Historical timeline for July 19

The Knesset passes the controversial Nationality Bill, which defines the State of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people.

Gunmen in Egypt's western desert province of New Valley Governorate attack a military checkpoint, killing at least 21 soldiers. Egypt reportedly declares a state of emergency on its border with Sudan.

Syrian civil war: The People's Protection Units (YPG) capture the city of Kobanî without resistance, starting the Rojava conflict in Northeast Syria.

Guinean President Alpha Condé survives an attempted assassination and coup d'état at his residence in Conakry.

The Troubles: The Provisional Irish Republican Army resumes a ceasefire to end their 25-year paramilitary campaign to end British rule in Northern Ireland.

Alas Chiricanas Flight 00901 is destroyed by a bomb after takeoff from Enrique Adolfo Jiménez Airport in Colón, Panama, killing 21.

A car bomb kills Judge Paolo Borsellino and five members of his escort.

United Airlines Flight 232 crashes in Sioux City, Iowa, killing 111.

The Val di Stava dam collapses, killing 268 people in Val di Stava, Italy.

The first three-dimensional reconstruction of a human head in a CT is published.

In one of the first militant attacks by Hezbollah, David S. Dodge, president of the American University of Beirut, is kidnapped.

In a private meeting with U.S. President Ronald Reagan, French President François Mitterrand reveals the existence of the Farewell Dossier, a collection of documents showing the Soviet Union had been stealing American technological research and development.

Opening of the Summer Olympics in Moscow.

The Sandinista rebels overthrow the government of the Somoza family in Nicaragua.

The oil tanker SS Atlantic Empress collides with another oil tanker, causing the largest ever ship-borne oil spill.

The world's first Global Positioning System (GPS) signal is transmitted from Navigation Technology Satellite 2 (NTS-2) and received at Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, at 12:41 a.m. Eastern time (ET).

Sagarmatha National Park in Nepal is created.

Dhofar Rebellion: British SAS units help the Omani government against Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman rebels in the Battle of Mirbat.

Chappaquiddick incident: U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy crashes his car into a tidal pond at Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts, killing his passenger Mary Jo Kopechne.

Piedmont Airlines Flight 22, a Piedmont Airlines Boeing 727-22, and a twin-engine Cessna 310 collide over Hendersonville, North Carolina, USA. Both aircraft are destroyed and all passengers and crew are killed, including John T. McNaughton, an advisor to Robert McNamara.