Unix Timestamp: 1008460800
Sunday, December 16. 2001, 12:00:00 AM UTC

Tropical Storm Washi causes 1,268 flash flood fatalities in the Philippines with 85 people officially listed as missing.ref name=washi official

The United States and North Korea are expected to hold diplomatic talks regarding North Korea's nuclear program. The talks are the first meeting after the six-party talks stalled in 2008. //english.yonhapnews.co.kr/news/2011/12/16/66/0200000000AEN20111216008200315F.HTML (Yonhap News)

Astronomers discover GJ1214b, the first-known exoplanet on which water could exist.

President of Somalia Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed names former Interior Minister Mohamoud Mohamed Gacmodhere as Prime Minister, but incumbent PM Nur Hassan Hussein is supported in a parliamentary vote, requiring a confidence motion before Ahmed could replace Hussein. //news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-12/16/content_10513247.htm (Xinhua)

Ruins of an ancient Wari city are discovered in northern Peru.

The 43rd Mersenne prime is found.

The United Kingdom announces plans to build a new runway at Stansted Airport in Essex and a short-haul runway at Heathrow Airport, sparking anger from environmental groups.

Former Vice President and 2000 Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore announces on the CBS News' "60 Minutes" that he will not seek election to the presidency in 2004.

Former Bosnian Serb President Biljana Plavšić pled guilty to one count of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague for her part in atrocities against Bosnian Muslims and Croats during the 1992–95 Bosnian War.

19 ndash Iraq disarmament crisis: U.S. President Bill Clinton orders airstrikes on Iraq. UNSCOM withdraws all weapons inspectors from Iraq.

Dennō Senshi Porygon, an episode of the Pokémon TV series, is aired in Japan, inducing seizures in hundreds of Japanese children.

The Republic of Texas group claims to have formed a provisional government in Texas.

Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraqi scuba divers, under the direction of the United Nations Special Commission, dredge the Tigris near Baghdad. The divers find over 200 prohibited Russian-made missile instruments and components.

HM The Queen advises an early divorce to Lady Diana Spencer and Charles, Prince of Wales. The divorce was finalized on 28 August 1996.

The lowest ever United Kingdom temperature of is recorded at Altnaharra in the Scottish Highlands. This equals the record set at Braemar, Aberdeenshire in 1895 and 1982.

American Airlines Flight 965 (Boeing 757) crashes into a mountain near Buga, Valle del Cauca, Colombia after veering off its course en route to Cali, Colombia. Of the 164 people on board, four passengers and a dog are the only survivors.

Brazil's Supreme Court rules that former President Fernando Collor de Mello may not hold elected office again until 2000 due to political corruption.

Kazakhstan declares its independence from the Soviet Union.

Jean-Bertrand Aristide is elected president of Haiti, ending 3 decades of military rule.

Perennial U.S. presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche is convicted of mail fraud.

In New York City, Mafia bosses Paul Castellano and Thomas Bilotti are shot dead in front of Spark's Steak House, making hit organizer John Gotti the leader of the powerful Gambino organized crime family.

During a summit on the island of Bali, OPEC decides to raise the price of petroleum by 10%.

The Right Livelihood Award is founded by Jakob von Uexkull. Hassan Fathy and Plenty International / Stephen Gaskin are its first winners.

Train 87 from Nanjing to Xining collides with train 368 from Xi'an to Xuzhou near Yangzhuang railway station in China, killing 106, injuring 218.

Mikhail Baryshnikov's 1976 production of Tchaikovsky's beloved ballet "The Nutcracker" comes to CBS a year after premiering onstage at the Kennedy Center. This adaptation will become the most popular television production of the work.

O.J. Simpson of the Buffalo Bills became the first running back to rush for 2,000 yards in a pro football season.

The world's largest hydroelectric plant in Krasnoyarsk, Soviet Union, begins operations.

The Clube Atletico Mineiro wins the Brazil Football Chionship.

In the longest game in NFL history, the Miami Dolphins beat the Kansas City Chiefs.

Intelsat IV (F3) is launched it enters commercial service over the Atlantic Ocean February 18, 1972.

The U.S. dollar is devalued for the second time in history.

Giovanni Leone is elected President of the Italian Republic.

"Victory Day of Bangladesh": The Pakistan Army in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) surrenders to the Indian Armed Forces, ending the Bangladesh Liberation War.

Fire at a 22-story hotel in Seoul, South Korea kills 158 people.

Juliane Koepcke survives a fall of 10,000 feet following disintegration of LANSA Flight 508.

The Bolivian government releases Régis Debray.

General Secretary of the Polish Communist Party, Władysław Gomułka, resigns Edward Gierek replaces him.

An Egyptian delegation leaves for Moscow to ask for economic and military aid.

The Libyan Revolutionary Council declares that it will nationalize all foreign banks in the country.

The North Tower of the World Trade Center is topped out at 1,368 feet (417 m), making it the tallest building in the world.

The Polish government freezes food prices for 2 years.

The Ethiopian government declares a state of emergency in the county of Eritrea over the activities of the Eritrean Liberation Front.

Franz Stangl, the ex-commander of Treblinka, is sentenced to life imprisonment.

A fire breaks out in the Vida Department Store in Bogota, Colombia and kills 84 persons.

EBR-1, the world's first (experimental) nuclear power plant, opens.

WMO becomes a specialized agency of the United Nations.

A chartered C46 Curtis Commando crash lands in Cobourg, OntarioCanada all on board survived.

Salar Jung Museum is opened to the public by Prime Minister of IndiaJawaharlal Nehru.

The Office of Defense Mobilization is established in the United States.

Sukarno is elected president of the Republic of Indonesia.

Siam joins the United Nations (changes name to Thailand in 1949).

General George C. Marshall becomes the first Five-Star General.

Germany begins the Ardennes offensive, later known as Battle of the Bulge.

WWII: Operation Abigail Rachel ndash RAF bombing of Mannheim.

MGM releases its successful film version of Charles Dickens's "A Christmas Carol". The film is originally intended to star Lionel Barrymore as Ebenezer Scrooge, but Barrymore, ill with arthritis, is replaced by Reginald Owen.

The original production of the musical "Me and My Girl" opens at the West EndVictoria Palace Theatre in London. A later revival of this musical would win an award.

Gabriel Narutowicz, president of Poland, is assassinated.

Taj Mahal Palace Tower hotel in Bombay opens its doors to guests.

Colored High becomes the first African American high school in Houston, TX its name is later changed to Booker T. Washington High School.

In the U.S., the National Sculpture Society (NSS) is founded.

American Temperance University is opened.

Evergreen Park, Illinois is founded.

Sudbury, Ontario, Canada is incorporated as a town.

William Ewart Gladstone introduces a bill to give Ireland self-government but it fails to pass.

St Hilda's College, Oxford is founded.

71.2% of the working population of São Paulo is foreign-born.

France conquers Laos.

Antonín Dvořák's Symphony No. 9 From the New World receives its premiere at Carnegie Hall, New York City.

Small anti-Semitic parties secure 2.9% of votes in Germany.

The Football Club Dulwich Hamlet is founded.

Arthur Conan Doyle surprises the reading public by revealing in the story "The Adventure of the Final Problem", published in this month's "Strand Magazine", that his character Sherlock Holmes had apparently died at the Reichenbach Falls on May 4, 1891.

December

A general strike occurs in Belgium.

Before 1893 ndash 8,000 Chinese arrive in Cuba.

The Ardabil Carpet is brought to London.

T.M.I.: The Episcopal School of Texas is founded.

Millbank Prison in London is demolished.

The American Council on Alcohol Problems is established, along with the Anti-Saloon League and the Committee of Fifty for the Study of the Liquor Problem.

PhysicistWilhelm Wien formulates Wien's displacement law.

Carl Anton Larsen becomes the first man to ski in Antarctica.

The Athletic Club Královské Vinohrady, later Sparta Prague, is founded.

The Third Reform Act widens the adult male electorate in the United Kingdom to around 60%.

The Stefan-Boltzmann law is reformulated by Ludwig Boltzmann.

The water hyacinth is introduced in the U.S. and quickly becomes an invasive species.

The Yellow Crane Tower last burns in Wuhan.

Economic depression in the USA.

Reformers in Korea who admire the Meiji Restoration in Japan stage a coup with Japan's help. China intervens to rescue the king and help suppress the rebels. Afterward both China and Japan agree to withdraw their troops and military advisers.

Parliamentarism is introduced in Norway.

Mexican General Manuel Mondragón creates the Mondragón rifle, the worlds first automatic rifle.

The World Cotton CentennialWorld's Fair opens in New Orleans, Louisiana.

ScottishPlymouth BrethrenmissionaryFrederick Stanley Arnot identifies the source of the Zambezi river, near Kalene Hill.

Police training schools are established in every prefecture in Japan.

The first Christian missionary arrives in Korea.

Mark Twain publishes "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn".

Leicester City Football Club is formed.

The first ascent is made of Castle Mountain by geologist Arthur Philemon Coleman.

The Heineken Brewery is founded in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

An earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 6.9 kills 11,000 people in Naples, Italy.

The American System of Watch Manufacturing starts in Roxbury, Massachusetts, U.S.A. (the Waltham Watch Company).

1850 ndash 1880 ndash 144,000 East Indian laborers go to Trinidad and 39,000 East Indians come to Jamaica.

Bingley Hall, the world's first purpose-built exhibition hall, opens in Birmingham, England.

University of Rochester is founded in Rochester, NY.

Europeans make up 22% of the world population.

Great Famine in Ireland

Harriet Tubman becomes an official conductor of the Underground Railroad.

The first settlers for the settlement of Christchurch arrive at the Port of Lyttelton (New Zealand).

The city of Manchester reaches 400,000 inhabitants.

Lehman Brothers is established in Montgomery, Alabama.

Allan Pinkerton forms the North-Western Police Agency, later the Pinkerton National Detective Agency.

St. Mary’s Institute (the future University of Dayton) is founded in Dayton, OH.

The temperance organisation, International Organisation of Good Templars, is established in Utica, New York, as the order of the Knights of Jericho.

US census shows that 11.2% of the population classed as Negro are of mixed race.

Biblical criticism: Christian Hermann Weisse proposes the two-source hypothesis.

The Boers win a decisive victory over the Zulus in the Battle of Blood River.

Duke University is established in North Carolina.

Chatsworth Head acquired by the 6th Duke of Devonshire at Smyrna from H. P. Borrell.

Five nuns from the Religious Sisters of Charity in Ireland become the first women of religion to set foot on Australian soil.

40,000 chests of opium are sold in China.

Friedrich Bessel makes the first accurate measurement of distance to a star.

December ndash Pastry War: Mexico is invaded by French forces.

Proteins are discovered by Jöns Jakob Berzelius.

Women in Pitcairn are the first in the world to obtain and maintain the right to vote.//www.nzhistory.net.nz/politics/womens-suffrage/world-suffrage-timeline World suffrage timeline ndash women and the vote, New Zealand Ministry of Culture and Heritage

December 17 ndash The Great Fire of New York destroys 530 buildings, including the New York Stock Exchange.

The New Madrid earthquake in the Mississippi Valley near New Madrid reverses the course of the river for a while. Other earthquakes along the fault occur on January 23, 1812 and February 7, 1812.

Emperor Kōkaku accedes to the throne of Japan.

Russo-Turkish War, 1768-1774: Russian forces fail to take Silistria.

John Harrison's H4 wins him the Longitude prize for the Marine chronometer.

Antigua, Guatemala is destroyed by an earthquake, and the capital of Guatemala is moved to Guatemala City.

Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II expels Jesuits from the Empire.

Hilaire Rouelle discovers urea.

Boston Tea Party: A group of Americans, dressed as Mohawk Indians, steal aboard ships of the British East India Company and dump their cargo of tea into Boston Harbor.

In China, written work begins on the "Siku Quanshu", the largest literary compilation of books in China's history (surpassing the Yongle Encyclopedia of the 15th Century). Upon completion in 1782, 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.

The Regulating Act creates the office of governor general, with an advising council, to exercise political authority over the territory controlled by The British East India Company.

Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock publishes the last five cantos of his epic poem "Der Messias" in Hamburg.

Istanbul Technical University is established (under the original name of Royal School of Naval Engineering) as the world's first comprehensive institution of higher learning dedicated to engineering education.

Emelian Pugachev starts a rebellion in Russia.

Johann Heinrich Lambert found a proof that π is irrational.

Matthew Boulton's "Soho Manufactory" opens.

In Dutch Guyana, a state formed by escaped slaves signs a treaty with the local governor.

The tune to "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" is published in France.

Faber-Castell Company was founded by Kasper Faber in Nuremberg, Germany.

Seven Years\' War: After four months of siege, the Russians under Pyotr Rumyantsev take the Prussian fortress of Kolberg.

Canter of Coltbrigg ndash The 13th and 14th Dragoons flee the Jacobites of Charles Edward Stuart.

Samuel Johnson begins work on "A Dictionary of the English Language" in London.

War of the Austrian Succession: Spanish troops invade and occupy the coastal towns of Beaufort and Brunswick in the Royal Colony of North Carolina during what becomes known as the Spanish Alarm. They are later driven out by the local militia.

James Lind discovers that citrus fruits prevent scurvy.

Enfield, North Carolina, is founded.

University of Pennsylvania is founded.

Annual British iron production reaches 17,000 tons.

Adam Smith enters Balliol College, Oxford.

By an act of the Parliament of Great Britain, alien immigrants (including Huguenots and Jews) in the colonies receive British nationality.

George Whitefield founds the Bethesda Orphanage.

Spain begins construction on Fort Matanzas in the Matanzas Inlet, approximately south of St. Augustine, Florida.

Frederick II of Prussia invades the Habsburg possession of Silesia, starting the War of the Austrian Succession.

The last recorded eruption of Mount Fuji begins in Japan.

The English Bill of Rights is officially declared in force.

The English East India Company expands its influence with the establishment of administrative districts called presidencies in the Indian provinces of Bengal, Madras and Bombay, the effective beginning of the company's long rule in India.

Supporters of William of Orange seize Liverpool Castle.

Valvasor's "The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola" is printed in Nuremberg.

Peter the Great plots to overthrow his half-sister Sophia as regent of the Tsardom of Russia.

General Monck demands free parliamentary election in Scotland.

Instrument of Government in England: The world's first written constitution, under which Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland,ref name=Pocket On This Day being advised by a remodelled English Council of State. This is the start of The First Protectorate, bringing an end to the first period of republican government in the country, the Commonwealth of England.

The Taj Mahal mausoleum is completed at Agra.

Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg reconfirms the nobility's freedom from taxation and its unlimited control over the peasants.

Stephen Bachiler returns to England.

Marcello Malpighi becomes a doctor of medicine.

Battle of Noryang Point: The China and Korean Allied Forces are victorious over Japan.

Portugal founds the city of Luanda, Angola.

Seat of the Audiencia Real in Chile moves from Concepción to Santiago.

Russians occupy Pernau in Western Estonia and the fortress of Weissenstein.

Gaspar da Cruz, a PortugueseDominican friar, writes about his travels to the Ming Dynasty of China, including the Chinese civil service handbook "The Bureaucratic System of the Ming Dynasty", and how the Chinese draw lots to determine which days of the year are most auspicious or most ill-fated to travel upon.

Valdivia earthquake.

Abraham Ortelius becomes geographer to Philip II of Spain.

The bubonic plague decimates Venice.

William I of Orange founds Leiden University.

Henry VI of England is crowned King of France.

The Kingdom of Ayutthaya besieges Angkor and sack the Khmer capital, end of the Khmer Empire.

The University of Poitiers is founded.

Nezahualcoyotl is crowned Tlatoani of the Kingdom of Texcoco.

Byzantine-Ottoman Wars ndash The Ottoman governor of ThessalyTurakhan Beg breaks through the Hexamilion wall for the second time and ravages the Peloponnese peninsula.

Queen Maria of Sicily defeats an army of rebel barons.

Muhammed VII succeeds Yusuf II as Nasrid Sultan of Granada (now southern Spain).

Seoan mac Pilib succeeds Tomas mor mac Mathghamhna as King of East Breifne in present day north-central Ireland.

Taejo of Joseon turns the fortress and trade center at Seoul into capital.

The city of Afyonkarahisar (now in western Turkey) is conquered by Sultan Beyazid I of the Ottoman Empire.

Goryeo Revolution 1388–1392: In present-day Korea, rebel leader General Yi Seonggye with the support of the Ming overthrows King Gongyang and crowns himself King Taejo, ending the Goryeo Dynasty and establishing the Joseon Dynasty. King Gongyang is exiled and later secretly murdered.

King Charles VI of France, later known as Charles the Mad, begins experiencing bouts of psychosis which will continue throughout his life.

William le Scrope succeeds William II de Montacute as King of Mann.

Franciscan friar James of Jülich is boiled alive for impersonating a bishop and ordaining his own priests.

King Jogaila of Poland and Lithuania appoints his cousin Vytautas the Great as regent of Lithuania in return for Vytautas giving up his claim to the Lithuanian throne. Vytautas replaces Jogaila's unpopular brother Skirgaila as regent.

Erfurt University is founded in Erfurt, central Germany.

Louis de Valois is created the 1st Duke of Orléans, the second time this title is created.

Emperor Go-Kameyama of Japan abdicates in favor of rival claimant Go-Komatsu, in order to end the "nanboku-cho" period of conflict between the Northern and Southern imperial courts.

Penistone Grammar School, later to be one of the first community comprehensive schools in England, is founded near Barnsley, England.

Battle of Annan: The loyalists of David II defeat Edward Balliol in Scotland.

The city of Marosvásárhely (Transylvania) is first documented in the papal registry under the name Novum Forum Siculorum.

Pope John XII succeeds Pope Agapetus II as the 130th pope.

Pope Marinus I succeeds Pope John VIII as the 108th pope.

Most of Afghanistan people are forcefully converted to Islam.

Trisong Detsen becomes King of Tibet.

An Lushan begins the Anshi Rebellion against the Tang Dynasty state of China.

The "Digesta" or "Pandectae", a collection of jurist writings and other sources, is completed (see Corpus Juris Civilis).

Theudebert I succeeds his father Theuderic I and becomes king of Austrasia.