Unix Timestamp: 1229731200
Saturday, December 20. 2008, 12:00:00 AM UTC

The death toll from Tropical Storm Washi in the Philippines rises to nearly 1,000. //www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/12/20/philippines-storm-death-toll.html (CBC)

The Pablo Picasso painting "Portrait of Suzanne Bloch", together with Candido Portinari's "O Lavrador de Café", is stolen from the São Paulo Museum of Art.

Albania, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Republic of Macedonia, and Kosovo sign the Central European Free Trade Agreement extending the free trade zone to southeastern Europe. //www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/12/BF870B28-8DD7-4EEB-B4AB-63B1E56DC049.html (RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty)

Aleksandër Moisiu University was founded in Durrës, Albania.

An earthquake in California kills 2.

A PetroChina Chuandongbei natural gas field explosion in Guoqiao, Kai County, Chongqing, China, kills 234.

President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan escapes the second assassination attempt in 2 weeks.

The Spanish police thwart an attempt by ETA to detonate 50 kg of explosives at 3:55 p.m. on Christmas Eve inside Madrid's busy Chamartín Station.

At the request of the U.S. Embassy in Paris, the French Government orders Air France to cancel several flights between France and the U.S. in response to terrorist concerns.

Libya admits to building a nuclear bomb.

Beagle 2 is scheduled to land on Mars, but nothing is heard from the lander.

A BSE (mad cow disease) outbreak in Washington State is announced. Several countries including Brazil, Australia and Taiwan ban the import of beef from the United States.

Parmalat is first accused of falsifying accounts to the tune of USD $5 billion, later admitted by founder Calisto Tanzi observers call it Europe's Enron.

WTO becomes a specialized agency of the United Nations.

The final episode of Britain's biggest entertainment show, "Only Fools and Horses", is aired.

The magazine "Science" chose the discovery of small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) as the top science story of the year. The molecular switches have the potential to treat such diseases as HIV and cancer.

Senator Trent Lott resigned as Senate Majority Leader, concluding that his approving statements of fellow Senator Strom Thurmond's segregationist run for President of the United States in 1948 had limited his effectiveness and that of his fellow Republicans.

The sovereignty of Macau is transferred from the Portuguese Republic to the People's Republic of China after 422 years of Portuguese rule.

Steve Jobs' company NeXT is bought by Apple Computer, the company co-founded by Jobs.

President of Serbia Slobodan Milošević defeats Milan Panić in the Serbian presidential election.

The Folies Bergère music hall in Paris, France, closes.

A DutchDC-10, flight Martinair MP 495, crashes at Faro Airport, killing 56 people.

Charilaos Florakis is elected honorary president of the Communist Party of Greece. //www.datesinhistory.com/dec21.php source

The North Atlantic Cooperation Council (NAC-C) meets for the first time, the day on which the Soviet Union ceases to exist.//www.nato.int/docu/update/1991/summarye.htm source

A Missouri court passes the death sentence on Palestinian militant Zein Isa and his wife Maria, for the honor killing of their daughter Palestina.

The Marshall Islands and Federated States of Micronesia become independent, after the termination of their trusteeship.

Eduard Shevardnadze announces his resignation as Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs

The first constitution of the Republic of Croatia is adopted.

"Operation Just Cause" is launched in an attempt to overthrow Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega.thumb|200px|the Barrio El Chorrillo in fire, the morning of the United States invasion of Panama|USA invasion to Panama

The United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances is signed at Vienna.

In history's worst peacetime sea disaster, the passenger ferry MV "Doña Paz" sinks after colliding with the oil tanker "Vector 1" in the Tablas Strait in the Philippines, killing an estimated 4,000 people (1,749 official).

Three African Americans are assaulted by a group of white teens in the Howard Beach neighborhood of Queens, New York. One of the victims, Michael Griffith, is run over and killed by a motorist while attempting to flee the attackers.

The Penlee lifeboat disaster occurs off the coast of South-West Cornwall.

Richard J. Daley, Mayor of Chicago for 21 years, dies.

Spanish prime minister Luis Carrero Blanco is assassinated in Madrid by the terrorist organization ETA.

The Zodiac Killer is believed to have shot Betty Lou Jensen and David Faraday on Lake Herman Road, Benicia, San Francisco Bay, California.

Mao Zedong advocates that educated youth in urban China be re-educated in the country. It marks the start of the Up to the mountains and down to the villages movement.

David Eisenhower, grandson of former US President Dwight D. Eisenhower, marries Julie Nixon, the daughter of US President-elect Richard Nixon.

Harold Wilson withdraws all his previous offers to the Rhodesian government, and announces that he will agree to independence only after the founding of a Black majority government.

A military coup occurs in Dahomey.

Soviet scientists condemn Trofim Lysenko for pseudoscience.

A new, 1-hour German-American production of "The Nutcracker", with an international cast that includes Edward Villella in the title role, makes its U.S. TV debut. It is repeated annually by CBS over the next 3 years, but after that, it is virtually forgotten, until it is issued on DVD in 2009 by Warner Archive.

The Soviet Union announces that it has shipped rockets to North Vietnam.

WFP made a permanent UN agency.

In West Germany, Konrad Adenauer resigns as chairman of the Christian Democratic Party.

A speed limit is imposed on British roads.

Release of David Lean's film of "Doctor Zhivago", starring Omar Sharif and Julie Christie.

The Boeing 707 airliner flies for the first time.

The crash of a U.S. Air Force C-124 Globemaster at Moses Lake, WA kills 86 servicemen.

WASPs are disbanded.

A military coup is staged in Bolivia.

BEGGARS Fraternity (the first social fraternity at a Jesuit college in the United States) is founded by nine men, who secured permission to do so from the Pope.

Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk returns to the Czechoslovak Republic.

First Boer War: The Action at Bronkhorstspruit results in a Boer victory over the British.

ICRM renamed International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

South Carolina becomes the first state to secede from the United States Union.

Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria issues a decree, "Es ist Mein Wille", which leads to the demolition of the city walls of Vienna, allowing the construction of the Ringstraße.

Slavery is abolished in Réunion. This day is celebrated every year since 1981.

PresidentBonaparte takes his Oath of Office in front of the French National Assembly.

Pentonville Prison is built in London.

University of Notre Dame (by Father Edward Sorin, CSC of the Congregation of Holy Cross)

Cumberland University

The first pils beer is brewed in the Czech city of Pilsen. The Pils is the original lager beer of which all modern lagers are copies.

The New Zealand seat of government moves from Russell to Auckland.

Willamette University in Salem, Oregon

Hollins University (in Roanoke, Virginia by Charles Cocke)

The Sons of Temperance is founded in New York City.

Julius Robert von Mayer proposes that work and heat are equivalent.

EnglishpalaeontologistRichard Owen coins the name "Dinosauria", hence the Anglicized "dinosaur".Owen, R. (1842). Report on British Fossil Reptiles. Part II. Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Plymouth, England.

The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, is established.

Villanova University (in Villanova, Pennsylvania by the Augustinian order)

The Texas Declaration of Independence is first signed at Goliad, Texas.

The Java War ends.

Austins of Derry established in Northern Ireland. it will be the world's oldest independent department store.

10,000 chests of opium are sold in China.

The independence of Belgium is recognized by the Great Powers.

Construction work is completed on the Citadelle Laferrière in Haiti, the largest fortification in the Americas.

Robert Owen devises the labour voucher.

Anchor coinage is issued for use in some British colonies.

The Argentine Confederation (Argentina) establishes a penal colony in the Malvinas.

The 6th edition of the "Encyclopædia Britannica" appears.

18,957 black slaves leave Luanda, Angola.

Early Spring ndash Joseph Smith, Jr. receives his First Vision in Palmyra, New York.

Mount Rainier erupts over what is today Seattle.

The town of Tuscumbia, Alabama, is incorporated.

The first volume of Grimm's Fairy Tales is published.

The original Covent Garden Theatre in London is destroyed by a fire, along with most of the scenery, costumes and scripts.

Det Dramatiske Selskab is founded in Norway.

Western countries pay 16,000,000 ounces of silver for Chinese goods.

George Montagu (died 1780), British politician

Jose Gabriel Kunturkanki, businessman and landowner, proclaims himself Inca Tupac Amaru II.

tart of the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War.

c. 9 million population in Britain.

Nikephoros Theotokis starts introducing "Edinoverie", an attempt to integrate the Old Believers into Russia's established church.

In Ireland, Lady Berry, who is sentenced to death for the murder of her son, is released when she agrees to become an executioner (retires 1810)

The original Craven Cottage is built by William Craven, 6th Baron Craven (located on the centre circle of the pitch).

Morocco becomes the first nation to formally recognize the American colonies thereby beginning Morocco – United States relations.Bookin-Weiner, Jerome B. The Origins of Moroccan American Relations in THE ATLANTIC CONNECTION: 200 Years of Moroccan-American Relations 1786-1986, Bookin-Weiner, Jerome B. and El Mansour, Mohammed eds. Edino Press, 1990. Pg. 20

Johann Sebastian Bach composes "The Well-Tempered Clavier".

After the longest reign by a Chinese Emperor in history, the Kangxi Emperor dies and is succeeded by his son Yinzhen with the reign nameYongzheng.

Foundation ot the first public theatre in Denmark, Lille Grönnegade.

Edenton is incorporated as the county seat of Chowan County, North Carolina. The governor and assembly of North Carolina move to Edenton, making it the de facto capital of North Carolina until 1746, when the government is moved to New Bern.

A small group of Bohemian Brethren (the Hidden Seed) from northern Moravia are allowed to settle in a new village, Herrnhut, on the Berthelsdorf estate of the pietist Count Nicolaus Zinzendorf in Upper Lusatia (Saxony), forming the "Herrnhuter Brüdergemeine", seed of the Moravian Church's renewal.

Music: Modern music theory finds definition in Jean-Philippe Rameau's "Treatise on Harmony".

Peter the Great of Russia creates the Table of Ranks.

The "Silence Dogood" letters appear, written by Benjamin Franklin.

England's Tory government reduces the standing army to 7,000 men who must all be British by birth. This causes friction between Parliament and the King, whose Dutch Blue Guards are deported.

William Dier explores the northwest coast of Australia.

Billingsgate Fish Market is sanctioned as a permanent institution by Act of Parliament.

The "Edinburgh Gazette" is founded.

Peter the Great orders the Russian New Year changed from 1 September to 1 January.

Nicolas Fouquet is sentenced to banishment.

Treaty of Labiau is signed between Charles X Gustav of Sweden and Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg.

Konoike Zen'amon (son of Konoike Shinroku) founds a baking and money-changing business in Osaka.

Mehmed Köprülü becomes Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire.

Samuel Stockhausen publishes his “Treatise on the Noxious Fumes of Litharge, Diseases caused by them and Miners’ Asthma”

The Stockholm Banco, the first bank to issue banknotes, is founded.

The Dutch capture the city of Colombo in Sri Lanka.

Jews are readmitted to England by Oliver Cromwell.

The only Fifty Shilling British coin is minted.

Adams\' Grammar School in Shropshire, England is founded by William Adams.

When Quebec was first established its settlers depended on supplies sent from France. However, Chlain wanted the settlement at Quebec to be able to survive on its own. In 1626, Chlain decided to build a farm to raise livestock, or animals to provide food for the people living in the habitation. Chlain described the construction of Cap tourmente (Kap toor-mont) farm in one of his journals.

The beginning of the Würzburg witch trial, which led to the mass executions of hundreds of people until 1631.

Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor and Transylvanian monarch Bethlen Gabor sign the Peace of Pressburg.

The Battle of Ningyuan in Xingcheng, Liaoning, China: With a much smaller force, the Ming Dynasty commander Yuan Chonghuan defeats the Manchu tribal leader Nurhaci, who dies soon after and is succeeded by Huang Taiji.

The third edition of the "Textus Receptus" of the Bible is published.

The Knight's Revolt erupts in Germany.

Costa Rica was named by the Spanish Colonizer Gil González Dávila when he found copious quantities of gold in Pacific beaches.

The first Diet of Nuremberg is held.

ChineseMing Dynasty records indicate that the War Ministry official He Ru is the first to acquire the Portuguesebreech-loadingculverin, while copies of them are made by two Westernized Chinese at Beijing, Yang San (Pedro Yang) and Dai Ming.

Suleiman the Magnificent accepts the surrender of the surviving Knights, who are allowed to evacuate. They eventually re-settle on Malta and become known as the Knights of Malta.

Some believe that Australia was sighted by a Portuguese expedition led by Cristóvão de Mendonça. They mapped the continent and named it Jave la Grande, meaning The Greater Java. /onlyinclude

The Knight's Revolt erupts in Germany.

The Habsburg-Valois Wars begin.

For the second time since 1368, Moscow attacks Tver, which again counter-attacks with the aid of Lithuania and the Blue Horde.

Carthusian monks build the Charterhouse in London.

Tran Phu deposes Duong Nhat Le as King of Vietnam.

The Siege of Limoges is launched.

Casimir III of Poland is succeeded jointly by his sister, Elisabeth of Kujavia, and her son, Louis I of Hungary, beginning the rule of Poland by the Capet-Anjou family.

Pope Gregory XI succeeds Pope Urban V as the 201st pope.

Timur completes his conquest of Central Asia and parts of Persia, establishing the Timurid Empire.

Xian City (Chang'an) is fortified against invasion.

The steel crossbow is first used as a weapon of war.

The first recorded outbreak of the Black Death occurs in the Chinese province of Hubei.

Pope Benedict XII succeeds Pope John XXII as the 197th pope.

Pope Gregory VI is accused of simony at the Council of Sutri, and abdicates as pope.

Hippolytus begins his pontificate as antipope and sets up a breakaway church for Christian fowlers.

The papacy of Zephyrinus ends. Callixtus I is elected as the sixteenth pope, but is opposed by the theologianHippolytus who accuses him of laxity and of being a Modalist, one who denies any distinction between the three persons of the Trinity.

Ciriacus succeeds Philadelphus as Patriarch of Constantinople.