What happend on 18th December

17.12
19.12
2002

California Governor Gray Davis announces that the state would face a record budget deficit of $35 billion, roughly double the figure reported during his reelection campaign one month earlier; the budget issue was used to support his 2003 recall from office.

2002

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, the second film in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, opens in theaters.

1997

HTML 4.0 is released by the World Wide Web Consortium

1996

"Ebonics" was declared a language or dialect by the outgoing school board of Oakland, California, whose vote was overturned by the incoming board.

1973

The Soyuz 13 was launched.

1969

Capital punishment is ended in the United Kingdom

1966

Saturn's moon Epimetheus is discovered by Richard L. Walker, and then lost for 12 years

1965

Japan and South Korea begin formal relations

1961

Indonesia invades New Guinea to annex western New Guinea, formerly known as Netherlands New Guinea.

1958

Niger becomes an autonomous state within the French Community on December 4, 1958, after the establishment of the Fifth French Republic. Following full independence on August 3, 1960, however, membership was allowed to lapse.