On This Day Archive for October 2008

October 31, 1999: Egypt Air Flight 990 crashes off of Nantucket raising questions on airline safety

for October 31, 2008

from the November 1, 1999 edition
EgyptAir crash: Search for its lessons begins
NEW YORK
The scene is eerily familiar: grim officials beginning the task of finding out why a plane-full of people has dropped into the ocean.
This time it’s a foreign carrier, an EgyptAir Boeing 767 with 214 people on their way from New York’s John F. [...]

Oct. 30, 1938: Orson Welles makes his famous radio broadcast of “War of the Worlds” causing widespread panic

for October 30, 2008

from the October 31, 1939 edition
Listeners Protest Panic
Caused by Radio Program

NEW YORK-Hundreds of letters of protest were coming in to the Columbia Broadcasting System’s headquarters here today against the weird dramatization of H.G.Wells’ “War of the Worlds” over a nation-wide hookup of that system last night, when a wave of hysteria swept the continent from [...]

October 29, 1929: “Black Tuesday”; the market crashes for the third time in October; the Great Depression brews

for October 29, 2008

from the October 30, 1929 edition
EXCHANGE DARK
FOR TWO DAYS
TO CATCH UP
Not to Open Till Noon

Thursday-Closed Friday
and Saturday
CLERICAL FORCES ARE FAR BEHIND
Rally Comes at Opening-
Strong Buying Offers Support-
Worst Over
NEW YORK-Taking cognizance of the unusual stock market situation, in which trading on the New York Stock Exchange has reached a volume beyond the power of the [...]

Oct. 28, 1929: ‘Black Monday,’ one of the three major stock market collapses in the 1929 financial crash

for October 28, 2008

from the October 29, 1929 issue of The Christian Science Monitor
MARKET CHECKS FRESH DROP TO DEEPER DEPTHS
Buying Support Comes at Time When Stocks Were Being Tossed Away
SOLID INVESTMENTS DECLINE WITH REST
Telephone at 207 Shows Trend
- Bankers Believe Rally Means Bottom Reached
In a day replete with exciting changes in the stock market, following one of the [...]

Oct. 27, 1986: “Big Bang” of financial market deregulation takes effect in Britain

for October 27, 2008

from the September 25, 1986 edition
As global bourse barriers come down, rules on
abuse go up

As financial markets go global, so do people who manipulate them — and so, now, do the regulators. In a step aimed at policing international stock and commodity trading, Britain and the United States this week began trading information aimed at [...]

October 26, 1947: The British occupation of Iraq ends after six years; though two RAF bases are retained.

for October 26, 2008

From the October 27, 1947 issue of The Christian Science Monitor
The World’s Day
Iraq: British Troop Withdrawal ‘Complete’
Withdrawal of British troops from Iraq, aside from a small military liquidation staff, is complete, the British Army’s Middle Eastern Headquarters announced in Cairo.

October 26, 2002: Moscow theatre seige ends; Russia’s policy on terrorism questioned

for October 26, 2008

from the October 25, 2002 edition

Russian officials accompany a woman and three girls after they were released yesterday from a theater that has been taken over by Chechen rebels. The Rebels are demanding that Russian troops withdraw from Chechnya. SERGEI KARPUKHIN/REUTERS
Hostage crisis refuels Chechnya debate
The theater standoff may move Russia closer to a US [...]

Oct. 25, 2001: Microsoft introduces Windows XP

for October 25, 2008

from the October 25, 2001 edition
Microsoft on a mission
The cool features of the new Windows XP system come at a price: your freedom online.
So this is the day that Bill Gates, along with many Microsoft fans (and stockholders), has been eagerly awaiting. Today, Oct. 25, Microsoft officially offers copies of its new operating system, Windows [...]

Oct. 24, 1998: NASA’s Deep Space 1 sets out on its year-long mission of exploration

for October 24, 2008

from the October 23, 1998 edition
Spacecraft Bridges Gap Between Science Fiction and Reality
BOSTON—
With the launch this weekend of a spacecraft brimming with potentially revolutionary devices, NASA is taking its first steps into a technological realm previously open only to science fiction.
Deep Space 1, a tiny craft powered by an new type of engine conceived by [...]

October 23, 1929: Worry spreads throughout Wall Street as the New York Stock Exchange situation worsens

for October 23, 2008

from the October 24, 1929 edition
Stock Decline Goes On: Heavy Losses Listed

Prices Break 15 to 30 Points in Selling Wave-
Banking Support Absent
In what is probably the worst demoralized New York stock market in recent years, apparently exceeding in intensity of liquidation the savage break of March 26, when prices tobogganed today in a precipitous [...]