Reuters historical calendar - December 19

London, Dec 18 (Reuters) Following are some of the major events to have occurred on December 19 since 1900: 1950 - The North Atlantic Council named General Dwight Eisenhower as Supreme Commander for Allied Powers, Europe.

1957 - The Soviet Union and Britain signed an agreement to start a regular air service between Moscow and London.

1958 - US President Eisenhower sent Christmas greetings in the world's first satellite broadcast.

1962 - The British government accepted Nyasaland's right to secede from the Central African Federation.

1965 - Charles de Gaulle won the French presidential election runoff, defeating Francois Mitterrand.

1975 - The US Senate voted to halt all further arms supplies to anti-communist factions in Angola.

1978 - In India, Indira Gandhi was jailed for one week for breach of privilege and contempt of parliament.

1984 - Britain and China signed an agreement for the return of Hong Kong to Chinese rule in 1997.

1990 - Lebanese Prime Minister Selim Hoss resigned, clearing the way for the formation of a national reconciliation government including rival warlords.

1992 - South African President FW de Klerk said he had sacked or suspended 23 military officers for illegal and/or unauthorised activities and malpractices.

1993 - A Pakistani court acquitted Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's husband, Asif Ali Zardari, of kidnapping.

1995 - Austrian Chancellor Franz Vranitzky's government, threatened by a looming budget row, resigned.

1996 - Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni, quintessential Latin lover and star of many Italian and French films, died at his home in Paris, aged 72.

1997 - A Singapore SilkAir Boeing 737 crashed near Palembangare, Indonesia, killing all 104 people on board.

1997 - Veteran South Korean dissident Kim Dae-jung won the presidency in a close vote, succeeding Kim Young-sam.

1997 - Janet Jagan was sworn in as first woman president of Guyana.

1999 - Macau ceased to be a Portuguese territory at midnight, reverting to Chinese rule.

1999 - Veteran British character actor Desmond Llewelyn, who played gadgetry expert 'Q' in a string of James Bond films, died in a car crash. He was 85.

2000 - Diodoros I, Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church, died.

2003 - The British Mars probe Beagle 2 successfully broke free from its mothership, the Mars Express rocket, after 100 million km journey from earth.

2003 - Hope Lange, US film and tv actress, died. Lange won two consecutive Emmys for her role in the popular 1960s TV series ''The Ghost and Mrs Muir'' and was nominated for an Oscar for the 1957 film ''Peyton Place''. She was 72.

2004 - Italian soprano Renata Tebaldi, one of the great post-World War Two opera divas who conductor Arturo Toscanini said had the ''voice of an angel'', died aged 82.

**2005 - Afghanistan's parliament was inaugurated for first time in more than 30 years and after decades of bloodshed.

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