hijack the Cathay Pacific passenger plane Miss Macao and shoot the pilot; the plane crashes, killing 26 of 27 people on board. June 17 – United Airlines Flight 624, a Douglas DC-6, crashes near Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania, killing 43 and injuring 84 people on board. June 18 Malayan Emergency: A state of emergency is declared in the Federation of Malaya, due to a communist insurgency. LP record – Columbia Records introduces its long playing rpm phonograph format. June 20 – The U.S. Congress recesses for the remainder of 1948, after an overtime session closes at 7:00 a.m. (to be shortly interrupted by Truman's recall from Congressional recess for July 20, 1948). June 21 The Deutsche Mark becomes the official currency of the future Federal Republic of Germany. The Manchester Baby becomes the first stored-program computer to successfully execute a program. June 22 The ship brings a large group of Afro-Caribbean immigrants to Tilbury near London, the start of a large wave of immigration to Britain. David Lean's Oliver Twist, based on Charles Dickens's famous novel, premieres in the UK. It is banned for 3 years in the U.S., because of alleged antisemitism in depicting master criminal Fagin, played by Alec Guinness. June 24 Cold War: The Berlin Blockade begins. The first World Health Assembly of the World Health Organization is held in Geneva. June 26 William Shockley files the original patent for the grown-junction transistor, the first bipolar junction transistor. The Berlin Airlift begins. June 28 The Cominform Resolution marks the beginning of the Informbiro period in Yugoslavia, and the Soviet/Yugoslav split. The 6.8 Fukui earthquake strikes Fukui, Japan; 3,769 are killed, 22,203 injured. Lotte Group, a global conglomerate in Northeast Asia (South Korea and Japan), is founded. July July 5 – The National Health Service in the United Kingdom begins functioning, giving the right to universal healthcare, free at point of use. July 6 – The world's first Air Car-ferry service is flown by a Bristol Freighter of Silver City Airways, from Lympne to Le Touquet across the English Channel. July 13 – The Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria and Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Churches reach an agreement, leading to the promotion of the Ethiopian church to the rank of an autocephalous Patriarchate. Five bishops are immediately consecrated by the Patriarch of Alexandria, and the successor to Abuna Qerellos IV is granted the power to consecrate new bishops, who are