Current events of 16 November 2006 (2006-11-16) (Thursday) edit history watch

2006 Tonga riots: Rioters smash windows, overturn cars and loot and burn buildings in Tonga's capital Nuku'alofa following a pro-democracy rally. (BBC) Ségolène Royal wins the Socialist Party's nomination to run for President of France in next year's election; she becomes France's first-ever female presidential candidate representing a major party. (BBC) Nancy Pelosi is unanimously nominated by the Democratic Party to become the next Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. Steny Hoyer wins the election over Jack Murtha to become Majority Leader. (Reuters) Democratic Republic of Congo presidential candidate Jean-Pierre Bemba has rejected election results that gave victory to Joseph Kabila. (BBC) The United Nations hold high-level talks in Ethiopia to find new ways for solving the crisis in the war-torn Sudanese region of Darfur. (BBC) Fourteen security contractors are abducted as a supply convoy is ambushed at Nasiriya in southern Iraq. (CNN) At least eight people die as a tornado hits Riegelwood, North Carolina as thunderstorms move through the southern United States. One other person died in the larger tornado outbreak. (AP via Yahoo! News(CBS News) The European Commission plan to charge €39.60 ($51 / £27) green tax per return ticket on long haul flights from and to the EU by 2011, angering U.S. airline companies as they will need to buy permits to cover their European emissions. (The Times) Mirza Tahir Hussain, a British citizen sentenced to death in Pakistan, has his sentence commuted to life imprisonment after intervention by the President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf. (BBC) The Chinese Government unblocks Wikipedia in China after banning the website for a year. (Reuters)