On this day in conspiracies

Newspapers across the country run dramatic front-page stories describing terror, flight, and chaos. Wire-service copy, much of it aggregated by the Associated Press from scattered local reports, gives the impression that panic was widespread and nationwide.

By the couple's account the events turn hostile. Tony describes glimpsing a little girl in the kitchen and then suffering a series of deep scratches, welts, and small burns over the following months. During an investigation the presence is given the name Sallie.

The tribunal convicts and sentences to death Saro-Wiwa and eight co-defendants: Saturday Dobee, Nordu Eawo, Daniel Gbokoo, Barinem Kiobel, John Kpuinen, Baribor Bera, Paul Levera, and Felix Nuate. Abacha's Provisional Ruling Council confirms the sentences.

A US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations staff report, produced under Senator Sam Nunn, publishes a detailed case study of Aum as an example of a non-state group pursuing weapons of mass destruction, documenting its chemical and biological ambitions and overseas procurement.

EgyptAir Flight 990, a Boeing 767-300ER (registration SU-GAP) flying from Los Angeles to Cairo with a stop at New York's JFK, takes off from JFK at about 1:20 a.m. EST and climbs to a cruising altitude of 33,000 feet. Roughly half an hour later it dives into the Atlantic about 60 miles south of Nantucket, Massachusetts. All 217 passengers and crew are killed.

The High Aim 6, a Taiwanese-owned tuna longliner, departs the port of Liuchiu (Xiaoliuqiu) in southern Taiwan with a crew of about ten, made up of Taiwanese officers and Indonesian deckhands, for a fishing voyage in the Indian Ocean.

After a months-long trial at the Audiencia Nacional, the court convicts 21 of 28 defendants, finding the bombings the work of a local jihadist cell and stating there is no proof pointing to ETA. It addresses and rejects the conspiracy claims one by one.

The Shah Alam High Court finds no prima facie case against Razak Baginda on the abetment charge and acquits him without calling on him to enter a defense. He is discharged, and later leaves Malaysia for a period abroad.

A message signed 'Satoshi Nakamoto' hits the Cryptography mailing list at metzdowd.com, linking to a nine-page paper titled 'Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System.' It describes a decentralized digital cash that needs no bank or trusted third party.