Today in History: The Spanish Civil War began with a revolt at then Spanish Morocco in 1936

The following are some of the major events to have occurred on July 18:

1936 – The Spanish Civil War began with a revolt at Melilla in what was then Spanish Morocco.

1969 – U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy’s car went off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts, killing his passenger Mary Jo Kopechne.

1994 – A bomb at a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires killed 96 people.

1998 – South African President Nelson Mandela celebrated his 80th birthday by marrying Graca Machel, widow of Mozambican president Samora Machel.

2003 – Los Angeles Lakers basketball star Kobe Bryant admits adultery at news conference in response to news that he faces charges for raping a 19-year-old in Colorado.

2003 – The body was found of David Kelly, a British Defence Ministry weapons scientist who was subsequently confirmed as the source for a BBC report that the government had exaggerated intelligence reports to justify war in Iraq.

2005 – Gen. William Westmoreland, commander of U.S. military operations in the Vietnam War, died aged 91.

2009 – Palestinians in the West Bank city of Nablus attempt to make the world’s largest tray of “knafeh”, a sweetened goat cheese pastry.

2012 - Kim Jong-un is officially appointed Supreme Leader of North Korea and given the rank of Marshal in the Korean People's Army

2012 – Explosion at Bulgaria’s Burgas airport kills six people.

2013 – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry visits Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan.

2016 – Melania Trump delivers speech at Republican National Convention which was widely criticised for its similarity to Michelle Obama’s 2008 speech.

(Reuters)