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Other Notable Events for April 18

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Published in History & Quotes

On this date in history:

In 1506, the cornerstone was placed for St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

In 1775, American patriot Paul Revere began his famous ride through the Massachusetts countryside, crying out The British are coming! to rally the Minutemen.

In 1831, the University of Alabama was founded.

In 1906, an earthquake estimated at magnitude-7.8 struck San Francisco, collapsing buildings and igniting fires that destroyed much of what remained of the city. (For years, reports of the death toll varied widely. Researchers and historians eventually concluded that about 3,000 people died in the quake and its aftermath and 225,000 to 250,000 were left homeless.)

In 1923, Yankee Stadium opened in New York.

In 1942, U.S. planes bombed the Japanese mainland for the first time during World War II.

In 1945, American journalist Ernie Pyle, a popular World War II correspondent, was killed by Japanese machine-gun fire on the island of Ie Shima in the Pacific.

In 1949, the Republic of Ireland formally declared itself independent from Britain.

In 1980, Rhodesia became the independent African nation of Zimbabwe.

In 1983, the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, was severely damaged by a car-bomb explosion that killed 63 people, including 17 Americans.

In 1992, an 11-year-old Florida boy sued to divorce his natural parents and remain with his foster parents. (The boy eventually won his lawsuit.)

In 2002, former U.S. Sen. Bob Kerrey, D.-Neb., revealed that at least 13 civilians were killed by his U.S. Navy unit in a Vietnamese village in 1969.

In 2004, in one of his first acts as Spain's prime minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero issued orders withdrawing all 1,300 Spanish troops from Iraq.

In 2007, More than 125 people were killed in a suicide car-bomb explosion near a Baghdad market.

In 2012, U.S. Secretary of State Leon Panetta condemned the behavior of American soldiers photographed posing with corpses of Afghan insurgents in 2010.

In 2013, former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, a shooting survivor, said the Senate defeated a bill on expanded background checks for gun purchases because of political fear and ... cold calculations about the money of special interests like the National Rifle Association.

In 2014, an avalanche on what is known as a particularly dangerous route to the top of Mount Everest in the Himalayas killed 16 Sherpa guides.

 


Copyright 2015 by United Press International

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