Other Notable Events, November 15

In 2001, U.S. commandos were on the ground in southern Afghanistan in the search for al-Qaida leaders and more than 250 U.S. and British special force troops landed north of Kabul.

In 2004, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell submitted his resignation.

Also in 2004, facing the possibility of U.N. sanctions, Iran announced it would suspend its uranium enrichment program.

In 2005, the official death toll from Hurricane Katrina stood at 972 with more bodies found as Louisiana residents returned home more than a month after the search for victims officially ended.

In 2007, Cyclone Sidr, with winds of more than 150 miles an hour, slammed into the southwestern Bangladesh coast, killing more than 3,400 people. Tens of thousands were injured and 1 million people were homeless.

In 2009, world leaders meeting in Singapore backed off from a goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by roughly half by 2050, eliminating a target date in their preliminary document.

Also in 2009, a series of snowstorms in northern and central China killed 32 people, stranded thousands and ruined crops worth about $1 billion.

In 2010, a five-story building in New Delhi that housed migrant workers collapsed, killing at least 42 people with 65 others hurt and many more feared buried in debris.

Also in 2010, fire in a high-rise Shanghai apartment building, primarily a home for teachers, killed more than 40 people and injured dozens.

In 2011, fifty-one people were reported killed in a clash with Syrian security forces. A Syrian human rights organization put the death toll at more than 70.

Also in 2011, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, in charge for more than three decades, said he intended to step down within 90 days of reaching a transfer of power plan to end the crisis in his country, rocked by a popular revolt for most of the year.