Unix Timestamp: 1156032000
Sunday, August 20. 2006, 12:00:00 AM UTC

28 ndash Arab Spring and the Libyan civil war: In the Battle of Tripoli, Libyan rebels take control of the nation's capital, effectively overthrowing the government of Muammar Gaddafi.

A line of severe thunderstorms rolls through Ontario, Canada, spawns over 18 tornadoes in one day which has been declared to be the largest tornado outbreak in Canadian history, at least four F-2 tornadoes were confirmed, including one touching down in the town of Durham, Ontario, northwest of Toronto where at least one person was killed, and the other in a Toronto suburb of Vaughan, Ontario where over 600 homes were damaged or destroyed.//toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090821/ontario_storm_090821?hub=TorontoNewHome (CTV)

Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, imprisoned for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, is released by the Scottish government on compassionate grounds as he has terminal prostate cancer. He returns to his native Libya.

Spanair Flight 5022, from Madrid to Gran Canaria, skids off the runway and crashes at Barajas Airport with 172 on board. Of them, 154 die and 18 survive.{{Cite news|title= DNA tests for those killed in Madrid crash|first=|last=|url= //news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7575970.stm

At least 11 people are killed and 31 injured in two bombings in the Algerian town of Bouira. //afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jHfkhvV-ZbTYJt0Khm9mFZu3pKRw (AFP via Google News)

The United Kingdom Competition Commission recommends that BAA Limited should sell two out of its three airports in South East England (Heathrow, Gatwick, and Stansted) and one of its Scottish airports (either Edinburgh Airport or Glasgow International Airport) due to competition concerns. //news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7571613.stm (BBC News)

Elbegdorj Tsakhia, the peaceful democratic revolutionary leader of Mongolia, becomes Prime Minister of Mongolia for the second time.

Fighting persists in Chechnya, with six Russian servicemen killed and 11 others wounded in the war-ravaged region.

A 4-week-old boy, born to Nigerian parents, dies after a botched home circumcision by a friend of the boy's parents, in the Republic of Ireland. The Garda Síochána are searching for the man, who had no medical qualifications. //www.rte.ie/news/2003/0820/baby.html

Over 60 are killed, 15 kidnapped in the Souhane massacre in Algeria .

A thousands-large protest in Seoul, calling for reunification with North Korea, is broken up by riot police.

In Honolulu, Hawaii, during a circus international performance, an elephant named Tyke crushes her trainer Allen Cbell to death before hundreds of horrified spectators, at the Neal Blaisdell Arena.

Kristiansund's connection to the mainland of Norway, Krifast, opens.

Dissolution of the Soviet Union: Estonia declares its independence from the Soviet Union, and more than 100,000 people rally outside the Soviet Union's parliament building protesting the coup that deposed President Mikhail Gorbachev.

The Iran–Iraq War ends, with an estimated one million lives lost.

In Edmond, Oklahoma, United States Postal Service employee Patrick Sherrill guns down 14 of his co-workers before committing suicide.

Lebanese Civil War: A multinational force lands in Beirut to oversee the PLO withdrawal from Lebanon. French troops arrive August 21, U.S. Marines August 25.

Grenada recognizes the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).

Voyager program: The United States launches the Voyager 2spacecraft.

Viking program: NASA launches the "Viking 1" planetary probe toward Mars.

Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument is established in Florissant, CO, USA

August 21 ndash The "Prague Spring" of political liberalization ends, as 200,000 Warsaw Pact troops and 5,000 tanks invade Czechoslovakia.

Jonathan Myrick Daniels, an Episcopal seminarian from Keene, New Hshire, is murdered in Hayneville, Alabama while working in the American civil rights movement.

Fannie Lou Hamer, civil rights activist and Vice Chair of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, addresses the Credentials Committee of the Democratic National Convention, challenging the all-white Mississippi delegation.

Goalkeeper Derek Foster of Sunderland becomes the youngest-ever player to play in the Football League, aged 15 years and 185 days.

International Telecommunications Satellite Consortium

Senegal breaks away from the Mali Federation, declaring its independence.

The American nuclear submarine USS "Seadragon" (SSN-584) surfaced through the arctic ice cap at the North Pole, the first submarine ever to do so.

The 1960 Summer Olympic Games begin in Rome.

The American nuclear submarineUSS \'\'Seadragon\'\' (SSN-584) surfaced through the arctic ice cap at the North Pole, the first submarine ever to do so.

Hundreds of people are killed in anti-French rioting in Morocco and Algeria.

American forces successfully defeat Nazi forces at Chambois, closing the Falaise Gap.

168 captured allied airmen, including Phil Lamason, accused of being terror fliers by the Gestapo, arrive at Buchenwald concentration c.

Armored forces under the command of Soviet General Georgi Zhukov deliver a decisive defeat to Japanese Imperial Army forces in the Japanese-Soviet border war in Inner Mongolia.

The first commercial radio station in the United States, 8MK (WWJ), begins operations in Detroit, Michigan. It is owned by the Detroit News, the first U.S. radio station owned by a newspaper.

World War I: German forces occupy Brussels.

above Buc, France, parachutist Adolphe Pegoud jumps from an airplane and lands safely.

Opening of the Gornergratbahn railway, connecting Zermatt to the Gornergrat.

Treaty of London: Portugal and the United Kingdom define the borders of the Portuguese colonies of Mozambique and Angola.

There is a mutiny at Dufile, India, and the Emin Pasha is imprisoned.

A massive hurricane demolishes the town of Indianola, Texas.

Piotr Ilyitch Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" debuts in Moscow.

Abergele Train Disaster in Wales: An "Irish Mail" passenger train collides with 4 cargo trucks loaded with paraffin: 33 are killed (the first major train disaster in Britain).

U.S. troops defeat Mexican troops in Valencia, Mexico

Future United States PresidentBenjamin Harrison is born in Ohio. From this date until the death of Former U.S. President James Madison on June 281836, there are a total of 19 Presidents of the United States (3 former, 1 current, and 15 known future) living which is more than any other time period in U.S. history.

Lewis and Clark Expedition: The "Corps of Discovery", whose purpose is to explore the Louisiana Purchase, suffers its only death when Sergeant Charles Floyd dies, apparently from acute appendicitis.

War of the Spanish Succession: Battle of Saragossa: The Spanish-Bourbon army commanded by the Marquis de Bay is soundly defeated by the forces of the Habsburg Monarchy under Guido Starhemberg and their allies.

In Sweden, the Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala is founded as the "Collegium curiosorum".

John Smithwick begins brewing Smithwick\\'sale at Kilkenny, Ireland (St. Francis Abbey Brewery).

Beijing becomes the largest city of the world, taking the lead from Istanbul.1987 estimate.

September ndash Raimondo Montecuccoli and the Great Elector assemble at Halberstadt to attack the French and the bishops of Münster and Cologne in their back. Bernard von Galen withdraws from the city of Groningen slowly to the south.

October ndash Spain begins construction on the masonry fort that will become Castillo de San Marcos, to protect St. Augustine, Florida.

Johan de Witt, Grand Pensionary of Holland, is slaughtered by a mob in The Hague.

The ship "Les Armes d'Amsterdam" arrives at Quebec, New France. Among the passengers is Michel Mathieu Brunet "dit" Lestang (1638–1708), colonist, explorer and co-discoverer of what is today Green Bay, Wisconsin. He is the ancestor of the Brunet, Lestang and Carisse families of North America.

September ndash Shah Jahan becomes ill, allowing his son to take control of the Mughal Empire.

Ten 'Pendle witches' are hanged having been found guilty of practising witchcraft in Lancashire, England.

The Treaty of Nonsuch is signed, committing England to support the Dutch Revolt, thus entering the Eighty Years' War.ref name=Cassell's Chronology

Chocolate is introduced to Europe commercially.

Diet of Odense (Denmark). King Frederick I declares religious tolerance for Lutherans, permits marriage of priests, forbids seeking papal "pallium" (approval) for royal appointments of Church officials.Steffensen, Kenneth (2007). "Scandinavia After the Fall of the Kalmar Union: a Study of Scandinavian Relations", 1523-1536. Unpubl. M.A. Thesis, Brigham Young Univ.Fisher, George P (1873). "The Reformation". Scribner.

Sixty Anabaptists meet at the Martyrs' Synod.

The Portuguese occupy Mozambique and the islands of Socotra and Lamu.

Cardinal Cisneros is appointed major inquisitor of Castile.

Raphael paints his "Burial of Jesus".

Timurid dynasty ends.

The King of England prosecutes the Lords for keeping a private army, which might threaten his régime.

Leonardo da Vinci completes the "Mona Lisa".

The AztecNew Fire ceremony is held for the last time (according to Bernardino de Sahagún).

King James IV grants a patent for the first printing press in Scotland to Walter Chapman and Andrew Myllar.

Guru Nanak Dev becomes the first guru and leader of the Sikh religion.

Stephen III of Moldavia concludes a treaty with Sultan Beyazid II preserving Moldavia's self-rule at the cost of an annual tribute to the Ottoman Empire.

Vladislav II, reigning Prince of Wallachia, is killed in battle by Vlad III Dracula, who succeeds him.

The French capture Bayonne, the last English stronghold in Guyenne

William of Wrotham, Lord Warden of the Stannaries of England, oversees a reform of English currency. In keeping with other high-ranking bureaucrats of his time and place, this is just one of Wrotham's many offices: he is also Keeper of the King's Ports Galleys, supervisor of the mints of Canterbury and London, ward of the vacant Diocese of Bath and Wells, an archdeacon of Taunton, a canon of Wells, and will serve the following year as a circuit judge."King John" by Warren. Published by University of California Press in 1961. p. 130

Following certain news of Baldwin I's death, Henry of Flanders is crowned Emperor of the Latin Empire.

Anjou is conquered by Philip II of France. Fearing a French invasion of England itself, John of England requires every English male over 12 to enter an association for the general defence of the realm and the preservation of peace."King John" by Warren. Published by University of California Press in 1961. p. 111

Following certain news of Baldwin I\'s death, Henry of Flanders is crowned Emperor of the Latin Empire.

Othon de la Roche founds the Duchy of Athens.

Battle of Bremule: Henry I of England routs Louis VI.

After a success over the Armenians of Cilicia and the emirate of Aleppo, Baldwin of Bourcq becomes Count of Edessa with the support of the patriarch Dagobert of Pisa.

with the support of the Venetian fleet, the Crusaders under Tancred of Hauteville captures the coastal city of Haifa.

Genoa, Venice and Pisa gain trading privileges from the Crusader states in return for their service during the conquest of the coastal cities.

Antipope Boniface VII murders Pope John XIV.

Battle of Achelous: A large-scale Byzantine expedition against Bulgaria is routed by Tsar Simeon I of Bulgaria.