Cyfeilliog (died c. 927) was a bishop in south-east Wales. The location and extent of his diocese is uncertain, but lands granted to him are mainly close to Caerwent, suggesting that his diocese covered Gwent, possibly extending into Ergyng (now south-west Herefordshire). He is recorded in charters dating from the mid-880s to the early tenth century. In 914 he was captured by the Vikings and ransomed by Edward the Elder, King of the Anglo-Saxons, for 40 pounds of silver. Edward's assistance is regarded by historians as evidence that he inherited the overlordship of his father, Alfred the Great, over the south-east Welsh kingdoms. Cyfeilliog is probably the author of a cryptogram (encrypted text) which was added as a marginal note to the ninth-century collection of poetry known as the Juvencus Manuscript. The twelfth-century Book of Llandaff records his death in 927, but some historians are sceptical as they think that this date is late for a bishop active in the 880s. (Full article...)

• ... that the city of Saint Paul, Minnesota, was named after a log chapel (pictured)?
• ... that the death of Odysseus's dog in the Odyssey uses language typically reserved for the noble deaths of warriors?
• ... that when future Olympian Chang Wei-chia entered high school, her elementary-school swimming coach was hired full-time and continued to coach her?
• ... that Babak Ganjei tried to sell a painting of his credit card to Barclays?
• ... that An Amorous History of the Silver Screen has been read as a biographic metafilm, paralleling its lead's rise from prostitution into film stardom?
• ... that the first publication of the prolific author and Talmudic scholar Israel Ta-Shma was a Jewish songbook for the Israel Defense Forces?
• ... that Sarah Pickstone based her John Moores Prize–winning painting on an illustration that accompanied the poem "Not Waving but Drowning"?
• ... that Frank Ocean's song "American Wedding" was pulled from streaming platforms because of its unauthorized use of "Hotel California"?
• ... that after being signed, released, signed, released, signed, released, signed, released, signed, released, and signed again, Brandon Smith made his NFL debut?

• Romania and Bulgaria become full members of the Schengen Area.
• In New Orleans, an attacker rams a truck into a crowd and opens fire, killing at least 14 people and injuring 35 others.
• Mikheil Kavelashvili is inaugurated as president of Georgia while incumbent Salome Zourabichvili (pictured) intends to remain in office amidst a constitutional crisis.

January 5: Twelfth Night (Western Christianity)

• 1757 – King Louis XV survived an assassination attempt by Robert-François Damiens, who later became the last person in France to be executed by drawing and quartering.
• 1869 – Te Kooti's War: After surviving a five-day siege in the pā at Ngātapa, Māori leader Te Kooti escaped from New Zealand's Armed Constabulary.
• 1919 – The German Workers' Party, the precursor of the Nazi Party, was founded by Anton Drexler.
• 1949 – In his State of the Union speech, U.S. president Harry S. Truman (pictured) announced: "Every segment of our population, and every individual, has a right to expect from his government a fair deal."
• 2003 – The Metropolitan Police arrested six people in conjunction with an alleged terrorist plot to release ricin on the London Underground, although no toxin was found.

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Liza Soberano (born January 4, 1998) is an American and Filipino actress. Her accolades include a FAMAS Award, a Star Award, and six Box Office Entertainment Awards. She began her career as a model, before her television debut in the fantasy anthology series Wansapanataym (2011). She achieved wider recognition for starring in the second season of Got to Believe (2014) and Forevermore (2014), the latter of which marked the first of her collaborations with actor Enrique Gil. Soberano found commercial successes in several romantic films, winning the Box Office Entertainment Award for Box Office Queen for My Ex and Whys (2017). Attempting to shed her image as an on-screen couple with Gil, she sought roles in other genres, before pursuing an acting career in Hollywood with Lisa Frankenstein (2024). Soberano has been described by media publications as one of the most beautiful Filipino actresses of her generation. She is vocal about gender equality, women's rights, and mental health. (Full article...)

• ... that Mother Solomon (pictured) returned to Ohio 22 years after the Indian Removal Act forced her people, the Wyandots, into Kansas?
• ... that there were at least seven unsuccessful attempts to redevelop New York City's Kings Theatre before it reopened in 2015?
• ... that newspaper columnist Ly Singko was imprisoned for "glamourising the communist system"?
• ... that Aquilegia gegica and Aquilegia colchica, two species of columbine native to the Caucasus, can produce fertile hybrid offspring?
• ... that YouTuber Tyler Oliveira apologized after trying to drain a pool with paper towels?
• ... that the final seconds of MLS Cup 2024 were disrupted by players and staff who mistakenly entered the field to celebrate?
• ... that Mary Mellor argued that the COVID-19 pandemic increased the impact of the patriarchy on women, both at home and in the wider economy?
• ... that Taylor Swift released a demo containing lyrics that were trimmed from the final version of her song "My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys"?
• ... that a Welsh man lost more than £500 million of bitcoin in a landfill?

• Romania and Bulgaria become full members of the Schengen Area.
• In New Orleans, an attacker rams a truck into a crowd and opens fire, killing at least 14 people and injuring 35 others.
• Mikheil Kavelashvili is inaugurated as president of Georgia while incumbent Salome Zourabichvili intends to remain in office amidst a constitutional crisis.
• Former president of the United States and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jimmy Carter (pictured) dies at the age of 100.

January 4: Colonial Repression Martyrs' Day in Angola (1961)

• 1853 – Solomon Northup (pictured) regained his freedom after having been sold into slavery in the American South; his memoir Twelve Years a Slave later became a bestseller.
• 1970 – A magnitude-7.1 earthquake occurred in Tonghai County, China, killing at least 15,000 people.
• 1977 – The English punk-rock band Sex Pistols' lewd and disruptive behaviour at Heathrow Airport prompted the record label EMI to end their contract.
• 2010 – The Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest structure, officially opened in Dubai.
• 2020 – Sembawang Hot Spring Park in Singapore reopened after being redeveloped by the National Parks Board.

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The Albona class were mine-warfare ships used by the Italian Regia Marina and the Royal Yugoslav Navy (KM). Fourteen ships were originally laid down between 1917 and 1918 for the Austro-Hungarian Navy. The end of World War I and the dissolution of Austria-Hungary left them incomplete until 1920, when three ships were finished for the Regia Marina. An additional five ships were completed for the KM in 1931. All the completed ships could carry 24 to 39 naval mines. The five ships in KM service were captured by Italian forces during the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia and commissioned in the Regia Marina. Three of the ships were returned to the KM-in-exile in late 1943 until they were transferred to the Yugoslav Navy in August 1945. The three surviving ships were stricken in 1962 and 1963. (This article is part of a featured topic: Ships of the Royal Yugoslav Navy.)

• ... that Saint Amalberga of Temse (pictured) is the patron saint of upper-limb injuries, because of the legend that Charlemagne broke her arm while trying to force her to marry him?
• ... that critics argued that involving actresses in civilized drama would promote obscenity?
• ... that five percent of Barbados's population turned out to protest the death of Milton King in Cape Town police custody?
• ... that about 200,000 Jews served in the Polish Army and related formations during World War II?
• ... that Pete Vann recovered from spinal meningitis to set an NCAA single-season passing record?
• ... that St Bride's Church still has loopholes from use as a military outpost in the 19th century?
• ... that Glaive recorded the first track for I Care So Much That I Don't Care at All at the age of 17?
• ... that according to George K. Teulon all of the presidents and vice-presidents of the Republic of Texas, and four-fifths of its government officials, were freemasons?
• ... that a Mountain Landscape is difficult to capture with photography?

• In New Orleans, an attacker rams a truck into a crowd and opens fire, killing at least 14 people and injuring 35 others.
• Former president of the United States and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jimmy Carter (pictured) dies at the age of 100.
• Jeju Air Flight 2216 crashes at Muan International Airport, South Korea, killing 179 people.
• Acting president and prime minister of South Korea Han Duck-soo is impeached by the National Assembly.

January 3

• 250 – Decius ordered all people in the Roman Empire (except Jews) to perform a sacrifice to the Roman gods, resulting in widespread persecution of Christians.
• 1777 – American Revolutionary War: American forces commanded by George Washington defeated British troops at the Battle of Princeton (depicted).
• 1959 – As a result of the Alaska Statehood Act, the Territory of Alaska became the 49th U.S. state, and the first outside the contiguous United States.
• 1990 – United States invasion of Panama: Manuel Noriega, the deposed strongman of Panama, surrendered to American forces outside the apostolic nunciature in Panama City.
• 2002 – Second Intifada: Israeli forces seized MV Karine A, which was carrying 50 tons of smuggled weapons on behalf of the Palestinian Authority.

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Benjamin Jackson (January 2, 1835 – August 20, 1915) was a Canadian sailor and farmer who was a decorated veteran of the American Civil War. He began his career as a commercial seaman at the age of 16 and started a farm in his mid-twenties. During the American Civil War, he served for a year in the Union Navy and was deployed in the Union blockade of the Confederate coastline. As a gun captain aboard USS Richmond, Jackson served in the Battle of Mobile Bay. He disarmed multiple naval mines and once picked up a live shell and threw it from the deck of the Richmond. Jackson likely earned an enlistment bounty, as well as prize money by capturing multiple blockade runners. He developed bronchitis, suffered a serious hand injury, and eventually received a Civil War Campaign Medal. After the war, he lived the rest of his life in Lockhartville, Nova Scotia. He retired from commercial sailing in 1875 but continued managing his farm. Jackson's grave remained unmarked until 2010, when a headstone was erected. (Full article...)

• ... that the grave of Ethel Preston in Leeds, England, has a life-sized statue of her (pictured) stood in front of black marble doors, left ajar?
• ... that meetings between Biblical and post-Biblical characters, such as when Moses sees Rabbi Aviva teach and be martyred, are rare in Talmudic stories?
• ... that Marie-Thérèse Eyquem served in the government of Vichy France, and was later appointed a national secretary of the French Socialist Party?
• ... that An Amorous History of the Silver Screen, an exploration of more than four decades of film in China, argues that cinema is a "modern folk tale"?
• ... that a critic called Benjamin Britten's Tema "Sacher" a "truncated and barely coherent page [of music]" and "a pathetic fragment"?
• ... that the 1980s Beechcraft BQM-126 target drone could be launched from aircraft based on aircraft carriers?
• ... that children's author Mary Chalmers owned ten cats and a Pomeranian dog, whose poses helped her draw illustrations for her books?
• ... that in the 1917 Moscow District Duma elections, the Bolshevik Party won 97 percent of the votes of the soldiers at the heavy artillery workshops?
• ... that Flora Hommel, after being afraid of giving birth to her own child, went on to teach the Lamaze technique to more than 17,000 couples?

• In New Orleans, an attacker rams a truck into a crowd and opens fire, killing at least 15 people and injuring dozens of others (street pictured).
• Former president of the United States and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jimmy Carter dies at the age of 100.
• Jeju Air Flight 2216 crashes at Muan International Airport, South Korea, killing 179 people.
• Acting president and prime minister of South Korea Han Duck-soo is impeached by the National Assembly.

January 2: Feast day of Saint Gregory of Nazianzus and Saint Basil of Caesarea (Roman Rite Catholicism, Anglicanism)

• 1865 – Uruguayan War: Brazilian and Colorado Party forces captured the city of Paysandú from its Uruguayan defenders.
• 1920 – Under the leadership of Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer (pictured), U.S. Department of Justice agents launched a series of raids against radical leftists and anarchists in more than 30 cities and towns across 23 states.
• 1991 – Sharon Pratt Dixon was sworn in as the mayor of Washington, D.C., becoming the first African-American woman to hold the position.
• 2004 – The Stardust space probe flew by the comet Wild 2 and collected particle samples from its coma, which were later returned to Earth.
• 2016 – Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent Shia cleric in Saudi Arabia, was executed by the Saudi government along with 46 other people.

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1 Wall Street is a skyscraper in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York. Designed in the Art Deco style, the building is 654 feet (199 m) tall and consists of two sections. The original 50-story building was constructed between 1929 and 1931 for Irving Trust. A 28-story annex to the south (later expanded to 36 stories) was built between 1963 and 1965. The building occupies a full city block between Broadway, Wall Street, New Street, and Exchange Place. At the time of its construction, 1 Wall Street occupied what was considered one of the most valuable plots in the city. The building is one of New York City's Art Deco landmarks, although architectural critics initially ignored it in favor of such buildings as the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building. The original portion of the building is designated as a New York City landmark. It is also a contributing property to the Wall Street Historic District, a National Register of Historic Places district created in 2007. (Full article...)

• ... that the 1991 Andover tornado (pictured) narrowly avoided hitting two warplanes equipped with nuclear warheads?
• ... that Murad Al-Katib provided 700 million meals of Saskatchewan-grown chickpeas, lentils and wheat to a United Nations program for Syrian refugees?
• ... that insurers paid out about NZ$171 million in damages caused by a 10-minute hailstorm in New Zealand?
• ... that Scottish bricklayer Brian Higgins was unable to find work for 25 years after appearing on a construction-industry blacklist?
• ... that the dragonfly Antiquiala was described from a single wing found in the state of Washington?
• ... that Edward W. Gantt was a Confederate soldier who defected to the Union during the American Civil War?
• ... that bored soldiers during the siege of Ak-Mechet began stealing watermelons from gardens outside the enemy fortress?
• ... that Shō Sen'i was overthrown in favor of his thirteen-year-old nephew?
• ... that the titular songstress in Sing-Song Girl Red Peony, a contender for China's first sound film, was overdubbed by a man?

• Former president of the United States and Nobel Peace laureate Jimmy Carter (pictured) dies at the age of 100.
• Jeju Air Flight 2216 crashes at Muan International Airport, South Korea, killing 179 people.
• Acting president and prime minister of South Korea Han Duck-soo is impeached by the National Assembly.
• Former prime minister of India Manmohan Singh dies at the age of 92.

January 1: Public Domain Day; Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God (Roman Rite Catholicism)

• 1725 – J. S. Bach led the first performance of his chorale cantata Jesu, nun sei gepreiset, which features trumpet fanfares at the start and end.
• 1801 – Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi discovered the dwarf planet Ceres, naming it after the Roman goddess of agriculture and of motherly love.
• 1810 – Lachlan Macquarie (pictured) became Governor of New South Wales, eventually playing a major role in the shaping of the social, economic and architectural development of the colony in Australia.
• 1960 – Three men are killed and two wounded in a mass shooting at a public house in Sheffield, England.
• 1994 – The revolutionary leftist Zapatista Army of National Liberation initiated twelve days of armed conflict in the Mexican state of Chiapas.

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Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954, it is Minnesota's most populous city as of the 2020 census. Minneapolis occupies both banks of the Mississippi River and adjoins Saint Paul, the state capital of Minnesota. Minneapolis, Saint Paul, and the surrounding area are collectively known as the Twin Cities, a metropolitan area with 3.69 million residents. Minneapolis is known for cold, snowy winters and hot, humid summers. The city's public park system is connected by the Grand Rounds National Scenic Byway. Dakota people originally inhabited the site of today's Minneapolis. For a time in the 19th century, Minneapolis was the lumber and flour milling capital of the world, and as home to the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, it has preserved its financial clout into the 21st century. Minneapolis has a political landscape dominated by the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party. (Full article...)

• ... that trembleuse cups and saucers (examples pictured) enabled people with unsteady hands to drink hot beverages?
• ... that during one of his Diddy parties, Sean Combs promised not to spill champagne on the Declaration of Independence?
• ... that the release of the top-level domain .zip was condemned by cyber-security experts?
• ... that grand claims that the ruler of Mwene Muji once had imperial status were dismissed by Belgian colonial authorities?
• ... that John Mascarenhas simultaneously served as the chairman of his country's legislature and the president of their Olympic committee?
• ... that Ekin Cheng agreed to make a cameo appearance in A Nail Clipper Romance after learning that it would be filmed in Hawaii?
• ... that Emil Bove prosecuted Nicolás Maduro and defended Donald Trump?
• ... that a Florida radio station DJ's attempt to break a world record was foiled by blown transmitter tubes?
• ... that The Sausages' first sausage was filled with three courses and an espresso?

• Former president of the United States Jimmy Carter (pictured) dies at the age of 100.
• Jeju Air Flight 2216 crashes at Muan International Airport, South Korea, killing 179 people.
• Acting president and prime minister of South Korea Han Duck-soo is impeached by the National Assembly.
• Former prime minister of India Manmohan Singh dies at the age of 92.

December 31: Saint Sylvester's Day (Western Christianity)

• 1909 – The Manhattan Bridge, connecting Lower Manhattan to Downtown Brooklyn and considered to be the forerunner of modern suspension bridges, opened to traffic.
• 1983 – Two Australian biologists published an article titled "A Synopsis of the Class Reptilia in Australia", initiating the Wells and Wellington affair.
• 1986 – Three disgruntled employees set fire to the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, killing more than 90 people and injuring 140 others, making it the second-deadliest hotel fire in American history.
• 1999 – In accordance with the Torrijos–Carter Treaties, Panama assumed full control of the Panama Canal Zone from the United States.
• 2004 – Taipei 101 (pictured) in Taipei, Taiwan, opened to the public as the world's tallest building.

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Mountain pigeons are four species of birds in the genus Gymnophaps in the pigeon family Columbidae. They are found on islands in eastern Indonesia and Melanesia, where they inhabit hill and montane forest. Medium-sized pigeons with long tails and wings, they are 33 to 38.5 cm (13.0 to 15.2 in) long and weigh 259 to 385 g (9.1 to 13.6 oz). They mostly have dull grey, white, or chestnut-brown plumage, their most distinctive feature being bright red skin around the eyes. Males and females mostly look alike, but the Papuan and pale mountain pigeons show slight sexual dimorphism. They are social and are usually seen in flocks of 10 to 40 birds, although some species can form flocks of more than 100. The genus was originally described by the Italian zoologist Tommaso Salvadori in 1874 and currently contains the Papuan, Seram, Buru, and pale mountain pigeons. Mountain pigeons inhabit trees and feed on a wide variety of fruit. All four species are listed as being of least concern on the IUCN Red List. (Full article...)

• ... that the grapefruit (examples pictured) was described as the "forbidden fruit" in 1750?
• ... that British war correspondent Ian Fyfe was killed on D-Day while landing in a glider with troops attacking the Merville Gun Battery?
• ... that the 1976 Philippine film Itim was described as "one of the most remarkable debuts in cinema history" in a 2022 retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art?
• ... that Phoebe Plummer was "unfortunate" to draw Christopher Hehir as judge when they stood trial over the Just Stop Oil Sunflowers protest?
• ... that the only fatality of the Belvidere Apollo Theatre collapse was the only audience member to buy a band T-shirt at the event?
• ... that the cover art of Music from the Merch Desk (2016–2023) was derived from bootleg merchandise?
• ... that Michael O'Kane never received approval to begin constructing a building for the College of the Holy Cross?
• ... that in the 1980s, when Moturoa Island lost all its endangered kiwi to pests, experts reintroduced seven birds – today there could be as many as 300 kiwi on the island?
• ... that Jill, Duchess of Hamilton, donated her body to science because "funerals are a bore"?

• Former president of the United States Jimmy Carter (pictured) dies at the age of 100.
• Jeju Air Flight 2216 crashes at Muan International Airport, South Korea, killing 179 people.
• Acting president and prime minister of South Korea Han Duck-soo is impeached by the National Assembly.
• Former prime minister of India Manmohan Singh dies at the age of 92.

December 30: Rizal Day in the Philippines (1896)

• 999 – In Ireland, the combined forces of Munster and Meath crushed a rebellion by Leinster and Dublin.
• 1940 – The Arroyo Seco Parkway, one of the first freeways built in the U.S., connecting downtown Los Angeles with Pasadena, California, was officially dedicated.
• 1954 – The Finnish National Bureau of Investigation was established to consolidate criminal investigation and intelligence into a single agency.
• 1969 – Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos began his second term after being re-elected in a landslide.
• 2006 – Saddam Hussein, the former president of Iraq, was executed after being found guilty of crimes against humanity by the Iraqi High Tribunal.
• 2009 – Pro-government counter-demonstrators held rallies (pictured) in several Iranian cities in response to recent anti-government protests on the holy day of Ashura.

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Jochi (c. 1182 – c. 1225) was a prince in the Mongol Empire. For months before his birth, his mother Börte had been a captive of the Merkit tribe, one of whom forcibly married and raped her. Although there was thus doubt over his parentage, Börte's husband Genghis Khan considered Jochi his son and treated him as such. Many Mongols, most prominently Börte's next son Chagatai, disagreed; these tensions eventually caused Jochi's exclusion from the line of succession. After Genghis founded the Mongol Empire in 1206, he entrusted Jochi with nine thousand warriors and a large territory in the west of the Mongol heartland; Jochi campaigned extensively to extend Mongol power in the region. He also commanded an army during the invasion of the Khwarazmian Empire, but tensions arose between him and his family during the siege of Gurganj in 1221. They were still estranged when Jochi died of ill health. His descendants continued to rule his territories, which became known as the Golden Horde. (Full article...)

• ... that in the 18th century the Mawali tribe (pictured) was driven from the Syrian steppe to the regions of Hama and Idlib, where their descendants live today?
• ... that a reviewer identified an "audible contempt" for men in the songs of Ceechynaa, who entered the UK singles chart earlier this month with "Peggy"?
• ... that vitamin E was named "tocopherol" as it was identified as essential for live births in rats?
• ... that in the 1950s Michel Klein opened one of the first veterinary practices in Paris?
• ... that the sexual onomatopoeia puff-puff was censored in English releases of Dragon Quest until Dragon Quest XI?
• ... that newspaper publisher Jacob Frolich built trapdoors and hiding places in his house in case it was raided by Radical Republicans?
• ... that nearly 300 construction workers showed up at 8 am to continue building Chernobyl Reactors 5 and 6, unaware of the Chernobyl disaster earlier that day?
• ... that war correspondent Bernard Gray was killed while travelling as an unofficial passenger aboard a Royal Navy submarine during the Second World War?
• ... that Good Gravy!, a Thanksgiving dinner–themed roller coaster, was first tested with a train full of plush turkeys?

• Former prime minister of India Manmohan Singh (pictured) dies at the age of 92.
• Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243 crashes near Aktau International Airport, Kazakhstan, killing 38 people.
• The Parker Solar Probe makes its closest approach to the Sun.
• At least 11 people are killed when a bridge connecting the Brazilian states of Tocantins and Maranhão partially collapses.

December 29

• 1812 – War of 1812: In a three-hour single-ship action, HMS Java (drawing shown) was captured by USS Constitution off the coast of Brazil.
• 1876 – A railway bridge collapsed over the Ashtabula River in Ohio, killing 92 people and injuring 64 others on a Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway train.
• 1928 – The Northern Expedition, a military campaign by the National Revolutionary Army of the Kuomintang, ended with the complete control of the Republic of China.
• 1959 – American physicist Richard Feynman gave a speech entitled "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom" at Caltech, anticipating the field of nanotechnology.
• 1994 – Turkish Airlines Flight 278 crashed on approach to Van Ferit Melen Airport in Van, Turkey, killing 57 of the 76 people on board.

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George E. Mylonas (1898–1988) was a Greek archaeologist of ancient Greece and of Aegean prehistory. He excavated widely, particularly at Olynthus, Eleusis and Mycenae, where he made the first archaeological study and publication of Grave Circle B, the earliest known monumentalized burials at the site. Mylonas was born in Smyrna, then part of the Ottoman Empire, and received an elite education. In 1924, he began working for the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. He took part in excavations at Corinth, Nemea and Olynthus under its auspices. He studied and taught at universities in Greece and the United States. He was prominent in the Archaeological Society of Athens and in efforts to conserve the monuments of the Acropolis of Athens. He had co-responsibility for the excavation of Mycenae's Grave Circle B in the early 1950s, and from 1957 until 1985 he excavated on the citadel of the site. His excavations at Mycenae have been credited with bringing coherence to the site. (Full article...)

• ... that Kwan Man-ching (pictured), who directed more than fifty films in forty years, entered the industry hoping to meet his celebrity crush?
• ... that the style of Hermann Weyl's Gruppentheorie und Quantenmechanik has been likened to "a smiling figure on horseback, cutting a clean way through ... with a swift bright sword"?
• ... that international adult figure skating champion Naz Arıcı learned to skate at the age of 29?
• ... that in 1967 two mathematicians published PhD dissertations independently disproving the same thirteen-year-old conjecture?
• ... that Shalom Nagar, executioner of war criminal and Nazi Party official Adolf Eichmann, said he was selected at random for the role?
• ... that Kevin Roose wrote a viral article about artificial intelligence rhetoric after an AI bot attempted to convince him to leave his wife?
• ... that Karl Thielscher began refereeing American football games less than a month after retiring from playing the sport professionally?
• ... that between February and August 1918 the Petergofsky District mobilized more than 20 combat units for the Red Army?
• ... that a South Korean actor sold his belongings and went $7 million into debt to keep his amusement park running?

• Former prime minister of India Manmohan Singh (pictured) dies at the age of 92.
• Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243 crashes near Aktau International Airport, Kazakhstan, killing 38 people.
• The Parker Solar Probe makes its closest approach to the Sun.
• A multi-vehicle crash in Minas Gerais, Brazil, leaves 41 people dead.

December 28

• 484 – Alaric II (depicted) succeeded his father Euric as King of the Visigoths.
• 1916 – Up to 1,000 lumber workers initiated a labor strike against the Virginia and Rainy Lake Lumber Company in Minnesota, United States, which lasted over a month.
• 1964 – Vietnam War: Viet Cong regiments penetrated the eastern perimeters of the village of Bình Giã, beginning the Battle of Binh Gia.
• 2009 – Tibetan dissident filmmaker Dhondup Wangchen was imprisoned for subversion by Chinese authorities after a secret trial.
• 2014 – The passenger ferry Norman Atlantic caught fire in the Adriatic Sea, killing an estimated 28 people.

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Palo is an African diasporic religion that developed in Cuba during the late 19th or early 20th century. It draws heavily upon the traditional Kongo religion of Central Africa, and from Catholicism and Spiritism. Central to Palo is the nganga, usually made from an iron cauldron. Many nganga are regarded as material manifestations of ancestral or nature deities known as mpungu. The nganga may contain a wide range of objects, among the most important being sticks and human remains, the latter called nfumbe. In Palo, the presence of the nfumbe means that the spirit of that dead person inhabits the nganga and serves the possessor. The nganga is "fed" with the blood of sacrificed animals and other offerings. Palo is most heavily practiced in eastern Cuba although it is found throughout the island and abroad, including in other parts of the Americas such as Venezuela, Mexico, and the United States. Palo adherents have faced problems with police for grave robbery to procure human bones. (Full article...)

• ... that a popular myth held that the French soldiers interred in Bayonet Trench (pictured) were buried alive with their rifles in their hands?
• ... that a lost chronicle of the kings of Kashmir is attributed to the author Ratnākara?
• ... that a critic described GNX, after its surprise release, as Kendrick Lamar's "greatest work" yet?
• ... that ballet dancer Nina Tikhonova taught dance for free to children who had been orphaned during World War II?
• ... that former adult actress Suzumi Suzuki's book Gifted was nominated for the Akutagawa Prize in 2022?
• ... that George Bogaars, as head of Singapore's Secret Branch, oversaw the detention of more than a hundred suspected communist sympathisers?
• ... that the Green Bay Packers won a snowy NFL playoff game by scoring six straight touchdowns after they had been losing 14–0?
• ... that William C. Roberts had to resign a pastorate in Ohio because his wife's illness was believed to be curable if she returned to her home state?
• ... that anarchism without adjectives has been described as an ecumenical or non-denominational form of anarchism?

• Former prime minister of India Manmohan Singh (pictured) dies at the age of 92.
• Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243 crashes near Aktau International Airport, Kazakhstan, killing 38 people.
• A multi-vehicle crash in Minas Gerais, Brazil, leaves 41 people dead.
• A car attack at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, kills five people and injures more than two hundred others.

December 27

• 1831 – HMS Beagle departed Plymouth, England, on a voyage to South America that established Charles Darwin (pictured) as a naturalist.
• 1939 – A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck central Turkey, destroying 90 per cent of the buildings in the area, and causing over 32,000 deaths.
• 1979 – Soviet–Afghan War: Soviet troops stormed Tajbeg Palace outside Kabul and killed Afghan president Hafizullah Amin and his 100–150 elite guards.
• 2007 – Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated while leaving a Pakistan People's Party political rally at Liaqat National Bagh in Rawalpindi.

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During Gillingham F.C.'s 1984–85 season, they competed in the Football League Third Division, the third tier of the English football league system. It was the 53rd season in which Gillingham competed in the Football League, and the 35th since they were voted back into the league in 1950. Gillingham started the season with five wins in the first seven games and were challenging for a place in the top three of the league table, which would result in promotion to the Second Division. The team's performances then declined, and by November they were in mid-table. They won 12 out of 16 games to go back up to second place, before a poor run in March meant that they again dropped out of the promotion places. Gillingham finished the season fourth in the table, missing promotion by one place. They also competed in three knock-out competitions, winning no trophies, but won three times to reach the fourth round of the 1984–85 FA Cup before losing. The team played 56 competitive matches, and won 30. (Full article...)

• ... that a viral video by an Indian influencer (pictured) resulted in the sugar content of Bournvita being cut by almost 15 percent?
• ... that on 26 December 1724 J. S. Bach directed the first performance of Christum wir sollen loben schon, BWV 121, based on a hymn written by Martin Luther in 1524?
• ... that actress Jane Barnes learned how to pilot a plane so that she could fly home to Massachusetts on her own?
• ... that the largest IMAX cinema in the Southern Hemisphere is in Melbourne?
• ... that Musa al-Gharbi argues that "symbolic capitalists" support social justice movements to amass social currency?
• ... that American president Zachary Taylor is mentioned in a poem about the conversion of Saint Paul?
• ... that Filipino violinist Gilopez Kabayao was nicknamed the "Mozart to the Barrios"?
• ... that Ian Holm, who died in 2020, was "resurrected" to appear in Alien: Romulus through a combination of animatronics, computer-generated imagery, and artificial intelligence?
• ... that NFL player Adrian Baril also was a "fat men's race" champion?

• Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243 (aircraft pictured) crashes near Aqtau International Airport, Kazakhstan, killing 38 people.
• A multi-vehicle crash in Minas Gerais, Brazil, leaves 41 people dead.
• A car attack at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, kills five people and injures more than two hundred others.
• In France, Dominique Pelicot and 49 other men are convicted of the serial rape of his then-wife Gisèle Pelicot.

December 26: Saint Stephen's Day (Western Christianity); Boxing Day in the Commonwealth; Wren Day in Ireland and the Isle of Man; Kwanzaa begins (African diaspora in the Americas)

• 1862 – American Civil War: The Battle of Chickasaw Bayou began with Confederate defenders engaging Union forces who were attempting to capture the city of Vicksburg, Mississippi.
• 1871 – Thespis, the first comic opera by Gilbert and Sullivan, premiered at the Gaiety Theatre in London.
• 1900 – A relief crew arrived at the Flannan Isles Lighthouse (pictured) in Scotland and discovered that the previous crew had disappeared.
• 1943 – Second World War: The German battleship Scharnhorst was sunk at the Battle of the North Cape during an attempt to attack Arctic convoys.
• 2004 – A major earthquake and tsunami devastated communities around the Indian Ocean, killing an estimated 227,898 people in 14 countries.

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A Very Trainor Christmas is a Christmas album by American singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor (pictured). It was released on October 30, 2020. Trainor co-wrote the album with her brothers, Ryan and Justin, among others. It features artists such as Earth, Wind & Fire, Seth MacFarlane, Trainor's cousins, and her father. The album covers Christmas standards such as "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" (1951) and "Last Christmas" (1984), with six original recordings. Trainor promoted A Very Trainor Christmas with public appearances and televised performances. Trainor and MacFarlane's cover of "White Christmas" (1942) reached number one on the Adult Contemporary chart. Several other tracks received music videos. Critical commentary for the album was generally positive, with praise directed towards Trainor's charisma and the material. It reached number 7 on the US Holiday Albums chart and the top 50 in Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden. (This article is part of a featured topic: Meghan Trainor albums.)

• ... that the Adoration of the Magi in the Snow (pictured), recently re-dated, is now known to be the earliest of Bruegel's snow paintings?
• ... that the Philly Specials, formed by three football players from the Philadelphia Eagles, have recorded Christmas music with Stevie Nicks and Boyz II Men?
• ... that heavy spring rains caused a poor harvest of the Dickinson pumpkin, leading to a canned pumpkin shortage for Christmas in 2015?
• ... that Holiday Seasoning was promoted with the release of holiday seasonings?
• ... that HMT Night Hawk was sunk on Christmas Day 1914 while trawling for mines off Scarborough, England?
• ... that the National Gingerbread House Competition, despite its name, has featured gingerbread merry-go-rounds, sea monsters, and even the Statue of Liberty?
• ... that Pflaumentoffel, edible figures made from prunes, were sold by children in German Christmas markets in the 19th century?
• ... that "The Christmas Invasion" led to Christmas specials becoming a staple for Doctor Who?
• ... that A. krampus has been found living in southeastern Brazil?

• A road crash in Minas Gerais, Brazil, leaves 41 people dead on a bus.
• A car attack (aftermath pictured) at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, kills five people and injures more than two hundred others.
• In France, Dominique Pelicot and 49 other men are convicted of the serial rape of his then-wife Gisèle Pelicot.
• A 7.3-magnitude earthquake hits Vanuatu's capital, Port Vila, leaving at least sixteen people dead.

December 25: Christmas (Western Christianity; Gregorian calendar); Hanukkah (Judaism) begins at sunset; Quaid-e-Azam Day in Pakistan

• 1046 – Henry III was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Clement II.
• 1724 – Johann Sebastian Bach led the first performance of Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ, based on the Christmas hymn written by Martin Luther in 1524.
• 1831 – A Baptist preacher named Samuel Sharpe began an unsuccessful eleven-day slave revolt in Jamaica.
• 1991 – In a nationally televised speech, Mikhail Gorbachev (pictured) resigned as President of the Soviet Union.
• 2009 – A fire destroyed Longford's 19th-century St Mel's Cathedral, considered the "flagship cathedral" of the Irish midlands.

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The Brinks Hotel bombing occurred in Saigon on December 24, 1964, during the Vietnam War. Two Viet Cong operatives detonated a car bomb under the hotel, which housed United States Army officers. The explosion killed two Americans and injured approximately 60 other people. The Viet Cong commanders had two objectives: to demonstrate their ability to strike in South Vietnam should the United States decide to launch air raids against North Vietnam, and to show the South Vietnamese that the Americans could not be relied upon for protection. The bombing prompted debate within United States president Lyndon B. Johnson's administration. Most of his advisers favored retaliatory bombing of North Vietnam and the introduction of American combat troops, while Johnson preferred the existing strategy of training the Army of the Republic of Vietnam to protect South Vietnam from the Viet Cong. In the end, Johnson decided not to take retaliatory action. (Full article...)

• ... that Voltairine de Cleyre (pictured), despite losing her ability to move or speak due to illness, refused to accept last rites by scowling at the priest?
• ... that tourte de blettes, a sweet pie made with Swiss chard, is traditionally eaten in Nice on Christmas Eve?
• ... that Casanova's friend Edoardo Tiretta built a bazaar in India?
• ... that Christmas: A Biography states that, despite its Christian origins, Christmas has been mostly secular since its inception in the fourth century?
• ... that Oh Hee-ok was the last surviving female Korean independence activist?
• ... that the Christmas carp traditionally swims in a bathtub for a few days before becoming Christmas Eve dinner?
• ... that Italian anti-Mafia prosecutor Nicola Gratteri survived three assassination attempts within three weeks?
• ... that in 2016 two thieves stole $350,000 worth of rare books in Oakland, California, and tried to sell some of them to Moe's Books nearby?
• ... that energy executive Chris Wright once drank fracking fluid to prove that it was not dangerous?

• A car attack (aftermath pictured) at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, kills five people and injures more than two hundred others.
• In France, Dominique Pelicot and 49 other men are convicted of the serial rape of his then-wife Gisèle Pelicot.
• A 7.3-magnitude earthquake hits Vanuatu's capital, Port Vila, leaving at least sixteen people dead.
• Cyclone Chido leaves more than 160 people dead in southeast Africa.

December 24

• 759 – The Tang-dynasty poet Du Fu departed for Chengdu, where he lived for the next five years and composed poems about life in his thatched cottage.
• 1777 – An expedition led by English explorer James Cook reached Christmas Island (pictured), the largest coral atoll in the world.
• 1814 – The United Kingdom and the United States signed a peace treaty in Ghent, present-day Belgium, ending the War of 1812.
• 1987 – About 20,000 protesters marched in a civil rights demonstration in Forsyth County, Georgia, United States.
• 1999 – Jihadists linked to al-Qaeda hijacked Indian Airlines Flight 814 to force the release of Islamist figures held in prison in India.

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The Bonn–Oberkassel dog was a Late Paleolithic (c. 12,000 BCE) dog whose partial skeletal remains were found buried alongside two humans in Bonn, Germany. Initially identified as a wolf upon its discovery in 1914, its remains were separated and lost within the University of Bonn's collections. These were reunited in the late 1970s, and the animal was re-identified as an early domestic dog and dated to the Late Glacial Interstadial. It likely suffered and survived canine distemper as a puppy, a disease with an almost 100-percent fatality rate in wild dogs and wolves. The puppy's survival likely required intensive care from humans, including food, water, and regular cleaning. This may show a close emotional bond between the humans and the dog, and possibly that it was regarded as a pet – perhaps by the humans it was buried alongside. The dog died aged around 7.5 months for unclear reasons; it may have died from natural causes, or have been sacrificed to be buried alongside the humans. (Full article...)

• ... that the 2022 Andover tornado (video featured) injured only three people, despite damaging more than 1,000 buildings?
• ... that Dithapelo Keorapetse was named Speaker of the National Assembly of Botswana shortly after losing his bid for election to the legislature?
• ... that the 1962 space-age pop album Latin-esque was recorded with halves of the orchestra separated by almost a city block to heighten its stereo effects?
• ... that Bob Gandey founded a circus that continues to be operated by his descendants more than a century later?
• ... that Hudson's Bay Company ships reserved special rooms for important Lower Chehalis visitors due to their key role in regional trade networks?
• ... that referee Mike Hasenfratz acted in an ice hockey fight in Stay Tuned?
• ... that Planting a Rainbow has been praised for both its "deft use of colors" and the educational identification of seeds, bulbs, sprouts, and blossoms?
• ... that David Bookbinder was Margaret Thatcher's "least favourite local government leader"?
• ... that entitativity refers to how "groupy" a group is?

• A car attack (aftermath pictured) at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, kills five people and injures more than two hundred others.
• In France, Dominique Pelicot and 49 other men are convicted of the serial rape of his then-wife Gisèle Pelicot.
• A 7.3-magnitude earthquake hits Vanuatu's capital, Port Vila, leaving at least sixteen people dead.
• Cyclone Chido leaves more than 140 people dead in southeast Africa.

December 23: Night of the Radishes in Oaxaca City, Mexico; Festivus

• 1776 – American Revolutionary War: American troops, overwhelmed by British reinforcements, retreated from the Battle of Iron Works Hill.
• 1888 – During a bout of mental illness, Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh (pictured) severed part of his left ear and gave it to a woman in a brothel in Arles, France.
• 1916 – First World War: Allied forces gained a strategic victory at the Battle of Magdhaba on the Sinai Peninsula.
• 1957 – Leading the Australia national cricket team, Ian Craig became the youngest-ever Test cricket captain at the time.
• 2008 – The Guinean military engineered a coup d'état, announcing that it planned to rule the country for two years prior to a new presidential election.

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The Tomb of Antipope John XXIII was created by Donatello and Michelozzo for the Florence Baptistery adjacent to the Duomo. It was commissioned after Antipope John XXIII's death on December 22, 1419, and completed during the 1420s, establishing it as one of the early landmarks of Renaissance Florence. John XXIII had a long history of cooperation with Florence, which had viewed him as the legitimate pontiff during the Western Schism. Its design included figures of the three Virtues in niches, John XXIII's family arms, a gilded bronze recumbent effigy laid out above an inscription-bearing sarcophagus, and a Madonna and Child in a half-lunette, with a canopy. At its completion, the monument was the tallest sculpture in Florence. The tomb monument was the first of several collaborations between Donatello and Michelozzo; attribution of each design element to the artists, as well as interpretations of its design and iconography, have been debated by art historians. (Full article...)

• ... that René Vallon (pictured) achieved the first aeroplane flight, and was the first aeroplane-related death, in China?
• ... that the creator of The Americans drew inspiration for the show from his time as a CIA officer and a 2010 Russian spy scandal?
• ... that Tjeerd van Andel was surprised to find heaps of giant clam shells around hot springs on his first dive to the Pacific ocean floor?
• ... that art historians believe that Ellen Thesleff's self-portrait may have been drawn in a trance-like state?
• ... that Charles Herman Allen, university administrator and American Civil War captain, opened the University of Wisconsin to female enrollment in 1863?
• ... that during World War I the organ of evacuated Polish railway workers in Moscow denounced the trade unions of the Warsaw–Vienna railway as "separatists"?
• ... that the Mingxing Film Company released more than 150 films in 16 years, but most are now lost?
• ... that St. Gregory the Great Seminary was founded in a former juvenile mental hospital?
• ... that Ritsuko Taho once had her students at Harvard University slaughter a chicken and turn its bones into a sculpture?

• A car attack at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, kills five people and injures more than two hundred others.
• In France, Dominique Pelicot and 49 other men are convicted of the serial rape of his then-wife Gisèle Pelicot (portrait shown).
• A 7.3-magnitude earthquake hits Vanuatu's capital, Port Vila, leaving at least sixteen people dead.
• Cyclone Chido leaves more than 120 people dead in southern Africa.

December 22: Yule begins; Dongzhi Festival in China (2023)

• 856 – An earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 7.9 struck the eastern Alborz mountains in Persia, causing an estimated 200,000 deaths.
• 1948 – Chaired by Sjafruddin Prawiranegara, the Emergency Government of the Republic of Indonesia was established to counter Dutch attempts to re-assert colonial control.
• 1988 – Brazilian unionist and environmental activist Chico Mendes was murdered at his home in Xapuri.
• 2008 – A dike ruptured at a waste containment area for a coal-fired power plant in Kingston, Tennessee, releasing 1.1 billion gallons (4.2 million m³) of coal fly ash slurry (aftermath pictured) in the largest industrial spill in US history.

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Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang: The Magical Car is a children's story written by Ian Fleming and illustrated by John Burningham. It was initially published in three volumes, the first of which was released on 22 October 1964, before being published as one book. The story concerns the exploits of Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang, a car with hidden powers and abilities, and its owners, the Pott family. Fleming, better known as the creator of James Bond, took his inspiration for the subject from a series of aero-engined racing cars called "Chitty Bang Bang" (example pictured), built by Louis Zborowski in the early 1920s. Fleming wrote the book while convalescing after having had a major heart attack; he had created the story as a bedtime story for his son, Caspar. Fleming did not live to see Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang published; he died of a heart attack on 11 August 1964. The story was loosely adapted as the 1968 film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which in turn was later adapted as a stage musical. (Full article...)

• ... that George W. Bush quoted from the Quran in a speech he delivered (pictured) six days after the September 11 attacks?
• ... that Luo Shiwen led a secret cell of the Chinese Communist Party that negotiated better conditions for inmates at their concentration camp?
• ... that the Museiliha inscription hints at a border dispute between ancient Caesarea ad Libanum and Gigarta?
• ... that the fortune left by Zhu Baosan was believed to have been greatly diminished by his philanthropic activities?
• ... that less than a day after his dad died, Brett Favre played in "one of the greatest games of his fabulous career"?
• ... that a museum of tomato processing in Greece uses holographic mechanical fans to display images of workers?
• ... that Shelley Luther was elected to the Texas House of Representatives four years after being imprisoned?
• ... that the main cemetery of Mainz was established in 1803 and became the model for the Cimetière du Père-Lachaise in Paris?
• ... that David Green published more than 200 research papers before his 18th birthday?

• In France, Dominique Pelicot and 50 other men are convicted of the mass rape of his ex-wife Gisèle Pelicot.
• A 7.3-magnitude earthquake hits Vanuatu's capital, Port Vila, leaving at least 16 people dead.
• President of South Korea Yoon Suk Yeol is impeached (signing pictured) following his declaration of martial law.
• Astro Bot wins Game of the Year at the Game Awards.

December 21

• 1620 – The Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower landed at present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts, to establish the Plymouth Colony.
• 1963 – An attempt by Greek Cypriot police to search certain Turkish Cypriot women in Nicosia escalated into island-wide violence, leading to 538 deaths and the displacement of nearly 27,000 people.
• 1968 – Apollo 8 launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a trajectory to the Moon; its crew (pictured) became the first humans to visit another celestial body.
• 1988 – A bomb on board Pan Am Flight 103 detonated over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people.
• 2018 – Operatives of the British Special Boat Service boarded the container ship Grande Tema in the Thames Estuary to detain four stowaways who had threatened the crew.

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The Battle of the Bagradas River was fought in 240 BC, in present-day north-east Tunisia, between a Carthaginian army led by Hamilcar Barca and a rebel force led by Spendius. Carthage was fighting a coalition of mutinous soldiers and rebellious African cities in the Mercenary War, which had started late the previous year in the wake of the First Punic War. Hamilcar left Carthage and evaded a rebel blockade by crossing the Bagradas River (the modern Medjerda River) at its mouth. Two rebel armies marched towards the Carthaginians. When they came into sight Hamilcar ordered a feigned retreat. The rebels broke ranks to chase the Carthaginians and this impetuous pursuit caused them to fall into disorder. Once the rebels had closed, the Carthaginians turned and charged them. The rebels broke and were routed. The Carthaginians pursued, killing or capturing many of the rebels and taking a bridge over the Bagradas. This victory gave Hamilcar freedom to manoeuvre and the operational initiative. (This article is part of a featured topic: Mercenary War.)

• ... that a bandit spared the life of physician Pablo Busch (pictured) because "he treated the poor for free"?
• ... that a skull of the distant horse relative Palaeotherium was first misidentified as an amphibian, then as a canine?
• ... that Nikolaus Mollyn was the first book printer in Riga, and the first to print a book in Latvian within the present-day territory of Latvia?
• ... that in addition to millions murdered, Nazi crimes against children included compulsory sterilization, forced labor, forced institutionalization, medical experiments and Germanisation?
• ... that Chivas USA had eleven different managers over ten seasons?
• ... that literary critic Qian Xingcun brought several Communist writers into the Shanghai film industry?
• ... that the clergy of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis were upset about the sale of Nazareth Hall Preparatory Seminary after its closure?
• ... that Femke Bol successfully defended her 2021 title by winning the women's 400 metres at the 2023 European Athletics Indoor Championships?
• ... that Louis Abramson worked on the renovation of a building that he designed 57 years earlier?

• In France, Dominique Pelicot and 50 other men are convicted of the mass rape of his ex-wife Gisèle Pelicot.
• A 7.3-magnitude earthquake hits Vanuatu's capital, Port Vila, leaving at least 16 people dead.
• President of South Korea Yoon Suk Yeol is impeached (signing pictured) following his declaration of martial law.
• Astro Bot wins Game of the Year at the Game Awards.

December 20

• 1852 – Led by George Cathcart, British troops defeated Basuto and Taung forces at the Battle of Berea in present-day Lesotho, leading to an offer of peace from King Moshoeshoe I.
• 1940 – The superhero Captain America made his first published appearance in the comic book Captain America Comics #1.
• 1980 – NBC aired the American football match between the New York Jets and the Miami Dolphins without announcers.
• 1995 – Mandated by the Dayton Agreement that ended the Bosnian War, the NATO-led Implementation Force (troops pictured) began peacekeeping operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
• 1999 – Portugal transferred the sovereignty over Macau, which it had administered since the mid–16th century, to China.

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SMS Niobe was a light cruiser of the Gazelle class, built for the Imperial German Navy. Launched in 1899, Niobe was armed with ten 10.5 cm (4.1 in) guns and had a top speed of 21.5 knots (39.8 km/h; 24.7 mph). The ship served as a flotilla leader for torpedo boats, a scout for the fleet, and a station ship with the East Asia Squadron. In World War I, Niobe helped defend Germany's North Sea coast. One of the cruisers permitted Germany by the Treaty of Versailles, Niobe was modernized, but was sold in 1925 to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia). Renamed Dalmacija the vessel served until April 1941, when she was captured by the Italians. Renamed again as Cattaro, she served until the Italian surrender in September 1943. Seized by the Germans, she was used in the Adriatic Sea until 19 December 1943, when she ran aground on the island of Silba, and was destroyed by British motor torpedo boats. (This article is part of a featured topic: Ships of the Royal Yugoslav Navy.)

• ... that The Horn of Plenty by Alexander McQueen satirized the fashion industry with clothing sewn from expensive fabric made to look like household trash (example pictured)?
• ... that Fen Juhua became the "first of the lady knights in the Chinese cinema" after fighting for love in a 1925 film?
• ... that the offices of Hamm's Brewery in Saint Paul, Minnesota, were built on the site of the city's third cathedral?
• ... that Miles Rock served as chief of the commission that determined the disputed Guatemala–Mexico border?
• ... that the 2025 season of Inter Miami CF includes matches in the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup?
• ... that Anthony F. Ciampi fought his superiors to rebuild the College of the Holy Cross after it was destroyed by fire in 1852?
• ... that a documentary film built around the final interview of K-pop star Sulli employs elements of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz as a framing device?
• ... that Diane Leather was the first woman to run a mile in under five minutes?
• ... that a cat, Timoshenko, joined the British submarine HMS Unruffled on twenty patrols during the Second World War?

• A 7.3-magnitude earthquake hits Vanuatu's capital, Port Vila, leaving at least 19 people dead.
• President of South Korea Yoon Suk Yeol is impeached (signing pictured) following his declaration of martial law.
• Astro Bot wins Game of the Year at the Game Awards.
• Gukesh Dommaraju defeats Ding Liren to win the World Chess Championship.

December 19

• 1828 – Nullification crisis: American vice president John C. Calhoun's South Carolina Exposition and Protest, written to protest the Tariff of Abominations, was presented to the South Carolina House of Representatives.
• 1843 – A Christmas Carol (illustration pictured), a novella by Charles Dickens about the miser Ebenezer Scrooge and his transformation after being visited by ghosts, was published.
• 1983 – The Jules Rimet Trophy, awarded to the winner of the FIFA World Cup, was stolen from the offices of the Brazilian Football Confederation.
• 1997 – SilkAir Flight 185 crashed into the Musi River in Indonesia, killing 104 people.
• 2013 – The European Space Agency's spacecraft Gaia was launched with the goal of constructing the largest and most precise star catalogue ever made.

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American Writers is an 1824–25 work of literary criticism by American writer and critic John Neal (pictured). Published by Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, it is the first history of American literature and the first substantial work of criticism concerning US authors. Using no reference materials, Neal made incorrect assertions about many of the more than 120 authors covered. Scholars nevertheless praise the staying power of his opinions, many reflected by critics decades later. Neal also argued American literature relied too much on British precedent and had failed to develop its own voice. Neal wrote the series in London under the English pseudonym of "Carter Holmes", which convinced few. American Writers was well received in the UK but drew considerable ire in the US, particularly from William Lloyd Garrison. Neal was met with hostility and a fistfight on an 1827 visit to his hometown of Portland, Maine; he relocated there and remained until his death forty-nine years later. (Full article...)

• ... that Yoon Do-young (pictured) scored his debut goal for Daejeon Hana Citizen 50 seconds into a match against Gwangju FC?
• ... that the 2007 Greensburg tornado had ten smaller tornadoes orbiting it?
• ... that a music video for a song on the album Dostrotime was made with an oscilloscope?
• ... that the bacterium Ethanoligenens harbinense can produce hydrogen?
• ... that Bob Hainlen, at the age of 22, was both a player and an assistant coach for a professional American football team?
• ... that Izvestiya Askhabadskogo Soveta was the first Bolshevik newspaper published in present-day Turkmenistan?
• ... that after he did not come home for dinner, James Michael Reardon's assistant priests found that he had died in his basilica while praying?
• ... that the area around Sams Creek was excluded from Kahurangi National Park when it was formed in 1996 due to gold-mining interests?
• ... that Susan Finnegan was the first female head of the arachnids section at the Natural History Museum, London, but had to resign her job to marry?

• President of South Korea Yoon Suk Yeol is impeached (signing pictured) following his declaration of martial law.
• Astro Bot wins Game of the Year at the Game Awards.
• Gukesh Dommaraju defeats Ding Liren to win the World Chess Championship.
• Syrian rebel forces capture Damascus following multiple offensives as overthrown president Bashar al-Assad flees to Russia.

December 18: National Day in Qatar (1878)

• 1622 – Portuguese forces and their Imbangala allies defeated the Kongo army at the Battle of Mbumbi.
• 1932 – Playing indoors at Chicago Stadium on a modified American football field, the Chicago Bears defeated the Portsmouth Spartans in the first playoff game of the National Football League.
• 1958 – The United States launched SCORE (rocket pictured), the world's first communications satellite.
• 1963 – Ghanaian and other African students organized a protest in Moscow's Red Square in response to the alleged murder of medical student Edmund Assare-Addo.
• 2017 – An Amtrak Cascades passenger train derailed near DuPont, Washington, killing three people and injuring sixty-five others.

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1271 Avenue of the Americas is a 48-story skyscraper on Sixth Avenue, between 50th Street and 51st Street, in Midtown Manhattan, a neighborhood of New York City. Designed by Wallace Harrison of Harrison, Abramovitz, and Harris, the building was developed between 1956 and 1960 as part of Rockefeller Center. The building's eight-story base partially wraps around its 48-story main shaft. The facade comprises glass panels between limestone columns. The lobby has walls of white marble and stainless steel walls, and red-burgundy glass ceilings, with artwork by Josef Albers, Fritz Glarner, and Francis Brennan. The ground floor also includes storefronts. Each of the upper floors covers 28,000 sq ft (2,600 m²), with the offices arranged around the core. Construction started in May 1957, the building was topped out during November 1958, and the occupants took possession in late 1959. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the lobby as a city landmark in 2002. (Full article...)

• ... that Everett Railroad 11 (pictured) had to be modified after it met a sharp curve on its first trip?
• ... that David Fishwick went from a £27.50-a-week pebbledashing job to becoming the biggest minibus supplier in Britain?
• ... that modern Chinese drama was banned during the Cultural Revolution?
• ... that American football player Rich Romer was selected three times as an All-American by Pizza Hut?
• ... that the medieval font of St Peter's Church, Stapenhill, was restored in 1973?
• ... that as a nine-year-old, Anastasia Somoza lobbied U.S. president Bill Clinton?
• ... that Bini's performance of "Cherry on Top" at KCON 2024 was the first act by a Filipino pop group at the event?
• ... that French cellist Nicolas-Joseph Platel is considered to be the founder of the Belgian school of cello playing?
• ... that Saint George fought a dragon at the Paradise Theater until both were stolen?

• President of South Korea Yoon Suk Yeol is impeached (signing pictured) following his declaration of martial law.
• Astro Bot wins Game of the Year at the Game Awards.
• Gukesh Dommaraju defeats Ding Liren to win the World Chess Championship.
• Syrian rebel forces capture Damascus following multiple offensives as overthrown president Bashar al-Assad flees to Russia.

December 17: International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers

• 942 – William Longsword of Normandy was ambushed and assassinated by supporters of Arnulf I, Count of Flanders, while both were at a peace conference to settle their differences.
• 1948 – The Finnish Security Police was established to remove communist leadership from its predecessor, the State Police.
• 1967 – Harold Holt, the prime minister of Australia, disappeared while swimming near Portsea, Victoria; his body was never recovered.
• 1970 – Polish soldiers fired at workers (memorial pictured) emerging from trains in Gdynia, beginning the government's crackdown on mass anti-communist protests across the country.
• 2010 – Arab Spring: Mohamed Bouazizi, a street vendor in Sidi Bouzid, set himself on fire in protest against police harassment, triggering the Tunisian revolution.

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The Apocalypse of Peter is an apocryphal text of the 2nd century. It is the earliest-written extant work depicting a Christian account of heaven and of hell in detail. The work describes a divine vision experienced by Peter through Jesus Christ. It delves into a vision of the afterlife (katabasis), and details both heavenly bliss for the righteous and infernal punishments for the damned. The punishments are graphically described and loosely correspond to "an eye for an eye": blasphemers are hung by their tongues; liars have their lips cut off; callous rich people are pierced by stones and are dressed in filthy rags; and so on. While the Apocalypse of Peter influenced other early Christian works, it eventually came to be considered inauthentic and was not included in the standard canon of the New Testament. It influenced later works in which the protagonist takes a tour of the realms of the afterlife, including the Apocalypse of Paul, and the Divine Comedy of Dante. (Full article...)

• ... that Seunghan (pictured) was forced out of his band because of a cigarette and a kiss?
• ... that the Upper Chehalis people adopted horses widely after their introduction, becoming known as "equestrian" compared to their coastal neighbors?
• ... that an official investigation found the Fukushima nuclear accident was foreseeable and preventable?
• ... that basketball player Trey McKenney made all fourteen of his free throws in St. Mary's Preparatory's 2024 state championship victory?
• ... that members of the Trade Union Opposition Federation stormed the Copenhagen Stock Exchange?
• ... that Arne Slettebak revitalised interest in the field of stellar rotation after it had been abandoned for nearly 15 years?
• ... that even though the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks have only played each other 24 times, 4 of those games have come in the playoffs?
• ... that Amrita Sher-Gil painted a portrait of Helen Chaman Lall without expecting a fee?
• ... that SZA's "Snooze" happens to be a sleeper hit?

• President of South Korea Yoon Suk Yeol is impeached (signing pictured) following his declaration of martial law.
• Astro Bot wins Game of the Year at the Game Awards.
• Gukesh Dommaraju defeats Ding Liren to win the World Chess Championship.
• Syrian rebel forces capture Damascus following multiple offensives as overthrown president Bashar al-Assad flees to Russia.

December 16: Day of Reconciliation in South Africa

• 1598 – Led by Admiral Yi Sun-sin, the Korean navy were victorious at Battle of Noryang, ending the Japanese invasions of Korea.
• 1773 – American Revolution: A group of colonists threw chests of tea into Boston Harbor (pictured) to protest British taxation without representation.
• 1938 – Adolf Hitler instituted the Cross of Honour of the German Mother, an order of merit for German mothers with at least four children.
• 1997 – Amid an outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, the British government banned the sale of beef on the bone for human consumption.
• 2012 – A woman was gang-raped and fatally assaulted on a bus in Delhi, generating protests across India against inadequate security for women.

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The Texas Centennial half dollar was struck by the U.S. Bureau of the Mint from 1934 to 1938. It features an eagle and the Lone Star of Texas on the obverse (pictured), while the reverse is a complex scene with the winged goddess Victory. Proposed by the American Legion as a fundraiser for the 100th anniversary of Texas independence from Mexico, the coin was approved by Congress in 1933. It was designed by sculptor Pompeo Coppini, and, after initial rejection by the Commission of Fine Arts, the designs were approved and the coins entered production at the Philadelphia Mint in October 1934. The first coins to reach the public were sold by auction in Austin, Texas, on December 15, 1934. Profits from the coins helped finance the Texas Memorial Museum in Austin. Most 1934-dated coins went unsold and were sent back to the Mint. Smaller issues took place each year through 1938. Despite the relative lack of sales, the issue is popular with collectors, with the coins gradually gaining in value. (Full article...)

• ... that Light Vessel 93 (pictured) was converted into a photography studio?
• ... that Zheng Zhegu urged his film students to bring their girlfriends when no women enrolled?
• ... that the Green Bay Packers lost the 2014 NFC Championship Game and a spot in the Super Bowl after they were considered to have a 99.9-percent chance of victory?
• ... that politician Thokchom Chandrasekhar Singh was jailed for 12 months for protesting in favour of restoring the Manipur Legislative Assembly?
• ... that the newspaper Qizil Tugh (Red Banner) provided a publishing platform for young Uyghur-language poets and writers in the Soviet Union?
• ... that Gail Damerow was described by one magazine as "poultry's Cesar Millan"?
• ... that both Catholic and Orthodox Christian democrats received a higher share of votes in Kazansky District than in any other district of Petrograd in the 1917 Russian elections?
• ... that in a 2024 game, college football player Jordan Watkins scored an Ole Miss-record five receiving touchdowns – even though he had never before had more than one?
• ... that Haruki Murakami owns so many T-shirts that he published a book about them?

• President of South Korea Yoon Suk Yeol is impeached (signing pictured) following his declaration of martial law.
• Gukesh Dommaraju defeats Ding Liren to win the World Chess Championship.
• Syrian rebel forces capture Damascus following multiple offensives as overthrown president Bashar al-Assad flees to Russia.
• Notre-Dame de Paris reopens following reconstruction after the 2019 fire.

December 15

• 1796 – War of the First Coalition: The French navy launched an expedition to Ireland to assist the Society of United Irishmen in a rebellion against the British.
• 1871 – Sixteen-year-old Ella Stewart sent the first telegraphed message from Arizona Territory.
• 1943 – World War II: Australian and American forces (pictured) began the Battle of Arawe against Japanese forces on New Britain as a diversion before a larger landing at Cape Gloucester.
• 1970 – The Soviet spacecraft Venera 7 touched down on the surface of Venus, making the first successful landing of a spacecraft on another planet.
• 2013 – The South Sudanese Civil War began when three opposition leaders voted to boycott the meeting of the National Liberation Council in Juba.

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Apollo 12 (November 14–24, 1969) was the second crewed landing on the Moon. The sixth crewed mission in the U.S. Apollo program, it was launched by NASA from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Commander Charles "Pete" Conrad and Lunar Module Pilot Alan L. Bean walked on the Moon while Command Module Pilot Richard Gordon remained in orbit. Launched on a rainy day, Apollo 12 was twice struck by lightning; the outward journey otherwise saw few problems. On November 19, Conrad and Bean landed close to the Surveyor 3 probe. This meant NASA could plan future missions expecting a landing close to target. Conrad and Bean carried a group of nuclear-powered instruments, and the first color television camera taken by an Apollo mission to the surface, but the picture was lost after Bean accidentally pointed the camera at the Sun and its sensor burned out. They visited Surveyor 3 and removed parts for return to Earth. The Apollo 12 mission safely returned to Earth on November 24. (Full article...)

• ... that Mohamed Aw-Ali Abdi (pictured) campaigned in Birmingham, England, while running to become the vice president of Somaliland?
• ... that most of the contributors to the Emancipation Pictorial, a Chinese women's magazine, were men?
• ... that Elin Falk caused a national controversy in 1913 with her proposals for reforming gymnastics in Swedish schools?
• ... that the discovery of a new waltz attributed to Chopin was announced in October 2024?
• ... that college basketball player Adou Thiero plays for the same head coach for whom his father played?
• ... that match-three video games such as Candy Crush Saga are often considered to be Bejeweled clones?
• ... that Hikari Kodama disguised herself with wigs during public performances because she went to a high school with strict rules?
• ... that although three witnesses are typically needed in linguistic reconstruction, only two are necessary if borrowing and innovation can be ruled out?
• ... that after seeing Taiwanese actor Mo Tzu-yi's work, a director sought to inquire about him at a film market, only to find Mo standing right behind him?

• Gukesh Dommaraju (pictured) defeats Ding Liren to win the World Chess Championship.
• Syrian rebel forces capture Damascus following multiple offensives as overthrown president Bashar al-Assad flees to Russia.
• Notre-Dame de Paris reopens following reconstruction after the 2019 fire.
• The first round of the Romanian presidential election is annulled by the Constitutional Court following allegations of Russian electoral interference.