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HomePage 7: Historical Events In October - 18
Monday, 16 February 2026
1973 Congress authorizes bi-centennial quarter, half-dollar and dollar coin. 
1973 Crane Wilbur, dir/writer (Bat, Canon City, Yellow Cargo), dies at 86
1975 Al Lettieri, actor (Beautiful but Deadly, Don is Dead), dies at 47.
1977 Rolph Grant, cricketer (West Indian capt on 1939 England tour), dies.
1978 Frank Woolley, cricketer (58969 1st-class runs), dies.
1979 "Beatlemania" opens in London
1982 Bess Truman, 1st lady (1945-53), dies in Independence, Mo at 97.
1983 Vijay Manjrekar, cricketer (55 Tests for India), dies
1984 Florence Rinard, TV panelist (20 Questions), dies at 82
1985 Benjamin Moloisi, South African poet/Anc'er, hanged at 30.
1987 Theodore Brameld, author (Use of Explosive Ideas), dies at 83
1988 Dimitri Frenkel Frank, writer/director (Hadimassa), dies at 60.
1989 US 62nd manned space mission (Atlantis 5) launches into orbit.
1993 Dionisio Herrero, Spanish air force general, murdered at 63.
1994 Lee Allen, saxophonist, dies at 68
2005 In this year, The UN tightens the rules for its staff, following several claims of financial impropriety and sexual abuse
2006 In this year, Microsoft publicly releases Windows Internet Explorer 7.
2007 After 8 years in exile, Benazir Bhutto returns to her homeland Pakistan. The same night, suicide attackers blow themselves up near Bhutto's convoy, killing 136 in the cheering crowd, including 20 police officers. Bhutto escaped uninjured.
2011 Israel and the Palestinian militant organization Hamas begin a major prisoner swap, in which the captured Israeli Army soldier Gilad Shalit is released by Hamas in exchange for 1027 Palestinian and Israeli-Arab prisoners held in Israel, including 280 prisoners serving life sentences for planning and perpetrating terror attacks
2011 Gilad Shalit is released
2012 Syrian military airstrikes kill 40 people in Maaret al-Numan
2013 Saudi Arabia is recorded as becoming the inaugural country to turn down a seat on the UN Security Council in protest over Syria
2017 US congresswoman Frederica Wilson says President Donald Trump said to bereaved army family of Sgt. La David Johnson "He knew what he was signing up for, but I guess it hurts anyway"
2017 19th Chinese Communist Party congress opens in Beijing with President Xi Jinping delivering 3hr 23min speech heralding “new eraâ€
2019 NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Christina Koch conduct the inaugural all-female spacewalk outside of the International Space Station
2019 Riots in Chilean capital city Santiago erupt as civil unrest escalated as a reaction to a series of economic measures and Government's declarations labeled as abuse by protesters.
2021 Marvel film "Eternals" directed by Chloé Zhao, starring an ensemble cast including Gemma Chan, Richard Madden and Angelina Jolie premieres in Los Angeles
2023 Climate activist Greta Thunberg arrested at a demonstration outside an oil conference in London
2025 27th and 28th US military strikes in international waters of the eastern Pacific Ocean sink two suspected drug smuggling vessels and kill five, bringing total deaths in the program to over 100.
