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- 0627 Battle of Nineveh: A Byzantine army under Emperor Heraclius defeats Emperor Khosrau II's Persian forces, commanded by General Rhahzadh.
- 0884 France's Carloman dies while hunting and is succeeded as king of the West Franks by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles III (the Fat), son of the late Louis the German
- 1098 First Crusade: Massacre of Ma'arrat al-Numan - Crusaders breach the town's walls and massacre about 20,000 inhabitants. After finding themselves with insufficient food, they resort to cannibalism.
- 1531 Apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe to Juan Diego in Mexico City.
- 1777 Rev Benjamin Russen executed at Tyburn, England for rape
- 1812 French invasion of Russia comes to an end.
- 1859 First train operated over the Victoria Railway Bridge, Montreal. The first passenger train crossed the structure on December 17, 1859 and it was formally opened by the Prince of Wales, later to become King Edward VII, on August 25, 1860. The original structure was a single-track iron tubular bridge. The tube, when first constructed, was entirely enclosed and there were ventilation problems. Later a slit 20" wide was cut in the tube the full length of the bridge to permit the emission of smoke.
- 1862 Confederate torpedo (mine) sinks USS Cairo in Yazoo River.
- 1862 USS Cairo sinks on the Yazoo River, becoming the first armored ship to be sunk by an electrically detonated mine.
- 1870 Joseph H. Rainey of South Carolina becomes the first black U.S. congressman.
- 1870 Joseph Rainey (SC) became first black sworn into House of Reps
- 1871 Jules Janssen discovers dark lines in solar corona spectrum
- 1897 Belo Horizonte, the first planned city of Brazil, is founded.
- 1899 George F Grant of Boston patents golf tee
- 1901 Guglielmo Marconi receives the first transatlantic radio signal at Signal Hill in St John's, Newfoundland.
- 1901 Marconi receives first transatlantic radio signal, England to US
- 1906 Oscar Straus, first Jewish cabinet member, appointed Sec of Commerce
- 1911 Delhi replaces Calcutta as the capital of India.
- 1913 The "Mona Lisa," stolen from the Louvre Museum in 1911, recovered
- 1914 The largest one-day percentage drop in the history of Dow Jones Industrial Average, down 24.39%.
- 1915 President of the Republic of China, Yuan Shikai announces his intention to reinstate the monarchy and proclaim himself Emperor of China.
- 1915 The first all-metal aircraft (Junkers J.1) test flown at Dessau Germany
- 1917 French troop train derails in French Alps killing 543
- 1917 In Nebraska, Father Edward J. Flanagan founds Boys Town as a farm village for wayward boys.
- 1917 Rev Edward Flanagan founded Boys Town outside Omaha NB
- 1925 Arthur Heinman coins term "motel," opens Motel Inn, San Luis Obispo
- 1925 The Majlis of Iran votes to crown Reza Khan as the new Shah of Persia.
- 1925 last Qajar Shah of Iran deposed; Rexa Shah Pahlavi takes over
- 1936 Xi'an Incident: The Generalissimo of the Republic of China, Chiang Kai-shek is kidnapped by Zhang Xueliang.
- 1937 Japanese aircraft sink USS Panay in Yangtze River near Nanking, China.
- 1937 Panay incident: Japanese aircraft shell and sink US gunboat Panay on the Yangtze River in China.
- 1937 The first mobile TV unit (New York NY)
- 1939 Winter War: Battle of Tolvajrvi - Finnish forces defeat those of the Soviet Union in their first major victory of the conflict.
- 1940 World War II: Approximately 70 people are killed in the Marples Hotel, Fitzalan Square, Sheffield as a result of a German air raid.
- 1941 German occupying army do a house search in Paris looking for Jews
- 1941 Naval Air Transport Service is established.
- 1941 World War II: Fifty four Japanese A6M Zero fighters raid Batangas Field, Philippines. Jesus Villamor and four Filipino fighter pilots fend them off; Cesar Basa is killed.
- 1941 World War II: USMC F4F "Wildcats" sink the first 4 major Japanese ships off Wake Island.
- 1942 A fire in a hostel in St. John's, Newfoundland kills 100 people.
- 1944 Three Evacuation Squadrons (VE) were established in the Pacific from Air Sea Rescue Squadron
- 1946 A fire at a New York City ice plant spreads to a nearby tenement killing 37 people.
- 1946 Ice plant collapses, shearing a tenement building & burying 38
- 1948 Malayan Emergency: Batang Kali Massacre - 14 members of the Scots Guards stationed in Malaysia allegedly massacre 24 unarmed civilians and set fire to the village.
- 1950 Paula Ackerman, the first woman appointed to perform rabbinical functions in the United States, leads the congregation in her first services.
- 1951 First flight of helicopter with gas-turbine engine at Windsor Locks, CT, demonstrates adaptability of this engine to helicopters.
- 1951 The Kaman K-225 helicopter, equipped with a Boeing YB-502 turbine engine, made its first flight at Windsor Locks, Conn
- 1953 Chuck Yeager reaches Mach 2.43 in Bell X-1A rocket plane
- 1956 Commencement of the Irish Republican Army's Border Campaign.
- 1957 US announces manufacture of Borazon (harder than diamond)
- 1957 Visitor posting - Wendy Olson born daughter of Beatrice Kavanaugh - USA
- 1959 UN Committee on Peaceful Use of Outer Space is established
- 1961 Ham radio satellite Oscar 1 launched with military Discoverer 36
- 1963 Frank Sinatra Jr returned after being kidnapped
- 1963 Kenya gains independence from Britain (National Day)
- 1963 Kenya gains its independence from the United Kingdom.
- 1963 Number one hit on UK music charts - The Beatles - I Want To Hold Your Hand
- 1964 Prime Minister Jomo Kenyatta becomes the first President of the Republic of Kenya.
- 1964 Shooting starts for Star Trek pilot, "The Cage" (Menagerie)
- 1964 Visitor posting - Sharon is born in Fayetteville, NC Dec 12, 1964
- 1965 Gale Sayers of Chicago Bears scores 6 TDs, ties NFL record
- 1967 US launches Pioneer 8 into solar orbit
- 1967 Visitor posting - Sonya Kaye Snow , the woman of my dreams was born - USA
- 1968 Rolling Stones film TV show "Rock 'n Roll Circus"-never aired
- 1969 Strategia della tensione: Piazza Fontana bombing - The offices of Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura in Piazza Fontana, Milan, are bombed.
- 1970 Small Astronomy Satellite Explorer 42 launched to study X-rays
- 1972 Captain Eugene A. Cernan, USN, commander of Apollo 17, walks on the Moon. Commander Ronald E. Evans, USN, was the Command Module Pilot. The mission lasted 12 days, 13 hours and 52 minutes. Recovery by HC-1 helicopters from USS Ticonderoga (CVS-14).
- 1975 Gas stove explodes & starts fire killing 138 (Mecca Saudi Arabia)
- 1975 Sara Jane Moore pled guilty to trying to kill President Gerald Ford
- 1976 QB Joe Namath last game as a New York Jet
- 1979 Coup d'tat of December Twelfth: South Korean Army Major General Chun Doo-hwan orders the arrest of Army Chief of Staff General Jeong Seung-hwa without authorization from President Choi Kyu-ha, alleging involvement in the assassination of ex-President Park Chung Hee.
- 1979 Gold hits record $462.50 an ounce
- 1979 Rhodesia becomes the independent nation of Zimbabwe
- 1979 Rhodesia changes its name to Zimbabwe.
- 1980 US's copyright law amended to include computer programs
- 1981 Number one hit on UK music charts - Human League - Don't You Want Me
- 1981 Wayne Gretsky scores quickest 50th goal (game 39)
- 1982 Women's peace protest at Greenham Common - 30,000 women hold hands and form a human chain around the 14.5 km (9 mi) perimeter fence.
- 1983 A truck bomb explodes at the US Embassy in Kuwait
- 1984 Maaouiya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya becomes the third president of Mauritania after a coup d'etat against Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla while the latter was attending a summit. Taya was ousted in March 2005 by Ely Ould Mohamed Vall in another coup.
- 1985 248 US soldiers & 8 crew members die in Arrow Air charter crash in Newfoundland
- 1985 Arrow Air Flight 1285 crashes after takeoff in Gander, Newfoundland killing 256, including 248 members of the United States Army's 101st Airborne Division.
- 1986 Microlite aircraft circles world non-stop
- 1988 NYC Subway system adds new stations (the Z line)
- 1988 Sandra Miller of Queens sues Mike Tyson for sexual harassment
- 1988 The Clapham Junction rail crash kills thirty-five and injures hundreds after two collisions of three commuter trains - one of the worst train crashes in Britain.
- 1988 Visitor posting - Kerry Heaphy is born. - United Kingdom
- 1989 First revenue train runs through the CP Rail 9.1 mile Mount MacDonald Tunnel. This is the longest rail tunnel in the Americas.
- 1990 US ambassador to Kuwait, Nathaniel Howell leaves Kuwait
- 1991 Actor Richard Gere marries super model Cindy Crawford
- 1991 Orion Pictures filed Chapter 11 for bankruptcy protection
- 1991 Russian Federation gains independence from the USSR.
- 1991 Visitor posting - Jaime is born in Glendora, CA. Airlifted to Huntington, first flight.
- 1993 Ultra-Nationalists make strong gains in Russian elections dec13
- 2000 Visitor posting - Sydney Schenck born today! - USA
- 2006 Peugeot produces its last car at the Ryton Plant signalling the end of mass car production in Coventry, formerly a major centre of the British motor industry.
- 2008 Visitor posting - Mark Garnto dies from cancer in his sleep - USA
- 2009 Annise Parker is elected Mayor of Houston, which becomes the largest United States city with an openly gay person elected mayor.
- 2009 Golfer Tiger Woods announces he is taking an indefinite break from the sport after a scandal over his infidelity in order to focus on "being a better husband, father, and person".
- 2009 Police in Denmark detain 900 people after thousands gather in Copenhagen to demand more action on climate change and global warming by leaders at the United Nations Climate Change Conference.
- 2009 Police in Thailand seize a plane carrying weapons from North Korea to an unknown destination, detaining 5 crew.
- 2009 President of the Philippines Gloria Arroyo lifts martial law in Maguindanao in the south of the country, where 57 people were killed in political violence there last month.
- 2009 The Georgian breakaway region of Abhkazia holds its first presidential elections.
- 2009 The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency has cancelled the contract of its private security firm with Xe Services LLC, previously known as Blackwater, for its services related to Drone operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan. (
- 2009 The leaders of Cuba and Venezuela sign over US$3.2 billion worth of trade and cooperation agreements.
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