Reuters historical calendar - February 19

LONDON, Feb 18 (Reuters) Following are some of the major events to have occurred on February 19 since 1900: 1918 - The Soviet Central Executive Committee issued a decree abolishing all private ownership of land, water and natural resources in Russia.

1951 - Andre Gide, French novelist, died; he won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1947.

1959 - The prime ministers of Britain, Turkey and Greece signed an agreement in London for the independence of Cyprus.

1976 - Iceland broke off diplomatic relations with Britain after the two countries failed to agree over fishing rights in disputed waters and launched the so-called ''cod wars''.

1996 - Israel approved the return of 154 exiled members of the Palestine National Council, including hijacker Leila Khaled, to Palestinian-ruled areas.

1997 - Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping died at 93. He ruled from 1978 until retiring from his last official post in 1990, but his influence remained supreme until his death.

2001 - Charles Trenet, French singer-composer, died. Trenet wrote almost 1,000 songs including the haunting classic ''La Mer'' (The Sea), which captured the sadness of the defeat of France early in World War Two. He was 87.

2003 - A Russian-built Il-76 military transport plane carrying members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard including 18 aircrew smashed into a mountainside in southeastern Iran killing all 276 aboard. It was Iran's worst air disaster to date.

REUTERS PB PM1010