Thursday, December 18, 1997
Today's events
South Korea holds presidential elections.
The European Year Against Racism comes to a close.
European Union fisheries ministers meet in Brussels.
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announces
nominations for the 55th annual Golden Globe Awards.
The rescheduled sentencing of convicted mob boss Vincent
"The Chin" Gigante will be held in New York.
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On the horizon
On Friday, December 19, the verdict in the trial of a
75-year-old German charged with participating in a World War
II massacre of Jews in Ukraine is expected in a Cologne
courtroom.
On Saturday, December 20, the Progress M-37 cargo ship is to
launch from Kazakhstan on its way to the Mir space station.
On Sunday, December 21, presidential elections are held in
Lithuania.
On Monday, December 22, the Progress M-37 cargo ship is
scheduled to dock with the Mir space station.
On Tuesday, December 23, the National Menorah will be lit in
Washington, D.C.
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On this day
In 1398, Turkish warrior Timur Lenk (Tamurlane) conquered
Delhi.
In 1737, Antonio Stradivari, Italian violin-maker, died.
Noted for their astonishing sound quality, his surviving
violins are still unsurpassed.
In 1787, New Jersey became the third state in the United
States.
In 1865, slavery was abolished throughout the United States
with the ratification of the 13th Amendment.
In 1903, the U.S-Panama treaty placed the Canal Zone under
U.S. control for an annual rent.
In 1912, Charles Dawson discovered fossils known as the
"Piltdown Man" on Piltdown Common in East Sussex, England,
and claimed they were the remains of primitive man. It was
later discovered to be a hoax.
In 1916 the 10-month Battle of Verdun ended
after huge loss of life -- 543,000 French and 434,000 German
troops were killed in the battle.
In 1919, British aviator Sir John Alcock crashed and died.
Earlier that year he and fellow Briton Arthur Brown had made
the first non-stop transatlantic flight.
In 1935, Eduard Benes was elected second president of
Czechoslovakia after the resignation of Tomas Masaryk.
In 1940, a secret plan issued by Adolf Hitler ordered the
German General Staff to prepare for the invasion of Russia
under the codename "Operation Barbarossa."
In 1956, Japan was admitted to the United Nations.
In 1971, U.S. golfer Bobby Jones died. He was the last player to
win all four of golf's most important championships in one year, a
feat he accomplished in 1930.
In 1980, former Soviet Prime Minister Alexei Kosygin died of
heart failure. He was premier from 1964 until 1980.
In 1987, Ivan Boesky, the Wall Street financier who played a
key role in the biggest insider trading scheme in U.S.
history, was jailed for three years.
In 1989, the Soviet Union and the European Community signed
a trade and economic cooperation pact which they hailed as
opening the way to closer pan-European integration.
In 1993, Sam Wanamaker, U.S. actor and director who
campaigned to rebuild Shakespeare's Globe Theater on the
Thames River in London, died at 74.
In 1994, the Bulgarian Socialist Party won an absolute
majority in parliament for the second time since it changed
its name from Communist and gave up 45 years of absolute
rule.
In 1995, the United States airlifted its first combat troops
to Bosnia to join NATO's biggest military mission.
In 1995, a Zairian passenger plane crashed in Northern
Angola, killing 141 people.
In 1995, Konrad Zuse, a German engineer who built one of the
world's first computers and lost it in the wartime Allied
bombing of Berlin, died.
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Newslink
In honor of famed violin-maker Antonio Stradivari, who died
on this day more than 200 years ago, we went searching for
an appropriate Web site. We found a great one -- A
Photostory: How to Make a Violin -- from the
Violinmakers School Stradivari of Cremona, Italy. Happy stringing!
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Holidays and more
Niger celebrates a National Day.
Actor Ray Liotta is 42.
Movie critic Leonard Maltin is 47.
Basketball player Charles Oakley is 34.
Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards is 54.
Producer and director Steven Spielberg is 50.
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Sources: Associated Press,
Chase's Calendar of Events 1997, J.P. Morgan
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