What Happened on October 26

Athletic Intelligence

1863 — Eleven Clubs Found Football Association in London to Codify the Game

A new governing body forms at the Freemasons' Tavern — standard rules to replace the chaos of competing codes — the world's first football association begins its work

LONDON, October 26 — The Football Association came into being this evening at the Freemasons' Tavern in Great Queen Street, when representatives of eleven London football clubs and schools concluded their deliberations upon a common code of play. The meeting, which has occupied several sessions, has at length produced the world's first governing body for association football.

The assembled gentlemen have charged Ebenezer Cobb Morley, a solicitor of Barnes, with the secretaryship of the new association. Morley, who captains the Barnes club, has undertaken to draft the Laws of the Game at his residence in Barnes. These laws, when completed, will govern all matches played under the Association's authority.

The necessity for this body has long been apparent to those who follow the sport. Various clubs have hitherto played according to their own customs, rendering inter-club contests a matter of perpetual dispute. The Football Association proposes to remedy this confusion through a single, authoritative code.

The first match under these new rules is anticipated for December next, with the Barnes and Richmond clubs already agreed to meet at Mortlake. The Association intends further to arrange competitions among subscribing clubs.

This day's proceedings establish what will surely become the model for football governance throughout the realm and, perhaps, beyond.

• The Football Association was founded at the Freemasons' Tavern in Great Queen Street, London on 26 October 1863.
• Eleven London football clubs and schools' representatives met on 26 October 1863 to agree on common rules.
• Ebenezer Cobb Morley was the FA's first secretary and drafted the Laws of the Game at his home in Barnes, London.
• The first game under FA rules was played at Mortlake on 19 December 1863 between Barnes and Richmond, ending in a goalless draw.
• The FA Cup, the longest-running association football competition in the world, was created in 1871 with fifteen clubs subscribing to purchase a trophy.

Source: Wikipedia — The Football Association

Middle East Bureau

1994 — Israel and Jordan Sign Peace Treaty at Arabah Border Crossing

The 1979 Egypt precedent is matched as Jordan formalizes peace with Israel after 46 years of hostilities, with a water commitment of 50000000 cubic metres annually sealing the accord.

ARABAH CROSSING, October 26 — Thousands of coloured balloons rose into the desert sky this afternoon as Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel and Prime Minister Abdelsalam al-Majali of Jordan signed a treaty ending 46 years of formal hostilities between their countries. The ceremony at this southern border post drew President Ezer Weizman and King Hussein into a handshake that sealed the second Arab-Israeli peace accord, following Egypt's in 1979.

The treaty commits both nations to prevent their territory from serving as a base for military strikes by third parties. It settles long-disputed questions of territory and security, and establishes cooperation on water resources. Israel undertakes to supply Jordan with 50,000,000 cubic metres of water annually.

The day's events were shadowed by violence. Twenty minutes before the ceremony began, Hezbollah forces launched mortar and rocket attacks against towns in northern Galilee. The assault did not delay the proceedings.

Jordan thus becomes the second Arab state, after Egypt, to formalize peace with Israel. The treaty's provisions on water sharing address a resource critical to both nations' survival.

• The signing ceremony took place at the southern border crossing of Arabah on 26 October 1994.
• Jordan was the second Arab country, after Egypt, to sign a peace accord with Israel.
• Prime Minister Rabin and Prime Minister Abdelsalam al-Majali signed the treaty, and President Ezer Weizman shook hands with King Hussein.
• Twenty minutes prior to the ceremony, Hezbollah launched mortar and rocket attacks against northern Galilee towns.
• Thousands of colorful balloons released into the sky ended the event.

Source: Wikipedia — Israel–Jordan peace treaty

Southern Affairs

1892 — Memphis Editor Launches Investigation of Lynching Atrocities

Born into slavery in 1862, the Holly Springs native argues mob violence terrorizes African Americans facing economic and political competition from whites, demolishing the pretence that lynching answers only to crime.

MEMPHIS, October 26 — A systematic assault upon the South's most brutal custom has begun from the offices of the Memphis Free Speech and Headlight, where co-proprietor Ida B. Wells has commenced the publication of research that will challenge the very foundations of lynch law. Her pamphlets, the first bearing the title "Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in all its Phases," expose the white pretence that lynching answers only to crime.

Wells, born into slavery at Holly Springs, Mississippi, in 1862, argues in her writings that mob violence serves rather to terrorize African Americans facing economic and political competition from whites. Her documentation, gathered through painstaking inquiry, demonstrates that the charge of assault upon white women—the customary justification—is frequently employed to mask other motives.

A subsequent pamphlet, "The Red Record," will extend this analysis. Wells's position as a newspaper proprietor and editor gives her work unusual reach; her previous reporting on racial segregation and inequality has established her voice in the region's press.

• Wells began documenting lynching in the 1890s through articles and pamphlets such as 'Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in all its Phases' and 'The Red Record'.
• Her pamphlets debunked the white fallacy that all Black lynching victims were guilty of crimes.
• Wells argued that whites used lynching to terrorize African Americans in the South due to economic and political competition.
• Wells was born into slavery in Holly Springs, Mississippi, on July 16, 1862.
• She co-owned and wrote for the Memphis Free Speech and Headlight newspaper, where her reporting covered racial segregation and inequality.

Source: Wikipedia — Ida B. Wells

East Asia Watch

1979 — South Korean President Park Chung Hee Assassinated by Intelligence Chief

Kim Jae-gyu, head of the Korean CIA, shoots Park during a dinner at the Blue House compound — the eighteen-year rule of the strongman ends in gunfire

SEOUL, October 26 — The long season of military leadership that has shaped the Republic of Korea since 1961 reached a violent terminus tonight when President Park Chung Hee fell to an assassin's bullets within his own official compound. Kim Jae-gyu, director of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency, carried out the killing during a dinner at the Blue House.

Park, who seized power in the May 16 coup eighteen years ago and ruled through a combination of economic development programs and authoritarian control, had faced mounting pressures in recent months. His government had grown increasingly isolated internationally, while domestic opposition, though suppressed, continued to simmer beneath the surface of public life.

Kim Jae-gyu was taken into custody within hours of the shooting. The precise circumstances of his confrontation with Park, and the motives that impelled a chief of intelligence to turn upon his president, remained unclear as reports reached this office. The KCIA director's arrest was photographed at the scene.

• Park Chung Hee, President of South Korea, is assassinated by Korean CIA head Kim Jae-gyu.

Source: Wikipedia — Park Chung Hee

South Asia Disaster Desk

2015 — Hindu Kush Quake Kills 399 as Tremor Rips Through Mountain Villages

2,536 injured across Afghanistan and Pakistan in 7.5 magnitude event.

ISLAMABAD, October 26 — The earth heaved beneath Ali Mohammad's feet as he led his goats through a mountain pass above the village of Shangla. The 7.5 magnitude earthquake that struck the Hindu Kush range at 1:39 p.m. local time buried his flock, his path, and within hours, 399 people across Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The Pakistan Meteorological Department placed the epicenter 196 kilometers below the surface, a depth that spared surface destruction from spreading further. Yet the toll climbed swiftly: 2,536 injured, hospitals in Peshawar and Kabul diverting emergency supplies north, rescue teams still clawing through rubble in remote valleys as night fell.

The quake rattled buildings in New Delhi, 1,000 miles south. In Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, landslides severed the Karakoram Highway at multiple points.

• A 7.5 magnitude earthquake strikes in the Hindu Kush mountain range in South Asia, killing 399 people and leaving 2,536 people injured.

Source: Wikipedia — October 2015 Hindu Kush earthquake

Global Eradication Watch

1977 — Last Natural Smallpox Case Found in Somali Cook

A 23-year-old hospital cook developed symptoms October 12 after transporting two infected children by car.

MOGADISHU, October 26 — 161 contacts traced, 54,777 vaccinated in two weeks: the global smallp eradication campaign now hunts its final quarry in a single Somali hospital worker.

Ali Maow Maalin, a 23-year-old cook at Merca Hospital, displayed symptoms October 12 after driving two infected children to an isolation camp.

• Ali Maow Maalin, a 23-year-old hospital cook, was the last person known to be infected with naturally occurring smallpox.
• Maalin contracted the virus during a 5-to-15-minute car ride transporting two infected children to an isolation camp.
• Health workers traced 161 contacts and vaccinated 54,777 people in the two weeks after Maalin was isolated.
• The World Health Organization declared smallpox eradicated globally two years later, on 26 October 1979.
• Maalin had not been successfully vaccinated despite a hospital requirement, and he was initially misdiagnosed with chickenpox.

Source: Wikipedia — Ali Maow Maalin

Domestic Security Legislation

2001 — Bush Signs Patriot Act Into Law After Rapid Congressional Passage

The law, signed on October 26, reached Bush after 43 days of legislative sprint.

WASHINGTON, October 26 — President George W. Bush signed the Patriot Act into law today, granting United States law enforcement agencies expanded authority to conduct surveillance and detention operations against suspected terrorists.

The measure reached the President's desk after 43 days of legislative sprint.

• President George W. Bush signed the Patriot Act into law on October 26, 2001.
• The Patriot Act passed the House by a vote of 357–66 on October 24, 2001.
• The Patriot Act passed the Senate by a vote of 98–1 on October 25, 2001.
• The Patriot Act expanded surveillance powers for suspected terrorists, including tapping domestic and international phones.
• The Patriot Act authorized indefinite detention without trial of immigrants and searches without owner's consent.

Source: Wikipedia — George W. Bush

Electronic Entertainment Review

2004 — Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Offers Sprawling 1992 California Dream

75 developers, two years, under $10 million — now the largest world Rockstar has built.

Rockstar Games released Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas today in North America. The 75-person team spent nearly two years building the 36-square-kilometre world for under $10 million. The fictional state compresses 1992 California and Nevada into a map four to six times larger than Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City combined. Players pilot more than 180 vehicles, including motorcycles, fighter jets, speedboats and remote-control cars. San Andreas has become the best-selling PlayStation 2 title with over 17.3 million copies sold. Players can customize protagonist Carl Johnson's appearance through diet, exercise and clothing purchases across the three major cities. The soundtrack spans 11 radio stations with era-appropriate hip-hop, rock and country tracks. Voice talent includes Samuel L. Jackson, Peter Fonda and Ice-T.

• The game is set in the fictional U.S. state of San Andreas, based on California and Nevada, in 1992.
• The 75-person development team spent nearly two years creating the game, with a budget of under US$10 million.
• San Andreas is the best-selling PlayStation 2 game with over 17.3 million copies sold.
• The game features more than 180 vehicles, including cars, motorcycles, aircraft, boats, and remote-control vehicles.
• San Andreas's world is 36 square kilometres, about four to six times larger than those from Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City.

Source: Wikipedia — Rockstar Games