Music Concert
1993 Barbra Streisand performs her 1st public concert in 20 years before a sell-out crows of over 25,000 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada
- 1994 1st snowless December in Baltimore Maryland
- 1994 Anti Apartheid Group of Netherlands (AABN) disbands
- 1994 This date is skipped altogether in Kiribati as the Phoenix Islands and Line Islands change time zones from UTC-11 to UTC+13 and UTC-10 to UTC+14, respectively.
- 1995 "Danny Gans on Broadway" closes at Neil Simon NYC
- 1995 "Having Our Say" closes at Booth Theater NYC after 308 performances
- 1995 "Heiress" closes at Cort Theater NYC after 340 performances
- 1995 "Paul Roebson" closes at Longacre Theater NYC after 14 performances
- 1995 "Racing Demon" closes at Vivian Beaumont Theater NYC after 48 performances
- 1995 "Tempest" closes at Broadhurst Theater NYC after 71 performances
- 1995 Cartoonist Bill Watterson ends his "Calvin & Hobbes" comic strip after 10 years, believing he had achieved all he could in the medium
- 1995 Matthew Elliott scores separate cricket century same day for Victoria
- 1997 72 year-old Marv Levy retires as coach of the NFL Buffalo Bills after 12 seasons, including 4 consecutive losing Super Bowl appearances
- 1997 Microsoft buys Hotmail email service for $400 million and re-launches it as MSN Hotmail
- 1997 More Swedes died than were born in 1997, 1st time since 1809
- 1997 Orlando Hernandez, half-brother of pitcher Livan, defects from Cuba
- 1997 South African & US surgeons separate Zambian Siamese twins joined at the head
- 1997 Buffalo's Czech NHL goalie Dominik Hasek stops 36 shots for his 27th career shutout in Sabres' 3-0 win over Ottawa Senators; his 6th shutout in month of December; first since George Hainsworth in 1928-29 to achieve the feat
- 1998 US movie box office hits record $6.24 billion for year
- 1998 Exchange rates between the euro and legacy currencies in the Eurozone become fixed.
- 1999 Control of Panama Canal reverts to Panama
Historic Event
1999 Boris Yeltsin resigns as President of Russia, leaving Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as acting President
- 2004 Official opening of Taipei 101, then the tallest skyscraper in the world, at a height of 509 metres (1,670 feet)
Historic Event
2005 Jamie Dimon named as CEO of JPMorgan Chase
- 2006 The final contest at the old Lansdowne Road Stadium in Dublin is a rugby match with Leinster beating Ulster 20-12 in a Celtic League game
- 2007 Bocaue Fire. Seven people injured when a fire razed several fireworks stores in the Municipality of Bocaue, Bulacan, Philippines.
- 2007 The Massive Big Dig construction project in Boston, Massachusetts ends.
- 2014 36 die and 47 are wounded during a stampede of New Year revellers on Shanghai's Bund riverfront
Election of Interest
2014 Beji Caid Essebsi is sworn in as Tunisia's 1st ever freely elected President
Appointment of Interest
2016 Chris Ofili is appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to art
Film & TV History
2017 Indian movie star Rajinikanth announces he is entering politics
- 2018 Houston guard James Harden scores 43 points in Rockets' 113-101 win over Memphis Grizzlies; 4th straight NBA game with 40+ points and 8th straight with 35+; joins Oscar Robertson as only player with at least 35 points & 5 assists in 8 straight games
- 2018 Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina wins third term in Bangladesh elections with 17 people killed in violent clashes
- 2019 Iraqi militiamen and protesters breach the outer wall of the US embassy in Baghdad following US airstrikes against Kataib Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Iraqi militia, on December 29
- 2020 WHO grants the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine emergency authorization, paving the way for worldwide distribution
