Summary of the Day ✨ 18 May (18/05)
Joe Biden launched his presidential campaign as the world witnessed multiple tragedies: a Texas school shooting killing ten, a Cuban plane crash claiming 112 lives, a Colombian landslide killing 78, and Sri Lanka’s government defeating the LTTE to end their 26-year conflict.
Historical Events 📜
- 2019: United States presidential election: Joe Biden launches his presidential campaign.
- 2018: A school shooting at Santa Fe High School in Texas kills ten people.
- 2018: Cubana de Aviación Flight 972 crashes in Santiago de las Vegas after takeoff from José Martí International Airport in Havana, Cuba, killing 112 of the 113 people on board.
- 2015: At least 78 people die in a landslide caused by heavy rains in the Colombian town of Salgar.
- 2009: The LTTE are defeated by the Sri Lankan government, ending almost 26 years of fighting between the two sides.
- 2006: The post Loktantra Andolan government passes a landmark bill curtailing the power of the monarchy and making Nepal a secular country.
- 2005: A second photo from the Hubble Space Telescope confirms that Pluto has two additional moons, Nix and Hydra.
- 1994: Israeli troops finish withdrawing from the Gaza Strip, ceding the area to the Palestinian National Authority to govern.
- 1993: Riots in Nørrebro, Copenhagen, caused by the approval of the four Danish exceptions in the Maastricht Treaty referendum. Police open fire against civilians for the first time since World War II and injure 11 demonstrators.
- 1991: Northern Somalia declares independence from the rest of Somalia as the Republic of Somaliland.
- 1990: In France, a modified TGV train achieves a new rail world speed record of 515.3 km/h (320.2 mph).
- 1980: Mount St. Helens erupts in Washington, United States, killing 57 people and causing $3 billion in damage.
- 1980: Students in Gwangju, South Korea begin demonstrations calling for democratic reforms.
- 1977: Likud party wins the 1977 Israeli legislative election, with Menachem Begin, its founder, as the sixth Prime Minister of Israel.
- 1974: Nuclear weapons testing: Under project Smiling Buddha, India successfully detonates its first nuclear weapon becoming the sixth nation to do so.
Famous Births 👶
- 2009: Hala Finley, American actress
- 2003: Travis Hunter, American football player
- 2002: Alina Zagitova, Russian figure skater
- 2001: Emma Navarro, American tennis player
- 2000: Ryan Sessegnon, English footballer
- 2000: Steven Sessegnon, English footballer
- 1999: Laura Omloop, Belgian singer-songwriter
- 1998: Polina Edmunds, American figure skater
- 1993: Stuart Percy, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1993: Jessica Watson, Australian sailor
- 1992: Adwoa Aboah, British fashion model
- 1990: Dimitri Daeseleire, Belgian footballer
- 1990: Yuya Osako, Japanese footballer
- 1990: Josh Starling, Australian rugby league player
- 1988: Taeyang, South Korean singer
Notable Deaths 🕊️
- 2024: Bruce Nordstrom, American businessman (born 1933)
- 2024: Tony O’Reilly, Irish rugby player and businessman (born 1936)
- 2024: Alice Stewart, American political commentator (born 1966)
- 2023: Jim Brown, American football player, civil rights activist, and actor (born 1936)
- 2021: Charles Grodin, American actor and talk show host (born 1935)
- 2021: Yolanda Tortolero, Venezuelan politician
- 2020: Ken Osmond, American actor and police officer (born 1943)
- 2019: Austin Eubanks, American addiction recovery advocate, survivor of the Columbine shooting (born 1981)
- 2017: Roger Ailes, American businessman (born 1940)
- 2017: Chris Cornell, American singer (born 1964)
- 2017: Jacque Fresco, American engineer and academic (born 1916)
- 2015: Halldór Ásgrímsson, Icelandic accountant and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Iceland (born 1947)
- 2015: Raymond Gosling, English physicist and academic (born 1926)
- 2015: Jean-François Théodore, French businessman (born 1946)
- 2014: Dobrica Ćosić, Serbian politician, 1st President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (born 1921)
Holidays & Observances 🎉
- Christian feast day:
Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury - Christian feast day:
Eric IX of Sweden - Christian feast day:
Felix of Cantalice - Christian feast day:
Pope John I - Christian feast day:
Venantius of Camerino - Christian feast day:
May 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) - Baltic Fleet Day (Russia)
- Day of Remembrance of Crimean Tatar genocide (Ukraine)
- Independence Day (Somaliland) (unrecognized)
- International Museum Day
- National Speech Pathologist Day (United States)
- Mullivaikkal Remembrance Day (Sri Lankan Tamils)
- Revival, Unity, and Poetry of Magtymguly Day (Turkmenistan)
- Teacher’s Day (Syria)