1590 - Governor of Roanoke Island colony, John White, returns from England to find no trace of the colonists he had left there 3 years earlier [or Aug 18, 1591]
1903 - Joe Pulitzer donates $1 million to Columbia University & begins the Pulitzer Prizes in America
1945 - Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta declare Indonesia (Dutch East Indies) independent from the Netherlands
1945 - Korea is divided into North and South Korea along the 38th parallel
1945 – Sukarno declared Indonesia’s independence from the Netherlands, and, after the Dutch transferred sovereignty four years later, he served as the country’s first president (1949–67).
1947 - The Radcliffe Line, the border between Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan is revealed
1998 - Monica Lewinsky scandal: US President Bill Clinton admits in taped testimony he had an “improper physical relationship” with the intern and on the same day admits before the nation he “misled people” about the relationship
1999 – A 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck near İzmit, Turkey, killing more than 17,000 people and leaving some 500,000 homeless.
Births & Deaths: 1943 – Robert De Niro, an American actor known for his uncompromising portrayals of violent and abrasive characters, was born.
Film & TV: 1979 - Monty Python’s “Life of Brian” directed by Terry Jones, starring Graham Chapman & John Cleese premieres
Music: 1876 - Richard Wagner’s opera “Götterdämmerung” premieres in Bayreuth
Sport: 1933 - MLB player Lou Gehrig plays record 1,308th consecutive game
2008 – At the Olympics in Beijing, American swimmer Michael Phelps helped his team win the 4 × 100-metre medley relay, becoming the first athlete to win eight medals at a single Games.
