8 December is the 342nd day of the year (343rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 23 days remaining until the end of the year. On this day in the year: 757 – Du Fu returns to Changan as a member of Emperor Xuanzongs court, after having escaped the city during the An Lushan Rebellion. 1596 – Luis de Carabajal the younger, one of the first Jewish authors in the Americas, died in an auto-da-fé during the Spanish Inquisition in Mexico City. 1660 – A woman (either Margaret Hughes or Anne Marshall) appears on an English public stage for the first time, in the role of Desdemona in a production of Shakespeares play Othello. 1813 – Premier of Beethovens Seventh Symphony. 1854 – In his Apostolic constitution Ineffabilis Deus, Pope Pius IX proclaims the dogmatic definition of Immaculate Conception, which holds that the Virgin Mary was conceived free of original sin. 1907 – King Gustaf V of Sweden accedes to the Swedish throne. 1912 – Leaders of the German Empire hold an Imperial War Council to discuss the possibility that war might break out. 1914 – World War I: A squadron of Britains Royal Navy defeats an inferior squadron of the Imperial German High Seas Fleet in the Battle of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic. 1927 – The Brookings Institution, one of the United States oldest think tanks, is founded through the merger of three organizations that had been created by philanthropist Robert S. Brookings. 1941 – World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt declares December 7 to be a date which will live in infamy, after which the U.S. declares war on Japan. 1941 – World War II: Japanese forces simultaneously invade Malaya, Thailand, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and the Dutch East Indies. (See December 7 for the concurrent attack on Pearl Harbor in the Western Hemisphere.) 1949 – The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East is established to provide aid to Palestinian refugees who left their homes during the 1948 Palestinian exodus. 1953 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers his Atoms for Peace speech, which leads to an American program to supply equipment and information on nuclear power to schools, hospitals, and research institutions around the world. 1963 – Pan Am Flight 214, a Boeing 707, is struck by lightning and crashes near Elkton, Maryland, killing all 81 people on board. 1969 – An Olympic Airways Douglas DC-6 strikes a mountain outside of Keratea, Greece, killing 90—the worst crash of a DC-6. 1971 – Indo-Pakistani War: The Indian Navy launches an attack on West Pakistans port city of Karachi. 1972 – United Airlines Flight 553, a Boeing 737, crashes after aborting its landing attempt at Chicago Midway International Airport, killing 45. The crash is the first-ever loss of a Boeing 737. 1974 – A plebiscite results in the abolition of monarchy in Greece. 1980 – John Lennon is murdered by a deranged fan in front of The Dakota in New York City. 1982 – In Suriname, several opponents of the military government are killed. 1987 – The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty is signed. 1987 – An Israeli army tank transporter kills four Palestinian refugees and injures seven others during a traffic accident at the Erez Crossing on the Israel–Gaza Strip border, sparking the First Intifada. 1988 – A United States Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II crashes into an apartment complex in Remscheid, Germany, killing 5 people and injuring 50 others. 1991 – The leaders of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine sign an agreement dissolving the Soviet Union and establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States. 2004 – The Cuzco Declaration is signed in Cuzco, Peru, establishing the South American Community of Nations. 2007 – Three unidentified gunmen storm an office of Benazir Bhuttos Pakistan Peoples Party in Balochistan. Three PPP supporters are killed. 2009 – Bombings in Baghdad, Iraq, kill 127 and injure 448. 2010 – With the second launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 and the first launch of the SpaceX Dragon, SpaceX becomes the first private company to successfully launch, orbit and recover a spacecraft. 2010 – The Japanese solar-sail spacecraft IKAROS passes the planet Venus at a distance of about 80,800 km.
Posted on: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 23:34:40 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015