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Laurent Desire Kabila

Laurent Desire Kabila

Laurent-Désiré Kabila (November 27, 1939 – January 18, 2001) was President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from May 1997, when he overthrew Mobutu Sese Seko until his assassination in January 2001. He was succeeded by his son Joseph Kabila. He was born a member of the Luba tribe in Jadotville (Likasi) in the Belgian Congo, Katanga province. He studied political philosophy in France and attended the University of Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania. When the Congo gained independence in 1960, Kabila was a youth leader in a party allied to Patrice Lumumba. Lumumba was overthrown by Joseph Mobutu within months. Kabila and other supporters of Lumumba fled into the jungles of eastern Zaire. In 1964, Kabila helped organise a revolt in the Ruzizi region. Che Guevara assisted Kabila for a short time in 1965. Guevara had appeared in the Congo with approximately 100 men who planned to bring about a Cuban style revolution. In Guevara's opinion, Kabila (then 26) was "not the man of the hour" he had alluded to, with Kabila being one who was more interested in consuming alcohol and bedding women. This, in Guevara's opinion, was the reason that Kabila would show up days late at times to provide supplies, aid, or backup to Guevara's men. The lack of cooperation between Kabila and Guevara led to the revolt being suppressed that same year. In 1967 Kabila founded the People's Revolutionary Party (PRP). With the support of the People's Republic of China the PRP created a secessionist Marxist state in South Kivu province, west of Lake Tanganyika. The PRP state came to an end in 1988 and Kabila was believed dead. Kabila returned in October 1996, leading ethnic Tutsis from South Kivu against Hutu forces, marking the beginning of the First Congo War. With support from Burundi, Uganda and the Rwandan Tutsi government, Kabila pushed his forces into a full-scale rebellion against Mobutu as the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire (ADFL). By mid-1997, the ADFL had made significant gains and following failed peace talks in May 1997, Mobutu fled the country, and Kabila entered Kinshasa on May 20. Kabila made himself head of state, created the Public Salvation Government and renamed the country the Democratic Republic of Congo. Kabila had been a committed Marxist but his policies were a confusing mix of capitalism and collectivism, all marked with a self-aggrandizing trend. By 1998, Kabila's former allies in Uganda and Rwanda had turned against him and backed a new rebellion of the Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD). Kabila found new allies in Zimbabwe, Namibia and Angola and managed to hold on in the south and west of the country and in July 1999 peace talks led to the withdrawal of most foreign forces. However, the rebellion continued and Kabila was shot during the afternoon of January 16, 2001 by one of his own staff, Rashidi Kasereka, who was also killed. The assasination was part of a failed coup attempt which was crushed and Kabila, who may have been still alive, was flown to Zimbabwe for medical treatment. He died there on 18 January, and his body was returned to Congo on January 26, 2001. The investigation into the assasination led to 135 people being tried before a special military tribunal. The alleged ringleader a cousin of Kabila, Colonel Eddy Kapend, and 25 others were sentenced to death in January 2003. Of the other defendants 64 were jailed, with sentences from six months to life, and 45 were exonerated. Kabila, Laurent-Désiré Kabila, Laurent-Désiré Kabila, Laurent-Désiré Kabila, Laurent-Désiré Kabila, Laurent-Désiré

1939

1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar).

Events

January-March


- January 2 - End of term for Frank Finley Merriam, 28th Governor of California. He is succeeded by Culbert Levy Olson.
- January 13 - Black Friday: 71 people die across Victoria in one of Australia's worst ever bushfires.
- January 24 - Earthquake kills 30.000 in Chile – about 50.000 sq mi razed
- January 26 - Spanish Civil War: Troops loyal to Francisco Franco and aided by Italy take Barcelona.
- February 2 - Hungary joins Anticomintern Pact
- February 10 - Falangists take Catalonia
- February 27 - United Kingdom and France recognize Franco's government
- February 27 - Borley Rectory burns
- February 27 - Sit-down strikes are outlawed by the Supreme Court of the United States.
- March 2 - Pius XII becomes Pope
- March 3 - In Bombay, Mohandas Gandhi begins to fast in protest of the autocratic rule in India.
- March 14 - Slovak provincial assemble proclaims independence - priest Jozef Tiso becomes the president of independent Slovak government
- March 15 - German troops occupy the remaining part of Bohemia and Moravia; Czechoslovakia ceases to exist; beginning hostilities leading to WWII
- March 16 - Marriage of Princess Fawzia of Egypt to Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran
- March 22 - Germany takes Memel from Lithuania
- March 28 - Dictator Francisco Franco conquers Madrid, ending the Spanish Civil War
- March 28 - The last message from an adventurer Richard Halliburton - he disappears later
- March - End of the Great Arab Revolt in the British mandate of Palestine (started 1936)

April-June


- April 4 - Faisal II becomes King of Iraq.
- April 7 - Italy invades Albania - King Zog flees
- April 11 - Hungary leaves the League of Nations
- May 2 - Lou Gehrig's streak of 2130 consecutive Major League Baseball games played comes to an end. The record will stand for 56 years before Cal Ripken, Jr. breaks it.
- May 7 - Spain leaves the League of Nations
- May 22 - Germany and Italy sign the Pact of Steel.
- June 4 - Holocaust: The SS St. Louis, a ship carrying a cargo of 963 Jewish refugees, is denied permission to land in Florida after already having been turned away from Cuba. Forced to return to Europe, most of its passengers later die in Nazi concentration camps.
- June 17 - Last public execution in France - murderer Eugene Weidmann is decapitated by the guillotine.
- June 23 - Turkey annexes Hatay

July-August

Hatay]
- July 4 - The concentration camp Neuengamme becomes autonomous.
- July 6 - Holocaust: The last remaining Jewish enterprises in Germany are closed.
- August 2 - Albert Einstein writes President Franklin Roosevelt about developing the Atomic Bomb using Uranium. This led to the creation of the Manhattan Project.
- August 23 - Hitler and Stalin divide eastern Europe between themselves. Finland, the Baltic states and eastern Poland to the USSR. Western Poland to Germany (Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact)
- August 25 - An IRA bomb explodes in the centre of Coventry, England killing five people.
- August 27 - A Heinkel 178, the first jet-powered aircraft, flies for the last time.
- August 30 - Poland begins mobilization

September-October


- September 1 - World War II: Polish September Campaign - Nazi Germany attacks Poland, beginning the war
- September 2 - Following the invasion of Poland, Freie Stadt Danzig Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland) is annexed to Nazi Germany.
- September 3 - World War II: France, Australia and the United Kingdom declare war on Germany.
- September 5 - World War II: The United States declares its neutrality in the war.
- September 6 - World War II: South Africa declares war on Germany.
- September 10 - Canada declares war on Germany.
- September 16 - Cease Fire ending undeclared Border War between The Soviet Union (and Mongolian allies) and Japan.
- September 17 - Soviet Union invades Poland and then occupies eastern Polish territories.
- September 27 - Warsaw surrenders to Germany; Modlin surrenders day later; last Polish large operational unit surrenders near Kock eight days later.
- October 8 - World War II: Germany annexes Western Poland.
- October 11 - Manhattan Project: US President Franklin D. Roosevelt is presented with a letter signed by Albert Einstein urging the United States to rapidly develop the atomic bomb.
- October 15 - The New York Municipal Airport (later renamed La Guardia Airport) is dedicated.

November-December


- November 4 - World War II: US President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders the United States Customs Service to implement the Neutrality Act of 1939, allowing cash-and-carry purchases of weapons by belligerents.
- November 6 - World War II: Sonderaktion Krakau
- November 6 - The Hedda Hopper Show debuts with Hollywood gossip Hedda Hopper as host (the show ran until 1951 and made Hopper a powerful figure in the Hollywood elite).
- November 8 - Venlo Incident: Two British agents of SIS are captured by the Germans.
- November 8 - In Munich, Adolf Hitler narrowly escapes an assassination attempt while celebrating the 16th anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch.
- November 15 - In Washington, DC, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt lays the cornerstone of the Jefferson Memorial.
- November 16 - Al Capone released from Alcatraz
- November 30 - Winter War begins: Soviet forces invade Finland and reach the Mannerheim Line, starting the war.
- December 2 - La Guardia Airport opens for business in New York City.
- December 14 - League of Nations expels the USSR because of attacking Finland
- December 25 - A Christmas Carol was read before a radio audience for the first time.
- December 27 - Earthquake in Eastern Anatolia, Turkey, destroys the town of Erzingan - about 100.000 dead
- December 26 - Mining strike in Boringae, Belgium
- December 30 - USSR invades Finland

unknown dates


- Batman created by Bob Kane (and, unofficially, Bill Finger).
- Nuclear fission discovered independently by Lise Meitner and Otto Hahn
- Kirlian photography invented by Semyon Kirlian
- Siam changes its name to Thailand
- A logging crew sets off a second forest fire in the Tillamook Burn, which destroys 190,000 acres (769 km²)

Ongoing events


- Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)
- Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945)

Births

January


- January 2 - Jim Bakker, American televangelist
- January 2 - John McBon, Argentianian Tv Star Ed the Repairman
- January 3 - Bobby Hull, Canadian hockey player
- January 6 - Valeri Lobanovsky, Ukrainian footballer and manager (d. 2002)
- January 10 - Sal Mineo, American actor (d. 1976)
- January 10 - Bill Toomey, American athlete
- January 11 - Ann Heggtveit, Canadian skier
- January 17 - Maury Povich, American talk show host
- January 18 - James Gritz, U.S. Presidential candidate
- January 19 - Phil Everly, American musician
- January 20 - Chandra Wickramasinghe, British Astonomer, Scientist, Poet.
- January 21 - Wolfman Jack, American disk jockey and actor (d. 1995)
- January 22 - Ray Stevens, American musician
- January 29 - Germaine Greer, Australian writer

February-March


- February 6 - Mike Farrell, American actor
- February 10 - Adrienne Clarkson, 26th Governor General of Canada
- February 10 - Roberta Flack, American singer
- February 10 - Peter Purves, British actor and television presenter
- February 12 - Ray Manzarek, American keyboardist
- February 13 - Beate Klarsfeld, Romanian Nazi hunter
- February 21 - Gert Neuhaus, German artist
- February 28 - Daniel C. Tsui, Chinese-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- February 28 - Tommy Tune, American dancer, choreographer, and actor
- March 8 - Robert Tear, Welsh tenor
- March 13 - Neil Sedaka, American singer
- March 20 - Brian Mulroney, eighteenth Prime Minister of Canada
- March 26 - James Caan, American actor
- March 31 - Zviad Gamsakhurdia, President of Georgia (d. 1993)
- March 31 - Volker Schlöndorff, German film director

April-May


- April 2 - Marvin Gaye, American singer (d. 1984)
- April 4 - Hugh Masakela, South African musician
- April 7 - Francis Ford Coppola, American film director
- April 7 - Sir David Frost, English television personality
- April 13 - Seamus Heaney, Irish writer, Nobel Prize laureate
- April 13 - Paul Sorvino, American actor
- April 16 - Dusty Springfield, English singer (d. 1999)
- April 22 - Jason Miller, American actor (d. 2001)
- May 1 - Judy Collins, American singer and songwriter
- May 7 - Sidney Altman, Canadian-born chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- May 7 - Ruud Lubbers, Prime Minister of the Netherlands
- May 7 - Jimmy Ruffin, American singer
- May 7 - Marco St. John, American actor
- May 9 - Ralph Boston, American athlete
- May 12 - Ron Ziegler, Richard Nixon's White House Press Secretary (d. 2003)
- May 13 - Harvey Keitel, American actor
- May 19 - Livio Berruti, Italian athlete
- May 19 - Dick Scobee, astronaut (d. 1986)
- May 21 - Heinz Holliger, Swiss oboist and composer
- May 23 - Reinhard Hauff, German film director
- May 25 - Ian McKellen, English actor
- May 29 - Al Unser, American race car driver
- May 30 - Michael J. Pollard, American actor

June-August


- June 3 - Ian Hunter, English singer (Mott the Hoople)
- June 6 - Louis Andriessen, Dutch composer
- June 9 - Ileana Cotrubas, Romanian soprano
- June 9 - Dick Vitale, American basketball broadcaster
- June 11 - Jackie Stewart, Scottish race car driver
- July 5 - Booker Edgerson, American football player
- July 14 - George E. Slusser, American scholar and writer
- July 21 - John Negroponte, U.S. Director of National Intelligence
- July 26 - John Howard, twenty-fifth Prime Minister of Australia
- July 26 - Bob Lilly, American football player
- August 5 - Princess Irene of the Netherlands
- August 17 - Luther Allison, American musician (d. 1997)
- August 22 - Carl Yastrzemski, baseball player
- August 29 - Joel Schumacher, American film producer and director
- August 30 - John Peel, English disk jockey (d. 2004)

September-December


- September 6 - Brigid Berlin, American actor and artist
- September 8 - Carsten Keller, German field hockey player
- September 8 - Susumu Tonegawa, Japanese moleular biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- September 9 - Ron McDole, American football player
- September 16 - Breyten Breytenbach, South African writer and painter
- September 23 - Janusz Gajos, Polish actor
- September 30 - Len Cariou, Canadian actor and singer
- September 30 - Jean-Marie Lehn, French chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- October 1 - George Archer, American golfer (d. 2005)
- October 7 - John Hopcroft, American computer scientist
- October 7 - Harold Kroto, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- October 7 - Bill Snyder, American football coach
- October 14 - Ralph Lauren, American fashion designer
- October 24 - F. Murray Abraham, American actor
- October 27 - John Cleese, British actor
- October 30 - Leland H. Hartwell, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- October 31 - Ron Rifkin, American actor
- November 1 - Barbara Bosson, American actress
- November 21 - Mulayam Singh Yadav, Indian politician
- November 23 - Bill Bissett, Canadian poet
- November 27 - Laurent-Désiré Kabila, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (d. 2001)
- December 2 - Yael Dayan, Israeli writer and politician
- December 8 - James Galway, Irish flutist
- December 18 - Robert T. Bennett, American politican
- December 18 - Michael Moorcock, English writer
- December 18 - Harold E. Varmus, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

Deaths


- January 2 - Roman Dmowski, Polish politician (b. 1864)
- January 23 - Matthias Sindelar, Austrian footballer (b. 1903)
- January 24 - Maximilian Bircher-Benner, Swiss physician and nutritionist (b. 1867)
- January 28 - William Butler Yeats, Irish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)
- February 10 - Pope Pius XI (b. 1857)
- February 11 - Franz Schmidt, Austrian composer (b. 1874)
- February 12 - S. P. L. Sørensen, Danish chemist (b. 1868)
- February 22 - Antonio Machado, Spanish poet (b. 1875)
- March 2 - Howard Carter, British archaeologist (b. 1874)
- March 19 - Lloyd L. Gaines, American civil rights activist
- April 7 - Joseph Lyons, tenth Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1879)
- June 4 - Tommy Ladnier, American jazz trumpeter (b. 1900)
- June 19 - Grace Abbott, American social worker and activist (b. 1878)
- June 26 - Ford Maddox Ford, English writer (b. 1873)
- July 14 - Alfons Mucha, Czech painter and decorative artist (b. 1860)
- August 2 - Harvey Spencer Lewis, American mystic (b. 1883)
- August 11 - Jean Bugatti, German automobile designer (b. 1909)
- September 18 - Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, Polish writer and painter (b. 1885)
- September 23 - Sigmund Freud, Austrian psychiatrist (b. 1856)
- October 7 - Harvey Cushing, American neurosurgeon (b. 1869)
- November 12 - Norman Bethune, Canadian humanitarian (b. 1890)
- November 28 - James Naismith, Canadian inventor of basketball (b. 1861)
- December 22 - Ma Rainey, American singer (b. 1886)
- December 23 - Anthony Fokker, Dutch aircraft manufacturer (b. 1890)

Nobel Prizes


- Physics - Ernest Orlando Lawrence
- Chemistry - Adolf Friedrich Johann Butenandt, Leopold Ruzicka
- Physiology or Medicine - Gerhard Domagk
- Literature - Frans Eemil Sillanpää
- Peace - not awarded Category:1939 ko:1939년 ms:1939 ja:1939年 simple:1939 th:พ.ศ. 2482

January 18

January 18 is the 18th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 347 days remaining (348 in leap years)

Events


- 336 - Saint Mark elected Catholic Pope.
- 350 - General Magnentius deposes Roman Emperor Constans, proclaims himself Emperor.
- 474 - Leo II briefly becomes Byzantine emperor
- 532 - Nika riots in Constantinople fail.
- 1307 - German king Albrecht I makes his son Rudolf king of Bohemia.
- 1479 - Louis IX, the Rich, duke of Bayern (U of Ingolstadt), dies at 61.
- 1486 - King Henry VII of England marries Elizabeth, daughter of Edward IV.
- 1520 - King Christian II of Denmark and Norway defeats the Swedes at Lake Asunde.
- 1535 - Lima, Peru founded by Francisco Pizarro.
- 1670 - Henry Morgan captures Panama.
- 1701 - Frederick I becomes King of Prussia.
- 1778 - James Cook is the first known European to discover the Hawaiian Islands, which he names the "Sandwich Islands".
- 1861 - Georgia joins the Confederacy.
- 1871 - Wilhelm I of Germany becomes the first German Emperor.
- 1884 - Dr William Price attempts to cremate the body of his infant son, Jesus Christ Price, setting a legal precedent for cremation in the UK.
- 1886 - Modern field hockey is born with the formation of The Hockey Association in England.
- 1896 - The X-ray machine is exhibited for the first time.
- 1911 - Eugene B. Ely lands on the deck of the USS Pennsylvania stationed in San Francisco harbor, marking the first time an aircraft landed on a ship
- 1915 - Japan issues the "Twenty-One Demands" to China in a bid to increase its power in east Asia.
- 1916 - A 611 gram chondrite type meteorite struck a house near the village of Baxter in Stone County, Missouri.
- 1919 - World War I: The Paris Peace Conference opens in Versailles, France.
- 1919 - Bentley Motors is founded.
- 1939 - Louis Armstrong records Jeepers Creepers.
- 1943 - World War II: Soviet officials announce they have broken the Wehrmacht's siege of Leningrad.
- 1943 - Warsaw Ghetto Uprising: The first uprising of Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto.
- 1944 - The Metropolitan Opera House in New York City for the first time hosts a jazz concert; the performers are Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Artie Shaw, Roy Eldridge and Jack Teagarden.
- 1945 - Liberation of the Budapest ghetto by the Red Army
- 1958 - Willie O'Ree, the first African American National Hockey League player, make his NHL debut with the Boston Bruins.
- 1964 - Plans are revealed for the World Trade Center in New York City.
- 1964 - The Beatles appear on the Billboard magazine charts for the first time.
- 1967 - Albert DeSalvo, the "Boston Strangler," is convicted of numerous crimes and is sentenced to life in prison.
- 1975 - The Jeffersons debuts on CBS.
- 1977 - Scientists identify a previously unknown bacterium as the cause of the mysterious "legionnaire's disease."
- 1977 - Australia's worst rail disaster occurs at Granville, Sydney killing 83.
- 1978 - The European Court of Human Rights finds the United Kingdom government guilty of mistreating prisoners in Northern Ireland, but not guilty of torture.
- 1983 - The International Olympic Committee restores Jim Thorpe Olympic medals to his family.
- 1990 - Former preschool operators Raymond Buckey and his mother Peggy McMartin Buckey are acquitted in a Los Angeles, California court of 52 child molestation charges.
- 1990 - Washington, DC, Mayor Marion Barry is arrested for drug possession in an FBI sting.
- 1991 - Eastern Airlines shuts down after 62 years citing financial problems.
- 1993 - For the first time, Martin Luther King Jr. holiday is officially observed in all 50 United States states.
- 1995 - In southern France near Vallon-Pont-d'Arc a network of caves are discovered that contain paintings and engravings that are 17,000 to 20,000 years old.
- 1997 - In north west Rwanda, Hutu militia members kill 3 Spanish aid workers, 3 soldiers and seriously wound one other.
- 1997 - Boerge Ousland of Norway becomes the first person to cross Antarctica alone and unaided.
- 1998 - Lewinsky scandal: Matt Drudge breaks the Bill Clinton - Monica Lewinsky affair story on his website The Drudge Report.
- 2002 - A Canadian Pacific Railway train carrying anhydrous ammonia derails outside of Minot, North Dakota, killing one man and calling into question the maintenance of CP track and the policy of voice-tracking used by Clear Channel Communications.
- 2003 - Canberra firestorm, kills 4 and destroys 491 homes
- 2005 - A U.N. World Conference on Disaster Reduction in Kobe, Japan begins

Births


- 885 - Daigo, Emperor of Japan (d. 930)
- 1543 - Alfonso Ferrabosco (I), Italian composer (d. 1588)
- 1641 - François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois, French war minister (d. 1691)
- 1672 - Antoine Houdar de la Motte, French writer (d. 1731)
- 1688 - Lionel Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (d. 1765)
- 1689 - Montesquieu, French writer (d. 1755)
- 1779 - Peter Roget, British lexicographer (d. 1869)
- 1782 - Daniel Webster, American statesman (d. 1852)
- 1840 - Henry Austin Dobson, English poet (d. 1921)
- 1842 - Albert Alonzo Ames, Mayor of Minneapolis (d. 1911)
- 1848 - Ioan Slavici, Transylvanian writer (d. 1925)
- 1849 - Edmund Barton, first Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1920)
- 1850 - Seth Low, American politician (d. 1916)
- 1854 - Thomas Watson, American telephone pioneer (d. 1934)
- 1882 - A. A. Milne, English author (d. 1956)
- 1888 - Thomas Sopwith, British aviation pioneer (d. 1989)
- 1892 - Oliver Hardy, American comedian and actor (d. 1957)
- 1892 - Paul Rostock, German surgeon (d. 1956)
- 1904 - Cary Grant, English actor (d. 1986)
- 1905 - Joseph Bonanno, Italian-born gangster (d. 2002)
- 1908 - Jacob Bronowski, Polish-born mathematician, poet, and physicist (d. 1974)
- 1913 - Danny Kaye, American actor (d. 1987)
- 1914 - Arno Schmidt, German author (d. 1979)
- 1914 - William Stafford, American poet (d. 1993)
- 1922 - Bob Bell, American clown (d. 1997)
- 1931 - Chun Doo-hwan, President of South Korea
- 1932 - Robert Anton Wilson, American author
- 1933 - John Boorman, Irish film director
- 1934 - Raymond Briggs, English writer and illustrator
- 1937 - John Hume, Irish politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1998
- 1938 - Curt Flood, baseball player (d. 1997)
- 1941 - David Ruffin, American singer (d. 1991)
- 1941 - Doodles Weaver, Amnerican singer
- 1943 - Kay Granger, American politician
- 1944 - Paul Keating, twenty-fourth Prime Minister of Australia
- 1946 - Joseph Deiss, Swiss Federal Councilor
- 1947 - Takeshi Kitano, Japanese actor and director
- 1949 - Philippe Starck, French designer
- 1950 - Gilles Villeneuve, Canadian race car driver (d. 1982)
- 1952 - R. Stevie Moore, American singer, songwriter, and home recording pioneer
- 1953 - Brett Hudson, American actor
- 1955 - Kevin Costner, American actor
- 1956 - Sharon Mitchell, American actress
- 1961 - Mark Messier, Canadian hockey player
- 1962 - Jeff Yagher, American actor
- 1964 - Jane Horrocks, British actress
- 1965 - Dave Attell, American writer and comedian
- 1966 - David Bautista, American professional wrestler
- 1967 - Kim Perrot, American basketball player (d. 1999)
- 1969 - Jesse L. Martin, American actor
- 1970 - DJ Quik, American rapper
- 1971 - Jonathan Davis, American musician (KoЯn)
- 1971 - Christian Fittipaldi, Brazilian race car driver
- 1972 - Mike Lieberthal, baseball player
- 1973 - Crispian Mills, British musician (The Jeevas and Kula Shaker)
- 1974 - Michael Tunn, Australian television and radio
- 1979 - Paulo Ferreira, Portuguese footballer
- 1980 - Julius Peppers, American football player
- 1982 - Quinn Allman, American musician (The Used)
- 1982 - Bert McCracken, American vocalist (The Used)
- 1983 - Samantha Mumba, Irish singer and actress

Deaths


- 52 BC - Publius Clodius Pulcher (murdered)
- 474 - Leo I, Byzantine Emperor (b. 401)
- 1367 - King Peter I of Portugal (b. 1320)
- 1425 - Edmund de Mortimer, 5th Earl of March, English politician (b. 1391)
- 1471 - Emperor Go-Hanazono of Japan (b. 1419)
- 1547 - Pietro Bembo, Italian Catholic cardinal (b. 1470)
- 1583 - Margaret of Austria, regent of the Netherlands (b. 1522)
- 1677 - Jan van Riebeeck, Dutch merchant (b. 1619)
- 1862 - John Tyler, President of the United States (b. 1790)
- 1873 - Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, English author (b. 1803)
- 1927 - Empress Carlotta of Mexico (b. 1840)
- 1936 - Rudyard Kipling, British writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)
- 1940 - Kazimierz Tetmajer, Polish writer (b. 1865)
- 1952 - Curly Howard, American actor and comedian (b. 1903)
- 1954 - Sydney Greenstreet, English actor (b. 1879)
- 1966 - Kathleen Norris, American writer (b. 1880)
- 1967 - Goose Tatum, American basketball player
- 1969 - Hans Freyer, German sociologist (b. 1887)
- 1970 - David O. McKay, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1873)
- 1980 - Sir Cecil Beaton, English fashion designer (b. 1904)
- 1984 - Vassilis Tsitsanis, Greek singer and songwriter (b. 1915)
- 1985 - Wilfrid Brambell, Irish actor (b. 1912)
- 1995 - Adolf Butenandt, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1903)
- 1995 - Ron Luciano, baseball umpire (b. 1937)
- 1997 - Paul Tsongas, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts (b. 1941)
- 2000 - Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, Austrian architect (b. 1897)
- 2001 - Laurent-Désiré Kabila, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (b. 1939)
- 2001 - Al Waxman, Canadian actor (b. 1935)
- 2003 - Edward "The Sheik" Farhat, American professional wrestler (b. 1924)
- 2005 - Lamont Bentley, American actor (b. 1973)

Holidays and observances


- Christian ecumenism - Week of Prayer for Christian Unity begins

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/18 BBC: On This Day] ---- January 17 - January 19 - December 18 - February 18 — listing of all days ko:1월 18일 ms:18 Januari ja:1月18日 simple:January 18 th:18 มกราคม

List of Presidents of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

The current head of state in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly Zaïre, is the interim president, Joseph Kabila.

Affiliations

See also


- Congo
  - Heads of government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
  - Heads of state of the Congo Free State
  - Colonial heads of Congo
- Zaire
- Lists of office-holders Congo, Democratic Republic of the, Presidents Category:Politics of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Democratic Republic of the Congo

1997

1997 (MCMXCVII) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar.

Designations

International organizations, including the United Nations, designated 1997 as the International Year of the Reef.

Events

January


- January 5 - NBC's Today Show Bryant Gumbel signs off for the last time
- January 8 - Mister Rogers receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
- January 9 - Yachtsman Tony Bullimore found alive five days after his boat capsized in the Southern Ocean
- January 16 - Ennis Cosby, the only son of actor Bill Cosby, is killed by a gunman while changing a flat tire in Los Angeles, California
- January 18 - In north west Rwanda, Hutu militia members kill 3 Spanish aid workers, 3 soldiers and seriously wound one other.
- January 19 - Yasser Arafat returns to Hebron after more than 30 years and joins celebrations over the handover of the last Israeli-controlled West Bank city
- January 20 - Bill Clinton starts his second term as President of the United States
- January 21 - Newt Gingrich becomes the first leader of the United States House of Representatives to be internally disciplined for ethical misconduct
- January 22 - Madeleine Albright becomes the first female secretary of state after confirmation by the United States Senate.
- January 23 - Mir Aimal Kasi receives the death sentence for a 1993 assault rifle attack outside CIA headquarters that killed two and wounded three others.
- January 27 - It is revealed that French museums had nearly 2,000 pieces of art that were stolen by Nazis.
- January 28 - Clive Davis receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

February


- February 4
  - O. J. Simpson is found in civil court to be liable for the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. Simpson is ordered to pay $35,000,000 in damages to the families of the two victims
  - On their way to Lebanon two Israeli troop-transport helicopters collide killing 73
  - After at first contesting the results, Serbian President Slobodan Milošević recognizes opposition victories in the November 1996 elections
- February 5
  - The so-called "Big Three" banks in Switzerland announce the creation of a $71 million fund to aid Holocaust survivors and their families
  - Morgan Stanley and Dean Witter investment banks announce a $10 billion merger.
- February 6 - British Diane Blood wins the right to use the sperm of her dead husband to have a child
- February 9 - The Simpsons surpasses The Flintstones as the longest-running prime-time animated series.
- February 10 - The United States Army suspends Sgt. Major Gene McKinney, its top-ranking enlisted soldier, after hearing allegations of sexual misconduct
- February 10 - Australian newspapers publish stories that the government of Papua New Guinea has brought mercenaries onto Bougainville - the Sandline affair goes public
- February 11 - Bill Parcells becomes head coach of New York Jets.
- February 13
  - Tune-up and repair work on the Hubble Space Telescope is started by astronauts from the Space Shuttle Discovery
  - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 7,000 for the first time gaining 60.81 to 7,022.44.
- February 19 - The last of the People's Republic of China's major revolutionaries, Deng Xiaoping dies at 92, this was followed by weeks of mourning for the leader.
- February 22 - In Roslin, Scotland, scientists announce that an adult sheep named Dolly had been successfully cloned and was born in July 1996.
- February 23 - A large fire occurred in the Russian Space station, Mir.

March


- March 1 - Osaka Dome opens in Chiyozaki, Nishi-ku, Osaka, Japan.
- March 4 - United States President Bill Clinton bars federal funding for any research on human cloning.
- March 6 - Picasso's Tete de Femme is stolen from a London gallery (it was recovered a week later).
- March 6 - In Sri Lanka, Tamil Tigers overrun a military base and kill more than 200
- March 9 - Rap legend Notorious B.I.G. is murdered in Los Angeles, just six months after the killing of Tupac Shakur.
- March 10 - The main office of Fuji TV moves from Kawadacho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan to Odaiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
- March 11 - An explosion at a nuclear waste reprocessing plant in Japan exposes 35 workers to low-level radioactive contamination in the worst nuclear accident in Japan's history.
- March 12 - Mikail Markhasev is arrested in Los Angeles, California and charged with shooting Bill Cosby's 27-year-old son, Ennis Cosby.
- March 13 - India's Missionaries of Charity chooses Sister Nirmala to succeed Mother Teresa as its leader.
- March 16 - Sandline affair - On Bougainville, soldiers of commander Jerry Singirok arrest Tim Spicer and his mercenaries of the Sandline International
- March 18 - The tail of a Russian An-24 charter plane breaks off while en-route to Turkey causing the plane to crash killing all 50 on board and later the grounding of all An-24s.
- March 21 - In Zaire, Etienne Tshiksekedi is appointed new prime minister - he ejects supporters of Mobutu Sese Seko from his cabinet
- March 21 - Mercenaries of Sandline International withdraw from Papua New Guinea
- March 22 - 14 year, 10 month old Tara Lipinski becomes the youngest champion of the women's world figure skating competition.
- March 24 - Roberto Sanchez Vilella, the second Democratically Elected Governor of Puerto Rico, dies at age 84.
- March 26
  - Thirty-nine bodies found in Heaven's Gate cult suicide.
  - Survey of a claimed gold site of Bre-X Minerals in Indonesia reveals it is worthless; Bre-X complains and accuses Internet rumours.
- March 26 - Julius Chan resigns as a prime minister of Papua New Guinea - the Sandline affair ends.
- March 30 - The UK's fifth terrestrial television channel, Channel Five begins broadcasting at 6pm

April


- April 3 - Thalit massacre begins in Algeria; all but 1 of the 53 inhabitants of Thalit are killed by guerrillas.
- April 11 - Fire damages Turin Cathedral in Italy
- April 14
  - Fire breaks out in a pilgrim camp on the Plain of Mena, seven miles form Mecca - 343 dead
  - Former SS captain Erich Priebke is retried. On July 22 he is sentenced for five years in prison
- April 16 - Houston, Texas socialite Doris McGowen Beck Angleton is murdered in her River Oaks home. Roger Nicholas Angleton admits to the crime in the suicide note. Despite being found innocent of the crime by a Texas jury, he later gets arrested by the Department of Justice for similar charges.
- April 18 - The Red River of the North breaks through dikes and floods Grand Forks, North Dakota and East Grand Forks, Minnesota, causing 2 billion USD in damage.
- April 21 - First space burial, carrying the remains of 24 people on a Pegasus rocket into earth orbit.
- April 22 - Haouch Khemisti massacre in Algeria; 93 villagers killed.
- April 22 - A 126-day hostage crisis at the residence of the Japanese ambassador in Lima, Peru ends after government commandos storm and capture the building rescuing 71 hostages. One hostage dies of a heart attack, two soldiers are killed from rebel fire and all 14 Tupac Amaru rebels are slain
- April 22 - France supports new transitional government for Zaire, withdrawing its support of Zaire
- April 22 - In Lima, Peru, after four-month standoff, government troops storm the Japanese ambassador's residence - they release 71 hostages and kill one hostage and 14 captors
- April 23 - Omaria massacre in Algeria; 42 villagers killed.
- April 27 - Andrew Cunanan murders Jerffrey Trail, beginning a murder spree that will last until July and terminate with the murder of fashion designer Gianni Versace.
- April 31 - Mobutu and Laurent Kabila meet aboard South African warship Outenigus with Nelson Mandela and United Nations envoy Mohammad Sahnoun. They do not reach agreement

May

Mohammad Sahnoun on May 2, 1997]]
- May 1
  - Tasmania becomes the last state in Australia to decriminalize homosexuality
  - The UK's Labour Party end 18 years of Conservative rule in the 1997 UK general election
  - HM Prison Pentridge in Melbourne, Australia is officially closed
- May 2 - Tony Blair appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- May 10 - An earthquake near Ardekul in northeastern Iran kills at least 2,400
- May 11 - IBM's Deep Blue defeated Garry Kasparov in the last game of the rematch, the first time a computer beat a chess World champion in a match.
- May 12
  - Barnes and Noble Inc. filed a lawsuit against Amazon.com, a day before Amazon launched its initial public offering.
  - The Russian-Chechen Peace Treaty signed.
- May 14 - The Star Alliance is formed between Air Canada, Lufthansa, SAS, Thai Airways International and United Airlines
- May 14 - Laurent Kabila does not attend a second meeting with Mobutu
- May 16- Mobutu Sese Seko leaves Kinshasa (eventually settles in Morocco)
- May 16 - US President Bill Clinton issues a formal apology to the surviving victims of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study and their families, 25 years after the 40 year "study" was exposed by reporter Jean Heller.
- May 17 - Troops of Laurent Kabila march into Kinshasa
- May 22 - Women in the military: Kelly Flinn, US Air Force's first female bomber pilot certified for combat, accepts a general discharge in order to avoid a court martial
- May 25
  - Strom Thurmond becomes the longest serving member in the history of the United States Senate (41 years and 10 months)
  - A military coup in Sierra Leone replaces President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah with Major Johnny Paul Koromah.
- May 27 - A strong tornado hits in Jarrell, Texas killing 27 people. It was the second deadliest tornado of the 1990s (see Jarrell Tornado).
- May 31 - Official opening of the Confederation Bridge, the longest bridge spanning ice covered waters.

June


- June - Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraqi military escorts on board an UNSCOM helicopter try to physically prevent the UNSCOM pilot from flying the helicopter in the direction of its planned destination, threatening the safety of the aircraft and their crews.
- June 2 - Timothy McVeigh is convicted on 15 counts of murder and conspiracy for his role in the 1995 terrorist bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
- June 5 - Kim Hyun Chul, son of Kim Young Sam, president of South Korea, is charged with bribery and corruption related to the awarding of government contracts
- June 6 - Melissa Drexler kills her newborn baby in a toilet
- June 7 - A computer user known as "_eci" published his Microsoft C source code on a Windows 95 and Windows NT exploit, which would later become WinNuke. The source code gets wide distribution across the internet, and Microsoft is forced to release a security patch.
- June 7 - The Detroit Red Wings sweep the Philadelphia Flyers in 4 games in the 1997 Stanley Cup Finals.
- June 10 - Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot orders the killing of his defense chief Son Sen and 11 of Sen's family members before Pol Pot flees his northern stronghold (the news did not reach outside Cambodia for three days)
- June 11 - The British House of Commons votes for a total ban on handguns
- June 12 - The United States Department of the Treasury unveils a new $50 bill meant to be more counterfeit-resistant
- June 13 - A jury sentences Timothy McVeigh to the death penalty for his part in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
- June 16 - Dairat Labguer massacre in Algeria; some 50 people killed.
- June 19 - Fast food chain McDonald's won a partial victory in its libel trial, known as the McLibel case, against two environmental campaigners. The judge decided it was true that McDonald's targeted its advertising at children, who pestered their parents into visiting company's restaurants.
- June 25 - An unmanned Progress spacecraft collided with the Russian Space station, Mir.

July

Mir.]]
- July 1 - The United Kingdom hands sovereignty of Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China
- July 4 - NASA's Pathfinder space probe lands on the surface of Mars.
- July 5 - In Cambodia, Hun Sen of the Cambodian People's Party overthrows Norodom Ranariddh in a coup
- July 8 - Mayo Clinic researchers warn that the dieting-drug "fen-phen" can cause severe heart and lung damage
- July 8 - NATO invites the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland to join the alliance in 1999
- July 10 - In London, scientists report their DNA analysis findings from a Neanderthal skeleton which support the out of Africa theory of human evolution placing an "African Eve" at 100,000 to 200,000 years ago
- July 13 - The remains of Che Guevara are returned to Cuba for burial alongside some of his other comrades
- July 15 - Serial killer Andrew Phillip Cunanan shoots fashion designer Gianni Versace to death outside Versace's Miami, Florida residence.
- July 16 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average gains 63.17 to close at 8,038.88. It is the Dow's first close above 8,000. The Dow has doubled its value in 30 months.
- July 17 - The F.W. Woolworth Company closes after 117 years in business
- July 21 - The fully restored USS Constitution (aka "Old Ironsides") celebrates her 200th birthday by setting sail for the first time in 116 years
- July 22 - The second Blue Water Bridge opens between Port Huron, Michigan and Sarnia, Ontario
- July 23 - Digital Equipment Corporation files antitrust charges against chipmaker Intel
- July 25 - K.R. Narayanan is sworn-in as India's 10th president and the first member of the Dalits caste to hold this office.
- July 27 - Si Zerrouk massacre in Algeria; about 50 people killed.

August


- August 1 - Boeing and McDonnell Douglas complete merger.
- August 2 - Australian ski instructor Stuart Diver is rescued as the sole survivor from the Thredbo landslide in New South Wales, Australia, in which 18 lives were lost.
- August 3 - Oued El-Had and Mezouara massacre in Algeria; 40-76 villagers killed.
- August 4
  - 185,000 Teamsters union United Parcel Service drivers walk off the job.
  - The first chapter of the manga One Piece is printed in Japan's Shonen Jump
- August 6 - Microsoft buys a $150 million share of financially troubled Apple Computer.
- August 13 - The animated American TV series South Park is aired.
- August 13 - In Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Cruzeiro wins Sporting Cristal of Peru by 1-0 and are Copa Libertadores de América champions by second time.
- August 20 - Souhane massacre in Algeria; over 60 people killed, 15 kidnapped.
- August 26 - Beni-Ali massacre in Algeria; 60-100 people killed.
- August 26 - The Independent International Commission on Decommissioning set up in Northern Ireland, as part of the peace process.
- August 29 - Rais massacre in Algeria; over 98 (and possibly up to 400) people killed.
- August 29 - Christopher Maier of Lexington, Kentucky is bludgeoned to death by serial killer Angel Maturino Resendiz. Angel also rapes and beats Christopher's girlfriend, who survives. This is the first of a string of murders that Angel commits.
- August 31 - Diana, Princess of Wales is taken to a hospital after a car crash in the Pont de l'Alma road tunnel in Paris. She is pronounced dead at 4:00 the next morning.

September

Paris from Kensington Palace.]]
- September 3 - Arizona Governor Fife Symington is convicted for various crimes tied to his real estate business, effectively forcing him out of office.
- September 4 - In Lorain, Ohio, the last Ford Thunderbird for three years rolls off the assembly line.
- September 5
  - Beni-Messous massacre in Algeria; over 87 killed.
  - The IOC picks Athens to be the host city for the 2004 Summer Olympics
  - Death of