TODAY IN HISTORY

• UN Public Service Day

• International Widows Day

• 2018 - Thailand

12 boys and an assistant coach from a soccer team in Thailand were trapped in a flooding cave, leading to an 18- day rescue operation

• 2018 - Zimbabwe

Zimbabwean Pres. Emmerson Mnangagwa survived a blast at a ruling ZANU- PF party rally at the White City stadium. 49 people were hurt in the explosion.

• 2016 - UK

Britain stunned the world by voting to leave the European Union, becoming the first major country to leave the bloc. Prime Minister David Cameron said he will stepdown in October after leading campaign to keep Britain in the EU. Financial markets plunged after the news, with value of British pound dropping to the lowest level against the dollar since 1985.

Scotland voted to stay in EU by 62 to 38 percent in the referendum putting it at odds with Britain, which voted 52- 48 percent in favor of an exit or Brexit.

• 2014 - W/ Africa

Figures from World Health Organisation show 567 cases of Ebola with 350 deaths in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The virus has no cure and causes internal bleeding and organ failure spreading through contact with infected people.

• 2013 - USA

Nik Wallenda became the first man to successfully walk across the Grand Canyon on a tight rope.

• 1985 - Ireland

All 329 people aboard an Air India Boeing 747 were killed when Flight 182 from Montreal to London crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near Ireland, apparently because of a bomb.

• 1978 - USA

Joseph Freeman Jr. became the first black priest in Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- Day Saints.

• 1972 - USA

Pres. Nixon and White House chief of staff H. R. Haldeman discussed plan to use the CIA to obstruct FBI'S Watergate investigation. Revelation of the tape recording led to Nixon's resignation in 1974

• 1940 - USA

Wilma Rudolph, the first African American to win three gold medals in a single Olympiad, was born. At the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, she became the first American to win three gold medals. Her athleticism was remarkable since Rudolph contracted polio as a small child and spent six years in a steel brace. With therapy and hard work, she overcame her handicap to excel in basketball and track.