Nothingandall: On this day in History

0245 - Zenobia was born. Queen of Palmyra.
0619 - Boniface V becomes Pope.
0679 - Dagobert II was murdered. King of Austrasia (676-679).
0910 - Naum of Preslav dies. Bulgarian scholar.
0913 - Conrad of Franconia dies.
0918 - Conrad I of Germany dies.
0962 - Byzantine-Arab Wars: Under the future Emperor Nicephorus Phocas, Byzantine troops stormed the city of Aleppo, recovering the tattered tunic of John the Baptist.
1173 - Louis I, Duke of Bavaria was born (d. 1231).
1230 - Berengaria of Navarre dies. Queen of Richard I of England.
1482 - Peace of Atrecht.
1493 - Georg Alt's German translation of Hartmann Schedel's Nuremberg Chronicle is published
1513 - Thomas Smith was born (d. 1577). English diplomat and scholar.
1537 - John III of Sweden was born (d. 1592). King of Sweden.
1556 - Nicholas Udall dies (b. 1504). English playwright.
1568 - Roger Ascham dies. Tutor of Elizabeth I of England.
1575 - Akiyama Nobutomo dies (b. 1531). Japanese warrior.
1582 - Severo Bonini was born (d. 1663). Italian composer.
1588 - Henry I, Duke of Guise dies (b. 1550). French Catholic leader.
1597 - Martin Opitz von Boberfeld was born (d. 1639). German Poet "Father of Modern German Poetry".
1613 - Carl Gustaf Wrangel was born (d. 1676). Swedish soldier.
1620 - Construction of Plymouth Colony begins.
1621 - Edmund Berry Godfrey was born (d. 1678). English magistrate.
1621 - Heneage Finch, 1st Earl of Nottingham was born (d. 1682). Lord Chancellor of England.
1631 - Michael Drayton dies (b. 1563). English poet.
1646 - François Maynard dies (b. 1582). French poet.
1652 - John Cotton dies (b. 1585). Founder of Boston, Massachusetts.
1653 - João Pinto Delgado dies (b. 1580). Portuguese poet. See more about João Pinto Delgado in Rua da Judiaria.
1667 - A Inquisição condena o padre humanista Antônio Vieira à reclusão e ao silêncio.
1672 - French astronomer, Giovanni Cassini discovers Rhea, the fifth major satellite of Saturn.
1675 - Caesar, duc de Choiseul dies (b. 1602). French marshal and diplomat.
1689 - Joseph Bodin de Boismortier was born (d. 1755). French composer.
1722 - Axel Fredrik Cronstedt was born [d. 1765] ;Swedish mineralogist and chemist who
as the first to isolate nickel (1751).
1722 - Pierre Varignon dies (b. 1654). French mathematician.
1728 - Prussian Emperor Karel VI sign Treaty of Berlin.
1732 - Richard Arkwright was born (d. 1792). English industrialist and inventor.
1734 - Filinto Elísio (Padre Francisco Manuel do Nascimento) nasce em Lisboa; um dos mais importantes poetas do Neoclassicismo português/ Filinto Elísio was born in Lisbon, one of the most important neoclassic Portuguese poets.

1736 - Ocorre o último ato de Inquisição no Peru. Dona Ana de Castro é acusada de propagar o judaísmo e é queimada na fornalha.

1743 - Ippolit Bogdanovich was born (d. 1803). Russian poet.

1748 - D. João, rei de Portugal, e seus sucessores recebem do Papa Bento XIV o título de "Fidelíssimo".

1750 - King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony was born (d. 1827).

1758 - Nathan Wilson was born. U.S. Representative from New York.

1761 - Alestair Ruadh MacDonnell dies. Scottish Jacobite spy.

1771 - Marie-Marguerite d'Youville dies (b. 1701). Canadian saint.

1777 - Aleksandr I. P. Romanov, Alexander I of Russia was born (d. 1825). Tsar of Russia (1801-25).

1779 - Augustus Hervey, 3rd Earl of Bristol dies (b. 1724). British admiral and politician.

1783 - George Washington resigned as commander-in-chief of the U.S. Army.

1788 - Maryland voted to cede a 100-square-mile area for the District of Columbia.

1789 - Charles-Michel de l'Épée dies (b. 1712). French philanthropist and developer of signed French.

1790 - Jean François Champollion was born (d. 1832). French Egyptologist, deciphered the Rosetta Stone

1793 - The Battle of Savenay, decisive defeat of the royalist counter-revolutionaries in Revolt in the Vendée during the French Revolution.

1793 - Antoine François Prévost dies (b. 1697). French author and novelist.

1793 - Johann Adolph Hasse dies (b. 1699). German composer.

1795 - Henry Clinton dies (b. 1730). British general.

1804 - Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve was born (d. 1869). French literary critic.

1805 - Joseph Smith, Jr. was born (d. 1844). American religious leader, founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement.

1805 - Pehr Osbeck dies (b. 1723). Swedish explorer and naturalist.

1812 - Samuel Smiles was born (d. 16 Apr 1904). Scottish author. He was best known for "Self-Help," (1859) which enshrined the Victorian values associated with the "gospel of work."

1819 - Jan Jakob Lodewijk ten Kate was born (d. 1889). Dutch poet and clergyman.

1822 - Wilhelm Bauer was born (d. 1875). German engineer.

1823 - The poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas" ("The night before Christmas"), written by either Clement C. Moore or Maj. Henry Livingston, Jr., was published in the Troy Sentinel of New York.

1831 - Lucio Mansilla was born in Buenos Aires (d. 8 Oct 1913). Argentinian writer, soldier and diplomat.

1834 - Thomas Malthus dies (b. 1766). English demographer and economist.

1834 - English architect, Joseph Hansom, patents his 'safety cab' known as the 'Hansom' cab.

1843 - Richard Conner was born (d. 1924). American Civil War Medal of Honor Recipient.

1846 - Jean Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent dies (b. 1780). French naturalist.

1854 - Henry B. Guppy was born (d. 1926). British botanist.

1860 - Harriet Monroe was born (d. 1936). American editor and poet. She founded and edited "Poetry: A magazine of Verse," 1912-36 which championed modern, new verse, poetry.

1864 - Zorka of Montenegro wads born (d. 1890). Princess of Serbia.

1867 - Madam C.J. Walker was born (d. 1919). American millionaire.

1876 - Turkey's first constitution was proclaimed.

1878 - Stephen Timoshenko was born (d. 1972). Ukrainian-born mechanical engineer.

1885 - Pierre Brissaud was born (d. 1964). French artist.

1888 - After brandishing a razor at his friend Paul Gauguin in Victor Hugo Plaza at Arles, France, Vincent van Gogh returned home and cut his left ear off.

1891 - Alexandr Rodchenko was born (d. 1956). Russian painter and photographer.

1893 - The opera Hänsel und Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck was first performed in Weimar, Germany.

1894 - Debussy's ballet L'aprés-midi d'un faune premiered in Paris.

1900 - Otto Soglow was born (d. 1975). American comics artist.

1902 - Norman Maclean was born (d. 1990). American author.

1902 - Frederick Temple dies (b. 1821). Archbishop of Canterbury.

1907 - Avraham Stern was born (d. 1942). Polish-born Zionist leader.

1907 - Manuel Lopes [Manuel António dos Santos Lopes] was born in Mindelo, São Vicente Island (d. 21 Jan 2005) . Cape Verdean poet, journalist and essayst.

1908 - Yousuf Karsh was born (d. 2002). Turkish-born photographer.

1910 - Kurt Meyer was born (d. 1961). German SS officer.

1911 - Stanislavski and Craig's seminal production of Hamlet opened at the Moscow Arts Theatre.

1911 - James Gregory was born (d. 2002). American actor.

1911 - Niels Kaj Jerne was born. British-Danish immunologist who (with César Milstein and Georges Köhler) received the 1984 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine.

1912 - Otto Schoetensack dies (b. 1850). German anthropologist.

1913 - The Federal Reserve Act signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson, creating the Federal Reserve.

1914 - World War I: The Australian and New Zealand troops arrive in Cairo.

1916 - World War I: In the Battle of Magdhaba, Allied forces capture a Turkish garrison on the Sinai peninsula .

1916 - Dino Risi was born. Italian film director and screenwriter.

1918 - José de Sousa Barbosa sucede a Sidónio Pais como Presidente da República Portuguesa.

1918 - Helmut Schmidt was born. Chancellor of Germany (1974-1982).

1918 - José Greco was born (d. 31 Dec 2000). Flamenco dancer, actor: Ship of Fools, The Proud and the Damned;

1918 - Kumar Pallana was born. Indian-born American actor.

1919 - Kenneth M. Taylor was born (d. 2006). American pilot.

1920 - Ireland divided into 2 parts, each with its own parliament.

1921 - Visva-Bharati University inaugurated.

1921 - Guy Beaulne was born (d. 2001). French Canadian actor and theatre director.

1922 - Pope Pius XI pleas for peace: encyclical Ubi arcano.

1922 - Micheline Ostermeyer was born. French athlete and musician.

1923 - Harold Masursky was born [d. 24 Aug 1990 ] American geologist and senior scientist at the U.S. Geological Survey's astrogeology branch supporting space exploration.

1923 - Günther Schifter was born Austrian music journalist.

1923 - Claudio Scimone was born. Italian conductor.

1923 - James Stockdale was born (d. 2005). American Navy admiral.

1923 - Onofre Marimón was born (d. 1954). Argentine racing driver.

1925 - Duncan Hallas was born. British political figure

1925 - Rayner Unwin was born (d. 2000). British book publisher.

1926 - Robert Bly was born. American poet. "He was a leading figure in the revolt against rhetoric in poetry; wrote "The Light Around the Body," What Have I Ever Lost by Dying? , Iron John: A Book About Men

1928 - the National Broadcasting Company set up a permanent, coast-to-coast network.

1928 - Chronis Aidonidis was born. Greek singer.

1929 - [Alberto da] Costa Pereira was born. Portuguese footballer (goalkeeper of Benfica).

1929 - Chet Baker was born (d. 1988). American jazz trumpet player.

1929 - Dick Weber was born (d. 2005). American professional tenpin bowler

1930 - Bette Davis arrives in Hollywood under contract to Universal Studios .

1931 - No Vaticano, ocorre o desmoronamento da Sala Sistina e vários volumes de sua biblioteca são destruídos.

1931 - Ronnie Schell was born. American actor.

1931 - Wilson Bentley dies (b. 1865). American scientist who discovered that no two snowflake are the same.

1933 - Emperor Akihito of Japan was born.

1933 - The Pope condemned the Nazi sterilization program.

1933 - Train crash in Eastern Paris - 230 die.

1933 - Alleged Reichstag Arsonist Sentenced : The Dutchman Marinus van der Lubbe was sentenced to death for his role in the Reichstag fire of 27 February 1933. He was executed in Leipzig in 1934.

1935 - Paul Hornung was born. American football player.

1935 - Esther Phillips was born (d. 1984). American singer.

1936 - Colombia becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.

1936 - Frederic Forrest was born. American actor.

1937 - First flight of the Vickers Wellington bomber.

1937 - Barney Rosenzweig was born. American television producer.

1937 - Edward Irving Wortis was born. American author.

1938 - Discovery of the first modern coelacanth in South Africa.

1938 - Bob Kahn was born. American computer scientist who co-created the ARPANET and TCP/IP protocols that enable computers to exchange information on the Internet.

1938 - Bacelar Viana was born in São Luís do Maranhão (d. 1982). Brazilian poet.

1939 - The first Canadian troops for WW II arrive in Britain.

1939 - Anthony Fokker dies (b. 1890). Dutch-American airman and pioneer aircraft manufacturer who, during WW I, produced more than 40 types of airplanes (designed by Reinhold Platz) for the German High Command.

1940 - World War II: Greek submarine Papanikolis (Υ-2) sinks the Italian motor ship Antonietta.

1940 - Eugene Record was born (d. 2005). American singer (The Chi-Lites).

1940 - Jorma Kaukonen was born. American musician.

1940 - Robert Labine was born. Former mayor of old city of Gatineau, Quebec.

1941 - World War II: Japanese Imperial Army occupied Wake Island.

1941 - During World War II, American forces on Early in World War II, invading Japanese forces defeated U.S. troops at the Battle of Wake Island

1941 - Ron Bushy was born. American musician.

1941 - Serge Reding was born (d. 1975). Belgian weightlifter.

1941 - Tim Hardin was born (d. 1980). American musician.

1942 - John Peterman was born. American fashion designer.

1943 - Mikhail Gromov was born. Russian-born mathematician.

1943 - Ron Allen was born. Baseball player.

1943 - Elizabeth Hartman was born (d. 1987). American actress (A Patch of Blue).

1943 - Harry Shearer was born. Actor, voice actor (This Is Spinal Tap, The Simpsons).

1943 - Silvia Sommerlath was born. Queen of Sweden, wife of King Carl XVI.

1943 - Mikhail Gromov was born. Russian-born mathematician.

1944 - Wesley Clark was born. U.S. general and NATO Supreme Allied Commander.

1945 - Frederick Astons "Cinderella" premieres in London.

1945 - Ron Bushy was born. American drummer (Iron Butterfly).

1946 - Edita Gruberova was born. Slovak operatic soprano.

1946 - Susan Lucci was born. American Emmy Award-winning actress: All My Children [1999]; Dallas, French Silk, Lady Mobster, Mafia Princess, Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna, Invitation to Hell, Secret Passions.

1946 - John A. Sampson dies (b. 1873). American gynecologist.

1947 - The transistor, invented by American physicists John Bardeen, Walter H. Brattain, and William Shockley (they shared the 1956 Nobel Prize in physics for their work), is first demonstrated at Bell Laboratories.

1947 – Heikki Lahtinen was born. Finnish race walker.

1948 - Hideki Tojo and six other Japanese war leaders convicted of war crimes by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East were executed at Sugamo Prison in Tokyo.

1948 - Jack Ham was born. American football player.

1948 - Leslie Moonves was born. American television executive.

1948 - Hideki Tojo dies hanged (b. 1884). Prime Minister of Japan.

1948 - Akira Muto dies hanged (b. 1883). Japanese army commander.

1949 - Adrian Belew was born. American musician.

1950 - Ilchi Lee was born. Korean educator and author.

1950 - Michael C. Burgess was born. American politician.

1950 - Vincenzo Tommasini dies at 72. Composer.

1951 - Anthony Phillips was born. British guitarist (Genesis).

1951 - Enrique Santos Discépolo dies (b. 27 Mar 1901). Argentinian poet, composer (tango), actor and playwright.

1952 - William Kristol was born. American political commentator.

1952 - Mário Botas was born in Nazaré (d. 29 Sep 1983). Portuguese painter.

1953 - Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna of Russia was born.

1953 - Lavrenty Beria dies (b. 1899). Soviet Communist leader.

1954 - The classic movie, 20.000 Leagues Under the Sea, was released. The film was one of Walt Disney’s most successful. Kirk Douglas and James Mason starred / O filme “20.000 Léguas Submarinas” estréia nos Estados Unidos e se torna um dos maiores sucessos dos estúdios Walt Disney.

1954 - The first human kidney transplant is performed by Dr. Joseph E. Murray at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.

1954 - Toby Ziegler was born. The West Wing character.

1954 - René Iché dies (b. 1897). French sculptor.

1956 - Jubilation as allied troops leave Suez : Crowds of Egyptians have poured onto the streets of Port Said to celebrate the withdrawal of British and French forces from Egyptian soil (Source: BBC).

1956 - Michele Alboreto was born(d. 2001). Italian Formula one driver.

1956 - Dave Murray was born. English musician (Iron Maiden).

1957 - Dan Bigras was born. Quebec rock singer.

1957 - Trisha Goddard was born. English television presenter.

1958 - Dedication of Tokyo Tower, world's highest self-supporting iron tower.

1958 - Dave Murray was born. English musician (Iron Maiden).

1958 - Joan Severance was born. American actress.

1958 - Victoria Williams was born. American singer.

1959 - Geoff Willis was born. British engineer.

1961 - Moïse Kapenda Tshombe leads the Congo province of Katanga into secession.

1961 - Train accident in Italy, 70 die.

1961 - Carol Smillie was born. British television personality.

1961 - Kurt Meyer dies (b. 1910). German SS officer.

1962 - President Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, a leading exponent of Pan-Africanism, orders the release of the last of his political prisoners, previously detained under the Preventive Detention Act of 1958.

1962 - Cuba starts returning US prisoners from Bay of Pigs invasion.

1962 - Bertrand Gachot was born. Belgian racing driver.

1962 - Kang Je-gyu was born. South Korean film director.

1962 - Keiji Muto was born. Japanese professional wrestler.

1963 - During a fire on the Greek ship Laconia, 128 people lost their lives.

1963 - Beach Boys 1st appearance on "Shindig".

1963 - Jim Harbaugh was born. American football player.

1963 - Donna Tartt was born. American author.

1964 - India and Ceylon were hit by a cyclone, an estimated 4,850 were killed.

1964 - Eddie Vedder was born. American musician (Pearl Jam).

1966 - Cláudia Raia was born. Brazilian actress.

1967 - Carla Bruni was born. Italian-French model and singer.

1967 - Tim Fountain was born. British playwright.

1968 - Missão na Órbita Lunar - Apollo 8 : a primeira missão com tripulação humana atinge a órbita lunar.

1968 - 82 crew members of the U.S. intelligence ship Pueblo were released by North Korea, 11 months after they had been captured.

1968 - Quincy Jones III was born. Swedish-American musician.

1969 - Greg Biffle was born. American racecar driver.

1969 - Martha Byrne was born. American actress.

1969 - Rob Pelinka was born. American sports agent.

1970 - The North Tower of the World Trade Center is topped out at 1,368 feet, making it the tallest building in the world.

1970 - Catriona LeMay Doan was born. Canadian speed skater.

1970 - Raymont Harris was born. American football player.

1970 - Charles Ruggles was born (d. 1886). American actor.

1971 - Corey Haim was born. Canadian actor.

1971 - Masayoshi Yamazaki was born. Japanese singer-songwriter.

1971 - Michalis Klokidis was born. Greek footballer.

1971 - Tara Palmer-Tomkinson was born. British socialite.

1971 - Wim Vansevenant was born. Belgian cyclist.

1972 - The Nicaraguan capital of Managua is struck by a 6.5 magnitude earthquake, killing more than 10,000.

1972 - 16 plane crash survivors of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 are rescued after 73 days, having survived by cannibalism .

1972 - The Nicaraguan capital of Managua is struck by a 6.5 magnitude earthquake, killing more than 10,000.

1972 - The Pittsburgh Steelers win their first ever post-season NFL game, defeating the Oakland Raiders 13-7, on a last second play that would become known as The Immaculate Reception.

1972 - Palmeiras becomes Brazilian Championship winners in football (soccer).

1972 - Andrei Tupolev dies (b. 1888). Soviet aircraft.

1973 - A Sobelair Caravelle passenger jet crashes in Morocco, killing 106.

1973 - Charles Atlas dies (b. 1892). Italian-born bodybuilder.

1973 - Irna Phillips dies (b. 1901). American television writer, director, and producer.

1974 - Agustín Delgado was born. Ecuadorian football player.

1975 - Sky Lopez was born. American actress.

1975 - Vadim Sharifijanov was born. Russian ice hockey player.

1976 - Brad Lidge was born. American baseball player.

1976 - Dimitris Mavrogenidis was born. Greek footballer.

1976 - Jamie Noble was born. American professional wrestler.

1977 - Cat Stevens formally changed his name to Yusef Islam.

1977 - Helen Mahmastol was born. Miss Universe-Estonia (1996)..

1977 - Alge Crumpler was born. American football player.

1977 - Jari Mäenpää was born. Finnish guitarist and singer.

1977 - Paul Shirley was born. American basketball player.

1978 - Andra Davis was born. American football player.

1978 - Estella Warren was born. Canadian model and actress.

1978 - Esthero was born. Canadian musician and singer.

1978 - Jodie Marsh was born. British glamour model.

1978 - Víctor Martínez was born. Venezuelan baseball player.

1979 - Opening of the highest aerial tramway in Europe, the Klein Matterhorn.

1979 - Soviet military units occupy Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan.

1979 - Holly Madison was born. American model.

1979 - Kenny Miller was born. Scottish football player.

1979 - Scott Gomez was born. American ice hockey player.

1979 - Summer Altice was born. American model and actress.

1979 - Peggy Guggenheim dies (b. 1898). American art collector.

1980 - a state funeral was held in Moscow for former Premier Alexei N. Kosygin, who had died at age 76.

1980 - Cody Ross was born. American baseball player.

1981 - Beth was born. Spanish singer.

1981 - Yuriorkis Gamboa was born. Cuban boxer.

1982 - The United States Environmental Protection Agency recommends the evacuation of Times Beach, Missouri due to dangerous levels of dioxin contamination.

1982 - Jack Webb dies (b. 1920). American actor, producer, and director.

1983 - Michael Chopra was born. English football player.

1983 - Hanley Ramírez was born. Dominican baseball player.

1983 - Colin Middleton dies (b. 1910). Northern Irish artist.

1984 - Joan Lindsay dies (b. 1896). Australian author.

1985 - Harry Judd was born. British drummer (McFly).

1985 - Luke O'Loughlin was born. Australian actor.

1986 - The Soviet Union's most prominent dissident, Andrei Sakharov, has returned to Moscow after almost seven years of internal exile.

1986 - the experimental airplane Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, completed the first non-stop, non-refueled, round-the-world flight as it landed safely at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

1987 - Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, serving a life sentence for the attempted assassination of President Ford in 1975, escaped from the Alderson Federal Prison for Women in West Virginia. (She was recaptured two days later).

1988 - Eri Kamei was born. Japanese singer.

1990 - History of Slovenia: 88% of Slovenia's population vote for independence from Yugoslavia in a referendum.

1990 - Anna Maria Perez de Tagle was born. American actress, model, and singer.

1992 - Vincent Fourcade dies (b. 1934). French American interior designer and socialite.

1992 - Eddie Hazel dies (b. 1950). American guitarist (Funkadelic).

1994 - Sebastian Shaw dies (b. 1905). English actor.

1995 - Aleksander Kwasniewski inaugurated as Polish President after having narrowly defeated Lech Walesa, Poland's first postcommunist president.

1996 - 4 women ordained priests in Jamaica, 1st in 330-year Anglican history .

1997 - a jury in Denver convicted Terry Nichols of involuntary manslaughter and conspiracy for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing, declining to find him guilty of murder.

1997 - Woody Allen, 62 weds Soon-Yi Previn 27, adopted Daughter of Mia Farrow.

1997 - O México divulga o massacre de 45 índios, entre eles 21 mulheres e 15 crianças, ocorrido em Chiapas, no dia anterior.

1997 - Stanley Cortez dies (b. 1908). American cinematographer.

1998 - Sport Club Corinthians Paulista wins the Brazilian Championship in football for the second time in a sequence.

1998 - Anatoly Rybakov dies in New York at age 87. Russian writer.

1998 - Michelle Thomas dies (b. 1968). American actress.

1999 - The Nasdaq composite index briefly crossed 4,000 and closed at a record high for the 58th time in 1999.

1999 - In Haiti violence began when a customer was killed trying to cash in a winning lottery ticket. 50 tin-roofed shacks were torched in Cite Soleil.

1999 - In Sri Lanka fighting broke out at Iyakachchi and at least 101 guerrillas and soldiers were later reported killed.

2000 - In Serbia elections the 18-party Kostunica coalition won 64.5% of the vote and over two-thirds of the seats of the 250-seat parliament. Zoran Djindjic (48) was projected to become prime minister.

2000 - Billy Barty dies (b. 1924). American actor.

2000 - Noor Jehan dies (b. 1926). Mallika-e-Tarranum (Queen of Melody).

2000 - Victor Borge dies (b. 1909). Danish-born comedian and pianist.

2001 - Argentina announced the suspension of payments on its external debt—the biggest debt default in history to date.

2001 - Bola Ige dies (b. 1930). Nigerian politician.

2002 - A MQ-1 Predator was shot down by an Iraqi MiG-25, making it the first time in history an aircraft and an unmanned drone had engaged in combat.

2003 - The government announced the first suspected (later confirmed) case of mad cow disease in United States.

2003 - PetroChina Chuandongbei natural gas field explosion, Guoqiao, Kai, Chongqing, China, killing at least 234.

2004 - An earthquake measured 8.1 on the Richter scale hits Macquarie Island in the Southern Ocean, one day before the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake.

2004 - P. V. Narasimha Rao dies (b. 1921). Ninth Prime Minister of India.

2005 - Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 217 from Baku, Azerbaijan to Aktau, Kazakhstan, crashed shortly after takeoff killing 23 people.

2005 - Chad declares a state of war against Sudan following a December 18th attack on Adre, which left about 100 people dead.