Unix Timestamp: 1055980800
Thursday, June 19. 2003, 12:00:00 AM UTC

Royal Dutch Shell shuts down an offshore oil installation in Nigeria after an attack from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta. //ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gnNWecjUOlCOZLU4cpzuC7RHwt9wD91D1DAG5 (AP via Google News)

Fiji's interim government agrees in principle to elections in 2009, following a Pacific Islands Forum assessment, and calls for assistance from the European Union and Pacific nations like Australia for funding. //www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081sid=apppFZOgUTSgrefer=australia (Bloomberg)

Iraqi prosecutors in the Trials of Saddam Hussein call for Saddam Hussein to be sentenced to death, together with his half brother Barzan al-Tikriti and former vice-president Taha Yassin Ramadan. //www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=391369in_page_id=1811in_a_source=reutersito=1490 (Daily Mail)

A missile hits a soccer field in northern Iraq (Tel Afr County), killing 23 and wounding 11. According to U.S. officials, it was an Iraqi missile that malfunctioned.//www.nytimes.com/2001/06/21/world/23-iraqis-reported-killed.html?scp=8sq=Iraqst=nyt NYtimes.com

23 people killed and 11 wounded by an American missile hitting a soccer field in northern Iraq, county of Tel Afr

Turin, Italy, is awarded the 2006 Winter Olympics.

The fast food chain McDonald's wins a partial victory in its libel trial, known as the McLibel case, against two environmental caigners.

Boris Yeltsin emerges as the winner in Russia's first round of presidential elections.

American college basketball player Len Bias suffers a fatal cardiac arrhythmia from a cocaine overdose less than 48 hours after being selected 2nd overall by the Boston Celtics in the 1986 NBA Draft.

The body of God's Banker, Roberto Calvi, chairman of Banco Ambrosiano, is found hanging beneath Blackfriars Bridge in London.

Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declares a state of emergency in India, suspending civil liberties and elections.

Richard Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan is found guilty in absentia of the murder of nanny Sandra Rivett.

Mozambique gains independence from Portugal.

Houari Boumédienne's Revolutionary Council ousts Ahmed Ben Bella, in a bloodless coup in Algeria.

Jim Bunning pitches a perfect game for the Philadelphia Phillies, the first in the National League since 1880.

Spain beats the Soviet Union 2–1 to win the 1964 European Nations Cup.

Three civil rights workers, Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney, are murdered near Philadelphia, Mississippi, by local Klansmen, cops, and a sheriff.

U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy, 32, is seriously injured in a private plane crash at Southton, Massachusetts the pilot is killed.

Valentina Tereshkova the first woman in space, returns to Earth.

The British protectorate ends in Kuwait and it becomes an emirate.

The Associated Broadcasting Company (now TV5) is founded in the Philippines.

The Special Forces (United States Army) are created

Glenn Dunnaway wins the inaugural NASCAR race at Charlotte Speedway, a 3/4 mile oval in Charlotte, North Carolina, but is disqualified due to illegal springs. Jim Roper is declared the official winner.

A severe storm badly damages the Mulberry harbours on the Normandy coast.

Italy beats Hungary 4–2 to win the 1938 World Cup.

Max Schmeling knocks out Joe Louis in the 12th round of their heavyweightboxing match at Yankee Stadium in New York City.

In an attempt to stop the banking crisis in Central Europe from causing a worldwide financial meltdown, President Herbert Hoover issues the Hoover Moratorium.

DeFord Bailey is the first African-American to perform on Nashville's Grand Ole Opry.

A Neapolitan baker named Raffaele Esposito invents the Pizza Margherita, named after the queen consort of Italy Margherita of Savoy. This is the forerunner of the modern pizza.

In Chicago, the Republican Convention opens at the Auditorium Building. Benjamin HarrisonLevi Morton win the nominations for President and Vice President, respectively.

July ndash The Reverend Thomas Baker, a Wesleyan Methodistmissionary (born in Playden, East Sussex, England) is cooked and eaten by Navatusila tribespeople at Nabutautau on Fiji, together with eight of his local followers, the last missionary in that country to suffer cannibalism.

Canadian Confederation: British North America Act of 29 March comes into force, creating the Dominion of Canada, the first independent dominion in the British Empire.

Constitution of the North German Confederation comes into effect, creating a confederation of states under the leadership of Prussia and Otto von Bismarck.

A firing squad executes Emperor Maximilian of Mexico.

American Civil War: Union Major General Gordon Granger lands at Galveston, Texas and informs the people of Texas of the Emancipation Proclamation. (an event now celebrated each year as Juneteenth).

Robert Peel's Metropolitan Police Act establishes the Metropolitan Police Service in London, the first modern police force. The first officers, known by the nicknames bobbies or peelers, go on patrol on September 29.ref name=Pocket On This Day/

The Philikí Etaireía are decisively defeated by the Ottomans at Drăgăşani (in Wallachia).

July ndash Lord Byron, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, Percy Bysshe Shelley and John Polidori, gathered at the Villa Diodati by Lake Geneva in a rainy Switzerland, tell each other tales. This gives rise to two classic Gothic narratives, Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" and Polidori's "The Vyre".

Battle of Seven Oaks: The Hudson\\\'s Bay Company is defeated by the North West Company, near Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

Finnish War: A second landing of Swedish troops at Ala-Lemu fails.

Post of Commanding General was created by the Continental Congress.

July ndash Columbia University is founded as King's College by royal charter of King George II of England. The college is originally located in Lower Manhattan. Instruction is suspended in 1776 and the school reopens in 1784 as Columbia College. With the college's growth in the 19th Century, it is renamed Columbia University in 1896.

The Albany Congress of New England Colonies proposes an American Union.

July ndash Russo-Turkish War, 1735-1739: Russian forces under Peter Lacy storm the Ottoman fortress of Azov.

French Academy of Sciences expedition led by Pierre Louis Maupertuis, with Anders Celsius, begins work on measuring a meridian arc in the Torne Valley of Finland.

Massachusetts issues a declaration of amnesty to any Indian who surrenders.

War of Mantuan Succession: The Treaty of Cherasco is signed, ending the War of Mantuan Succession.

August 18 ndash The Holy Roman Empire besieges St. Dizier in eastern France.

Battle of Landriano: A French army in Italy under Marshal Francis de Bourbon, Count of St. Pol is decisively defeated.

Brasenose College, University of Oxford, is founded by a lawyer, Sir Richard Sutton, of Prestbury, Cheshire, and the Bishop of Lincoln, William Smyth.

Battle of Methven: The forces of the Earl of Pembroke defeat Bruce's Scottish rebels.

Philip IV of France exiles all the Jews from France and confiscates their property.

The Mongols raid India.

In London, a city ordinance decrees that heating with coal is forbidden when parliament is in session (the ordinance is not particularly effective).

King Otakar II of Bohemia inherits Carinthia and part of Carniola, making him the most powerful prince within the Holy Roman Empire the empire lacking an emperor during the ongoing "great interregnum", Otakar II is one of the most powerful men in Europe.

John Comyn begins the construction of Blair Castle in Scotland.

The Eastern OrthodoxPatriarchy of Antioch returns to Antioch after a 171-year exile, during which it had been replaced by the Latin Patriarch of Antioch.

King Louis IX of France orders all Jews found in public without an identifying yellow badge to be fined ten livres of silver.

To finance his crusade, Edward I of England obtains the right to levy a twentieth of the value of the Church’s wealth in England. That sum turns out to be insufficient and Edward has to borrow to reach his target.

Pélerin de Maricourt first describes magnetic poles and remarks on the nonexistence of isolated magnetic poles.

Afonso I is recognized as the true King of Portugal by Pope Alexander III, bringing Portugal the protection of the Catholic Church against the Castilian monarchy.

Battle of Kalvskinnet (outside Nidaros, Norway): EarlErling Skakke is killed, and the battle changes the tide of the civil wars.