Unix Timestamp: 1104019200
Sunday, December 26. 2004, 12:00:00 AM UTC

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel) announces that it will boycott Durban III (World Conference against Racism), the 2011 United Nations summit commemorating the tenth anniversary of the World Conference against Racism 2001, due to the conference's anti-Semitic undertones and displays of hatred for Israel and the Jewish world, a day after the UN General Assembly approved a resolution, by a vote of 104 to 22, with 33 abstentions, to hold the summit in September 2011 Canada has already announced that it will also not attend, calling it a charade. //www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iu_SM71wkVHl0N5coVNbbGYGVAHw?docId=CNG.78e0d6ea454a7aaf3314a8dbd2c58027.c91 (AFP via Google News) //www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/26/AR2010122600875.html (The Washington Post) //www.jta.org/news/article/2010/12/26/2742313/israel-to-boycott-durban-iii (JTA)

Pakistan deploys between five and twenty thousand additional troops along its border with India. //www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/26/AR2008122601198.html (Washington Post)

Between 200 and 500 people have been killed in an oil pipeline explosion in Nigeria's commercial capital, Lagos, according to the Red Cross. The blast is believed to have been caused by thieves puncturing the pipeline in an attempt to siphon off fuel into a tanker. //news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6209845.stm (BBC)

An oil pipeline explodes in Nigeria's commercial capital, Lagos, killing at least 200 people.

A massive earthquake devastates southeastern Iran over 40,000 people are reported killed in the city of Bam.

David Bieber is arrested on suspicion of the Boxing Day police shootings in Leeds.

British Airways Flight 223, a Boeing 747-400 flying from London Heathrow to Washington Dulles, is escorted into Dulles Airport by F-16 fighter jets after intelligence reports of terrorists trying to board the jet and use it in a terrorist attack.

Parts of the UK are left without power on New Year's Eve due to wintry weather including blizzards and thunderstorms.

War on Terrorism: A Washington Post article es numerous anonymous CIA agents who confirm that the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States uses so-called stress and duress interrogation techniques, which are claimed by human rights activists to be acts of torture. The anonymous agents defend the practice as necessary in light of the September 11 terrorist attacks publicly, US government officials deny the charges, while declining to address specifics. Privately, however, one official justified human rights violations as being a necessary part of the job. //www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37943-2002Dec25.html

North Korea is reactivating a plutonium producing nuclear power plant north of Pyongyang after removing United Nations seals on the reactor and degrading the capability of surveillance cameras. This same reactor is thought by U.S. officials as the source for plutonium for two previously produced atomic bombs. North Korea has been named by the George W. Bush Administration as part of the so-called axis of evil.//apnews.excite.com/article/20021227/D7O5SKEG0.html

Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Israel announces it will begin with temporarily providing social services such as education, healthcare, and licenses in the West Bank. The Israeli government claims the move is necessary to provide badly needed services to the Palestinian people in light of the Palestinian Authority's inability to do so. Palestinian officials claim the move is an attempt to undermine the legitimacy of the Palestinian Authority and tantamount to the reinstatement of the Israeli occupation that existed before the 1993 Oslo Accords.

Storm Lothar killed 137 people as it crossed France, southern Germany, and Switzerland.

The largest strike in South Korean history begins.

French anti-terrorist police storm a hijacked jet at Marseille and kill 4 Islamist terrorists.

ImpostorJames Hogue is exposed at Princeton University.

The Cold War ends after 44 years when the Supreme Soviet meets and formally dissolves the Soviet Union.

The University of South Australia is founded.

Sea Defences at Mappleton were built in order to protect the village from intense sea erosion that had threatened it.

After 35 years on the airwaves and holding the title of longest-running non-news program on network television, NBC airs the final episode of daytime drama "Search for Tomorrow".

A brief but severe recession begins in the United States.

In a Gallup Poll, 51% of Americans do not accept homosexuality as normal.

The first China Central Television New Year's Gala program starts. This program is watched by 1.1 billion Chinese every year.

Seattle is officially dubbed the "Emerald City" after a contest is held to choose a new city slogan.

The car brand Toyota Camry is introduced.

"Time Magazine's" Man of the Year is given for the first time to a non-human, the computer.

A global surplus of crude oil causes gasoline prices to collapse.

George Stigler is awarded The Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.

The Commodore 64 PC is released (over 20 million will be sold by 1994).

Dorling Kindersley, formerly a book packager, begins publishing.

Chrysler receives government loan guarantees upon the request of CEO Lee Iacocca.

McDonald's introduces the Happy Meal in June.

Lego's golden age begins.

In Rhodesia, 96 Patriotic Front guerrillas enter the capital Salisbury to monitor a ceasefire that begins December 28.

The One Child Policy is introduced in China - it has since prevented about 400 million births.

Worldwide per capita oil production reaches an historic peak.

The first usenet experiments are conducted by Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis of Duke University.

VisiCalc becomes the first commercialspreadsheet program.

Former United States President Harry S. Truman dies in Kansas City, Missouri.

Konstantin Chernenko, later leader of the Soviet Union, becomes a candidate member of the Central Committee.

In or about this year, one person returning to Haiti from the Congo is thought to have first brought HIV to the Americas.

Martin Richards designs the programming language BCPL.

Paramount Pictures Corporation becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of Gulf+Western Industries, Inc.

The World BuddhistSangha Council is convened by Theravadins in Sri Lanka, with the hope of bridging differences and working together.

The DKW automobile ceases production.

Long-term potentiation (LTP), the putative cellular mechanism of learning and memory, is first observed by Terje Lømo in Oslo, Norway.

The Surrealist Movement in the United States is founded by Franklin and Penelope Rosemont.

The Congress of the United States creates the National Council for Marine Resources and Engineering Development.

Thieves steal millions' worth of paintings from the Dulwich Art Gallery in London.

East German Premier Walter Ulbricht discusses negotiations about German reunification.

"The Jerusalem Bible", a Roman Catholic translation, is published in English.

Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann publish "The Social Construction of Reality".

The Congolese government takes over the Union Minière du Haut Katanga.

Lise Meitner and Otto Hahn are awarded the Fermi Prize.

The first Kwanzaa is celebrated by Maulana Karenga, founder of Organization US (a black nationalist group) and later chair of Black Studies, at California State University, Long Beach from 1989 to 2002.

Lesley Ann Downey, 10, is abducted by Myra Hindley and Ian Brady.

The 1955 film "Oklahoma!", an adaptation of the famed Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, is re-released.

The Reformed Druids of North America (RDNA) is founded.

Ivan Sutherland writes the revolutionary Sketchpad program and runs it on the Lincoln TX-2 computer at MIT.

The IEEE Computer Society is founded.

For the first time in four consecutive years, the film "The Wizard of Oz" is not telecast. Reasons for this remain unknown to this day, but because the film at that time was telecast during the second week of December and the nation was still in mourning over the Kennedy assassination then, it could be that CBS executives decided it would be inappropriate to show it less than three weeks after such a tragic event.

The Urdu typewriter keyboard is standardised by the Central Language Board in Pakistan.

TAT-3 cable goes into operation.

I Want to Hold Your Hand and I Saw Her Standing There are released in the U.S., marking the beginning of Beatlemania on an international level.

Harvey Ball invents the ubiquitous smiley face symbol.

The Semi Automatic Ground Environment is fully deployed.

Construction of Moscow's Ostankino Tower begins.

David. H. Frisch and J. H. Smith prove that the radioactive decay of mesons is slowed by their motion (see Einstein's special relativity and general relativity).

The National Prohibition Foundation is incorporated in Indiana.

Saynatsalo Town Hall in Finland, designed by Alvar Aalto, is completed.

The Nordic Council agrees to the unrestricted transport of people, goods and services throughout the Nordic Countries.

Nearly 58,000 cases of polio are reported in the U.S. 3,145 die and 21,269 are left with mild to disabling paralysis.

The American Embassy School of New Delhi is founded.

Joseph Ivor Linton, the first Israeli Minister Plenipotentiary in Japan, presents his credentials to the Japanese Emperor.

During the Mau Mau Uprising, the poisonous latex of the African milk bush was used kill cattle in an incident of Biological warfare.ref name=Biological warfare

The influential multistorey residential building, Unité d'Habitation in Marseille, France, designed by Le Corbusier, is completed.

Twelve-year-old Jimmy Boyd's record of "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" is released, selling 3 million records

Capitol Wrestling Corporation, the professional wrestling promotion that would later evolve into the modern day WWE is founded by Jess McMahon and Toots Mondt

The Swedish paratrooper training school Fallskärmsjägarna(FJS) is created.

The influential multistorey residential building, Unité d\\'Habitation in Marseille, France, designed by Le Corbusier, is completed.

The last Soviet troops withdraw from North Korea

WWII: Winston Churchill becomes the first British Prime Minister to address a joint session of the U.S. Congress.

Miners strike in Borinage, Belgium.

An American Airlines aircraft crashes in the Adirondack Mountains.

Phi Iota Alpha, the oldest existing Latino fraternity, is founded.

Raymond Pearl publishes his landmark book, "Alcohol and Longevity".

Industrial output surpasses the level of 1913 in the USSR.

Earl W. Bascom, rodeo cowboy and artist, designs and makes rodeo's first high-cut rodeo chaps at Stirling, AlbertaCanada.

Widows' pensions are introduced in New South Wales, Australia.

The International African Institute is founded in London.

U.S. Marines intervene in Nicaragua to bolster the conservative government.

In Japanese History, the Shōwa era begins from this day due to the demise of Emperor Taishō on the day before.

The short-lived Western Australian Secession League is founded.

The Pike School of Andover, Massachusetts is founded.

American microbiologist Selman Waksman publishes "Enzymes".

Phencyclidine "(PCP, angel dust)" is first synthesized.

First Surrealist exhibition in Paris.

The Thompson submachine gun sells for $175 in the 1925 Sears, Roebuck and Company mail order catalog.

The Australian state of Queensland introduces a 44-hour working week.

The Shueisha Publishing Company is founded in Tokyo.

The National Football League adds 5 teams: the New York Giants, Detroit Panthers, Providence Steam Roller, a new Canton Bulldogs team, and the Pottsville Maroons.

The Great Sphinx of Giza is unearthed at the start of a complete excavation.

In Germany, the Bauhaus moves to a building in Dessau designed by Walter Gropius.

New York City becomes the largest city in the world, taking the lead from London.

The Brisbane City Council, (Brisbane, Australia), is created from the amlgamation of 20 smaller cities, towns and shires.

Lion Feuchtwanger's novel "Jud Süß" published.

United States president Woodrow Wilson uses the Federal Possession and Control Act to place most U.S. railroads under the United States Railroad Administration, hoping to more efficiently transport troops and materials for the war effort.

The first of the Cottingley Fairies photographs are taken in Yorkshire.

Female suffrage is enacted in the Netherlands.

Following the October Revolution, Alexandra Kollontai is appointed People's Commissar for Social Welfare in the Council of People's Commissars of the Government of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, the first woman cabinet minister in Europe.

The Lions Clubs International is formed.

The True Jesus Church is established in Beijing.

A cholera outbreak kills several German prisoners-of-war being held at Shankend in Scotland.

Following the October Revolution, Alexandra Kollontai is appointed People\\\'s Commissar for Social Welfare in the Council of People\\\'s Commissars of the Government of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, the first woman cabinet minister in Europe.

J. R. R. Tolkien begins writing "The Book of Lost Tales" (the first version of "The Silmarillion") thus Middle-earth is first chronicled this year.

The Irish Republican Brotherhood Military Council decides to stage a rising on Easter Sunday 1916.

Emory College is rechartered as Emory University, and plans to move its main cus from Oxford, Georgia to Atlanta.

Franz Kafka's short novel "Die Verwandlung" is first published in Germany.

The first stop sign appears in Detroit, Michigan.

Alfred Wegener proposes the theory of Pangaea.

Lord Beaverbrook buys the "Daily Express".

The Simplo Filler Pen company is founded, later to become the Montblanc Company.

Construction begins on the current Great Mosque of Djenné.

The world's first feature film, "The Story of the Kelly Gang", is released.

Richard Oldham argues that the Earth has a molten interior.

The Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) immunization for tuberculosis is first developed.

Second Boer War ndash Battle of Mafeking: The British inflict a crushing defeat on the Boers.

Wilhelm van Berkel invents the Berkel meat slicer, the first meat slicer in Rotterdam.

North Petherton becomes the first town in England to install Acetylene lighting.

Exploits of Louis de Rougemont begin to appear in "Wide World Magazine".

Marie and Pierre Curie announce discovery of a substance they call "radium".

Wakita is founded in the Cherokee Strip, Oklahoma.

The British conquer and burn Benin City.

As a result of the merger of several small oil companies, John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company controls 84% of the USA's oil and most American pipelines.

John Jacob Abel isolates epinephrine (adrenaline).

The Fork Union Military Academy is founded.

William Ramsay and Morris Travers discover neon.

The Harvard Summer School is founded.

Virginia adopts a new Constitution, taking into account, among other things, all of the counties that had left Virginia in 1863 to form the new non-slave state of West Virginia. No other state has ever formed by breaking off from another without the consent of the legislature of the parent state, as in the cases of Vermont, Kentucky, and Maine.

William M. Tweed serves his last year as the Boss of the Tammany Hall political machine in New York.

The American minister to China takes five warships to attempt to open up Korea, but his forces leave after exchanges of fire result in 250 Koreans dying and the Korean government still unwilling to make any concessions.

George Biddell Airy discovers that astronomical aberration is independent of the local medium.

Heinrich Schliemann begins the excavation of Troy.

The South Improvement Company is formed by John D. Rockefeller and a group of major railroad interests in an early effort to organize and control the petroleum industry in the U.S.A.

British trade unions are legalized.

Japan forms its own nationwide police force based on the French model.

''Thespis'', the first of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, premières. It does modestly well, but the two composers will not collaborate again for four years.

The Constitution of the German Empire abolishes all restrictions on Jewish marriage, choice of occupation, place of residence, and property ownership. Exclusion from government employment and discrimination in social relations remain in effect.

The provinces of Alsace and Lorraine are transferred from France to Germany.

William D. Duly hangs 38 Dakota Sioux Indians in Minnesota.

29 ndash American Civil War ndash Battle of Chickasaw Bayou: Another victory for the Confederate Army, outnumbered two to one, results in six times as many Union casualties, defeating several assaults commanded by the Union general, William T. Sherman.

The population of Britain reaches 21 million. 6.3 million live in cities of 20,000 or more in England and Wales and cities of 20,000 or more account for 35% of the total English population.

Western Union is founded.

December 27 ndash A Royal Navy warship bombards Lagos Island ObaKosoko is wounded and flees to Epe.

St. Paul's College, Hong Kong is founded.

The University of Mississippi is founded.

AdmiralNevelskoi explores the Strait of Tartary.

Phi Delta Theta Fraternity is founded.

Geneva College in Pennsylvania is founded.

The Boston Public Library is founded by an act of the Great and General Court of Massachusetts.

The Associated Press founded in New York.

The University of Wisconsin–Madison is founded.

John Bird Sumner becomes archbishop of Canterbury.

A cholera epidemic in New York kills 5,000.

Dunedin, New Zealand is founded by Scots settlers.

Elizabeth Gaskell publishes "Mary Barton" anonymously.

British, Dutch, and German governments lay claim to New Guinea.

Richard Wagner begins writing the libretto that will become "Der Ring des Nibelungen" ("The Ring of the Nibelung").

The University of Ottawa is founded.

Prince Klemens von Metternich ends his work as Austrian foreign minister.

The Independent Republic of Yucatán joins Mexico in exchange for Mexican help in suppressing a revolt by the indigenous Maya population.

The Shaker song "Simple Gifts" is written by Joseph Brackett in Alfred, Maine.

Rhodes College is founded.

The Illinois and Michigan Canal is completed.

Queen's College, London, for women, is founded.

The colony of South Australia is officially proclaimed (now celebrated in the state of South Australia as Proclamation Day).

A British invasion force leaves Vlissingen.

1806 Battles of Pultusk and Golymin. Battle of Pultusk: Russian forces under General Bennigsen narrowly escape from a direct confrontation with Napoleon, who goes into winter quarters. Battle of Golymin: Russian forces under General Golitsyn fight a successful rearguard action against French forces under Marshall Murat.

Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, removes the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon in Athens.

Annual British iron production reaches 260,000 tons.

Noah Webster publishes his first American Englishdictionary.

Sweden declares war on France.

Napoleon annuls the 10-day week of the French Revolutionary Calendar he also orders his soldiers to be vaccinated.

James Squire becomes the first person in Australia to cultivate Hops.

Old Man of the Mountain is born (first mention). (d. 2003)

The Horse Patrol, a mounted law enforcement force, is founded in London, England.

The Peace of Pressburg is signed between France and Austria.

King Anouvong becomes ruler of Vientiane.

Simón Bolívar dedicates himself to liberating Venezuela from Spanish rule.

Tipu Sultan invades Kerala in India, but is repulsed.

Franz Xaver, Baron Von Zach, an astronomer, publishes "The Tables of the Sun", an essential early work for navigation.

The Baptist Missionary Society is founded in Kettering, England.

Barthelemy Catherine Joubert, later general, becomes sub-lieutenant.

Mary Wollstonecraft's "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman" is published.

The trial of Louis XVI of France begins.

Thomas Holcroft produces the play "Road to Ruin" in London.

The first written examinations in Europe are held at Cambridge University, England.

George Anschutz constructs the first blast furnace in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Dominique-Jean Larrey, chief surgeon of the Grand Armee of France, creates the first ambulance wagons specifically designed as ambulances.

The State Street Corporation is founded.

Shiloh Meeting House, predecessor of Shiloh United Methodist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia, is founded.

William Murdoch begins experimenting with gas lighting.

Claude Chappe successfully demonstrates the first semaphore line, between Paris and Lille.

Johann Georg Albrechtberger becomes Kapellmeister in Vienna.

American Revolution: Battle of Trenton: Washington's troops surprise the 1500 Hessian troops under the command of Col. Johann Rall at 8 a.m. outside Trenton and score a victory, taking 948 prisoners while suffering only 5 wounded.

Robert Boyle publishes "Nova experimenta physico-mechanica", setting forth the law bearing his name.

Milton, Massachusetts is incorporated as a town.

The "Akademie der Bildenden Künste Nürnberg":de:Akademie der Bildenden Künste Nürnberg is founded in Germany.

John Graunt, in one of the earliest uses of statistics, publishes statistical information about births and deaths in London.

Molière's play "The School for Wives" premieres.

The Act of Uniformity 1662 in England and Wales makes mandatory the use of the Book of Common Prayer.

Parisian police raid a monastery, sending monks to prison for eating meat and drinking wine during Lent.

Drought occurs in India.

Christiaan Huygens writes "Systema Saturnium".

The Long Parliament reforms occur in Westminster.

The Spanish Infanta Maria Theresa brings cocoa to Paris.

Thomas Hobbes publishes "De Homine".

Diego Velázquez's portrait of Infanta Maria Theresa is first exhibited.

The Ottoman Empire invades Hungary.

The New River is opened, to supply London with drinking water from Hertfordshire.

The Earl of Somerset marries Frances Howard, occasioning John Donne's "Eclogue".

Sultan Agung of Mataram takes the throne of the kingdom of Mataram on Java.

The territory of Kuwait is founded.

James I of England condemns duels in his proclamation "Against Private Challenges and Combats".

Near Jamestown, Virginia, Sir Thomas Dale starts a settlement called Bermuda City which later becomes part of Hopewell, Virginia.

A locust swarm destroys La Camarque, France.

St. Stephen\\'s night) ndash First recorded performance of Shakespeare's tragedy "King Lear", before King James I of England in the banqueting hall of Whitehall Palace.ref name=Shak.Encyc./

A storm buries the village of St Ismail near modern-day Kidwelly, Carmarthenshire, Wales.

St. Stephen's night) ndash First recorded performance of Shakespeare's tragedy "King Lear", before King James I of England in the banqueting hall of Whitehall Palace.ref name=Shak.Encyc./

Gregor Richter has succeeded Martin Möller as the chief pastor of Görlitz.

The Jesuit Joannis Stribingius visits Latvia, and describes Latvian mythology.

The Evangelic Lyceum (Evanjelické lýceum), a Lutheran high school is founded in Bratislava.

The cryptographic text "Steganographia", written by Johannes Trithemius c.1499, is published in Frankfurt.

Cesare Borgia kills Ramiro D'Orco this incident is referenced in Machiavelli's The Prince

Ludovico Sforza emerges as Regent of Milan (until 1499).

Axayacatl, Aztec ruler of Tenochtitlan, dies and is succeeded by his brother Tízoc.

Symeon I succeeds Maximus III as Patriarch of Constantinople.

Fribourg and Solothurn become Cantons of Switzerland.

With the death of Duke Charles IV of Anjou, Anjou reverts to the French crown under Louis XI of France.

The Aztec Calendar Stone or Sun Stone is carved.

Battle of Westbroek: Holland defeats the troops of Utrecht.

Fire destroys the roof and the spires of the Cathedral of Notre Dame at Rheims.

Mindaugas of Lithuania is baptized, in prelude to his crowning as King of Lithuania in 1253.

The German city of Berlin, founded some 50 years earlier, receives its city charter.

The carving of the "Tripitaka Koreana", a collection of Buddhistscriptures recorded on some 81,000 wooden blocks, is completed.

Möngke Khan is elected as the fourth great Khan of the Mongol Empire.

Alexander Nevsky signs the first peace treaty between Kievan Rus' and Norway.

Ottokar II of Bohemia, later to become King of Bohemia, is elected Duke of Austria.

The earliest known manuscript of "The Proverbs of Alfred", a collection of sayings of England's Alfred the Great, is written.

King Conrad IV of Germany invades Italy, but fails to subdue the supporters of Pope Innocent IV.

Andrew de Longjumeau, dispatched two years earlier by King Louis IX of France as an ambassador to the Mongols, meets the king in Palestine, with reports from the Mongols and Tartary his mission is considered a failure.

King Alexander III of Scotland marries Margaret, daughter of King Henry III of England, precipitating a power struggle between the two monarchs.

Pope Leo III succeeds Pope Adrian I as the 96th pope.

Pope Dionysius dies at Rome after a 9-year reign and is succeeded by Pope Felix I.