TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY IS FRIDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2017

On this day in history:

1801 - Flinders explores and charts King George’s Sound (later Albany) in Western Australia.

1854 - Pope Pius IX proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. The theory holds that Mary, mother of Jesus, was free of original sin from the moment she was conceived.

1863 - Tom King of England defeated American John Heenan and became the first world heavyweight champion.

1941 - The United States entered World War II when it declared war against Japan. The act came one day after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Britain and Canada also declared war on Japan.

1949 - The Chinese Nationalist government moved from the Chinese mainland to Formosa due to Communists pressure.

1980 - Singer, songwriter and former member of “The Beatles”, John Lennon, is murdered.

1980 - Zimbabwe’s manpower minister, Edgar Tekere, was found guilty in the killing of a white farmer. He was freed under a law that protected ministers acting to suppress terrorism.

1989 - Communist leaders in Czechoslovakia offered to surrender their control over the government and accept a minority role in a coalition Cabinet.

1993 - U.S. President Clinton signed into law the North American Free Trade Agreement.

1994 - Bosnian Serbs released dozens of hostage peacekeepers, but continued to detain about 300 others.

1997 - The second largest bank was created with the announcement that Union Bank Switzerland and the Swiss Bank Corporation would merge. The combined assets were more than $590 billion.

1997 - Jenny Shipley was sworn in as the first female prime minister of New Zealand.

1999 - Russia and Belarus agreed in principle to form an economic and political confederation.

2004 – The Cusco Declaration is signed in Cusco, Peru, establishing the South American Community of Nations.

2009 - Bombings in Baghdad, Iraq, kill 127 people and injure 448 others.