Historical Events on December 31 (Part 2)

1993 Barbra Streisand does her 1st live public concert in 20 years

1997 Intel cuts price of Pentium II-233 MHz from $401 to $268

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

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)

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.
2010 Post-apocalyptic zombie TV series "The Walking Dead" premieres, starring Andrew Lincoln and Jon Bernthal on AMC
2014 36 die and 47 are wounded during a stampede of New Year revellers on Shanghai's Bund riverfront

2014 Beji Caid Essebsi is sworn in as Tunisia's 1st ever freely elected President

2015 US law enforcement kills 1,134 in 2015, young black men 9x more likely to be victims
2015 82nd Orange Bowl: #1 Clemson beats #4 Oklahoma, 37-17

2016 Chris Ofili is appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to art

2017 Bus crash at Migaa near Molo, central Kenya, kills at least 30
2017 Ban on ivory trade in China comes into effect
2017 Cleveland Browns crash to a 28-24 loss to Pittsburgh Steelers at Heinz Field to become only the 2nd team in NFL history to finish season with 0-16 record

2017 Singer Lorde called a bigot in ad in Washington Post after cancelling show in Israel

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

December in History