Unix Timestamp: 974937600
Thursday, November 23. 2000, 12:00:00 AM UTC

The European Space Agency claims to have made contact with Russia's stranded Fobos-Grunt probe, two days after the closure of the spacecraft's window for launch to Mars. //news.discovery.com/space/lost-russian-mars-probe-phones-home-111123.html (Discovery.com)

Cambodia declares a day of mourning for at least 378 people killed in a stede in the capital Phnom Penh. //www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11817826 (BBC)

Clarence House confirms that Prince William and Catherine Middleton are to be married at Westminster Abbey on Friday 29 April 2011. //www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11818049 (BBC)

North Korea shells Yeonpyeong island, South Korea at 14:34 local time in response to South Korean shelling close to the North Korean border during military drills. The North's shelling kills two marines and prompts a military response by the South in one of the most serious clashes since the 1953 armistice of the Korean War. //www.stuff.co.nz/world/asia/4378199/North-Korea-shells-South-Korean-island (YTN Television) //www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11818005 (BBC) //english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2010/11/23/95/0301000000AEN20101123011500315F.HTML (Yonhap) //www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2010-11/23/content_11597881.htm ("China Daily")//www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3241739/North-Korea-fire-sparks-outrage.html ("The Sun" UK)

North KoreashellsYeonpyeong Island, prompting a military response by South Korea. The incident caused an escalation of tension on the Korean Peninsula and prompted widespread international condemnation. The United Nations declared it to be one of the most serious incidents since the end of the Korean War.

Forty three people, including a local politician and about a dozen journalists, are killed in a massacre in Maguindanao, Philippines.//www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=526314publicationSubCategoryId=63 (The Philippine Star)

21 bodies are discovered so far after a convoy of around 50 people including politicians, journalists and supporters is hijacked by dozens of armed gunmen in Maguindanao, southern Philippines. //www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ha6FJ6JRsaJkvGnvppty2USWW8UAD9C56ONG0 (AP) //newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20091123-237934/Wife-of-gubernatorial-bet-35-killed-in-Maguindanao ("Philippine Inquirer") //www.gmanews.tv/story/177644/maguindanao-poll-related-massacre-claims-at-least-36-lives (GMA News)

Clashes break out between refugees from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan at an Australian immigration centre on Christmas Island. //news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8373560.stm (BBC) //news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-11/23/content_12525172.htm (Xinhua) //www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/11/23/2751302.htm?section=australia (ABC News)

The first atom collisions have taken place in the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, near Geneva, Switzerland. //www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/physics/article6928411.ece ("The Times") //news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8372737.stm (BBC News)

In the Philippines, at least 58 are abducted and killed in an election-related massacre in the province of Maguindanao. This appears to be the deadliest attack on journalists in recent history.ref name=pdi

The government of Burundi abolishes capital punishment and bans homosexuality. Genocide and war crimes are now recognized as illegal activities. //www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2item_no=256152version=1template_id=39parent_id=21 (Gulf Times)

Human rights activists and opposition politicians in Russia's southern republic of Ingushetia say that the predominantly Muslim region is now in a state of civil war. //news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7743551.stm (BBC)

Scientists led by the University of Calgary are searching for the remains of a meteorite that is believed to have struck northern Canada, around the border of Alberta and Saskatchewan, overnight. //www.cbc.ca/canada/saskatchewan/story/2008/11/21/meteor-close.html (CBC)

A series of car bombs and mortar attacks in Sadr City, Baghdad, kill at least 215 people and injure 257 other people.

Sectarian war in Iraq: A series of car bombs and mortar attacks in the predominantly Shi'a Sadr City area of Baghdad kills at least 202 people and wounds another 257. The incidents comprise the deadliest coordinated attack since the Iraq War started. //news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6177356.stm (BBC) //www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/MAC343627.htm (Reuters)

Indian newspapers reported on the results of an in-depth //www.ciet.org/www/image/download/Pak2002baseline.pdf 2002 survey of 57,321 Pakistanis in 89 districts of Pakistan. Although the survey was primarily concerned with the performance of local governments, the newspapers mischaracterized its results as the utter dissatisfaction of Pakistanis with the government of Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf.//www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=26297//timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/297394.cms//origin.ndtv.com/template/template.asp?template=id=45317callid=1

EADS, the largest European aircraft company, is doing preliminary work on a hypersonic passenger aircraft that would take the place of the recently retired Concorde the planning includes collaboration with Japanese firms and Ministry of International Trade and Industry. //news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3231354.stm However, its subsidiary Airbus' A380 'super-jumbo' sub-sonic vehicle is the product expected to become the dominant commercial aircraft in the near-future. //www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=businessNewsstoryID=3877882

10,000 trade unionists, environmentalists, and farm workers march in Miami to protest against the Free Trade Area of the Americas expansion meeting. Other street protests erupt into violent confrontations with police several times throughout the day. Protester sources indicate upwards of 250 protesters incarcerated, along with reports of physical and sexual assault while in custody. //www.infoshop.org/inews/stories.php?story=03/11/15/8771331//www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03/11/22/0011213//www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1122-03.htm//www.ictsd.org/weekly/03-11-19/story3.htm//www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/7266885.htm Other demonstrations take place in cities throughout the Americas.

In the Netherlands, Volkert van der Graaf confessed to the murder of Pim Fortuyn. He said he acted alone and did it to protect vulnerable groups in society.

Following riots and killings in Nigeria, Miss World contest organizers leave and reconvene in London

Former Korean president Chun Doo Hwan publicly apologizes for corruption during his presidency, announcing he will go into exile.

EgyptAir Flight 648 is hijacked by the Abu Nidal group and flown to Malta, where Egyptian commandos storm the plane 60 are killed by gunfire and explosions.

Iran-Contra scandal: U.S. PresidentRonald Reagan signs the top secret National Security Decision Directive 17 (NSDD-17), authorizing the Central Intelligence Agency to recruit and support Contra rebels in Nicaragua.

Italy Earthquake of 1980: a magnitude 7 earthquake in southern Italy kills approximately 4,800 people and leaves 300,000 homeless.

In Dublin, Ireland, Provisional Irish Republican Army member Thomas McMahon is sentenced to life in prison for the assassination of Lord Mountbatten of Burma.

During a severe thunderstorm over Washington, a man calling himself D. B. Cooper parachutes from the Northwest Orient Airlines plane he hijacked, with US$200,000 in ransom money, and is never seen again (as of March 2008, this case remains the only unsolved skyjacking in history).

A Brussels court sentences pretender Alexis Brimeyer to 18 months in jail for falsely using a noble title Brimeyer has already fled to Greece.

The People's Republic of China takes the Republic of China's seat on the United Nations Security Council (see China and the United Nations).

The People\\'s Republic of China takes the Republic of China's seat on the United Nations Security Council (see China and the United Nations).

Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Oklahoma!" makes its network TV debut, when CBS telecasts the 1955 film version as a 3-hour Thanksgiving special.

November 24 ndash The Guinean army repels the landing attempts.

Soviet general Mikhail Kazakov assumes command of the Warsaw Pact.

Spiegel scandal: German police end their occupation of "Der Spiegel"'s offices.

United Airlines Flight 297 crashes in Columbia, Maryland, killing all 17 on board.

Mies Bouwman starts presenting the first live TV-marathon fundraising show ("Open Het Dorp"), which lasts 23 hours non-stop.

The radio version of "Have Gun - Will Travel" premieres. It is one of the last dramas to go on the air on commercial radio. Only some NPR stations will broadcast radio dramas in years to come.

The Suez Crisis causes petrol rationing in Britain.//news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/29/newsid_3247000/3247805.stm Motorists panic as petrol rations loom, BBC news

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rises 3.27 points, or 0.86%, closing at an all-time high of 382.74. More significantly, this is the first time the Dow has surpassed its 1929 peak level reached just before that year's crash.

The Deutsche Opernhaus on Bismarckstraße in the Berlin neighborhood of Charlottenburg is destroyed. It is rebuilt in 1961 and called the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

WWII: A German U-boat sinks the SS "Ben Lomond" off the coast of Brazil. One crewman, Chinese second steward Poon Lim, is separated from the others and spends 130 days adrift until he is rescued on April 3, 1943.

The first edition of "Life Magazine" is published.

Jacques and Thérèse Tréfouël, Daniel Bovet and Federico Nitti, in the laboratory of Ernest Fourneau at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, discover that sulfanilamide is the active component of Prontosil.J. et T. Tréfouël, F. Nitti et D. Bovet, Activité du "p"-aminophénylsulfamide sur l’infection streptococcique expérimentale de la souris et du lapin, "C. R. Soc. Biol.", "'120"', 23 november 1935, p. 756

An Anglo-Ethiopian boundary commission in the Ogaden discovers an Italian garrison at Walwal, which lays well within Ethiopian territory. This encounter leads to the Abyssinia Crisis.

Gustav Stresemann's coalition government collapses in Germany.

The Bolsheviks release the full text of the previously secret Sykes-Picot Agreement in "Izvestia" and "Pravda" it is subsequently printed in the "Manchester Guardian" on November 26.

WWI ndash Eastern Front: Bucharest, the capital of Romania, is occupied by troops of the Central Powers.

The "Triangle Film Corporation" opens its new motion picture theater in Massillon, Ohio.

U.S. troops withdraw from Veracruz. Venustiano Carranza's troops take over and Carranza makes the town his headquarters.

Colorado Governor James Hamilton Peabody sends the state militia into the town of Cripple Creek to break up a miners' strike.

In West Point, New York, the United States Navy defeats the United States Army 24–0 in the first Army–Navy Game.

November ndash Scotland Yard, headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service, moves to a building on London's Victoria Embankment, as the New Scotland Yard.

King William III of the Netherlands dies without a male heir, and his daughter Princess Wilhelmina becomes Queen, causing Luxembourg (who required a male heir) to declare independence.

The Meiji Constitution goes into effect in Japan and the first Diet convenes.

December ndash The British steamship "Shanghai" burns in the East China Sea off the coast of Anhui Province 200 lives are lost.//query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F20C10FB395D15738DDDA10A94DA415B8085F0D3 Two Hundred Drowned - Panic among the Chinese on the burned steamer "Shanghai"

The first jukebox goes into operation at the Palais Royale Saloon in San Francisco.

Corrupt Tammany Hall leader William Marcy Tweed (better known as Boss Tweed) is delivered to authorities in New York City after being captured in Spain.

In Dumbarton, Scotland, the clipper ship "Cutty Sark" is launched (it is one of the last clippers built, and the only one to survive into the 21st century).ref name=Pocket On This Day/

The so-called Manchester Martyrs are hanged in Manchester, England for the murder of a policeman whilst attempting to rescue two Irish men from jail.

American Civil War ndash The Battle of Chattanooga III begins: Union forces led by General Ulysses S. Grant reinforce troops at Chattanooga, Tennessee and counter-attack Confederate troops.

James Madison defeats Charles C. Pinckney in the U.S. presidential election.

December ndash Napoleon joins his army in Spain.

Swedish troops evacuate Finland. Tsar Alexander I of Russia proclaims Finland a part of Russia.

Battle of Tudela: French Marshal Lannes defeats a Spanish army.

The Province of Carolina incorporates New Bern as Newbern (the town later becomes the capital of North Carolina).

Christian von Wolff is banned from Prussia on a charge of atheism.

The Province of Carolina incorporates Beaufort, North Carolina as the Port of Beaufort, making it the third incorporated town in the province.

The Four Seasons, a set of violin concertos by Antonio Vivaldi, was composed.

Pope Clement XI succeeds Pope Innocent XII as the 243rd pope.

A group of 1,500 Old Believers immolate themselves to avoid capture when troops of the tsar lay siege to their monastery on Lake Onega.

French mathematician, scientist, and religious philosopher Blaise Pascal experiences an intense mystical vision that marks him for life.

"Areopagitica" by John Milton is published.

Thirty Years\\\' War ndash Battle of Humenné: Polish troops assist the Holy Roman Emperor by defeating a Transylvanian force, forcing Gabor Bethlen to raise his siege of Vienna.

Spanish–German–Papal forces under Prosper Colonna force FrenchMarshalOdet de Lautrec to abandon Milan.

Ryazan is annexed by Moscow.

Student rebellion in Erfurt.

Jacopo Berengario da Carpi publishes "Commentaria cum lissimus additionibus super anatomiam Mundini" in Bologna, including observation of the vermiform appendix.

San Juan Bautista is founded in the Puerto Rican archipelago.

Perkin Warbeck, pretender to the throne of England, is hanged for reportedly attempting to escape from the Tower of London.

First Siege of Krujë: Albanian victory Ottoman army of approximately 100,000 men retreats from Albania.

The Age of Discovery begins.

Machu Picchu (Quechua: Machu Pikchu, Old mountain) a pre-ColumbianInca site located 2,400 meters (7,875 ft) above sea level believed to be under construction.

Wolves enter Paris and kill 40 citizens.

David Holbache founds Oswestry School, the first independent school in Wales.

Rudolfo Belenzani leads a revolt against Bishop Georg von Liechtenstein in Trento, Italy.

The Ming Dynasty of China under the Yongle Emperor invades and conquers Vietnam, renaming the area Annam, after abandoning its support for reestablishing the Trần Dynasty over the Hồ dynasty. The new regime will be ousted in 1428.

The Duke of Orleans is assassinated war breaks out again between the Burgundians and his followers.

Polish Prince Leszek I the White is assassinated at an assembly of Piast dukes at Gąsawa.

According to Russian chronicles, Novgorod attacks Finland with devastating results.

Henry III of England declares himself of age and assumes power.

Dogen introduces Zen Buddhism into Japan.

The Estonian ancient fight for independence ends with foreign rule in the country for next 700 years.

Emperor Rokujō ascends to the throne of Japan at the age of one.

Henry II of England begins an affair with Rosamund Clifford.

The adventurer Gerald the Fearless, vassal of the king of Portugal, seizes the city Evora by surprise. The same year (or soon after), he takes Cacéres, Trujillo, Montánchez, Lobon, Moura, Monsaraz and Alconchel.

William I becomes King of Scotland.

Henry II of England invades Wales but is defeated at the Battle of Crogen and forced to retreat.

The Muslims take Caesarea Philippi from the Crusaders.

Leipzig gains city and market privileges.

Byzantine EmperorAndronicus I escapes from prison.

Construction of the Liuhe Pagoda of Hangzhou, China, is completed in this year during the Song Dynasty.

The town of Pistoia obtains the appellation of imperio fidelissima from Frederick I as faithful of the emperor.

Pope Alexander III enters Rome.