An arson attack at the studio of Kyoto Animation in Japan led to the deaths of 36 people.
18 July 218
A Saturday in history
Weekday
Saturday
Season
Summer (N. Hemisphere)
Century
3rd century
Records
362
2019
2014The conviction of former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who had been found guilty of paying for an underage prostitute, was overturned on appeal.
2012A suicide bomber attacked an Israeli tour bus at Burgas Airport, Bulgaria, resulting in the military branch of Hezbollah being designated a terrorist organization by the European Union.
1995Selena's album Dreaming of You, instrumental in popularizing Tejano music, was posthumously released.
- 1989
American actress Rebecca Schaeffer was shot and killed by Robert John Bardo, eventually prompting the passage of anti-stalking laws in California.
1984Parts of the dismembered body of Swedish prostitute Catrine da Costa were found in Stockholm.
- 1984
A gunman massacred 21 people and injured 15 others at a McDonald's restaurant in the district of San Ysidro of San Diego, California.
1976At the Olympic Games in Montreal, Nadia Comăneci (pictured) became the first gymnast to score a perfect 10 for her routine on the uneven bars.
- 1966
Angered by racism and poverty, African American residents of the Hough neighborhood of Cleveland began to riot for six days.
1949Francisco Javier Arana, the chief of the Guatemalan armed forces, was killed in a shootout with supporters of President Juan José Arévalo.
1936Nationalist rebels attempted a coup against the Second Spanish Republic, sparking the Spanish Civil War.
1899Newsboys from Long Island City turned over a distribution wagon for the New York Journal, marking the start of the Newsboys' strike of 1899.
1863American Civil War: Led by Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, one of the first African-American military units in the Union Army, spearheaded an assault (pictured) on Fort Wagner, South Carolina.
1841Pedro II, the last emperor of Brazil, was crowned at the Old Cathedral of Rio de Janeiro.
1806An explosion at a gunpowder magazine in Birgu, Malta, killed an estimated 200 people.
1723Johann Sebastian Bach directed the first performance of his cantata Erforsche mich, Gott, und erfahre mein Herz in Leipzig.
1290King Edward I issued an edict to expel all Jews from England.
Photo archive
24 historic images from this day — tap to open the gallery.
What was life like?
Prices, jobs, food, music and everyday routine — the world as it felt to live in.
Sources & fact check
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