Events in History
- Dec 2 Attack on a social services centre in San Bernardino, California kills 14 and wounds 17
- Dec 3 US Defense Secretary Ash Carter announces all combat roles in US armed forced will be opened to women
- Dec 4 Floods in Chennai and Tamil Nadu state, India start receding after a month of heavy rainfall, leaving more 260 dead and thousands stranded
- Dec 7 Beijing issues its 1st ever red alert for pollution
Event of Interest
Dec 7 Time Magazine readers name Bernie Sanders their 'person of the year'
Event of Interest
Dec 7 US Presidential candidate Donald Trump proposes banning all Muslims from entering the US
- Dec 9 Amazon's best-selling book of the year is "Girl on a Train" by Paula Hawkins
- Dec 9 Attack on Kandahar airport by Taliban forces kills at least 37 before Afghan forces retake control
Event of Interest
Dec 9 German Chancellor Angela Merkel named Time Magazine's Person of the Year, for her handling of debt and refugee crises
- Dec 10 Mosconi Cup nine-ball pool, Las Vegas, Nevada: Team Europe retains title for 6th consecutive year with an 11-7 win over US; MVP: Niels Feijen (Netherlands - 3rd straight year)
- Dec 10 Scientists at Cornell University announce world's first IVF puppies successfully born from a surrogate dog
- Dec 11 Unrest in Burundi leads to clashes between authorities and protesters in Bujumbura, killing at least 87
- Dec 12 COP21 climate change summit in Paris reaches a deal between 195 countries to limit the rise in the global average temperature to less than 2°C above pre-industrial levels
- Dec 12 First women ever elected in Saudi Arabia in municipal council elections
- Dec 14 Bus plunges off bridge into Balboa River near Argentina city of Rosario de la Frontera, killing 43 frontier police on board
- Dec 15 1,000 schools closed in Los Angeles after a email threat, supposedly from jihadists
- Dec 15 Fifth Republican presidential candidates debate in Las Vegas, Nevada
- Dec 15 Mayor of Flint, Michigan declares state of emergency over contaminated water supplies amid calls for a criminal investigation
- Dec 16 US Federal Reserve raises interest rates by 0.25% for the first time since 2006
- Dec 17 Libyan warring political factions sign a UN-brokered deal to form a unified government
- Dec 17 Martin Shkreli, CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals is arrested on fraud charges in New York by the FBI
- Dec 20 Landslide from construction waste in Shenzhen, China leaves 74 dead or missing and buries 30 buildings
- Dec 26 Floods in Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay displace 150,000, blamed on El Nino
- Dec 27 Iraqi forces retake IS held city of Ramadi (ISIS first captured in May)
- Dec 28 Japan and South Korea reach agreement over WWII "comfort women", Japan apologies and pays 1bn yen compensation
- Dec 29 Ebola epidemic in Guinea declared over by WHO, 2,500 died over 2 years
- Dec 31 US law enforcement kills 1,134 in 2015, young black men 9x more likely to be victims
Deaths in History
- Dec 3 Bill Bennett, Canadian politician, Premier of British Columbia (1975-86), dies at 83
- Dec 3 Roy Evans, British trade unionist and General Secretary (British Iron & Steel Trade Confederation), dies at 84
- Dec 14 Lillian Vernon, American founder and CEO of the Lillian Vernon Corporation (first company listed on US stock exchange started by a woman), dies at 88
- Dec 21 David Emms, British educator (London Goodenough Trust), dies at 90
- Dec 22 Derek Ezra [Baron Ezra], British politician, Liberal Democrat Life Peer and coal executive (Chairman of National Coal Board), dies at 96
- Dec 23 Alfred G. Gilman, American scientist (1994 Nobel Prize for G-protein discoveries), dies at 74
- Dec 28 Ian Murdock, German-born American computer programmer (Debian project, Progeny Linux Systems), dies at 42
- Dec 29 Allen Sapp, Canadian Cree artist, dies at 87 [1]
- Dec 30 Donald Barron, Scottish accountant and CEO (Midland Bank), dies at 94
Authors
Civil Rights Activists
Inventors
Kings
Revolutionaries
Scientists