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This day in history

This day in history: 11 December

Events, births and deaths on this date, ordered by how many people look them up.

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Key facts

376 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 11 December.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2020: The Food and Drug Administration issues an Emergency Use Authorization on the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, the first COVID-19 vaccine to be approved by the agency.

Holidays and observances

Christian feast day: Cian

Christian feast day: Daniel the Stylite

Christian feast day: December 11 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Christian feast day: María de las Maravillas de Jesús

Christian feast day: Pope Damasus I

Christian feast day: Sabinus of Piacenza

Christian feast day: Victoricus, Fuscian, and Gentian

Establishment of Kurdish Women's Union (Iraqi Kurdistan)

Indiana Day (United States)

International Mountain Day

National Tango Day (Argentina)

Pampanga Day (Pampanga province, Philippines)

Events

2020The Food and Drug Administration issues an Emergency Use Authorization on the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, the first COVID-19 vaccine to be approved by the agency.

2019The results of the 2019 Bougainvillean independence referendum are announced. The results are overwhelmingly one-sided. Over 98% of voters vote for Bougainville's independence.

2017New York City Subway bombing: A pipe bomb partially detonates in the New York City Subway, in the Times Square–42nd Street/Port Authority Bus Terminal. Four people are injured, including the perpetrator.

2012At least 125 people are killed and up to 200 injured in bombings in the Alawite village of Aqrab, Syria.

2009Finnish game developer Rovio Entertainment releases the hit mobile game Angry Birds internationally on iOS.

2008Bernie Madoff is arrested and charged with securities fraud in a $50 billion Ponzi scheme.

2007Insurgency in the Maghreb: Two car bombs explode in Algiers, Algeria, one near the Supreme Constitutional Court and the other near the offices of the United Nations.

2006Felipe Calderón, the president of Mexico, launches a military-led offensive to put down the drug cartel violence in the state of Michoacán. This effort is often regarded as the first event in the Mexican drug war.

2006The International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust is opened in Tehran, Iran, by then-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad; nations such as Israel and the United States express concern.

2005Cronulla riots: Thousands of White Australians demonstrate against ethnic violence resulting in a riot against anyone thought to be Lebanese in Cronulla, New South Wales; these are followed up by retaliatory ethnic attacks on Cronulla.

2005The Buncefield Oil Depot catches fire in Hemel Hempstead, England.

2001China joins the World Trade Organization (WTO).

1999SATA Air Açores Flight 530M crashes into Pico da Esperança on São Jorge Island in the Azores, killing 35.

1998Thai Airways Flight 261 crashes near Surat Thani Airport, killing 101. The pilot flying the Airbus A310-200 is thought to have suffered spatial disorientation.

1997The Kyoto Protocol, an agreement committing countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, opens for signature.

1994A bomb explodes on Philippine Airlines Flight 434, en route from Manila, Philippines, to Tokyo, Japan, killing one. The captain is able to land the plane safely.

1994First Chechen War: Russian president Boris Yeltsin orders Russian troops into Chechnya.

1993A block of the Highland Towers condominium complex collapses following a landslide caused by heavy rain and water flowing from a construction site at Ampang district in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 48 of its residents die, including one who died

1990Demonstrations by students and workers across Albania begin, which eventually trigger the fall of communism in Albania.

1990Several fatal collisions in the 1990 Interstate 75 fog disaster result in a total of 12 deaths and 42 being injured

1988A Soviet Air Force Il-76 aircraft crashes while participating in the Armenian earthquake relief, killing 78 people.

1981El Mozote massacre: Armed forces in El Salvador kill an estimated 900 civilians in an anti-guerrilla campaign during the Salvadoran Civil War.

1980The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (also known as Superfund) is enacted by the U.S. Congress.

1978The Lufthansa heist is committed by a group led by Lucchese family associate Jimmy Burke. It was the largest cash robbery ever committed on American soil, at that time.

1972Apollo 17 becomes the sixth and final Apollo mission to land on the Moon.

1964Che Guevara speaks at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City.

1962Arthur Lucas, convicted of murder, is the last person to be executed in Canada.

1960French forces crack down in a violent clash with protesters in French Algeria during a visit by French president Charles de Gaulle.

1958French Upper Volta and French Dahomey gain self-government from France, becoming the Republic of Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso) and the Republic of Dahomey (now Benin), respectively, and joining the French Community.

1948Arab–Israeli War: The United Nations passes General Assembly Resolution 194, creating a Conciliation Commission to mediate the conflict.

1946The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) is established.

1941World War II: Germany and Italy declare war on the United States, following the Americans' declaration of war on the Empire of Japan in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The United States, in turn, declares war on them.

1941World War II: Poland declares war on the Empire of Japan.

1941World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy suffers its first loss of surface vessels during the Battle of Wake Island.

1937Second Italo-Ethiopian War: Italy leaves the League of Nations.

1936Abdication Crisis: Edward VIII's abdication as King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions beyond the Seas, and Emperor of India, becomes effective.

1934Bill Wilson, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, takes his last drink and enters treatment for the final time.

1931Statute of Westminster 1931: The British Parliament establishes legislative equality between the UK and the Dominions of the Commonwealth—Australia, Canada, Newfoundland, New Zealand, South Africa, and Ireland.

1927Guangzhou Uprising: Communist Red Guards launch an uprising in Guangzhou, China, taking over most of the city and announcing the formation of a Guangzhou Soviet.

1925Roman Catholic papal encyclical Quas primas introduces the Feast of Christ the King.

Born on this day

2000Onyeka Okongwu, American basketball player

1997Matthew Tkachuk, American ice hockey player

1996Hailee Steinfeld, American actress, singer and songwriter

1995Abbi Grant, Scottish footballer

1993Yalitza Aparicio, Mexican actress

1992Malcolm Brogdon, American basketball player

1992Tiffany Alvord, American singer-songwriter

1990Alexa Demie, American actress and singer

1989Kellie Harrington, Irish boxer

1988Tim Southee, New Zealand cricketer

1987Alex Russell, Australian actor

1987Clifton Geathers, American football player

1987Miranda Tapsell, Australian actress

1987Violetta Bock, German politician

1986Roy Hibbert, American basketball player

1985Karla Souza, Mexican actress

1984James Ellsworth, American wrestler

1984Leighton Baines, English footballer

1984Sandra Echeverría, Mexican actress and singer

1984Xosha Roquemore, American actress

1982Pablo Pérez Companc, Argentine race car driver

1982Roman Harper, American football player

1981Jason Kennedy, American journalist

1981Javier Saviola, Argentine footballer

1981Jeff McComsey, American author and illustrator

1981Paul Medhurst, Australian footballer

1981Rebekkah Brunson, American basketball player and coach

1980Adi Keissar, Israeli poet

1980Kristjan Kitsing, Estonian basketball player

1979Colleen Hoover, American author

1979Rider Strong, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter

1979Valdis Mintals, Estonian figure skater

1978Roy Wood, Jr., American comedian, actor, and radio host

1977Mark Streit, Swiss ice hockey player

1976Shareef Abdur-Rahim, American basketball player, coach, and manager

1976Yujiro Shirakawa, Japanese actor

1975Gerben de Knegt, Dutch cyclist

1974Ben Shephard, English journalist and television host

1974Gete Wami, Ethiopian runner

1974Lisa Ortiz, American theatre and voice actress

Died on this day

2024David Bonderman, American billionaire businessman (born 1942)

2024Khalil Haqqani, Afghan politician and warlord (born 1966)

2024Purushottam Upadhyay, Indian musician, singer and composer (born 1934)

2023Andre Braugher, American actor (born 1962)

2021Anne Rice, American author (born 1941)

2020James Flynn, New Zealand intelligence researcher. (born 1934)

2017Keith Chegwin, British TV presenter (born 1957)

2015Abish Kekilbayev, Kazakh academic and politician (born 1939)

2015H. Arnold Steinberg, Canadian businessman, philanthropist, and academic (born 1933)

2015Hema Upadhyay, Indian painter and sculptor (born 1972)

2015John "Hot Rod" Williams, American basketball player (born 1962)

2015Ken Woolley, Australian architect (born 1933)

2014Hans Wallat, German conductor and director (born 1929)

2013Barbara Branden, Canadian-American author and academic (born 1929)

2013Javier Jáuregui (boxer), Mexican boxer (born 1973)

2013Nadir Afonso, Portuguese painter and architect (born 1920)

2013Sheikh Mussa Shariefi, Indian philosopher and scholar (born 1942)

2012Galina Vishnevskaya, Russian soprano and actress (born 1926)

2012Mendel Weinbach, Polish-Israeli rabbi and scholar (born 1933)

2012Ravi Shankar, Indian-American sitar player and composer (born 1920)

2011John Patrick Foley, American cardinal (born 1935)

2010Dick Hoerner, American football player (born 1922)

2008Bettie Page, American model (born 1923)

2004Arthur Lydiard, New Zealand runner and coach (born 1917)

2004José Luis Cuciuffo, Argentinian footballer (born 1962)

2003Ahmadou Kourouma, Ivorian author and playwright (born 1927)

2001Mainza Chona, Zambian lawyer and politician, first Prime Minister of Zambia (born 1930)

2000David Lewis, American actor (born 1916)

2000Shaista Suhrawardy Ikramullah, Pakistani politician and diplomat (born 1915)

1998André Lichnerowicz, French physicist and mathematician (born 1915)

Quote of the day

“Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens.”

Epictetus

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From Wikipedia’s on-this-day pages for this language, updated once a day and ordered by how often each article is read.

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