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On this day November 18

2013


NASA launches the MAVEN probe to Mars.

2012


Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria becomes the 118th Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria.

2003


The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rules 4-3 in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health that the state's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional and gives the state legislature 180 days to change the law making Massachusetts the first state in the United States to grant marriage rights to same-sex couples.

2003


In the United Kingdom, the Local Government Act 2003, repealing Section 28, becomes effective.

2002


Iraq disarmament crisis: United Nations weapons inspectors led by Hans Blix arrive in Iraq.

1999


Aggie Bonfire collapses killing 12 students and injuring 27 others.

1996


A fire occurs on a train traveling through the Channel Tunnel from France to England causing several injuries and damaging approximately 500 metres (1,600 ft) of tunnel.

1993


In South Africa, 21 political parties approve a new constitution, expanding voting rights and ending white minority rule.

1993


In the United States, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is approved by the House of Representatives.

1991


After an 87-day siege, the Croatian city of Vukovar capitulates to the besieging Yugoslav People's Army and allied Serb paramilitary forces.

1991


Shiite Muslim kidnappers in Lebanon release Anglican Church envoys Terry Waite and Thomas Sutherland.

1988


War on Drugs: U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs a bill into law allowing the death penalty for drug traffickers.

1987


King's Cross fire: In London, 31 people die in a fire at the city's busiest underground station, King's Cross St Pancras.

1978


In Jonestown, Guyana, Jim Jones led his Peoples Temple to a mass murder-suicide that claimed 918 lives in all, 909 of them in Jonestown itself, including over 270 children. Congressman Leo Ryan is murdered by members of the Peoples Temple hours earlier.

1971


Oman declares its independence from United Kingdom.

1970


U.S. President Richard Nixon asks the U.S. Congress for $155 million in supplemental aid for the Cambodian government.

1963


The first push-button telephone goes into service.

1961


United States President John F. Kennedy sends 18,000 military advisors to South Vietnam.[citation needed]

1949


The Iva Valley Shooting occurs after the coal miners of Enugu in Nigeria go on strike over withheld wages; 21 miners are shot dead and 51 are wounded by police under the supervision of the British colonial administration of Nigeria.

1947


The Ballantyne's Department Store fire in Christchurch, New Zealand, kills 41; it is the worst fire disaster in the history of New Zealand.

1944


The Popular Socialist Youth is founded in Cuba.

1943


World War II: Battle of Berlin: Four hundred and forty Royal Air Force planes bomb Berlin causing only light damage and killing 131. The RAF loses nine aircraft and 53 air crew.

1940


World War II: German leader Adolf Hitler and Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano meet to discuss Benito Mussolini's disastrous Italian invasion of Greece.

1938


Trade union members elect John L. Lewis as the first president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations.

1929


Grand Banks earthquake: Off the south coast of Newfoundland in the Atlantic Ocean, a Richter magnitude 7.2 submarine earthquake, centered on the Grand Banks, breaks 12 submarine transatlantic telegraph cables and triggers a tsunami that destroys many south coast communities in the Burin Peninsula.

1928


Release of the animated short Steamboat Willie, the first fully synchronized sound cartoon, directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks, featuring the third appearances of cartoon characters Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse. This is considered by the Disney corporation to be Mickey's birthday.

1918


Latvia declares its independence from Russia.

1916


World War I: First Battle of the Somme: In France, British Expeditionary Force commander Douglas Haig calls off the battle which started on July 1, 1916.

1909


Two United States warships are sent to Nicaragua after 500 revolutionaries (including two Americans) are executed by order of José Santos Zelaya.

1905


Prince Carl of Denmark becomes King Haakon VII of Norway.

1903


The Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty is signed by the United States and Panama, giving the United States exclusive rights over the Panama Canal Zone.

1901


Britain and the United States sign the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, which nullifies the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty and withdraws British objections to an American-controlled canal in Panama.

1883


American and Canadian railroads institute five standard continental time zones, ending the confusion of thousands of local times.

1872


Susan B. Anthony and 14 other women are arrested for illegal voting in the United States presidential election of 1872.

1865


Mark Twain's short story "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" is published in the New York Saturday Press.

1863


King Christian IX of Denmark signs the November constitution that declares Schleswig to be part of Denmark. This is seen by the German Confederation as a violation of the London Protocol and leads to the German-Danish war of 1864.

1812


Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Krasnoi ends in French defeat, but Marshal of France Michel Ney's leadership leads to him becoming known as "the bravest of the brave".

1809


In a naval action during the Napoleonic Wars, French frigates defeat British East Indiamen in the Bay of Bengal.

1803


The Battle of Vertières, the last major battle of the Haitian Revolution, is fought, leading to the establishment of the Republic of Haiti, the first black republic in the Western Hemisphere.

1760


The rebuilt debtors' prison, at the Castellania in Valletta, receives the first prisoners.

1730


The future Frederick II (known as Frederick the Great), King of Prussia, is granted a royal pardon and released from confinement.

1626


The new St Peter's Basilica is consecrated.

1601


Tiryaki Hasan Pasha, an Ottoman provincial governor, routs the Habsburg forces commanded by Ferdinand the Archduke of Austria during the Siege of Nagykanizsa.

1494


French King Charles VIII occupies Florence, Italy.

1493


Christopher Columbus first sights the island now known as Puerto Rico.

1421


A seawall at the Zuiderzee dike in the Netherlands breaks, flooding 72 villages and killing about 10,000 people. This event will be known as St Elizabeth's flood.

1302


Pope Boniface VIII issues the Papal bull Unam sanctam, claiming spiritual supremacy for the papacy.

1282


Pope Martin IV excommunicates King Peter III of Aragon.

1210


Pope Innocent III excommunicates Holy Roman Emperor Otto IV.

1180


Phillip II becomes king of France.

1105


Maginulfo is elected the Antipope as Sylvester IV.

1095


The Council of Clermont begins: called by Pope Urban II, it led to the First Crusade to the Holy Land.

401


The Visigoths, led by king Alaric I, cross the Alps and invade northern Italy.

326


The old St. Peter's Basilica is consecrated.

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