Today in History - November 20
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269 Nov 20,
Diocletian was proclaimed emperor of Numerian in Asia Minor by his
soldiers. He had been the commander of the emperor's bodyguard.
(HN, 11/20/98)
284 Nov 20, Diocletian (245-316)
became Emperor of the Roman Empire and continued to 305. Under his rule
the last and most terrible persecution of the Christians took place,
perhaps some 3,000 martyrs. He divided rule over the empire among four
men. He put two rulers to oversee the east and two to oversee the west.
He also established four capitals. He moved his own capital from Rome
to Nicomedia, south of Byzantium in Asia Minor. He also increased the
size of the Roman army from 300,000 to 500,000 men.
(http://bode.diee.unica.it/~giua/SEBASTIAN/Diocletian.html)(V.D.-H.K.p.91)(ITV,
1/96, p.58)
967 Nov 20, Aboe al-Faradj
al-Isfahani, Arabic author (Book of liederen), died.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1347 Nov 20, Roman tribune Cola di
Rienzi defeated nobles. Stefano Colonna, Roman senator, died in battle
(SPQR).
(MC, 11/20/01)
1521 Nov 20, Arabs attributed a
shortage of water in Jerusalem to Jews making wine.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1527 Nov 20, Wendelmoet "Weyntjen"
Claesdochter, became the 1st Dutch woman to be burned as heretic.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1602 Nov 20, Otto von Guericke,
inventor (air pump), was born.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1616 Nov 20, Bishop Richelieu
became French minister of Foreign affairs and War.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1620 Nov 20, Peregrine White, son
of William and Susanna White, was born aboard the Mayflower in
Massachusetts Bay. He was the first child born of English parents in
present-day New England.
(AP, 11/20/97)
1637 Nov 20, Peter Minuit &
1st Dutch and Swedish immigrants to Delaware sailed from Sweden. Peter
later purchased Manhattan Island for 60 guilders.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1695 Nov 20, Zumbi dos Palmares,
Brazilian leader of a hundred-year-old rebel slave group, was killed in
an ambush. He was later honored by a National Day of Black
Consciousness.
(HN, 11/20/98)(SFC, 8/16/01, p.A8)
1700 Nov 20, Sweden's 17-year-old
King Charles XII defeated the Russians at Narva.
(HN, 11/20/98)
1713 Nov 20, Thomas Tompion,
English clock maker (cylinder tunnel), died.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1720 Nov 20, Pirates Mary Read,
Anne Bonny (b.~1700) and Captain Calico Jack Rackham were tried by an
admiralty court in Jamaica. Rackham was found guilty and hanged the
next day. Read and Bonny were also found guilty and sentenced to hang
but pleaded pregnancy. Their sentences were commuted until they gave
birth. Bonny was later pardoned but Read died in prison on Apr 28,
1721. Bonny, an Irish American pirate, had plied her trade in the
Caribbean and died around 1782.
(ON, 12/01,
p.12)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Bonny)
1726 Nov 20, Oliver Wolcott, later
Conn.-Gov. and signer of Declaration of Independence, was born.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1741 Nov 20, Melchior de Polignac,
French diplomat and clergyman, died.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1752 Nov 20, Thomas Chatterton
(d.1770), English poet (Christabel), was born. His early death marked
him as the “prototype of the fragile poet withered by the hostility of
philistines.”
(WSJ, 1/15/98, p.A17)(MC, 11/20/01)
1765 Nov 20, Friedrich Heinrich
Himmel, composer (Von Himmel Hoch), was born.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1789 Nov 20, New Jersey became the
first state to ratify the Bill of Rights.
(AP, 11/20/97)
1805 Nov 20, Beethoven's
"Fidelio," premiered in Vienna.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1815 Nov 20, With the 2nd Peace of
Paris Napoleon was involuntarily exiled to St. Helena.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1817 Nov 20, 1st Seminole War
began in Florida. [see Nov 27]
(MC, 11/20/01)
1829 Nov 20, Jews were expelled
from Nikolayev and Sevastopol, Russia.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1833 Nov 20, Charles Darwin
reached Punta Gorda and saw Rio Uruguay.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1858 Nov 20, Selma Lagerdorf,
Swedish novelist, was born. Her work included “The Story of Gosta
Berling.”
(HN, 11/20/00)
1866 Nov 20, Pierre Lalemont
patented a rotary crank bicycle.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1873 Nov 20, Budapest was formed
from 2 Rival cities, Buda and Obuda on the west bank of the Danube and
Pest on the east bank.
(WUD, 1994, p.193)(MC, 11/20/01)
1884 Nov 20, Norman Thomas,
socialist and Pres. Candidate 1928-48, was born in Marion, Ohio, and
ran for president in six successive elections beginning in 1928.
(HNQ, 10/21/98)(MC, 11/20/01)
1888 Nov 20, William Bundy
patented a timecard clock.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1889 Nov 20, Edwin Hubble
(d.1953), American astronomer, was born. He proved that there are other
galaxies far from our own.
(HN, 11/20/98)(WSJ, 7/25/00, p.A20)
1889 Nov 20, Gustav Mahler's 1st
Symphony premiered.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1893 Nov 20, The struggling
Western League of Professional Baseball Clubs, meeting in Detroit,
Michigan, elected Byron Bancroft Johnson (29), a former ballplayer and
Cincinnati sportswriter, as president. He had been recommended by
Charles Comiskey, a potential investor in the league and manager of the
National League’s Cincinnati Reds.
(ON, 6/09, p.10)
1894 Nov 20, Anton Rubinstein
(64), Russian composer (Dmitri Donskoi), died.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1903 Nov 20, In Cheyenne, Wyoming,
42-year-old hired gunman and stock detective Tom Horn was hanged for
the 1901 murder of Willie Nickell (14). Horn had made a controversial
confession to U.S. Deputy Marshal Joseph S. LeFors that was pivotal in
the conviction.
(HN, 11/20/98)
1906 Nov 20, George Bernard Shaw's
"Doctor's Dilemma," premiered in London.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1907 Nov 20, Henri-Georges
Clouzot, French director (Le salaire de la peur), was born.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1908 Nov 20, Alistair Cooke
(d.2004), English journalist, who hosted "Masterpiece Theater," was
born in Salford, England.
(SFC, 3/31/04, p.A2)(AP, 11/20/08)
1910 Nov 20, Revolution broke out
in Mexico. Francisco I. Madero called for a rise to national arms on
this day when dictator Porfirio Diaz reneged on his pledge to stay out
of the presidential election.
(SFEC,11/9/97, p.T6) (AP, 11/20/97)
1911 Nov 20, Gustav Mahler's "Das
Lied von der Erde" premiered in Munich.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1914 Nov 20, Emilio Pucci, fashion
designer (Neiman-Marcus Award-1954), was born in Naples.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1914 Nov 20, US State Department
began requiring photographs for passports.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1914 Nov 20, Bulgaria proclaimed
its neutrality in the First World War.
(HN, 11/20/98)
1916 Nov 20, Thomas McGrath, poet
and novelist, was born.
(HN, 11/20/00)
1917 Nov 20, In the 1st tank
battle Britain broke through German lines.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1920 Nov 20, The Nobel Peace Prize
was awarded to US president W. Wilson.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1923 Nov 20, Nadine Gordimer, 1991
Nobel Prize-winning South African novelist, was born.
(HN, 11/20/00)
1923 Nov 20, Garrett Morgan
invented and patented a traffic signal.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1925 Nov 20, Robert F. Kennedy,
U.S. Attorney General and Senator, was born in Brookline, Mass. While
at Harvard during World War II, Robert F. Kennedy joined the U.S. Naval
Reserve and served as a seaman on the destroyer Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr.
The ship was named for Kennedy’s eldest brother, who had been killed in
battle during World War II. Kennedy died from an assassin’s bullet June
6, 1968, in Los Angeles after proclaiming victory in California’s
Democratic Party primary election.
(AP, 11/20/97)(HNQ, 7/14/98) (HN, 11/20/98)
1927 Nov 20, Karl Wilhelm Eugen
Stenhammer (56), composer, died.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1928 Nov 20, Mrs. Glen Hyde became
the first woman to dare the Grand Canyon rapids in a scow. Her flat
bottomed boat used sweep oars for maneuvering.
(HN, 11/20/98)
1929 Nov 20, Kenneth DeWitt
Schermerhorn, conductor, was born in Schenectady, NY.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1929 Nov 20, Salvador Dali held
his 1st one-man show.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1929 Nov 20, The radio program
"The Rise of the Goldbergs" debuted on the NBC Blue Network.
(AP, 11/20/97)
1931 Nov 20, AT&T began
commercial teletype service.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1931 Nov 20, Japan and China
rejected the League of Council terms for Manchuria at Geneva.
(HN, 11/20/98)
1934 Nov 20, Lillian Hellman's
"Children's Hour," premiered in NYC.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1935 Nov 20, Borden and Coca Cola
were removed from the DJIA. Du Pont and National Steel were added.
(WSJ, 4/8/04, p.C4)
1936 Nov 20, Don DeLillo, author,
was born. His work includes “White Noise” and ”Libra.”
(HN, 11/20/00)
1938 Nov 20, The 1st documented
anti-Semitic remarks over US radio were made by Father Coughlin.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1941 Nov 20, Ambassadors Nomura
and Kurusu handed over Japan’s last diplomatic note.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1942 Nov 20, Joseph Biden, later
US Senator for Delaware, was born in Scranton, Pa. In 2008 Barack Obama
named Biden as his vice presidential running mate.
(SSFC, 8/24/08, p.A15)
1942 Nov 20, Meredith Monk,
choreographer, composer and performing artist, was born in Lima, Peru.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1942 Nov 20, British 8th Army
recaptured Benghazi, Libya.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1942 Nov 20, Hitler named field
marshal Erich von Manstein to command.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1942 Nov 20, The 26th Russian
Armored Corps recaptured Perelazovski. A million Russians breached
German lines in a Soviet army offensive.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1943 Nov 20, US Marines began
landing on Tarawa and Makin atolls in the Gilbert Islands, encountering
fierce resistance from Japanese forces but emerging victorious three
days later. The US 2nd marine division invaded the tiny isle of Betio
on Tarawa Atoll in the Gilberts. It was the first seriously opposed
landing experienced by the Americans in WWII. After 3 days 1,027 US
Marine and Navy personnel were killed. Of some 4,800 Japanese and
Korean laborers on Betio, 146 survived, including 17 Japanese troops.
In 2006 John Wukovits authored “One Square Mile Of Hell.”
(AP,
11/20/05)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tarawa)(AH, 6/07, p.72)
1943 Nov 20, U-538 sank in the
Atlantic Ocean.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1944 Nov 20, The 1st Japanese
suicide submarine attack was at Ulithi Atoll, Carolines.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1945 Nov 20, Dmitri
Shostakovitch's 9th Symphony premiered.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1945 Nov 20, In Nuremberg, Germany
22 out of 24 indicted Nazi officials went on trial (one in absentia)
before an international war crimes tribunal.
(AP, 11/20/08)
1946 Nov 20, Lillian Hellman's
"Another Part of the Forest," premiered in NYC.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1947 Nov 20, "Meet the Press" made
network TV debut on NBC.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1947 Nov 20, Princess Elizabeth
(future Queen Elizabeth II) married Philip Mountbatten, Duke of
Edinburgh, in a ceremony broadcast worldwide from Westminster Abbey.
(HN, 11/20/98)(SFEM, 1/26/97, p.44)(AP, 11/20/97)
1949 Nov 20, Jewish population of
Israel reached 1,000,000.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1950 Nov 20, U.S. troops pushed to
Yalu River within five miles of Manchuria.
(HN, 11/20/98)
1950 Nov 20, Francesco Cilea (84),
opera composer, died.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1952 Nov 20, George Axelrod's "7
Year Itch," premiered in NYC.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1955 Nov 20, The Maryland National
Guard was ordered desegregated.
(HN, 11/20/98)
1959 Nov 20, The United Nations
issued its "Declaration of the Rights of the Child."
(AP, 11/20/99)
1959 Nov 20, Seven European
nations (Austria, Britain, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Sweden,
Switzerland) signed the Stockholm Convention to form the European Free
Trade Association (EFTA). The organization becoming operative on May 3
1960.
(www.iceland.org/efta/the-mission/int-organizations/efta/)
1962 Nov 20, President Kennedy
barred religious or racial discrimination in federally funded housing.
(HN, 11/20/98)
1962 Nov 20, USSR agreed to remove
bombers from Cuba and US lifted its blockade.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1965 Nov 20, UN Security council
called for a boycott of Rhodesia (later Zimbabwe).
(MC, 11/20/01)
1966 Nov 20, "Cabaret" opened at
Broadhurst Theater, NYC, for 1166 performances.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1966 Nov 20, Men in Zurich voted
against female suffrage.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1967 Nov 20, The Census Clock at
the US Commerce Department ticked past 200 million.
(AP, 11/20/97)
1969 Nov 20, The Nixon
administration announced a halt to residential use of the pesticide DDT
as part of a total phase-out.
(AP, 11/20/97)
1969 Nov 20, A group of 80 Native
Americans, all college students, seized Alcatraz Island in the name of
“Indians of All Tribes.” The occupation lasted 19 months. They offered
$24 in beads and cloth to buy the island, demanded an American Indian
Univ., museum and cultural center, and listed reasons why the island
was a suitable Indian reservation.
(SFEC, 3/8/98, p.W38)
1970 Nov 20, UN General Assembly
accepted membership of the People’s Republic of China.
(www.un.org/documents/ga/res/25/ares25.htm)
1971 Nov 20, U.S. planned to give
Turkey $35 million for farmers who agreed to stop growing opium
poppies.
(HN, 11/20/98)
1973 Nov 20, Allan Sherman
(b.1924), American musician, parodist and producer, died. He was the
creator and original producer of the popular “I've Got a Secret” from
1952 to 1958.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allan_Sherman)
1974 Nov 20, The US Dept. of
Justice filed an antitrust suit to break up ATT.
(HN, 11/20/98)(www.spectrum.ieee.org/jul05/1571)
1975 Nov 20, Ronald Reagan
announced his intention to battle Gerald Ford for the Republican
presidential nomination.
(SSFC, 6/6/04,
A16)(www.ford.utexas.edu/grf/timeline.asp)
1975 Nov 20, An interim report by
the US Senate’s Church Committee said that the CIA failed to
assassinated Fidel Castro at least 8 times. The report also covered CIA
activity in Chile, the Congo, the Dominican Republic and elsewhere.
(WSJ, 8/5/06,
p.A9)(http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Church_Committee)
1975 Nov 20, After nearly four
decades of absolute rule (1936-1975), Spain's General Francisco Franco
died, two weeks before his 83rd birthday. Juan Carlos, grandson of King
Alfonso, was his designated successor and the monarchy was restored. In
2002 Gabrielle Ashford Hodges authored "Franco: A Concise Biography."
(SFC, 11/12/96, p.A12)(SFEC, 10/5/97, p.A17)(AP,
11/20/97)(SSFC, 4/21/02, p.M4)
1977 Nov 20, Egyptian President
Anwar Sadat became the first Arab leader to address Israel's
parliament.
(AP, 11/20/97)
1979 Nov 20, The first US
artificial blood transfusion occurred at Univ. of Minn. Hospital. The
patient was a Jehovah's Witness, who had refused a transfusion of real
blood because of his religious beliefs.
(www.todayinsci.com/11/11_20.htm)
1980 Nov 20, Faced with disastrous
reviews from New York critics, United Artists announced it was
withdrawing its $36 million movie "Heaven's Gate" for re-editing.
(AP, 11/20/05)
1980 Nov 20, In China the Gang of
Four, scapegoats for the 1966-1976 Cultural Revolution, were put on
trial. They were tried and sentenced in nationally televised court
proceedings. Jiang Hua led the special tribunal that was set up to try
Jiang Qing and her 3 Politburo allies known as the Gang of Four. Qing
was sentenced to death but her sentence was later commuted to life in
prison.
(SFC, 2/20/96, p.A4)(SFC, 12/25/99,
p.B4)(http://tinyurl.com/2tfc9u)
1982 Nov 20, South Africa backed
down on a plan to install black rule in neighboring Namibia.
(HN, 11/20/98)
1984 Nov 20, McDonald's made its
50 billionth hamburger.
(http://tinyurl.com/2p8ua9)
1986 Nov 20, The US Federal
Reserve Board approved a $500 million equity investment by Japan’s
Sumitomo Bank in Goldman Sachs.
(Econ, 5/19/07, SR p.20)(http://tinyurl.com/3xdm2q)
1986 Nov 20, UN's WHO announced
1st global effort to combat AIDS.
(http://tinyurl.com/ycyxmk)
1987 Nov 20, The film "Nuts"
starring Barbra Streisand premiered.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuts_%28film%29)
1987 Nov 20, President Reagan and
congressional leaders announced agreement on a two-year, $76 billion
deficit-reduction plan designed to reassure jittery financial markets.
(AP, 11/20/97)
1988 Nov 20, Egypt and China
announced they were recognizing the Palestinian state proclaimed by the
Palestine National Council.
(AP, 11/20/98)
1989 Nov 20, More than 200,000
people rallied peacefully in Prague, Czechoslovakia, demanding
democratic reforms and the ouster of Communist Party leader Milos
Jakes.
(AP, 11/20/99)
1990 Nov 20, The space shuttle
“Atlantis” landed at Cape Canaveral, Florida, after completing a secret
military mission.
(AP, 11/20/00)
1990 Nov 20, The Soviet Union
again rebuffed President Bush’s efforts to rally support for a UN
Security Council resolution authorizing military force against Iraq.
(AP, 11/20/00)
1990 Nov 20, Margaret Thatcher
failed to defeat Heseltine's bid for party leadership.
(http://tinyurl.com/krb66)
1991 Nov 20, California Democrat
Alan Cranston accepted a Senate reprimand for his dealings with former
savings-and-loan chief Charles H. Keating Jr., but then denied he was
guilty of many of the allegations, prompting an angry rebuttal by New
Hampshire Republican Warren B. Rudman.
(AP, 11/20/01)
1991 Nov 20, Mile Mrksic, Miroslav
Radic, and Veselin Sljivan-Canin, officers in the Yugoslav National
Army, ordered the Serb army and military police to withdraw from the
hospital at Vukovar. The paramilitary forces then took 194 Croat men in
small groups to an area nearby and shot them. Radic surrendered to
Serbian authorities in 2003. Mrksic and Sljivancanin were convicted by
a UN tribunal in 2007. Radic was acquitted.
(SFC, 11/30/96, p.A15)(SFC, 4/22/03, A7)(AP,
9/27/07)(WSJ, 9/28/07, p.A1)
1992 Nov 20, The United States and
the European Community announced they had resolved a dispute over EC
farm subsidies, but French officials expressed dissatisfaction.
(AP, 11/20/97)
1992 Nov 20, Fire seriously
damaged the northwest side of Windsor Castle, the favorite weekend home
of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II.
(AP, 11/20/97)
1993 Nov 20, The U.S. Senate ended
a filibuster against the Brady Bill, which imposed a five-day waiting
period for handgun purchases, and passed it by a 63-36 vote; the Senate
also approved legislation implementing the North American Free Trade
Agreement, 61-38.
(AP, 11/20/98)
1994 Nov 20, The Angolan
government under dos Santos and rebels under Savimbi signed a treaty in
Zambia to end 19 years of war, even as fighting continued in their
homeland.
(AP, 11/20/99)(SFC, 4/5/02, p.A11)
1994 Nov 20, The most heavily
mined country in the world was Afghanistan, with between 10 and 15
million deadly mines. In Angola, one third of the countryside was
strewn with mines and the toll of nearly 25 people a day who were
injured or killed by land mines has left 20,000 amputees. Cambodia’s 7
million mines amount to two for every single Cambodian child, and
between 200 and 250 people became victims every month. In Somalia, the
laying of mines rose to new heights of terror as civilian areas were
deliberately targeted. Truck loads of mines were scattered in houses,
wells, river-crossings, markets, and even cemeteries. Presently, the
area being mined most heavily is the war zone of the former Yugoslavia,
where 3 million mines have been laid in just a few years. The US State
Dept. estimated that 25,000 people are killed or maimed each year by
mines. About 1.5 to 2 million new mines go into the ground each year.
There is a British Rapid Antipersonnel Minefield Breaching System
(RAMBS) manufactured by Pains-Wessex Schermuly that is fired from a
rifle and clears a path 60 meters long and one meter wide in less than
a minute.
(UNICEFF Mailer,11/94)(WSJ, 5/17/96,p.A-1)(WSJ,
5/31/96, p.A13)
1995 Nov 20, Radio stations began
airing a new Beatles recording, “Free As a Bird,” which had debuted on
ABC TV the night before.
(AP, 11/20/00)
1995 Nov 20, US Federal employees,
idled during a government shutdown, returned to their jobs.
(AP, 11/20/00)
1995 Nov 20, The US FDA approved
new therapy for use as an initial AIDS treatment, 3TC.
(www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/NEW00519.html)
1995 Nov 20, Olympic figure
skating champion Sergei Grinkov (28) died of a heart attack in Lake
Placid, New York.
(AP, 11/20/00)
1995 Nov 20, BBC Television
broadcast an interview with Princess Diana, who admitted being
unfaithful to Prince Charles.
(AP, 11/20/97)
1995 Nov 20, France conducted its
4th nuclear test at the Mururoa atoll in French Polynesia. [other news
sources indicated a severe earthquake with the epicenter in the Red Sea]
(WSJ, 11/22/95, p.A-1)
1996 Nov 20, US House Republicans
chose Newt Gingrich to be speaker for a second term.
(AP, 11/20/97)
1996 Nov 20, San Francisco began
posting signs along its waterfront to warn fisherman of health hazards
from fish caught in the Bay.
(SFC, 11/21/96, p.A22)
1996 Nov 20, In Zagreb, Croatia,
thousands protested the government’s attempt to close the independent
Radio 101.
(SFC, 11/21/96, p.C6)
1996 Nov 20, In Hong Kong a fire
raged in the 16-story Garley Building and 39 people died.
(SFC, 11/21/96, p.C3)(SFC, 11/22/96, p.A22)(AP,
11/20/97)
1996 Nov 20, In Zambia Frederick
Chiluba and his Movement for Multiparty Democracy won re-election.
Former pres. Kaunda and his United National Independent Party boycotted
because he was declared ineligible to run.
(SFC, 11/21/96, p.C3)
1996 Nov 20-1996 Nov 25, In the
Philippines the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum
(APEC) was to be held in Manila. APEC has 18 member countries and its
goal is to remove all trade barriers by 2020.
(SFC, 11/18/96, p.A12)(SFC, 11/23/96, p.A8)
1997 Nov 20, It was reported that
Lucent Tech.’s Bell Labs has developed a new tiny transistor that is 5
times faster and 1/4th the size of commercially available transistors.
(WSJ, 11/20/97, p.B4)
1997 Nov 20, From Ethiopia it was
reported that flooding has killed 297 people and uprooted 65,000 and
that heavy rains continued to fall.
(SFC,11/20/97, p.B2)
1997 Nov 20, In India S.V. Ramanna
Reddy, a former legislator of Andhra Pradesh, surrendered to police in
relation to the previous days bomb blast.
(SFC,11/21/97, p.D6)
1997 Nov 20, Iraq agreed to allow
US arms inspectors back into the country after Russia agreed to help
work to lift UN Security Council sanctions. Prodded by Russia, Iraqi
President Saddam Hussein agreed to allow U.S. arms monitors back into
his country, ending a three-week crisis that had raised fears of a
military confrontation with the United States.
(SFC,11/20/97, p.A1)(AP, 11/20/98)
1997 Nov 20, In Nigeria the
government of Gen’l. Sani Abacha gave 5 political parties $637,000 each
to campaign in elections to restore civilian rule. Opposition groups
called politicians of the 5 parties government stooges. 18 parties had
applied for recognition but only 5 were deemed suitable.
(SFC,11/21/97, p.D6)(SFC, 4/28/98, p.A6)
1998 Nov 20, A $206 billion
tobacco settlement over health costs for treating sick smokers was
endorsed by 46 eligible states. It was the largest settlement of a
civil lawsuit in history.
(SFC, 11/21/98, p.A1)(AP, 11/20/99)
1998 Nov 20, President Clinton
wrapped up a visit to Japan and flew to South Korea.
(AP, 11/20/99)
1998 Nov 20, Rolando Alphonso,
tenor saxophonist for the ska group Skatalites, died at age 67. He was
an original member of the Jamaican group that was formed in 1964.
(SFC, 12/7/98, p.A25)
1998 Nov 20, Re: Congo it was
reported that Kabila was signing away large stakes in Congo’s biggest
enterprises to businessmen from Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia in return
for support against rebels backed by Uganda and Rwanda.
(WSJ, 11/20/98, p.A1)
1998 Nov 20, In Indonesia
thousands of students marched and demanded the resignations of Pres.
Habibie and military chief Wiranto following doctor’s confirmation that
protestors were killed with live ammunition on Nov 13-14. In Pinrang
thousands of villagers rioted after finding that they could not
withdraw savings from an outlawed bank.
(SFC, 11/21/98, p.A1)(SFEC, 11/22/98, p.A24)
1998 Nov 20, Iraq balked at
handing over documents on chemical and biological weapons and missile
systems.
(SFC, 11/21/98, p.A1)
1998 Nov 20, Israel ceded control
of a 200-sq. mile patchwork area, 2 percent of the West Bank, to the
Palestinian Authority in the 1st of 3 withdrawals. 250 prisoners were
released but 150 of them were common criminals rather than political
detainees,
(SFC, 11/21/98, p.A10)(SFC, 11/30/98, p.A1)(AP,
11/20/99)
1998 Nov 20, Israel carried out
its 100th air raid along with ground attacks in southern Lebanon. One
Amal fighter was reported killed.
(SFC, 11/21/98, p.A12)
1998 Nov 20, In Italy a court
ordered the release of Kurdish rebel Abdullah Ocalan under a law
barring extradition in death penalty cases and planned to grant him
asylum.
(SFC, 11/21/98, p.A10)
1998 Nov 20, In Kazakstan a
Russian Proton booster rocket lifted up the first stage of the new
int’l. space station called Zarya (Sunrise).
(SFC, 11/20/98, p.A18)(SFC, 11/21/98, p.A13)
1998 Nov 20, In Pakistan Prime
Minister Sharif ordered soldiers to quell violence in Karachi and
suspended civil rights in Sindh province, which surrounds the city.
(SFC, 11/21/98, p.A14)
1998 Nov 20, Galina Starovoitova,
a member of the State Duma, was shot to death in St. Petersburg. She
had recently formed a coalition called Northern Capital to push the
candidacy of liberals for the Dec. 6 elections to the regional
legislature. In June, 2005, two men were convicted of the actual
killing. Four others charged in the case were acquitted. In 2006 two
more men were convicted on charges relating to the murder. Vyacheslav
Lelyavin was sentenced to 11 years in prison for being a member of the
gang. Pavel Stekhnovsky, guilty of buying the rifle used to shoot
Starovoitova, was freed after prosecutors failed to prove he knew the
gun was intended for the killing.
(SFC, 11/21/98, p.A12)(SFEC, 11/22/98, p.A26)(AP,
9/23/06)(AP, 9/29/06)
1998 Nov 20, From Senegal it was
reported that land mines had made 80% of Casamance province unusable.
The mines, laid by separatist rebels, had killed or wounded close to
500 people in the 1st 8 months of this year.
(SFC, 11/21/98, p.A15)
1998 Nov 20, UN sponsored autonomy
negotiations on East Timor were suspended after 44 people were reported
killed under a military crackdown by the Indonesian government. The Red
Cross later denied the reports of a massacre.
(WSJ, 11/23/98, p.A1)(WSJ, 11/27/98, p.A1)
1999 Nov 20, A day after violent
anti-American protests in Greece, President Clinton sought to heal old
wounds by acknowledging the United States had failed its “obligation to
support democracy” when it backed Greek’s harsh military junta during
the Cold War.
(AP, 11/20/00)
1999 Nov 20, In Algeria some 20
people were killed in a clash between guerrillas and security forces
south of Algiers.
(SFC, 11/23/99, p.A15)
1999 Nov 20, China completed its
first unmanned test of a spacecraft. The Shenzhou 1, or "Divine
Vessel," was launched at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Gansu
province.
(SFEC, 11/21/99, p.A1)
2000 Nov 20, Lawyers for Al Gore
and George W. Bush battled before the Florida Supreme Court over
whether the presidential election recount should be allowed to continue.
(SFC, 11/21/00, p.A1)(AP, 11/20/01)
2000 Nov 20, China singed an
agreement with the UN for cooperation and training on individual rights
and the rule of law.
(SFC, 11/21/00, p.A13)
2000 Nov 20, The EU began to build
its own defense force, a 60,000 man, rapid reaction corps. EU defense
chiefs pledged 100,000 soldiers, 400 planes and 100 ships for a
rapid-reaction force.
(SFEC, 11/19/00, p.A16)(WSJ, 11/21/00, p.A1)
2000 Nov 20, Israel fired a
barrage of missiles on the Gaza Strip in retaliation for an attack on a
school bus that killed 2 Jewish settlers and wounded 9 others including
3 siblings who lost limbs. At least 35 people were reported wounded in
the missile attack.
(SFC, 11/21/00, p.A1)
2000 Nov 20, In Mozambique Carlos
Cardoso, founder and editor of the Metical newspaper, was murdered
while driving in Maputo. He had been investigating a 1996 theft of $14
million from the Commercial Bank of Mozambique. In 2003 six men were
convicted of the murder.
(AP, 1/31/03)
2000 Nov 20, Peru’s Pres. Fujimori
announced his resignation from Tokyo, ending a 10-year reign. Acting
president Ricardo Marquez also stepped down.
(SFC, 11/21/00, p.A12)(AP, 11/20/01)
2000 Nov 20, Philippine senators
presented Pres. Estrada a 270-page articles of impeachment for
corruption and constitutional violations.
(SFC, 11/21/00, p.A12)
2001 Nov 20, Pres. Bush called on
Americans to support charities of all kinds.
(SFC, 11/21/01, p.A16)
2001 Nov 20, A federal judge
extended a court order blocking an attempt by Attorney General John
Ashcroft to dismantle Oregon's one-of-a-kind law allowing
physician-assisted suicides.
(AP, 11/20/02)
2001 Nov 20, US federal health
officials approved sale of the world's first contraceptive patch,
Ortho-Evra.
(AP, 11/20/02)
2001 Nov 20, The Sep 11 death toll
at the WTC was reduced to just under 3,900.
(SFC, 11/21/01, p.A2)
2001 Nov 20, Portland police said
they would not cooperate with FBI efforts to interview some 5,000
Middle Eastern men because the questioning violated state laws.
(SFC, 11/21/01, p.A11)
2001 Nov 20, Jeff Hawkins,
inventor of the Palm computer, was reported to hold that the brain
works by anticipating and completing patterns more than it does through
inputs and outputs of information.
(WSJ, 11/20/01, p.B1)
2001 Nov 20, In Afghanistan the
Northern Alliance gave the Taliban in Kunduz 3 days to give up. The
alliance controlling Afghanistan's capital and much of its countryside
agreed to attend power-sharing talks in Germany the following week.
(WSJ, 11/21/01, p.A1)(AP, 11/20/02)
2001 Nov 20, Abu Qatada (40), a
Muslim cleric living in London, was named in a Spanish indictment as a
pivotal figure in the al Qaeda network in Europe.
(SFC, 11/21/01, p.A11)
2001 Nov 20, Chinese police on
Tiananmen Square detained some 35 foreigners who protested the
crackdown on the Falun Gong. The protesters were all expelled from the
country.
(SFC, 11/21/01, p.A1)(SFC, 11/22/01, p.A21)
2001 Nov 20, A speedboat, believed
to be carrying 30 smuggled Cubans, capsized in the Florida Straits and
all were believed drowned.
(SFC, 11/21/01, p.A17)
2001 Nov 20, The Liberal (Venstre)
Party under Anders Fogh Rasmussen (1953) won elections in Denmark. It
formed a minority government with the Conservative People’s Party.
(http://www.andersfogh.dk/807.0.html)
2002 Nov 20, On the eve of a NATO
summit in the Czech Republic, President Bush, recalling Europe's grim
history of "excusing aggression," challenged skeptical allies to stand
firm against Saddam Hussein.
(WSJ, 11/20/02, p.A1)(AP, 11/20/03)
2002 Nov 20, Louisiana began
offering a $4-a-tail bounty on the swamp-dwelling nutria rodent, due to
wetlands damage from devoured plants.
(SFC, 11/20/02, p.A2)
2002 Nov 20, Thomas Mohaghan (65),
founder of Domino's Pizza, pledged at least $220 million to build the
Catholic Ave Maria Univ. near Naples, Fla.
(SFC, 11/21/02, p.A7)
2002 Nov 20, A German doctor
conducted Britain's first public autopsy in more than 170 years, an
event denounced by the British Medical Association's Head of Ethics as
"degrading and disrespectful."
(AP, 11/20/03)
2002 Nov 20, Francoise Ducros,
aide to PM Chretien of Canada, called Pres. Bush a moron during a
private conversation in Prague. She resigned Nov 26.
(SFC, 11/23/02, p.A1)(AP, 11/26/02)
2002 Nov 20, In Riobamba, Ecuador,
a series of explosions at an ammunition depot left at least 7 people
dead and 140 injured.
(WSJ, 11/21/02, p.A1)(AP, 11/22/02)
2002 Nov 20, The EU, except for
Portugal. banned Belarus Pres. Lukashenko and top aides to protest
human rights abuses under his rule.
(WSJ, 11/20/02, p.A1)
2002 Nov 20, Israel's Labor Party
chose Amram Mitzna, ex-general and Haifa mayor, as its leader in the
Jan 28 elections.
(WSJ, 11/20/02, p.A1)
2002 Nov 20, Israeli troops shot
and killed Amr Qudsi (15), a Palestinian teenager in a confrontation in
Tulkarem.
(AP, 11/20/02)
2002 Nov 20, In Port-of-Spain,
Trinidad, Phillip Seerattan (17) opened fire with a pistol at a school
for foreign students, wounding a security guard before being shot to
death by police.
(AP, 11/21/02)
2003 Nov 20, In Florida ministers
from 34 countries announced a framework to establish a Free Trade Area
of the Americas," (FTAA).
(SFC, 11/21/03, p.A12)
2003 Nov 20, Michael Jackson
turned himself over to police in Santa Barbara, Ca., on an arrest
warrant alleging multiple counts of child molestation. He posted a $3
million bail bond. Jackson was later acquitted at trial.
(AP, 11/20/08)
2003 Nov 20, Record producer Phil
Spector was charged with murder in the shooting death of an actress,
Lana Clarkson, at his home in Alhambra, Calif., in February 2003. As of
2008 Spector was being retried after his first trial ended in a
deadlocked jury.
(AP, 11/20/08)
2003 Nov 20, Motor Trend named the
Toyota's hybrid Prius as "Car of the Year."
(AP, 11/20/03)
2003 Nov 20, Advanced Micro
Devices said it would build $2.4 billion chip factory in Germany
to produce microprocessors on 300-mm silicon wafers.
(SFC, 11/21/03, p.B1)
2003 Nov 20, Eugene Kleiner (80),
California pioneer venture capitalist, died.
(Econ, 12/6/03, p.79)
2003 Nov 20, Tens of thousands of
demonstrators in London burned an effigy of President Bush to show
their anger over the Iraq war.
(AP, 11/20/08)
2003 Nov 20, In Canada Conrad
Black, newspaper magnate, stepped down as CEO of Hollinger Int'l.
following reports that he other top officials received unauthorized
payments of some $32.2 million.
(WSJ, 11/28/03, p.A1)
2003 Nov 20, David Dacko (76), the
first president of Central African Republic as an independent nation
(1960-1966, 1979-1981), died.
(AP, 11/21/03)
2003 Nov 20, In Kirkuk, Iraq, a
bomb apparently hidden in a pickup truck exploded at the offices of a
US-allied Kurdish political party, killing five people and wounding 40.
(AP, 11/20/03)
2003 Nov 20, A group of UN
agencies is asking for $221 million in international aid for North
Korea, where food shortages, poverty and poor health care services have
put the country in a state of "chronic emergency."
(AP, 11/20/03)
2003 Nov 20, The London Privy
Council ruled that Trinidad's mandatory death penalty for murder
convictions was unconstitutional, forcing the country to begin giving
discretion to judges when handing out sentences.
(AP, 11/21/03)
2003 Nov 20, In Turkey trucks
packed with explosives blew up at the HSBC London-based bank and the
British consulate. The 32 people killed included London's
consul-general Roger Short. Some 450 people were wounded.
(AP, 11/20/03)(WSJ, 11/21/03, p.A1)(SFC, 12/1/03,
p.A16)
2003 Nov 20, In Florida ministers
from 34 countries announced a framework to establish a Free Trade Area
of the Americas" (FTAA), as police clashed with hundreds of
demonstrators.
(SFC, 11/21/03, p.A12)(AP, 11/20/04)
2003 Nov 20, Michael Jackson
turned himself over to police in Santa Barbara, Ca., on an arrest
warrant alleging multiple counts of child molestation. He posted a $3
million bail bond.
(AP, 11/19/03)
2003 Nov 20, Record producer Phil
Spector was charged with murder in the fatal shooting of actress, Lana
Clarkson, at his home in Alhambra, Calif.
(AP, 11/20/04)
2003 Nov 20, Motor Trend named the
Toyota's hybrid Prius as "Car of the Year."
(AP, 11/20/03)
2003 Nov 20, Advanced Micro
Devices said it would build $2.4 billion chip factory in Germany
to produce microprocessors on 300-mm silicon wafers.
(SFC, 11/21/03, p.B1)
2003 Nov 20, Eugene Kleiner (80),
California pioneer venture capitalist, died.
(Econ, 12/6/03, p.79)
2003 Nov 20, In Canada Conrad
Black, newspaper magnate, stepped down as CEO of Hollinger Int'l.
following reports that he other top officials received unauthorized
payments of some $32.2 million.
(WSJ, 11/28/03, p.A1)
2003 Nov 20, David Dacko (76), the
first president of Central African Republic as an independent nation
(1960-1966, 1979-1981), died.
(AP, 11/21/03)
2003 Nov 20, Tens of thousands of
demonstrators in London burned an effigy of President Bush to show
their anger over the Iraq war.
(AP, 11/20/04)
2003 Nov 20, In Kirkuk, Iraq, a
bomb apparently hidden in a pickup truck exploded at the offices of a
US-allied Kurdish political party, killing five people and wounding 40.
(AP, 11/20/03)
2003 Nov 20, A group of UN
agencies is asking for $221 million in international aid for North
Korea, where food shortages, poverty and poor health care services have
put the country in a state of "chronic emergency."
(AP, 11/20/03)
2003 Nov 20, The London Privy
Council ruled that Trinidad's mandatory death penalty for murder
convictions was unconstitutional, forcing the country to begin giving
discretion to judges when handing out sentences.
(AP, 11/21/03)
2003 Nov 20, In Turkey trucks
packed with explosives blew up at the HSBC London-based bank and the
British consulate. The 32 people killed included London's
consul-general Roger Short. Some 450 people were wounded.
(AP, 11/20/03)(WSJ, 11/21/03, p.A1)(SFC, 12/1/03,
p.A16)
2004 Nov 20, US Republicans
whisked a $388 billion spending bill through the House.
(AP, 11/20/05)
2004 Nov 20, The new NYC MOMA
opened in midtown Manhattan. Its new tower was designed by Yoshio
Taniguchi.
(Econ, 11/20/04, p.85)
2004 Nov 20, The NBA suspended 9
players without pay over the Nov 19 Piston and Pacer brawl in Auburn
Hills, Mich.
(Econ, 11/27/04, p.34)
2004 Nov 20, Juan Rodriguez (49)
of NYC, a Colombian immigrant and parking garage worker, won the $149
million Mega Millions lottery jackpot. He chose to take a single
payment of $88.5 million before taxes.
(USAT, 11/21/04, p.3A)
2004 Nov 20, Scientist Ancel Keys
(100), died in Minneapolis. He invented the K rations eaten by soldiers
in World War II and who linked high cholesterol and fatty diets to
heart disease.
(AP, 11/20/05)
2004 Nov 20, Fifteen African
presidents and UN chief Kofi Annan signed a common declaration in Dar
es Salaam, Tanzania, to promote peace and security in the Great Lakes
region.
(AFP, 11/20/04)
2004 Nov 20, In China a fire at a
complex of iron mines in Shahe, Hebei province, left 68 dead. Most of
the miners were suffocated by smoke.
(AP, 11/26/04)
2004 Nov 20, An early morning 6.2
earthquake jolted San Jose, Costa Rica, and killed 8 people. Leaders of
21 nations were gathered there for the Ibero-American Summit.
(AP, 11/20/04)
2004 Nov 20, In Baghdad insurgents
attacked a US patrol and a police station, assassinated 4 government
employees and detonated several bombs. One American soldier was killed
and 9 were wounded during clashes that left 3 Iraqi troops and a police
officer dead.
(AP, 11/20/04)
2004 Nov 20, The bodies of nine
Iraqi soldiers, all shot execution-style and seven of them decapitated,
were discovered in the northern city of Mosul.
(AP, 11/20/04)
2004 Nov 20, Germany and the
United States agreed on a proposal to write off as much as 80 percent
of Iraq's debt.
(AP, 11/20/04)
2004 Nov 20, India pulled out
around 3,000 troops from Kashmir.
(AP, 11/20/04)
2004 Nov 20, In southern Italy 8
people from two families were killed when a gas explosion destroyed
their apartment building.
(AP, 11/20/04)
2004 Nov 20, In western Nepal at
least 26 rebel and government soldiers were killed during a clash at a
rebel training camp at Pandon.
(SFC, 11/22/04, p.A3)
2004 Nov 20, In Ojobo, Nigeria, a
protest at an oil rig operated by Shell left 7 people dead.
(SFC, 12/10/04, p.A23)
2004 Nov 20, Palestinians formally
opened the campaign for a successor to Yasser Arafat.
(AP, 11/20/05)
2004 Nov 20, A Polish woman
abducted from her apartment in Baghdad reappeared in Poland after being
suddenly released.
(AP, 11/20/04)
2004 Nov 20, Puerto Rico's two
highest courts ordered election authorities in separate rulings to
immediately begin recounting votes cast in the extremely tight Nov. 2
gubernatorial elections.
(AP, 11/21/04)
2004 Nov 20, In Togo at least 13
people died and others were injured in a crush at a demonstration to
welcome an improvement in relations with the EU.
(Reuters, 11/20/04)
2004 Nov 20, Ugur Kaymaz (12) and
his father Ahmet Kaymaz (30), a Kurdish truck driver from Kiziltepe,
Turkey, were reportedly shot dead by police officers in front of their
house. In 2007 all 4 members of the special forces implicated in the
killings were exonerated.
(www.extrajudicialexecutions.org/communications/turkey.html)(Econ,
6/23/07, p.60)
2005 Nov 20, US President George
W. Bush pressed President Hu Jintao to rein in China's swelling trade
surplus and push forward currency reform after calling for greater
religious freedom. Hu Jintao has rebuffed Bush's calls to allow greater
religious and political freedom but promised to show more flexibility
on Sino-US economic disputes.
(AP, 11/20/05)
2005 Nov 20, In Tacoma, Wash.,
Dominick Sergio Maldonado (20) went on a shooting spree at a crowded
shopping mall. 7 people were injured, one critically, before he was
arrested. Maldonado has been charged with attempted murder and
kidnapping.
(AP, 11/20/06)
2005 Nov 20, Chris Whitley (45), a
chameleon singer-songwriter who oscillated between roots rock 'n' roll,
blues and alt-rock, died of lung cancer in Houston. He recorded 11
albums since his 1991 debut, "Living with the Law," including “Dirt
Floor" (1998) and this year's "Soft Dangerous Shores."
(AP, 11/23/05)
2005 Nov 20, In Brazil TV da Gente
(Our TV), the 1st channel to be directed at Brazil’s black population,
was launched.
(SSFC, 11/27/05, p.A21)
2005 Nov 20, British military said
a British soldier was killed and four wounded by a roadside bomb in
Iraq's southern city of Basra. A total of 98 British soldiers have been
killed in Iraq, including 65 in hostile action, since the US-led
invasion in March 2003.
(AFP, 11/20/05)
2005 Nov 20, China reported two
new outbreaks of bird flu in which almost 3,700 poultry died and more
than 7,000 were culled as provinces hit by the deadly virus tightened
preventive measures.
(Reuters, 11/20/05)
2005 Nov 20, A helicopter carrying
a Colombian congressman and five others crashed Sunday in a storm in
the mountains north of Bogota, killing all aboard. Conservative Party
congressman Roberto Camacho, Cundinamarca state deputy Efren Bejerano
and former Cundinamarca deputy governor Adolfo Leon were among those
killed.
(AP, 11/20/05)
2005 Nov 20, Widespread violence
marred the second round of Egypt's parliamentary vote, with police
saying a campaign worker was shot and killed in Alexandria and
witnesses reporting scores of injuries. Police arrested 400 Muslim
Brotherhood activists in a crackdown on the Islamist group.
(AP, 11/20/05)(Reuters, 11/20/05)
2005 Nov 20, Tropical Storm Gamma
weakened into a tropical depression after it deluged the Central
American coast, killing 14 people in Honduras and Belize. 2 US
newlyweds were among the dead in Belize.
(AP, 11/20/05)(WSJ, 11/22/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 20, Iran’s Parliament
approved a bill requiring the government to block international
inspections of its atomic facilities if the UN nuclear monitoring
agency refers Iran to the Security Council for possible sanctions.
(AP, 11/20/05)
2005 Nov 20, In Iraq a car bomb
exploded by a convoy carrying the mayor of Madaen killing 5 civilians.
3 bodies, all blindfolded and shot in the head, were found in Sadr
City. A headless body was found south of Baghdad. A policeman was shot
dead in Baghdad. A roadside bomb in Baghdad killed a child and wounded
5 others. A US soldier was killed by small arms fire north of Baghdad.
A US marine died from wounds suffered the previous day in Karma.
(SFC, 11/21/05, p.A6)
2005 Nov 20, Israel's dovish Labor
Party voted Sunday to pull out of PM Ariel Sharon's coalition
government, virtually assuring early general elections in March.
(AP, 11/20/05)
2005 Nov 20, Project manager
Junichiro Kawaguchi said Hayabusa, a Japanese spacecraft, has failed to
land on the Itokawa asteroid in the 2nd setback for the landmark
mission aiming to bring samples from such a celestial body to Earth for
the first time. The space agency, after evaluating more data, said on
Nov 23 that Hayabusa did land for a half-hour, but failed to collect
any material.
(AFP, 11/20/05)(SFC, 11/23/05, p.A16)
2005 Nov 20, Russian President
Vladimir Putin started a three-day visit to Japan but it appears
unlikely there will be any progress in settling a 60-year territorial
dispute that has prevented the two nations from formally ending World
War II hostilities.
(AP, 11/20/05)
2005 Nov 20, In Turkey 12 people
were detained after Kurdish demonstrators hurled Molotov cocktails and
stones at the police during a protest in Istanbul.
(AFP, 11/20/05)
2005 Nov 20, The Vatican beatified
13 Mexicans who died during a Roman Catholic uprising in the late 1920s
that was crushed by the Mexican government.
(AP, 11/20/05)
2005 Nov 20, Zimbabwe President
Robert Mugabe said he will turn to nuclear power by processing recently
discovered uranium deposits to resolve its chronic electricity shortage.
(AP, 11/20/05)
2006 Nov 20, President Bush in
Indonesia shrugged off protests that greeted him in the world's most
populous Muslim nation, calling it a sign of a healthy democracy. Bush
praised Indonesia's "pluralism and its diversity" and said that the
world should look to the predominantly Muslim country as an example.
(AP, 11/20/06)
2006 Nov 20, The US Mint announced
designs for new one-dollar coins that will feature images of the
presidents beginning in February.
(SFC, 11/20/06, p.A1)
2006 Nov 20, Six imams were
removed from a US Airways flight at Minneapolis-St. Paul International
Airport after passengers reported they were acting suspiciously.
(AP, 11/20/07)
2006 Nov 20, O.J. Simpson's book
and TV special were canceled, an astonishing end to an imaginary
confession that had sickened the public as the very worst kind of
tabloid sensation. "If I Did It," in which Simpson was to have
described how he would have killed his ex-wife, had been scheduled to
air as a two-part interview Nov. 27 and Nov. 29 on Fox. The book was to
have followed on Nov. 30. Harper Collins said all copies would be
destroyed. The book was later brought out by a different publisher.
(AP, 11/20/06)(SFC, 11/24/06, p.A3)(AP, 11/20/07)
2006 Nov 20, A bus crash in
Huntsville, Alabama, killed 3 teenage girls and left at least 30
students injured. A 4th student died the next day.
(SFC, 11/21/06, p.A3)(SFC, 11/22/06, p.A3)
2006 Nov 20, Robert Altman
(b.1925), film director, producer and writer, died in Los Angeles. His
numerous films included “M*A*S*H” (1970) and “Nashville” (1975).
(SFC, 11/22/06, p.A1)(Econ, 11/25/06, p.87)
2006 Nov 20, Dirk Dirksen
(b.1937), the godfather of San Francisco punk rock, died. He moved to
SF in 1974 and soon began presenting late-night events at the Mabuhay
Gardens in North Beach, where punk rock found a home.
(SFC, 11/22/06, p.B7)
2006 Nov 20, British PM Tony Blair
told soldiers fighting a resurgent Taliban that success in Afghanistan
would be a step toward global security, and pledged Britain's
commitment to the war-torn country "for as long as it takes."
(AP, 11/20/06)
2006 Nov 20, In Austria 35 nations
tried to find common ground in a fractious session focusing on what to
do about Iran's requests to the UN nuclear watchdog agency for help on
projects including building a plutonium-producing reactor.
(AP, 11/20/06)
2006 Nov 20, British Brig.
Grismond "Gris" Davies-Scourfield died at age 88. He won a Military
Cross for his part in the Allied defense of Calais during World War II
and later escaped from the Nazis holding him prisoner in the notorious
Colditz Castle.
(AP, 12/6/06)
2006 Nov 20, Authorities seized a
50-foot homemade submarine with 3 tons of cocaine off the coast of
Costa Rica.
(SFC, 11/21/06, p.A2)
2006 Nov 20, China’s Pres. Hu
Jintao arrived in New Delhi for the second visit by a Chinese president.
(AP, 11/20/06)
2006 Nov 20, Eritrea and Ethiopia
both rejected plans by a UN-appointed border panel to demarcate their
contentious frontier on paper.
(AFP, 11/21/06)
2006 Nov 20, French prosecutors
approved international arrest warrants for 9 Rwandan officials in
connection with the 1994 attack that killed Rwanda's president,
triggering the central African country's genocide. Magistrate
Jean-Louis Bruguiere also said there was evidence that "Paul Kagame and
members of his military staff devised the operation" to destroy Rwandan
President Juvenal Habyarimana's plane.
(Reuters, 11/21/06)
2006 Nov 20, In Kempten, Germany,
nurse Stephan Letter was convicted of killing 28 of his patients
(2003-2004) at a hospital in Sonthofen, Germany, and sentenced to life
in prison.
(AP, 11/20/06)
2006 Nov 20, In northwest Germany,
Sebastian Bosse (18) with explosives strapped to his body, killed
himself after storming a high school in Emsdetten and injuring several
people with gunfire.
(AP, 11/21/06)
2006 Nov 20, In Guatemala City an
enormous fire broke out at Central America's largest open-air market
killing 15 people, including three minors.
(AP, 11/21/06)
2006 Nov 20, In eastern India an
explosion ripped through two cars of a passenger train, killing at
least 8 people and injuring about 60 people.
(AP, 11/21/06)
2006 Nov 20, Iran invited Iraq and
Syria to talks in Tehran aimed at curbing violence in Iraq.
(SFC, 11/21/06, p.A1)
2006 Nov 20, Assassins killed
Walid Hassan (47), a popular Baghdad television comedian and a
professor at a university south of the capital, but failed in attempts
to kill two government officials as the country's leader met with
Syria's foreign minister about improving security and reopening
diplomatic relations. At least 25 Iraqis were killed in a series of
attacks in Baghdad, Ramadi and Baquba. The bodies of 75 Iraqis, who had
been kidnapped and tortured, were found in Baghdad, Dujail and in the
Tigris River in southern Iraq. It was reported that at least 21
Iraqi interpreters had been kidnapped and shot in the head in Basra
over the last month.
(AP, 11/20/06)(SFC, 11/20/06, p.A9)(AP,
11/21/06)(SFC, 11/21/06, p.A13)
2006 Nov 20, Italian Premier
Romano Prodi’s center-left government got rid of the heads of its 3
intelligence chiefs: military service (SISMI), civil agency (SISDI) and
the coordinating body CESIS.
(Econ, 11/25/06, p.48)
2006 Nov 20, Mexico’s defeated
presidential candidate Lopez Obrador planned to be sworn in as the
country's "legitimate president" as Mexico celebrated its 1910
revolution.
(AP, 11/20/06)
2006 Nov 20, Armed men attacked
the offices of a Nigerian aid group in the southern oil hub of Port
Harcourt, killing one person and wounding another. The dead man had
offered to help find Ateke Tom, a militant wanted by the Nigerian
government in connection with a string of kidnappings and bank
robberies.
(AP, 11/20/06)
2006 Nov 20, A Paraguayan court
dropped corruption charges against former President Luis Gonzalez
Macchi, acknowledging it had failed to meet a deadline for hearing full
testimony on accusations he maintained a secret Swiss bank account.
(AP, 11/20/06)
2006 Nov 20, Gen. Addeh Museh, the
president of the semiautonomous region of Puntland, said he will rule
according to Islamic law, a surprising move in a relatively stable area
that has resisted the spread of Islamic militants who control most of
southern Somalia.
(AP, 11/20/06)
2006 Nov 20, In South Africa
police said Ananias Mathe, a Mozambican national awaiting trial on
rape, murder and other charges, escaped from Pretoria's C-Max
prison by greasing himself up with petroleum jelly and squeezing
out of a tiny window. This was the first reported escape at the top
security prison in its 36-year history. On Dec 4 Mathe was shot and
captured.
(AP, 11/20/06)(AFP, 12/4/06)
2006 Nov 20, Sudan’s President
Omar al-Bashir's government hailed a new agreement with the UN over
peacekeepers in Darfur as a diplomatic breakthrough, but said serious
differences remain over the force's makeup and command.
(AP, 11/20/06)
2006 Nov 20, In Turkey police
arrested 29 leftist activists who broke into The Associated Press
office in Ankara to protest alleged mistreatment of prisoners.
(AP, 11/20/06)
2006 Nov 20, Uzbekistan blocked a
UN resolution backed by the US and Western nations criticizing its
human rights violations, including the harassment, beatings and arrests
of journalists and civil activists.
(AP, 11/20/06)
2007 Nov 20, Freddie Mac, the
larger US buyer and guarantor of home loans, reported a $2 billion loss
for the 3rd quarter and warned that it may need to raise fresh capital.
Fannie Mae, another US mortgage guarantor, had already posted a $1.4
billion loss earlier in the month.
(SFC, 11/21/07, p.C1)(Econ, 11/24/07, p.76)
2007 Nov 20, In Utah polygamist
leader Warren Jeffs, self-proclaimed prophet of a breakaway Mormon
sect, was sentenced to 10 years to life in prison for forcing a
14-year-old to marry her first cousin.
(Reuters, 11/21/07)
2007 Nov 20, Crude-oil futures
surged to a record high settling at $98.03 a barrel on the NY
Mercantile Exchange.
(WSJ, 11/21/07, p.C8)
2007 Nov 20, Researchers said they
have decoded the gene map of a strain of extensively drug-resistant
tuberculosis and that their work has identified mutations that may help
develop better treatments.
(AP, 11/21/07)
2007 Nov 20, Scientists in Japan
and the US reported that they have made ordinary human skin cells take
on the chameleon-like powers of embryonic stem cells, a startling
breakthrough that might someday deliver the medical payoffs of embryo
cloning without the controversy.
(AP, 11/20/07)
2007 Nov 20, In SF large grocery
stores stopped using plastic bags as a new city ordnance banning the
bags took effect.
(SFC, 11/20/07, p.D1)
2007 Nov 20, British Treasury
chief Alistair Darling revealed a lapse at Britain's tax and customs
service regarding missing computer disks with details of 25 million
British individuals and 7.25 million families claiming child benefit.
There were gasps from lawmakers when Darling described the scale of the
loss.
(AP, 11/21/07)(Econ, 11/24/07, p.24)
2007 Nov 20, In Cambodia Kaing
Guek Eav (66), also known as Duch, the head of the Khmer Rouge's
largest and most notorious torture center appeared in court in the
first public session of the long-delayed UN-backed tribunal probing the
regime's reign of terror in the 1970s.
(AP, 11/20/07)
2007 Nov 20, A Chinese court
sentenced a Tibetan nomad to eight years in prison for seeking Tibetan
independence after he urged a crowd to proclaim loyalty to the Dalai
Lama.
(AP, 11/20/07)
2007 Nov 20, In China Huang
Qingnan (34), a workers’ rights advocate in Shenzhen, was severely
beaten and stabbed by thugs believed to have been hired by Chinese
companies opposed to labor activism.
(SFC, 1/7/08, p.A18)
2007 Nov 20, The Paris-based World
Association of Newspapers said imprisoned Chinese journalist Li
Changqing has been awarded the Golden Pen of Freedom, its annual press
freedom prize.
(AP, 11/20/07)
2007 Nov 20, A landslide in
central China buried a bus. Workers clearing rocks from the landslide
discovered the bus underneath rubble three days later and recovered 29
bodies, that included 28 inside the bus. The landslide raised concern
that the massive reservoir of the Three Gorges Dam, 120 miles away, was
wreaking ecological havoc in the region. The death toll later increased
to 34.
(AP, 11/23/07)(AP, 11/24/07)(AP, 12/3/07)
2007 Nov 20, It was reported that
Congo is setting aside more than 11,000 square miles of rain forest to
help protect the endangered bonobo, a great ape that is the most
closely related to humans and is found only in this Central African
country.
(AP, 11/21/07)
2007 Nov 20, Travel woes piled up
in France with air traffic delays adding to a week of rail strikes as
many of the nation's 5 million civil servants held a day-long walkout
in the biggest test of President Nicolas Sarkozy's appetite for reform.
(AP, 11/20/07)
2007 Nov 20, A British Puma
helicopter crashed southeast of Baghdad, killing two soldiers and
seriously injuring two others. A sophisticated roadside bomb killed a
US soldier and an Iraqi interpreter and wounded three other soldiers on
patrol in eastern Baghdad.
(AP, 11/21/07)
2007 Nov 20, Israel’s PM Olmert
met with Egypt’s Pres. Mubarek and said a peace deal with the
Palestinians can be signed within a year.
(WSJ, 11/21/07, p.A1)
2007 Nov 20, Israel signed an
agreement with Liberia to extract diamonds from the African nation,
seven months after sanctions barring Liberia from exporting the gems
were lifted.
(AFP, 11/20/07)
2007 Nov 20, Jordan held
elections. Supporters of King Abdullah II, a close US ally, handily
defeated the country's Islamist opposition in parliamentary elections,
dropping their number of parliament seats by nearly two-thirds.
(AP, 11/21/07)
2007 Nov 20, Officials said
Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua will not allow his country to be used
as a base for the proposed US African military command AFRICOM.
(AFP, 11/20/07)
2007 Nov 20, The British
government announced that the legal age of sexual consent in Northern
Ireland will be lowered to 16 in line with the rest of the United
Kingdom.
(AP, 11/21/07)
2007 Nov 20, Pakistan’s Interior
Ministry said more than 3,000 people jailed under emergency rule have
been released, the latest sign that President Gen. Pervez Musharraf was
rolling back some of the harsher measures taken against his opponents.
Over 2,000 remained jailed. The government said the army had killed 15
militants in Shangla as Pres. Musharraf left for a visit to Saudi
Arabia.
(AP, 11/20/07)
2007 Nov 20, President Vladimir
Putin said that Russia's decision to suspend its participation in a key
arms control treaty was a necessary response to NATO "muscle-flexing"
near its frontiers. The 1990 Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE)
treaty, which originally set limits on weapons of NATO and Warsaw Pact
countries, was revised in 1999. Russia ratified the updated treaty in
2004, but the US and other NATO members have refused to follow suit,
saying Moscow first must fulfill obligations to withdraw forces from
Georgia and from Moldova's separatist Trans-Dniester region.
(AP, 11/20/07)
2007 Nov 20, In Singapore
Southeast Asian leaders (ASEAN) adopted a landmark charter but their
vision to create an EU-style bloc faced hurdles because of concerns
over Myanmar, whose military rulers have defied international calls to
restore democracy.
(AP, 11/20/07)(Econ, 11/24/07, p.43)
2007 Nov 20, Ian Smith (88),
Rhodesia's last white prime minister, died in South Africa . His
attempts to resist black rule dragged the country, later renamed as
Zimbabwe, into isolation and civil war.
(AP, 11/20/07)(SFC, 11/23/07, p.B14)(Econ, 11/24/07,
p.92)
2008 Nov 20, A US federal judge
ordered the release of five Algerians held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and
the continued detention of a sixth in a major blow to the Bush
administration's strategy to keep terror suspects locked up without
charges.
(AP, 11/20/08)
2008 Nov 20, US Congressional
efforts to rescue Detroit’s auto makers collapsed with lawmakers saying
the industry lacks credibility to return to profitability. Democrats
asked for a convincing turnaround plan by Dec 2.
(WSJ, 11/21/08, p.A1)
2008 Nov 20, The DJIA fell 444.99
to its lowest level since March, 2003.
(SFC, 11/21/08, p.C1)
2008 Nov 20, In Afghanistan US-led
forces killed an Afghan civilian in a battle that also left two
militants dead.
(AP, 11/23/08)
2008 Nov 20, The new Australian
Sex Party launched at Sexpo, an annual sex exhibition in Melbourne. It
has already gathered the required 500 members and plans to register
with the electoral commission next week.
(AP, 11/20/08)
2008 Nov 20, The UN Security
Council voted unanimously to extend the European Union's peacekeeping
force in Bosnia for a year, emphasizing the importance of the country's
progress towards Euro-Atlantic integration.
(AP, 11/20/08)
2008 Nov 20, Britain called on
Rwandan President Paul Kagame to use his "influence" over Congolese
rebels led by general Laurent Nkunda to end to violence in eastern
Democratic Republic of Congo.
(AFP, 11/20/08)
2008 Nov 20, A meteor streaked
across the sky of the Canadian Prairies producing a fire ball that
shone brightly enough to be seen over an area 700 km (435 miles) wide.
Searchers soon found the remains of the 10-ton meteor.
(AP, 11/28/08)
2008 Nov 20, In southwestern
Colombia the Nevado del Huila volcano erupted and loosed avalanches of
mud and ash that injured nine, destroyed bridges and trapped people in
their towns. At least 10 people died in landslides triggered by the
eruption.
(AP, 11/22/08)(SFC, 11/29/08, p.B6)
2008 Nov 20, Dubai held a launch
party for its Atlantis Hotel.
(Econ, 12/20/08, p.115)
2008 Nov 20, Egypt held emergency
talks with nations bordering the Red Sea on how to stop Somali gunmen
from hijacking ships. Somali pirates had already seized at least 80
ships off the Horn of Africa this year.
(SFC, 11/21/08, p.A13)
2008 Nov 20, The European Union
formally recognized Welsh, which dates back to the 6th century, as a
minority tongue. It became an official tongue in Wales in 1993, 450
years after British rulers gave it the boot in favor of English.
(AP, 11/20/08)
2008 Nov 20, Finland's Finance
Ministry said four Nordic countries will lend Iceland $2.5 billion
(euro1.98 billion) to help the country recover from its economic
meltdown.
(AP, 11/20/08)
2008 Nov 20, The 2008 edition of
Beaujolais Nouveau wine arrived, and vintners hoped it will lift
spirits despite the financial crisis and a dismal crop.
(AP, 11/20/08)
2008 Nov 20, Georgian officials
said Russian and separatist forces attacked a Georgian police
checkpoint near the village of Ganmukhuri, near the breakaway province
of Abkhazia. Anatoly Zaitsev, the chief of staff for the Abkhaz armed
forces, said that a group of Abkhaz troops patrolling the area were
shelled from the Georgian side and returned fire, and no Russian troops
were involved.
(AP, 11/20/08)
2008 Nov 20, Iraqi opposition
lawmakers shouted and pounded their desks in protest in a second day of
emotional debate in parliament over a proposed agreement with the US
that would allow American forces to stay in Iraq for three more years.
Baghdad authorities announced a campaign to kill stray dogs who roam
the Iraqi capital in packs, after a spate of fatal dog attacks left
children in some neighborhoods fearful of going outside. An American
soldier died of non-combat-related causes.
(AP, 11/20/08)(AP, 11/21/08)
2008 Nov 20, Jewish settlers in
Hebron spray-painted graffiti on a mosque slurring the Prophet Muhammad
and defaced a Muslim cemetery, Israeli military officials said,
threatening to worsen tensions in this volatile West Bank city.
(AP, 11/20/08)
2008 Nov 20, Latvia said it is
looking to start talks with IMF and had formally entered into
negotiations with the European Commission on emergency financial
assistance.
(WSJ, 11/21/08, p.A10)
2008 Nov 20, US oil group Chevron
suspended export contracts on much of its Nigerian production after a
militant attack on a key pipeline. Chevron said it was declaring "force
majeure" until December 31 following the Nov 14 attack on the pipeline
which carries supplies to its Escravos terminal in the Niger Delta.
(AFP, 11/20/08)
2008 Nov 20, The Norwegian
government said it has picked the US developed F-35 Joint Strike
Fighter to replace its aging US-made F-16 aircraft in a roughly 60
billion kroner ($8.5 billion) deal.
(AP, 11/20/08)
2008 Nov 20, In Pakistan a
militant Taliban group warned of reprisals if there was another US
drone attack, as the government condemned the latest missile strike in
its territory. A suicide bomber killed at least four people when he
blew himself up at a mosque northwest of Khar, the main town in the
troubled Bajaur tribal region. Pakistani jets and artillery killed 17
people, including up to four Uzbek commanders, as they pounded
suspected Taliban and Al-Qaeda hideouts in Bajaur overnight and into
the morning. Pakistani jets also killed 20 militants in attacks on
militant centers in the northwestern Swat valley. A suicide bomber
attacked a mosque in the border region where government-backed
anti-militant tribesman were praying, killing 8, including the head of
the group.
(AFP, 11/20/08)(AP, 11/21/08)
2008 Nov 20, In the Philippines a
mother and her 3 children were among the six people killed after a
mudslide triggered by days of heavy rain buried houses in a southern
gold mining town.
(AP, 11/21/08)
2008 Nov 20, Boris Fyodorov (50),
Russian economic reformer, died.
(Econ, 11/29/08, p.88)
2008 Nov 20, The UN Security
Council voted unanimously to impose sanctions on pirates, arms
smugglers, and perpetrators of instability in Somalia in a fresh
attempt to help end years of lawlessness in the Horn of Africa nation.
(AP, 11/20/08)
2008 Nov 20, South Africa said it
will withhold aid for Zimbabwe until a representative government is in
place, in what appeared to be the first punitive measure by a regional
country to enforce a power-sharing agreement.
(AP, 11/20/08)
2008 Nov 20, South Korean
activists sent propaganda leaflets over the border into North Korea,
ignoring their own government's pleas to stop the practice and threats
from the North to sever relations if it continues.
(AP, 11/20/08)
2008 Nov 20, Sri Lanka's military
said that it smashed a key Tamil Tiger defense line in the island's far
north and seized an airfield, putting new pressure on the shrinking
jungle mini-state.
(AFP, 11/20/08)
2008 Nov 20, The International
Criminal Court prosecutor requested arrest warrants for rebels in
Sudan's Darfur region, accusing them of storming an African Union camp
and killing 12 peacekeepers in Sep, 2007.
(Reuters, 11/20/08)
2008 Nov 20, Switzerland’s central
bank cut its benchmark interest by a full percentage point, the latest
in a global round of aggressive rate cuts amid stuttering economic
growth.
(WSJ, 11/21/08, p.A16)
2008 Nov 20, In Thailand a grenade
attack on demonstrators occupying the Thai premier's offices killed one
person and wounded 29, prompting protest leaders to call for a new
march against the government.
(AFP, 11/20/08)
2008 Nov 19, Turkey’s central bank
cuts its core overnight borrowing rate by .5% to 16.25%.
(WSJ, 11/20/08, p.A15)
2008 Nov 20, The UN Security
Council voted unanimously to send some 3,000 additional UN peacekeepers
to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to help prevent a new war in
the country's east.
(AP, 11/20/08)
2008 Nov 20, Vietnam's president
Nguyen Minh Triet was set to meet Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, during
the first visit by a head of state from the communist nation here,
mainly focused on oil and gas ties.
(AP, 11/20/08)
2008 Nov 20, In Vietnam family
planning chiefs said officials in Communist Vietnam, alarmed by a new
baby boom, are to crack down on couples having more than two children.
The government first launched a two-child policy in the early 1960s. A
2003 ordinance encouraged small families without making it illegal for
families to have a third child.
(AFP, 11/20/08)
2008 Nov 20, The US ambassador to
Harare, James McGee, said that a total of 294 people have been
confirmed dead from cholera in Zimbabwe, amid some 1,200 cases of the
water-borne disease.
(AFP, 11/20/08)
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