July 26th Major News Events

1945 Great Britain Clement Attlee

1945 : Winston Churchill's Conservative party loses the general election to the Labour Party and Clement Attlee, the Labour leader, is sworn in as the new British leader, Attlee had campaigned on an enlarged system of social services would be created as outlined in the wartime Beveridge Report.

1952 Argentina Eva Peron

1952 : Eva Peron, died today of a prolonged illness she was known as Evita (Little Eva) to the people of Argentina.

1963 Yugoslavia Earthquake Strikes Skopje

1963 : Skopje, Yugoslavia's 4th largest city was struck by an earthquake which reduced the city to ruins. It is estimated many thousands died as 80% of the city was left in ruins.

1978 South America Political Turmoil

1978 : The continuing turmoil in South American politics have many in the west concerned for democracy in the area, in just a short time we have seen A coup in Bolivia. General Augusto Pinochet Junta in Chile ousting the only liberal member left. In Paraguay the opposition party leader was snatched from the street and jailed after speaking out against the corruption of the ruling party.

1989 Student Indicted For Creating Computer Virus

1989 : Robert Tappan Morris a graduate student from Cornell University was indicted on a felony charge for releasing a computer virus that disrupted thousands of computers throughout the United States in the fall of 1988.

1996 U.S.A. IBM

1996 : IBM is given a contract by the Department of Energy to build the worlds most powerful custom supercomputer.

1999 U.S.A. Cary Stayner Arrested

1999 : A hotel handyman who worked at the Cedar Lodge guest house in Yosemite National Park has been arrested on suspicion of killing four women Carole Sund, Silvina Pelosso, Julie Sund and Joie Armstrong. He was found guilty for the murders of four women in Yosemite, California, and in 2002 sentenced to death. He is currently on death row at San Quentin Penitentiary in California.

2006 Power Restores in Monrovia After 15 Years

2006 : This day marks the return of power to the Liberian capital of Monrovia after fifteen years without. The President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf activated the streetlights, powered by a generator, for the first time after a fourteen-year civil war in the country.

2006 U.S.A. Andrea Yates

2006 : An earlier trial verdict of the murder of 5 children by their mother (Andrea Yates) which sentenced her to life imprisonment has been overturned, and in the latest verdict she has been cleared by reason of insanity of murdering her five children by drowning them in the bath. She will now be sent to a state mental hospital until she is considered sane enough for release.

2008 U.S.A. California Bans Transfats

2008 : California became the first state to pass a law banning the use of trans fats from being used by restaurants and retailers. The ban was set to start on January 1st, 2010. Trans fats had been linked to heart disease, and researchers stated that this ban could reduce up to 19% of heart attack deaths a year.

2009 India 1st Nuclear Submarine

2009 : India became one of six countries to launch a nuclear submarine. India built the ship with Russian help and the move is thought to have been designed to send a message to China, a country with an increasing naval presence near India.

2012 Austrian Artist Franz West Dies

2012 : Franz West, a contemporary Austrian artist, died at the age of sixty-five in Vienna after suffering from a long illness. West rose to prominence in the middle of the Sixties as a part of the Actionism movement. He also was known for making large aluminum sculptures, collages and brightly upholstered furniture.

2013 French Can Insult President

2013 : The French parliament lifted a ban on insulting the president that had been in place since 1881. It had be illegal to insult the French president and those who risked it could be fined, but the government lifted the ban after the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the law violated the freedom of expression.