. The Flavian dynasty ends.

The Book of Revelation is written (traditional date).

A schism in Buddhism creates a new, popular religion in India, mahâyâna (Grand Vehicle).

End of the period covered by Tacitus in his "Histories".

Nerva is declared emperor by the Senate as the new ruler of the Roman Empire. He recalls citizens exiled by Domitian, this is the beginning of the Era of the Five Good Emperors. The Antonines dynasty starts.