Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 217 from Baku, Azerbaijan, to Aktau, Kazakhstan crashes shortly after takeoff killing 23 people.

Chad declares a state of war against Sudan following a December 18 attack on Adré, which left about 100 people dead.

An 8.1 magnitude earthquake hits Macquarie Island in the Southern Ocean.

PetroChina Chuandongbei natural gas field explosion, Guoqiao, Kai County, Chongqing, China, killing at least 234.

A MQ-1 Predator is shot down by an Iraqi MiG-25, making it the first time in history that an aircraft and an unmanned drone had engaged in combat.

History of Slovenia: In a referendum, 88% of Slovenia's population vote for independence from Yugoslavia.

''Voyager'', piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, lands at Edwards Air Force Base in California becoming the first aircraft to fly non-stop around the world without aerial or ground refueling.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency announces it has identified dangerous levels of dioxin in the soil of Times Beach, Missouri.

Soviet war in Afghanistan: Soviet forces occupy Kabul, the Afghan capital.

A 6.5 magnitude earthquake strikes the Nicaraguan capital of Managua killing more than 10,000.

The 16 survivors of the Andes flight disaster are rescued after 73 days, having survived by cannibalism.

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

The United States wins the release of 82 sailors by issuing a written apology to North Korea for spying on the Communist country. The apology was immediately retracted after their release.

Dedication of Tokyo Tower, the world's highest self-supporting iron tower.

Ian Craig of Australia becomes the youngest Test cricket captain in history.

Seven Japanese convicted of war crimes by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East are executed at Sugamo Prison in Tokyo.

The transistor is first demonstrated at Bell Laboratories.

World War II: The Japanese Imperial Army occupies Wake Island.

World War II: Greek submarine Papanikolis (Υ-2) sinks the Italian motor ship ''Antonietta''.

Discovery of the first modern coelacanth in South Africa.

First flight of the Vickers Wellington bomber.

Colombia becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.

Visva-Bharati University is inaugurated.

World War I: Battle of Magdhaba

World War I: Australian and New Zealand troops arrive in Cairo, Egypt.

The Federal Reserve Act is signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson, creating the Federal Reserve.

The opera ''Hänsel und Gretel'' by Engelbert Humperdinck is first performed.

The Battle of Savenay, decisive defeat of the royalist counter-revolutionaries in Revolt in the Vendée during the French Revolution.

George Washington resigns as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army at the Maryland State House in Annapolis, Maryland.

Georg Alt's German translation of Hartmann Schedel's ''Nuremberg Chronicle'' is published.

Byzantine-Arab Wars: Under the future Emperor Nicephorus Phocas, Byzantine troops stormed the city of Aleppo