Unix Timestamp: 1102550400
Thursday, December 9. 2004, 12:00:00 AM UTC

Canadian Member of Parliament Bob Rae announces his withdrawal from the leadership caign of the Liberal Party, leaving the position (and that of the Leader of the Opposition and the leadership of the proposed opposition coalition) open to fellow MP Michael Ignatieff. //www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/12/09/rae-liberals.html (CBC)

Former Prime Minister of the Republic of Macedonia Vlado Bučkovski is sentenced to three and a half years in jail for abuse of power. //www.forbes.com/afxnewslimited/feeds/afx/2008/12/09/afx5798976.html (Forbes)

Taliban fighters in Afghanistan have pulled back to take up new positions defending the town of Musa Qala during a battle with the Afghan National Army and the International Security Assistance Force. //news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7134973.stm (BBC News)

Olympic Airlines, Greece's new flag carrier, is launched.

Paul Martin becomes the 21st Prime Minister of Canada.

A female suicide bomber detonates outside Moscow's National Hotel, across from the Kremlin and Red Square, killing 5 bystanders.

United Airlines, the second largest airline in the world, files for bankruptcy.

The Pokémon Trading Card Game is blessed by the Vatican for its love-thy-neighbor notion of intense friendship, for being full of inventive imagination, and its lack of harmful moral side effects.

Jerry Rawlings is reelected president of Ghana.

The Prince and Princess of Wales publicly announce their separation.

The East German Communist Party elects the reformist Gregor Gysi as party leader.

Tsakhiagiyn Elbegdorj announces the establishment of Mongolia's democratic movement, that peacefully changes the second oldest communist country into a democratic society.

President of Czechoslovakia Gustáv Husák swears in a new cabinet with a non-Communist and then immediately resigns as president.

The last Dodge Aries and Plymouth Reliant roll off the assembly line in a Chrysler factory.

The Australian Dollar is floated, by Federal treasurer Paul Keating. Under the old flexible peg system, the Reserve Bank bought and sold all Australian dollars and cleared the market at the end of the day. This initiative is taken by the government of Bob Hawke.

A major earthquake and tsunami kills 259 people in Colombia.

Coup d\\\\'état of December Twelfth: South Korean Army Major General Chun Doo-hwan orders the arrest of Army Chief of Staff General Jeong Seung-hwa without authorization from President Choi Kyu-ha, alleging involvement in the assassination of ex-President Park Chung Hee.

The eradication of the smallpoxvirus is certified, making smallpox the first and to date only human disease driven to extinction.

The unrecognised state of Zimbabwe Rhodesia returns to British control and resumes using the name Southern Rhodesia.

The Paris summit, reuniting the European communities' heads of state and government, commences.

Douglas Engelbart publicly demonstrates his pioneering hypertext system, NLS, in San Francisco.

Nicolae Ceauşescu becomes the Chairman of the Romanian State Council, making him the de-facto leader of Romania.

"Gemini 6" and "Gemini 7" perform the first controlled rendezvous in Earth orbit.

"A Charlie Brown Christmas", the first "Peanuts" television special, debuts on CBS, quickly becoming an annual tradition.

Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA) formed.

Tanzania and Guinea sever diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom.

Tanganyika (now Tanzania) becomes a republic within the Commonwealth, with Julius Nyerere as president.

MGM's "The Wizard of Oz" receives its last of four December telecasts on CBS. It will skip a telecast in 1963, so beginning in 1964, first on CBS, then on NBC, and finally again on CBS, it will nearly always be telecast during the early part of the year until Turner Entertainment buys the rights to the film in the 1990s.

The right-wing John Birch Society is founded in the USA by Robert Welch, a retired candy manufacturer.

Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 810 crashes into a mountain in British Columbia. All 62 people on board are killed.

Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Laos, Libya, Nepal, Portugal, Romania, Spain, and Sri Lanka join the United Nations simultaneously, after several years of moratorium on admitting new members that began during the Korean War.

Adnan Menderes of DP forms the new government of Turkey (22nd government)

The Tappan Zee Bridge in New York opens to traffic.

French labor unions call off the general strike and re-commence negotiations with the French government.

WWII: Operation Compass ndash British forces in North Africa begin their first major offensive with an attack on Italian forces at Sidi Barrani, Egypt.

De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill on Sea, opens.

Lebensborn Project, a Nazi reproduction program, is founded by Heinrich Himmler.

December 9 ndash American newspaper editor Walter Liggett is killed in a gangland murder plot.

The first of the two Tsavo maneaters is shot by John Henry Patterson the second is killed 3 weeks later, after 135 workers had been killed.

The first issue of the feminist newspaper "La Fronde" is published by Marguerite Durand.

The fourth battle of the Russo-Turkish War, 1877–1878 is fought, concluding the Siege of Plevna.

The Massachusetts Rifle Association, America's Oldest Active Gun Club, is formed.

The world's first traffic signal lights are installed at the junction of Great George Street and Bridge Street in the London borough of Westminster.

Bushehr surrenders to the British.

Pre-human remains are found in the Neanderthal valley in Germany.

Legal protection of widow remarriage is extended in India.

Kate Warne, the first female private detective, begins to work for the Pinkerton Detective Agency.

Gregor Mendel starts his research on genetics.

St. Paul\'s School, Belgaum is founded by the Jesuits in Belgaum, India.

British Guiana 1c magentapostage st issued in British Guiana in limited numbers the one surviving specimen will become regarded as the world's rarest st.

The first YMCA (1844) in North America is established in Montreal, Quebec.

Bishop\\'s University is founded as Bishop's College by Bishop George Jehoshaphat Mountain in Lennoxville, Quebec, for the education of members of the Church of England.

The Army of the Republic of Texas captures San Antonio.

Battle of Ayacucho: Peruvian forces defeat the Spanish.

At 20:34 UTC MercuryoccultsSaturn (there are no observation records).

New York City's first daily newspaper, the "American Minerva", is established by Noah Webster.

The first known working Newcomen steam engine is built by Thomas Newcomen with John Calley to pump water out of mines in the Black Country of England, the first practical device to harness the power of steam to produce mechanical work.

The VOC "Zuytdorp" is wrecked off the coast of Western Australia.

After many years of settlement, the Town on Queen Anne's Creek is established as a courthouse for Chowan County, North Carolina. The town is renamed Edenton in 1720 and incorporated in 1722.

The Treaty of Aargau is signed by Catholics and Protestants, establishing Protestant dominance in Switzerland, while preserving the rights of Catholics.

Battle of Gadebusch: Sweden defeats Denmark and Saxony.

John Arbuthnot creates the character of "John Bull" to represent Britain.

During the English Civil War, Prince Rupert and his men take Liverpool Castle, which is later reclaimed by Sir John Moore.

Philosopher René Descartes publishes "Principia Philosophiae" ("Principles of Philosophy").

The opera "Ormindo" is first performed in Venice: music by Francesco Cavalli and libretto by Giovanni Faustini.

Kolumna Zygmunta (Sigismund's Column) is erected in Warsaw to commemorate King Sigismund III Vasa, who moved the capital of Poland from Kraków to Warsaw in 1596.

As Christina comes of age, she is made ruling queen of Sweden.

December ndash Plague breaks out in Edinburgh.

Opechancanough leads the Powhatan Indians in an unsuccessful uprising against the English at Jamestown. This is the last such Indian rebellion of the region.

England: a very high tide occurs, described as being the highest ever known in the Thames, and the sea walls in Kent, Essex, and Lincolnshire are overthrown, and great desolation caused to the lands near the sea.

William Oughtred invents the slide rule.

The Dutch settle Manhattan, founding the town of New Amsterdam. The town would transform into a piece of what is now New York City.//www.nycgovparks.org/sub_your_park/historical_signs/hs_historical_sign.php?id=7712New York City Gov Parks

The First Savoine War is fought between the Republic of Genoa and the Duchy of Savoy.

Thirty Years' War: The Netherlands and England sign the Treaty of The Hague, a military peace treaty for providing economical aid to king Christian IV of Denmark during his military caigns in Germany.

Thirty Years\\\' War: The Netherlands and England sign the Treaty of The Hague, a military peace treaty for providing economical aid to king Christian IV of Denmark during his military caigns in Germany.

The first members of the Society of Jesus move to Quebec, Canada.

James Ussher becomes Archbishop of Armagh.

Probable first performance of William Shakespeare's "Richard II".

f Julian calendar (Sunday) ndash France makes the next day Monday, December 20 of the Gregorian Calendar.

On Embassies published by Flavius Ursinus.

In Ming DynastyChina

Jesuit Matteo Ricci is allowed to enter the country.

John Dee practices angel magic with scryer Edward Kelley, including the Angelic Alphabet.

The earliest reference to the publishing of private newspapers in Beijing.

The Douai-Rheims BibleNew Testament is published.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi attacks a fortress at Takamatsu.

Kumbum is founded in Tibet.

The sultanate of Morocco begins to press southward in search of a greater share of the trans-Saharan trade.

The conquest of Terceira Island in the Azores by the Spanish during the Eighty Years' War.

Cheng Ho (or Zheng He), admiral of Ming empire fleet, deposes the king of Sri Lanka.

Venice buys the port of Zadar from Hungary.

Ulugh Beg becomes governor of Samarkand.

Louis II of Anjou founds the University of Aix.

Emperor Leo III of the Byzantine Empire orders the destruction of all icons, beginning the First Iconoclastic Period.

Battle of Marj Ardabil: the Khazars defeat and destroy an Umayyad army of some 25,000 men under al-Djarrah ibn Abdullah

Belisarius enters Rome through the Asinarian Gate, the Gothic garrison (4,000 men) flee the capital. He sends an urgent request for reinforcements to Justinian I, meanwhile preparing Rome for a siege by bringing in great quantities of food and other supplies.Bury (1923), Ch. XVIII, p. 180

Winter ndash Belisarius set up his headquarters on the Pincian Hill and repairs the neglected city walls of Rome. He stations a 5,000 men garrison, of whom half are his personal bodyguard ("bucellarii"). To hold parts of the city, he recruits 20,000 young Romans to man the walls.

Senka succeeds his brother Ankan as the 28th emperor of Japan.

Vitiges deposes his rival Theodahad at Ravenna and marries Matasuntha (daughter of queen Amalasuntha). He becomes king of the Ostrogoths and assembles an army against Belisarius.

Summer ndash Constantinianus, "magister militum per Illyricum", retakes Dalmatia. The Goths abandon Salona and withdraw to the north. The Byzantines rebuild its walls and reclaim the province.Procopius, "De Bello Gothico" I.VII

March ndash Belisarius sails to Carthage with 1,000 men to suppress a mutiny against Solomon. Meanwhile the capital is besieged by 9,000 rebels, including many Vandals, under Stotzas. Belisarius defeats the muntineers and hurries back to Sicily.

March ndash King Theodahad cede Provence and upper Alamannia to the Franks for gaining their support in the war. He sends an large Gothic army into Dalmatia. They defeat the Byzantines, Mundus is killed during the fightings at Salona, and the Byzantine army withdraws.Bury (1923), Vol. II, Ch. XVIII, p. 174

Constantius of Lyon begins his research for his book "Vita sancta Germani" (on the Life of Germanus). He also writes a hagiography of Germanus of Auxerre (approximate date).

Budhagupta, ruler of the Gupta Empire, establishes diplomatic relations with the Kannauj kingdom and drives the Huns out of the fertile plains of northern India.

Syagrius, ruler of Domain of Soissons, manages to maintain the Roman authority in northern Gaul. He defends his kingdom against the neighbouring Salian Franks.

Ireland: The Diocese of Connor is erected.

King Chilperic I dies and is succeeded by his nephew Gundobad, whose realm covers much of eastern Gaul and has two capitals, at Lyon and Geneva. He rules the Kingdom of Burgundy with his brothers Chilperic II, Gundomar and Godegisel.

Prince Seinei succeeds his father Yūryaku and becomes the 22nd emperor of Japan.

The Visigoths under king Euric extend their rule from the Loire River to Gibraltar (approximate date).

Odoacer occupies Dalmatia and prosecutes Nepos's killers. He later establishes his political power with the co-operation of the Roman Senate.