October 19, 2006 (Thursday)
- U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth rules that Mohammad Munaf, a United States citizen, can be transferred to Iraqi authorities to face a death sentence over the kidnapping of three Romanian journalists in 2005 around Baghdad. (AP via New York Times)
- U.S. Army Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV states that Operation Together Forward, a coalition operation against the Iraqi insurgency in Baghdad, has not met expectations. (Washington Post)
- Tan D. Nguyen, a Republican candidate for California's 47th congressional district in Orange County, California, denies authorizing a letter warning Hispanic immigrants that they could go to jail or be deported if they vote next month, a mailing that prompted an investigation by the state government. (CBS News)
- An Uzbek military Antonov An-2 aircraft crashes near Tashkent, Uzbekistan, killing all of the 15 people on board. The Uzbek Emergency Ministry says the pilots lost control of the plane while trying to land. (BBC)
- Scientists at Duke University have created a device out of metamaterials that makes objects harder to detect at microwave frequencies. (LiveScience)
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average index closes at a record high just above 12,000 points in today's trading, as investors welcome the latest batch of corporate earnings. (The Australian)
- Jendayi Frazer, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, accuses Eritrea of arming the Islamic Courts Union in Somalia and of attacking Ethiopia. (Financial Times)
- A spokesman for New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer says that a judge has ordered former New York Stock Exchange Chairman and Chief Executive Richard Grasso to repay part of his deferred compensation pay package. (AP via Kiplinger)
- The United States has adopted a document that rejects any proposals to ban space weapons. (BBC)
- Nissan Motor Co. begins recalling over 130,000 vehicles globally including 80,000 in North America because of an ignition key defect. (ABC News)
- Ethiopia's prime minister Meles Zenawi tells the parliament that he had sent military trainers to help Somalia's struggling government, but had not deployed a fighting force. (AP via Houston Chronicle)
- 2006 North Korean nuclear testing:
- former Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan has met North Korea's reclusive leader Kim Jong-il as tensions mount over the North's nuclear test, according to Chinese officials. (BBC)
- South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon, also the incoming United Nations Secretary-General, has warned that a second nuclear test by North Korea will bring "grave consequences." (CNN)