Unix Timestamp: 1007769600
Saturday, December 8. 2001, 12:00:00 AM UTC

Philippines officials claim that the People's Republic of China has executed a Filipino man for drug trafficking despite a plea for clemency from the President of the Philippines Benigno Aquino III on humanitarian grounds. //www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia-pacific/philippine-vp-says-china-executes-filipino-man-convicted-of-drug-trafficking-despite-appeals/2011/12/08/gIQAgbgBeO_story.html ("Washington Post")

26 people are confirmed dead after a gas explosion at a coal mine in Henan Province in central China. //english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2010/12/201012825315196441.html (Al Jazeera) //edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/12/08/china.mine.explosion/index.html?eref=edition (CNN) //www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-12/08/content_11670178.htm ("China Daily")

SpaceX launched the first working Dragon spacecraft on a test flight at 10:43am EST (15:43 UTC) from Launch Complex 40, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. //www.cnn.com/2010/US/12/08/space.flight/index.html?hpt=T1 (CNN.com), //english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/12/201012816229990487.html (Al-Jazeera)

2008 Canadian parliamentary dispute: Stéphane Dion announces his plans to resign as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. //www.ottawacitizen.com/Dion+announces+resignation/1048255/story.html (The Ottawa Citizen)

The 2007 Africa-EU Summit takes place as European Union and African Union leaders gather in Lisbon, Portugal, for their first joint summit in 7 years. The British and Czech prime ministers boycott the event due to the presence of Zimbabwean PresidentRobert Mugabe.

The biggest Chinese PC producer Lenovo announces its plan to purchase IBM's global PC business, making it the third largest world PC maker after Dell and Hewlett-Packard.

The Aso Rock Declaration is issued at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, outlining the Commonwealth's priority objectives.

STS-97: The crew of Space Shuttle Endeavour pay their first visit to the Expedition 1 crew residing on board the International Space Station.

Myra Hindley, one of the Moors murderers, arrives at the High Court of Justice, to contest a recent Home Secretary's decision that she should remain in prison until she dies.

U.S. PresidentBill Clinton signs into law the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The last blast is fired at the Falu Copper Mine in Falun, Sweden, after a millennium of continuous operation.

Famous vocalist Roy Orbison dies of a heart attack

South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) established.

The December murders occur in Suriname.

John Lennon, an English musician and peace activist, is murdered in New York City.

New York City is approved for bailout of 2.3 billion each year through to 1978 ndash 6.9 billion total.

U.S. President Richard Nixon orders the 7th Fleet to move towards the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean.

Magical Mystery Tour is released by The Beatles as a double EP in the U.K. and also the only psychedelic rock album of The Rolling Stones, Their Satanic Majesties Request in the U.K and in the U.S.A.

The Typaldos Line's ferry "Heraklion" sinks in rough seas, in the Aegean Sea near Crete, leaving 217 dead.

For the first time, the Mary Martin "Peter Pan" is presented as a stand-alone two-hour special on NBC instead of as part of an anthology series. This version, rather than being presented live, is shown on videotape, enabling NBC to repeat it as often as they wish without having to restage it. Although nearly all of the adult actors repeat their original Broadway roles, all of the original children have, ironically, outgrown their roles and are replaced by new actors.

French President Charles de Gaulle's visit to Algeria is bloodied by European and Muslim rioters in Algeria's largest cities. These riots caused 127 deaths.

The first episode of the classic British TV series "Coronation Street" is broadcast. Planned as a 13-part drama, it becomes such a success among viewers that it is still shown five times per week.

The Mona, a lifeboat based at Broughty Ferry in Scotland, capsizes during a rescue attempt, with the loss of 8 lives.

U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers his Atoms for Peace address to the UN General Assembly in New York City.

United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) established as a UN agency.

The Chicago Bears, in what will become the most one-sided victory in National Football League history, defeat the Washington Redskins 73–0 in the 1940 NFL Chionship Game.

Niceto Alcalá-Zamora is elected president of the Spanish Republic.

Jane Addams became the first American woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Carl Friedrich Goerdeler is appointed Reich Price Commissioner in Germany to enforce the deflationary policies of the Brüning government.

Battle of the Falkland Islands, between Doveton Sturdee and Maximilian von Spee squadrons.

Upon the death of Oscar II, he is succeeded by his son Gustaf V as king of Sweden.

Ringtheaterbrand: At least 380 die in a fire at the ViennaRingtheater.

First Vatican Council opens.

Romania opens its first mountain railway (from Anina to Oravita).

22-year-old Gerard Adriaan Heineken buys the brewery 'De Hooiberg' (The Haystack) in Amsterdam.

Douglas becomes the capital of the Isle of Man, after its parliament (Tynwald) moves its chambers from Castletown.

Bartolomé Mitre secretly backs the revolt of Venancio Flores against the Uruguayan Blanco government

Jules Verne's first novel, "Five Weeks in a Balloon", is published.

Church of the Company Fire in Santiago, Chile, kills between 2,000 and 3,000.

The General Assembly charters the Atlantic North Carolina Railroad to run from Goldsboro through New Bern to the newly-created seaport of Morehead City near Beaufort.//www.historync.org/railroad-ANCRR.htm CommunicationSolutions/ISI, Railroad — Atlantic North Carolina, "North Carolina Business History", 2006, accessed 1 Feb 2010

James Ambrose Cutting takes out three United States patents for improvements to the wet platecollodion process (Ambrotype photography).

The French fashion label "Louis Vuitton" is founded.

Aurora, Ontario is first settled.

A Russian fort is established at the present site of Almaty.

The Icelandic trade is opened to merchants other than Danes.

Manchester is granted city status.

Professor Benjamin Silliman of Yale University is the first person to fractionate petroleum into its individual components by distillation.

Ignacy Lukasiewicz drills the world's first oil well in Poland, in Bóbrka near Krosno County.

The Waterbury Clock Company is founded in Waterbury, Connecticut, the predecessor of Timex Group USA in timepiece manufacturing.

Pope Pius IX in the Papal Bull "Ineffabilis Deus" defines "ex Cathedra" the dogma of Immaculate Conception, which holds that the Blessed Virgin Mary was conceived without original sin.

Madame du Barry is executed.

Mission La Purisima Concepcion is founded by Father Fermín Francisco de Lasuén, becoming the 11 mission in the California mission chain.

First actress to appear on the professional stage in England, as Desdemona in "Othello", following reopening of the theatres variously considered to be Margaret Hughes, Anne Marshall or Katherine Corey.

Blaise Pascal's "Lettres provinciales", a defense of the JansenistAntoine Arnauld, is ordered to be shredded and burned by King Louis XIV of France.

Hopkins School is founded.

The Rigsraad ("High Council") of Denmark is abolished//www.bredalsparken.dk/~soren-kretzschmer/krig_og_enevaelde_-_danmarks_h.html Krig og Enevælde: 1648–1746 and Denmark–Norway becomes an absolute monarchy with the Kingdom of Denmark as a hereditary monarchy.

The expulsion of the Carib indigenous people from Martinique is carried out by French occupying forces.

A permanent standing army is established in Prussia.

Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba founds the city of Granada, Nicaragua, the oldest Hispanic city in the mainland of the Western Hemisphere.

the first battle between the forces of Švitrigaila and Sigismund Kęstutaitis is fought near the town of Oszmiana (Ashmyany), launching the most active phase of the civil war in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

The Université de Caen is founded.

Hincmar crowns Louis the Stammerer King of the West Franks in the church of Compiegne.