Today in History (May 18)

1974: India successfully tested its first nuclear device in the Rajasthan Desert.

1977: The United States, the Soviet Union and 29 other nations signed a UN pact banning artificial use of the weather as a weapon of war, pledging they would never attack each other with man-made storms, earthquakes or tidal waves.

2006: Nepal's parliament approved a plan to curtail the powers of the king, including his control of the army, a historic move for a country that has traditionally considered the monarch to be a god.

2009:  Sri Lanka declared total victory in one of the world's most intractable wars, after killing the separatist Tamil Tigers' leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran and taking control of the entire country for the first time since 1983.