Unix Timestamp: 1163894400
Sunday, November 19. 2006, 12:00:00 AM UTC

NATO summit

The Prime Minister of Belgium, Herman Van Rompuy, is chosen as the first permanent President of the European Council by European Union leaders. //news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8367589.stm (BBC)

European Union / Three new positions created by the Treaty of Lisbon:

The first successful trachea transplant using a tissue-engineered organ is performed in Spain. //news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7735696.stm (BBC News)

Claudia Castillo of Spain becomes the first person to have a successful tracheatransplant using a tissue-engineeredorgan.

The new government of Karnataka, India, led by Bharatiya Janata Party member B. S. Yeddyurappa, falls after just one week when Janata Dal withdraws support. //news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7101721.stm (BBC)

A suicide bomber kills seven people in the Nimruz Province of Afghanistan, including the son of governor Ghulam Dastageer. //news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7101179.stm (BBC)

About 70 people die and 50 are missing after a flooding caused by cyclone Guba in the Oro Province of Papua New Guinea. //news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7101316.stm (BBC)

2007 Zasyadko mine disaster: Rescuers continue the search for 20 trapped miners, but a union official says there is no chance for them. //news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7101084.stm (BBC)

The NBA's Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons engage in a brawl that involves fans and players. The incident gets (then) Pacer Ron Artest suspended for the remainder of the season.

London Bridge Tower, set to become the tallest skyscraper in Western Europe, is granted full planning permission by the Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.

The four-match chess contest between Garry Kasparov and X3D Fritz ends in a draw. //news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3281037.stm

At the end of a long public inquiry, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, John Prescott, gives planning approval to London Bridge Tower, set to become the tallest building in Europe.

The tanker "Prestige", which has been leaking oil off the north-west coast of Spain for several days, split into two at 8 o'clock in the morning (0700 GMT). The vessel was reported to be about away from the Spanish coast at that time. The entire load of oil is 70,000 ton most of it is still in the two parts of the ship if all leaks out the resulting damage could be twice that of the Exxon Valdez disaster off the coast of Alaska in 1989. Despite efforts, the oil reached the coast. See: //news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2488229.stm

Dr. Jerome Teelucksingh of Trinidad and Tobago proposes that the UN create an International Men's Day, which is now commemorated every year on this same date.

In Des Moines, Iowa, Bobbi McCaughey gives birth to septuplets in the second known case where all 7 babies are born alive, and the first in which all survive infancy.

Malawi recognizes the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).

Cold War: In Geneva, U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet for the first time.

Band Aid records the charity single Do They Know It\\'s Christmas? to raise money to combat the famine in Ethiopia. It is released December 3, 1984.//liveaid.free.fr/pages/bandaid.html#ukBand Aid – Do They Know It\\'s Christmas? Retrieved November 17, 2011.

A series of explosions at the PEMEX Petroleum Storage Facility at San Juan Ixhuatepec, in Mexico City, ignites a major fire and kills about 500 people.

An East Rail train derails between Sheung Shui and Fanling stations, Hong Kong.

Band Aid records the charity single Do They Know It's Christmas? to raise money to combat the famine in Ethiopia. It is released December 3, 1984.//liveaid.free.fr/pages/bandaid.html#uk Band Aid – Do They Know It's Christmas? Retrieved November 17, 2011.

An attempted hijacking of Aeroflot Flight 6833 in Soviet Georgia results in several dead and wounded.

The first U.S. Take Back the Night march occurs in San Francisco.

Jaime Ornelas Camacho takes office as the first President of the Regional Government of Madeira, Portugal.

Seán Mac Stíofáin, a leader of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, is arrested in Dublin after giving an interview to RTÉ.

Vietnam War ndash Operation Ivory Coast: A joint Air Force and Army team raids the Son Tay prison c in an attempt to free American POWs thought to be held there (no Americans are killed, but the prisoners have already moved to another c all U.S. POWs are moved to a handful of central prison complexes as a result of this raid).

In Ethiopia, the Eritrean Liberation Front kills an Ethiopian general.

Syrian Prime Minister Hafez al-Assad forms a new government but retains the post of defense minister.

European Economic Community prime ministers meet in Munich.

The Verrazano Narrows Bridge opens to traffic (the world's longest suspension bridge at this time).

Second Vatican Council: The third period of the Catholic Church's ecumenical council closes.

The United States Department of Defense announces the closing of 95 military bases and facilities, including the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the Brooklyn Army Terminal, and Fort Jay, New York.

C. Northcote Parkinson first propounds 'Parkinson's Law', in "The Economist".

Puerto Williams is founded in Chile as the southernmost settlement of the world.

Authorities at the British Natural History Museum announce that the skull of the "Piltdown Man", one of the most famous fossil skulls in the world, is a hoax.

The LaotianCivil War begins between the Kingdom of Laos and the Pathet Lao.

WWII: Battle of Stalingrad: Soviet Union forces under General Georgy Zhukov launch the Operation Uranus counter-attacks at Stalingrad, turning the tide of the battle in the USSR's favor.

WWII: Both commerce raiding "hilfskreuzer Kormoran" and Australian cruiser HMAS "Sydney" sink following a battle off the coast of Western Australia. There are no survivors from the 645 Australian sailors aboard "Sydney".

WWII: Both commerce raiding ''hilfskreuzer Kormoran'' and Australian cruiser HMAS "Sydney" sink following a battle off the coast of Western Australia. There are no survivors from the 645 Australian sailors aboard "Sydney".

Spanish Second Republic: General elections result in victory by the right-wing parties.

In Los Angeles, California, famous silent film director Thomas Ince (The Father of the Western) dies, reportedly of a heart attack, in his bed (rumors soon surface that he was shot dead by publishing tycoon William Randolph Hearst).

Abdul Mejid II, Crown Prince of the Ottoman Empire, is elected Caliph.

The Empire of Brazil officially becomes a Federal Republic and Field Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca becomes its first president.

A meteorite strikes earth near the village of Großliebenthal, a few kilometers southwest of Odessa, Ukraine.

American Civil War: U. S. President Abraham Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address at the military cemetery dedication ceremony in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

A force of 500 Māori people invade and enslave the peoples of the Chatham Islands.

Battle of Ocana: A Spanish army is ridden down and 20,000 are killed by French forces.

A new truce ends fighting in Finland.

the Man in the Iron Mask dies in the Bastille.

Start of hostilities resulting from an attempt by Toyotomi Hideyorito restore Osaka Castle. Tokugawa Ieyasu, father of the Shogun, is outraged at this act, and leads three thousand men across the Kizu River, destroying the fort there.

lunar calendar) ndash Battle of Noryang Point: The China and Korean Allied Forces defeat the Japanese navy, ending the Seven-Year War.

Henry Barrow, English Puritan and Separatist, is imprisoned.

Pope Clement VII succeeds Pope Adrian VI as the 219th pope.

The Ming Dynasty Chinese navy captures two Western ships with Portuguesebreech–loadingculverins aboard, which the Chinese call a fo–lang–ji (Frankish culverin). According to the "Ming Shi", these cannons are soon presented to the Jiajing Emperor by Wang Hong, and their design is copied in 1529.

The first FlemishLutherans are burned in Brussels.

Martin Luther translates the New Testament into German.

Wijerd Jelckama, a Frisian warlord and military commander is executed in Leeuwarden. His death ends the successful Frisian rebellion fought by the Arumer Black Heap.

England imposes sanctions on Burgundy for supporting Perkin Warbeck.

Columbus lands on the coast of the island of Borinquen, which he renames San Juan (present day, Puerto Rico).

Narayana Ramadhipati succeeds Ponthea Yat as King of Cambodia.

Centurione II Zaccaria succeeds Maria II Zaccaria as ruler of the Principality of Achaea.

Jean de Béthencourt becomes the first ruler of the Kingdom of the Canary Islands.

Peace is declared between Lithuania and the Teutonic Knights after they agree to exchange land and form an alliance against Muscovy.

Virupaksha Raya succeeds Harihara Raya II as ruler of the Vijayanagara Empire in present-day southern India.

Timur is hit by a fever while preparing to invade China.

The University of Turin is founded.

Ruaidri Caech MacDermot succeeds Conchobair Og MacDermot as King of Moylurg in present-day north-east Connacht, Ireland.

Stephan Tvrtko II succeeds Stefan Ostoja as King of Bosnia.

St. Elizabeth\\'s flood devastates parts of Flanders, Zeeland and Holland.

The city of Vicenza comes under the rule of the Venetians.

The Council of Clermont begins. The council is called by Pope Urban II to discuss sending the First Crusade to the Holy Land.

Pope Hilarius convokes a synod at Rome's Church of Santa Maria Maggiore.

Peter the Fuller becomes patriarch of Antioch (approximate date).

Aegidius becomes ruler over the Domain of Soissons (Gaul). He has friendly relations with the Romano-British in Brittany.

The Visigoths under king Theodoric II recapture Septimania (Southern Gaul) after the assassination of Majorian and invade Hispania again.

Libius Severus, Roman senator from Lucania, is declared emperor of the Western Roman Empire.