Major Stories

February 19: In a tragic mix-up, Cypriot National Guard members fired on and killed 15 Egyptian commandos trying to rescue those aboard a Cypriot airliner held hostage by Palestinian terrorists.

March 17: In the worst oil spill on record, Amoco's Cadiz runs aground near Brest, France.

April 6: President Carter signs a bill raising the mandatory retirement age to 70.

May 9: Former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro, who had been kidnapped on March 16, is found dead in Rome.

June 6: Proposition 13 passes in California ensuring new residents will pay more than their fair share of property taxes.

June 16: President Carter and Panamanian President Torrijos formally sign an agreement which will cede control of the Panama Canal to the Panamanias.

July 25: Louise Brown, the first "test-tube" baby, is born in Britain.

September 25: A PSA 727 collides with a Cessna and crashes in San Diego. Seven people on the ground and all 137 aboard both plains are killed.

November 18: The murder-suicides of 912 followers of religious leader Jim Jones in Guyana shocks the world.

December 15: Cleveland becomes the first U.S. city since the depression to default.

December 28: A United Airlines DC-9 runs out of gas and crashes six miles short of the runway in Portland, Oregon. Ten of 181 aboard are killed.