The 2006 Hengchun earthquake with 7.1 magnitude hit Taiwan.

Boxing Day shooting on a busy shopping street in Toronto.

A 9.3 magnitude earthquake creates a tsunami causing devastation in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Maldives and many other areas around the rim of the Indian Ocean, killing over 250,000 people including over 1700 on a moving train

A magnitude 6.6 earthquake devastates southeast Iranian city of Bam, killing tens of thousands and destroying the citadel of Arg-é Bam.

Iraq announces its intention to fire upon U.S. and British warplanes that patrol the northern and southern no-fly zones.

The Soufriere Hills volcano on the island of Montserrat explodes, creating a small tsunami offshore.

Start of the largest strike in South Korean history.

Six-year-old beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey is found beaten and strangled in the basement of her family's home in Boulder, Colorado.

The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union meets and formally dissolves the USSR.

The first long-running American television soap opera, ''Search for Tomorrow'', airs its final episode after thirty-five years on the air.

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

Aeroflot puts the Ilyushin Il-86 into service.

The Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist-Leninist) is founded.

The Tupolev Tu-144 goes into service in Soviet Union.

The first Kwanzaa is celebrated by Maulana Karenga, the chair of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach.

Cardinal Mindszenty is arrested in Hungary and accused of treason and conspiracy.

CFP franc and CFA franc are created.

World War II: Patton's Third Army breaks the encirclement of surrounded U.S. forces at Bastogne, Belgium.

World War II: German warship ''Scharnhorst'' is sunk off of Norway's North Cape after a battle against major Royal Navy forces.

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a bill establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day in the United States.

FM radio is patented.

Phi Iota Alpha, the Oldest Latino Fraternity in Existence, was founded in Troy, NY.

Turkey adopts the Gregorian Calendar.

Babe Ruth of the Boston Red Sox is sold to the New York Yankees by owner Harry Frazee.

Marie and Pierre Curie announce the isolation of radium.

The Harbour Grace Affray between Irish Catholics and Protestant Orangemen causes five deaths in Newfoundland.

Gilbert and Sullivan collaborate for the first time, on their lost opera, ''Thespis''. It does modestly well, but the two would not collaborate again for four years.

The 12.8-km long Fréjus Rail Tunnel through the Alps is completed.

The largest mass-hanging in U.S. history took place in Mankato, Minnesota, 38 Native Americans die.

Four nuns serving as volunteer nurses on board USS ''Red Rover'' are the first female nurses on a U.S. Navy hospital ship.

American Civil War: The Battle of Chickasaw Bayou begins.

American Civil War: The ''Trent Affair'': Confederate diplomatic envoys James M. Mason and John Slidell are freed by the United States government, thus heading off a possible war between the United States and Britain.

The first ever inter-club football match takes place between Hallam F.C. and Sheffield F.C. at the Sandygate Road ground in Sheffield, England.

The Phi Delta Theta fraternity is founded at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.

Several Imperial Russia army officers lead circa 3000 soldiers on the Senate Square in the failed Decembrist uprising.

A theater fire in Richmond, Virginia kills the Governor of Virginia George William Smith and the president of the First National Bank of Virginia Abraham B. Venable.

Battles of Pultusk and Golymin: Russian forces hold French forces under Napoleon.

Austria and France sign the Treaty of Pressburg.

The wedding of Prince Friedrich Ludwig of Prussia and Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz takes place.

Battle of Geisberg: French defeat Austrians.

The final trial of Louis XVI of France begins in Paris.

Louis XVI of France gives his public assent to Civil Constitution of the Clergy during the French Revolution.

American Revolutionary War: The British are defeated in the Battle of Trenton.

Pilgrim Fathers land at what becomes Plymouth in Massachusetts.

Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset, marries Frances Howard.

Battle of Westbrook – Holland defeats troops of Utrecht.