_December 18,1956, Japan was admitted to the United Nations

_ December 17, 2010 Tunisian man Mohamed Bouaziz, sets himself on fire, an act which led to the fall of the Tunisian regime

_December 16,1969 UK MPs vote by a big majority for the permanent abolition of the death penalty for murder

_December 31, 1946, U.S. President Truman officially proclaimed the end of hostilities in World War II

_December 30, 1924. Edwin Hubble announces the existence of other galactic systems _

December 29, 1888, The first performance of Macbeth took place at the Lyceum Theatre, England

December 28, 1908, an earthquake kills over 75,000 people at Messina in Sicily

December 27, 1960, France explodes its third atomic bomb, in the Sahara desert

_December 26, 2004, 10,000 plus killed in Asian Tsunami

_ December 25, 1989, deposed Romanian president Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife Elena are shot after being found guilty of crimes against the state

_December 24, 1968, The Apollo 8 spacecraft and its crew of three astronauts become the first manned space mission to orbit the Moon

_December 23,1972 an earthquake rips through the Nicaraguan capital, Managua, causing fears that ten thousand people have been killed

_December 22, 1990, Lech Walesa was sworn in as Poland's first popularly elected president

_December 21, 1620, The "Mayflower", and its passengers, pilgrims from England, land at Plymouth Rock

_December 20, 1973, the Spanish Prime Minister, Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco killed in a bomb attack

_December 19,1932 The BBC World Service began broadcasting, as the BBC Empire Service

_December 15,1961,Former Nazi official Adolf Eichmann sentenced to death in Jerusalem by an Israeli court

_ December 14, 2003,Saddam Hussein is captured

_December 13, 1995, riots flare in Brixton, UK

_December 12,1982, 20,000 women encircled Greenham Common air base in Britain, in protest against proposed siting of U.S. Cruise missiles

_December 11, 1936, Edward VIII abdicates to be with "the woman he loves", Wallis Simpson

_December 10, 1915,President Woodrow Wilson marries Edith Galt

_ December 9,1941,China declared war on Japan, Germany and Italy 

_December 8, 1980,John Lennon was assassinated and the world mourned a special man

_December 7,1941, Japanese planes bombed Pearl Harbour

_December 2, 1995, rogue trader Nick Leeson jailed for 6 years

_December 6, 2005, David Cameron becomes leader of the UK Conservative Party

_December 5, 1945, Aircraft Squadron lost in Bermuda triangle

_December 4,1991,last US hostage freed in Lebanon

_December 3, 1992, two bombs rock the centre of Manchester, UK

_December 1,1955, black woman Rosa Parks refuses to giver up her bus seat to a white person, ultimately her action changes the law