Unix Timestamp: 1228003200
Sunday, November 30. 2008, 12:00:00 AM UTC

Gaullists win the French parliamentary election.

The Preston bypass, the United Kingdom's first motorway, opens to traffic for the first time. This stretch is now part of the M6 and M55 motorways.

Our Lady of the Angels School Fire: At least ninety students and three nuns are killed in a fire in Chicago.

Indonesian president Sukarno survives a grenade attack at the Cikini School in Jakarta, but six children are killed.

Fidel Castro and his followers land in Cuba in the boat "Granma".

A pipe bomb planted by George Metesky explodes at the Paramount Theater in Brooklyn, injuring 6 people.

Floyd Patterson wins the world heavyweight boxing chionship that was vacant after the retirement of Rocky Marciano.

In Sylacauga, Alabama, a four kilogram piece of the Hodges Meteorite crashes through the roof of a house and badly bruises a napping woman, in the first documented case of an object from outer space hitting a person.

December – Hugh Hefner publishes the first issue of "Playboy" Magazine it sells 54,175 copies at $.50 each.

Edward Mutesa II, the "kabaka" (king) of Buganda, is deposed and exiled to London by Sir Andrew Benjamin Cohen, Governor of Uganda.

Mt. Etna erupts in Sicily.

Douglas MacArthur threatens to use nuclear weapons in Korea.

Korean War: General Walton Walker orders United Nations forces to evacuate North Korea.

In London, the Crystal Palace is destroyed in a fire (it had been built for the 1851 Great Exhibition).

The 1935 British-made film "Scrooge", the first all-talking film version of Charles Dickens classic, opens in the U.S. after its British release.

Health officials declare that the global Spanish Flu pandemic has ended.

Iceland regains independence, yet remains in personal union with the King of Denmark, who also becomes the King of Iceland until 1944.

New voting laws in Sweden makes votes no longer dependent on taxable assets, each adult having one vote.

The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (which later became the Kingdom of Yugoslavia) is proclaimed.

The Union of Alba Iulia is proclaimed: Following the March 27 incorporation of Bessarabia and Bucovina, Transylvania unites with Romania.

Ernest Ansermet conducts the first concert by the "Orchestre de la Suisse Romande".

DecemberndashFebruary 1903 ndash Venezuela Crisis, in which Britain, Germany and Italy sustain a naval blockade on Venezuela in order to enforce collection of outstanding financial claims. This prompts the development of the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine.

American Old West: The second-in-command of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch gang, Kid Curry Logan, is sentenced to 20 years hard labor.

The Udinese Calcio is founded.

A large carcass, later postulated to be the remains of a gigantic octopus, is found washed ashore near St. Augustine, Florida.

The "Folies Bergère" stages its first revue.

First international football match to be recognised (retrospectively) by FIFA as official takes place at Hamilton Crescent, Scotland the result is Scotland 0, England 0.//www.londonhearts.com/scotland/games/18721130.html Londonhearts.com summary Earlier international soccer matches had already taken place in 1870, in 1871 and again in 1872 at the Oval, London.

American Civil War ndash Second Battle of Franklin: The Army of Tennessee led by General Hood mounts a dramatically unsuccessful frontal assault on Union positions around Franklin, Tennessee (Hood loses 6 generals and almost a third of his troops).

President of MexicoIgnacio Comonfort is succeeded by Félix María Zuloaga.

December ndash Reform War in Mexico begins.

Crimean War ndash Battle of Sinop: The Russian fleet destroys the Turkish fleet.

The original Welland Canal opens for a trial run with a ceremony at Port Dalhousie.

The first sod is turned in Ontario, for the first of four Welland Canals (the canal opens for a trial run exactly 5 years later to the day).

The Democratic-Republican-controlled United States Senate begin an impeachment trial against Federalist-partisan Supreme Court of the United States Justice Samuel Chase (he was charged with political bias but was acquitted by the United States Senate of all charges on March 1, 1805).

Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin begins removal of the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon in Athens where they are at risk of destruction during the Ottoman occupation of Greece.

Orissa, India is occupied by the British under the British East India Company after the Second Anglo-Maratha War.

At the Cabildo building in New Orleans, Spanish representatives Governor Manuel de Salcedo and the Marqués de Casa Calvo, officially transfer the Louisiana Territory to French representative Prefect Pierre Clément de Laussat (just 20 days later, France transfers the same land to the United States as the Louisiana Purchase).

Major breakthroughs in chemistry occur, with the identification of the elements Rhodium, Palladium, Osmium, Iridium, and Cerium.

Peter Leopold Joseph of Habsburg-Lorraine, Grand Duke of Tuscany, promulgates a penal reform making his country the first state to abolish the death penalty. November 30 is therefore commemorated by 300 cities around the world as Cities for Life Day.

A 5.3 magnitude earthquake struck New Jersey.

Saint Petersburg has 300,000 inhabitants.

In China, the Siku Quanshu is completed, the largest literary compilation in China's history (surpassing the Yongle Encyclopedia of the 15th century). The books are bound in 36,381 volumes (册) with more than 79,000 chapters (卷), comprising about 2.3 million pages, and approximately 800 million Chinese characters.

American Revolutionary War: In Paris, representatives from the United States and the Kingdom of Great Britain sign preliminary peace articles (later formalized in the Treaty of Paris).

The British parliament extends James Watt's patent for the steam engine to the year 1800.

London creates the Foot Patrol for public security.

The North Carolina General Assembly incorporates Washington, North Carolina.

Chief Kamehameha I of Hawaii gains control of the northern part of the island of Hawaii after defeating his cousin Kiwala'o.

Cardinal Richelieu, Armand-Jean du Plessis, is named French Secretary of State by young king Louis XIII. Richelieu will change France into a unified centralised state, able to resist both England and the Habsburg Empire.

December ndash In the Middle East, traveller Pietro Della Valle marries Jowaya, daughter of a Nestorian Christian father and an Armenian mother, in Baghdad. The couple then sets off (1617) to find the Shah in Isfahan.

Battle of Swally: Forces of the British East India Company and Portugal engage off the coast of India, resulting in a British victory.

Poynings\' Law comes into effect, placing the Parliament of Ireland under the authority of the Parliament of England.

Henry VII of England commissions the world's first dry dock at Portsmouth.

An explosion at Vyborg Castle deters the Russian forces who have invaded Sweden through Karelia.

The Reichskammergericht of the Holy Roman Empire is founded in Frankfurt.

Under the Yongle Emperor of Ming China, work begins to reinstate the ancient Grand Canal of China, which fell into disuse and dilapidation during the previous Yuan Dynasty. Between 1411 and 1415, a total of 165,000 laborers dredge the canal bed in Shandong, build new channels, embankments, and canal locks. Four large reservoirs in Shandong are also dug in order to regulate water levels instead of resorting to pumping water from local tables. A large dam is also constructed to divert water from the Wen River southwest into the Grand Canal.

The University of St. Andrews is founded by a papal bull.

Henry IV dismisses Prince Henry and his supporters from the government.

Pope Gregory XII succeeds Pope Innocent VII as the 205th pope.

Aabenraa is chartered as a city.

Battle of Culblean: David Bruce defeats Edward Balliol in Scotland.

Abu Said dies and the Ilkhanate disintegrates.

Pope Benedict XII begins to reform the Cistercians.

The School of Arts in Zaragoza, Spain is founded (later known as the University of Zaragoza in the 16th Century).

Carinthia and Carniola come under Habsburg rule. After the death of Duke Henry, the duchies are bestowed by Louis the Bavarian on the Dukes of Austria. From that time onwards, what is today Slovenia is ruled jointly with Austria until 1918.

Congress of Visegrád: The monarchs of Bohemia, Hungary, and Poland form an anti-Habsburg alliance.

The excommunication of Frederick III of Sicily and the interdict placed on Sicily end.

Georgians under king George V (the brilliant) finally defeat Mongolians in decisive battle. After that George V returns Grave of Christ from Muslims.

Slavery is abolished in Sweden.

Construction begins on the papal palace in Avignon.

The Pisan and the Genoese republics launch a naval offensive against the Muslim strongholds of Sardegna, in particular Porto Torres and defeat the fleet of the taifa king of Denia, Mujahid al-Amiri al-Muwaffaq.

Edmund II is king of England after Ethelred's death.

Melus of Bari makes a second attempt against Byzantine-held Southern Italy. To support his cause, he hires Norman mercenaries. Unwillingly Melo triggers the rise of the Norman rule over Italy.ref name=encyclopedia

Canute of Denmark and Edmund II divide England.

After Edmund's death, Canute is left as the sole ruler of England.

Battle of Brentford: Edmund II gains a temporary victory over Canute the Great.

George Tsul, ruler of Khazaria, is captured by a combined Byzantine–Rus' force, which effectively ends Khazaria's existence.

Battle of Nesjar (Norway): Olaf Haraldsson is victorious over Sveinn Hakonarson.

Wessex-born Boniface is ordained as bishop of Germany by the pope.