Today in History for April 18:
In 1506, the foundation stone was laid during a celebration overseen by Pope Julius II to begin construction of the new St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City.
In 1521, at the Diet of Worms, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V condemned Martin Luther, a year after the latter had been excommunicated by Pope Leo X. Luther, a proud man, refused to repent despite the severe action taken against him.
In 1775, Paul Revere began his famous ride from Charlestown to Lexington, Mass., warning American colonists that the British were coming.
In 1793, the first newspaper in Upper Canada -- the "Upper Canada Gazette" -- was published.
In 1874, the remains of British missionary-explorer David Livingstone were interred in Westminster Abbey in London.
In 1906, a devastating earthquake measuring an estimated 8.3 on the Richter scale struck San Francisco. The quake and ensuing fires killed an estimated 4,000 people and caused $500 million in damage.
In 1923, the first game was played at New York's Yankee Stadium. Babe Ruth homered as the Yankees defeated the Boston Red Sox 4-1. The stadium became known as "The House That Ruth Built." In 2009, the Yankees unveiled the new Yankee Stadium at a cost of US$1.5 billion. Before the Yankees batted in the bottom of the first, they placed Ruth's bat across home plate.
In 1932, the Ford Model B, last of the original four-cylinder cars, made its debut.
In 1934, the first self-service laundromat was opened in Fort Worth, Texas. The washateria, as it was called, had four electric washing machines, which were rented by the hour.
In 1942, the Toronto Maple Leafs completed the greatest comeback ever in a Stanley Cup final. They downed the Detroit Red Wings 3-1 to win the NHL title in seven games after being down 3-0 in the series.
In 1945, Canadian forces completed the liberation of northeastern Holland from the Nazis.
In 1946, Jackie Robinson made his pro baseball debut for the Montreal Royals in an International League game in Jersey City, N.J. He had four hits, including a homer, in a 14-1 Montreal victory. Robinson broke the I.L.'s colour barrier, as he did the next season in the major leagues with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
In 1949, Ireland became a republic.
In 1954, Gamal Abdul Nassar became premier of Egypt.
In 1955, Nobel Prize-winning scientist Albert Einstein died at age 76 in Princeton, N.J.
In 1956, actress Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier of Monaco in a civil ceremony in Monte Carlo. A church wedding came the next day.
In 1968, London Bridge was sold for one million pounds to American developer Robert McCullough, who moved it to Arizona.
In 1978, the U.S. Senate approved the "Panama Canal Treaty," providing for the complete turnover of control of the waterway to Panama on the last day of 1999.
In 1980, Zimbabwe Rhodesia became the independent nation of Zimbabwe. The British flag was lowered during a ceremony in Salisbury, now Harare.
In 1983, a car bomb demolished the U.S. embassy in Beirut, killing 63 people.
In 1988, an Israeli court convicted retired American autoworker John Demjanjuk of Nazi war crimes. Witnesses identified him as the sadistic Treblinka death camp guard "Ivan the Terrible." His conviction and death sentence were overturned in 1993 and he returned to Ohio. U.S. immigration officials later ordered his deportation to Germany to face similar charges. (In May 2011, he was found guilty and sentenced to five years in prison. He was released pending appeal but died on March 17, 2012.)
In 1993, Pope John Paul II beatified a fellow Pole, Blessed Sister Maria Faustina Kowalska, the Apostle of Divine Mercy. He canonized her seven years later on April 28.
In 1994, Audrey McLaughlin announced her resignation as federal NDP leader.
In 1999, Wayne Gretzky played the final game of his 20-year career. At the time, he played for the New York Rangers. Gretzky holds or shares 61 NHL records and his name is engraved four times on the Stanley Cup. He accumulated 894 goals, 1,963 assists and 2,857 points, all NHL records. His legacy was so immense that NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announced the league would retire Gretzky's number 99.
In 2008, Benoit Corbeil, director of federal Liberal party's Quebec wing from 1999 to 2001, was arrested by the RCMP on fraud charges related to the sponsorship scandal. In June 2009, he pleaded guilty to fraud and influence peddling charges and was later sentenced to 15 months in a Quebec jail and was also fined $20,000 and ordered to pay back $117,000 he swindled from the Liberal party.
In 2008, the federal government classified the controversial chemical bisphenol A as a dangerous substance, which allowed Health Canada to take steps to ban the use of BPA in baby bottles. Canada became the first country in the world to limit exposure to the controversial chemical.
In 2011, the right-wing Sun News Network, dubbed "Fox News North" by critics, launched in Canada with the promise of a "controversially Canadian" new voice. (It went off the air on Friday, Nov. 13, 2015, after negotiations to sell the troubled television channel were unsuccessful.)
In 2012, Dick Clark, the ever-youthful television host and tireless entrepreneur who helped bring rock 'n' roll into the mainstream on "American Bandstand," died of a massive heart attack. He was 82.
In 2014, an avalanche swept down a climbing route on Mount Everest, killing 16 Sherpa guides in the deadliest disaster on the world's highest peak.
In 2015, more than 800 people drowned when a boat packed with migrants trying to reach Europe sank near the Italian island of Lampedusa, making it the worst such incident ever in the Mediterranean.
In 2018, pro wrestling icon Bruno Sammartino, the ultimate good guy and one of its longest-reigning champions, died at age 82.
In 2019, a redacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russia's 2016 U.S. election interference was released to Congress. It said the team was dissatisfied with written responses from President Donald Trump. In Mueller's report prosecutors called Trump's answers "inadequate." They considered issuing a subpoena for Trump, but decided against it after weighing the likelihood of a long legal battle. In the hours before its publication, Attorney General William Barr outlined the findings of the report and repeated Trump's favoured phrase, "No collusion." Trump tweeted moments after Barr concluded, with an image inspired by the HBO show "Game of Thrones" telling Democrats -- "Game Over."
In 2019, a Montreal man convicted of terrorism for nearly killing an airport police officer in Michigan was sentenced to life in prison. U.S. prosecutors said Amor Ftouhi drove 1,600 kilometres from Montreal to the airport in Flint, Mich., where he yelled "God is great" in Arabic and repeatedly stabbed Lt. Jeff Neville on June 21, 2017.
In 2019, Parks Canada said three mountaineers were presumed dead after an avalanche in Alberta's Banff National Park. The federal agency said the three men were attempting to climb the east face of Howse Peak on the Icefields Parkway.
In 2020, Allan Gotlieb, a long-time public servant who was Canada's ambassador to the United States during the Regan administration, died at 92. A death notice said Gotlieb died of cancer and Parkinson's disease at his home in Toronto.
In 2022, Switzerland joined the international community in imposing tough sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. But President Ignazio Cassis said that didn't mean his country had abandoned its traditional neutrality. Cassis said Switzerland strongly denounces war and he urged Russia to immediately halt its invasion.
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The Canadian Press