December 19, 2006 (Tuesday)
- Somalia War: Somalia's Islamic Courts Union (ICU) say they are finalising plans to fight Ethiopian forces deployed in the country as a seven-day ultimatum for Ethiopia to pull out its troops nears its deadline. (Al-Jazeera)
- Kyrgyz Prime Minister Felix Kulov resigns, automatically dismissing the Ministers of the Kyrgyz government, after political parties throughout the country called on him to resign. Deputy Prime Minister Daniar Usenov says President Kurmanbek Bakiyev should dissolve the Parliament and hold elections. (RFE/RL)
- Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev condemns the Iranian government for acting "as the center of growing insecurity in Asia" by supporting terrorism, weapons and drug trafficking, the spread of weapons of mass destruction, and illegal migration. The Foreign Ministry later says news agencies misquoted him. (IRNA)
- Palestinian civil skirmishes:
- Five people have been killed and 12 injured after gun battles erupted between armed Palestinians loyal to Hamas and Fatah in the Gaza Strip. (Al-Jazeera)
- The Prime Minister of Palestine Ismail Haniyeh calls for an end to the fighting and for all factions to unite in the fight against Israel. (AP via Boston Globe)
- Hugo Chávez announces his plans to merge the parties which support the Bolivarian Revolution into the United Socialist Party of Venezuela. (BBC)
- Further cases of patients and staff infected with a new strain of MRSA are revealed in a UK hospital after two people die from the superbug. (The Times)
- A Libyan court sentences five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor to death for allegedly knowingly infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV. (BBC)
- 2006 Ipswich murder investigation: Police investigating the murder of five women in Ipswich, Suffolk arrest a second man on suspicion of their murders. (BBC)
- Chilean congress approves the creation of two new administrative regions within the country. (Peoples Daily)