Today is Friday, September 18, the 261st day of 2015. There are 104 days left in the year.

On this date:

In A.D. 14, the Roman Senate officially confirmed
Tiberius as the second emperor of the Roman Empire,
succeeding the late Augustus.
In 1759, the French formally surrendered Quebec to
the British.
In 1810, Chile made its initial declaration of independence from Spain with the forming of a national junta.
In 1927, the Columbia Phonograph Broadcasting
System (later CBS) made its on-air debut with a basic network of 16 radio stations.
In 1931, an explosion in the Chinese city of Mukden
damaged a section of Japanese-owned railway track;
Japan, blaming Chinese nationalists, invaded Manchuria
the next day.
In 1940, Harper and Brothers published “You Can’t
Go Home Again” by Thomas Wolfe, two years after the
author’s death.
In 1961, United Nations Secretary-General Dag
Hammarskjold was killed in a plane crash in northern
Rhodesia.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On September 18, 1793, President George Washington laid the cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol.

Ten years ago

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Tropical Storm Rita formed southeast of the Florida Keys. Millions of Afghans defied a Taliban boycott call and militant attacks to vote for a new parliament. German conservative challenger Angela Merkel’s bloc won the most votes in elections, but fell short of a clear mandate to govern. “Everybody Loves Raymond” won the Emmy for best comedy in its final season; first-year hit “Lost” was named best drama.

Five years ago

Despite Taliban rocket strikes and bombings, Afghans voted for a new parliament in the first election since a fraud-marred ballot cast doubt on the legitimacy of the embattled government. During his visit to Britain, Pope Benedict XVI apologized to five people who’d been molested by priests as children in his latest effort to defuse the sex abuse crisis shaking the Roman Catholic Church.

One year ago

In a show of solidarity with Ukraine, President Barack Obama welcomed the new president of the embattled former Soviet republic, Petro Poroshenko, to the White House. Congress cleared the way for the U.S. military to train and equip Syrian rebels for a war against Islamic Group militants.

— By The Associated Press


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