HISTORY AT A GLANCE

TODAY is Monday, December 25, the 359th day of 2017. There are 6 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date: 1941 – World War II: Battle of Hong Kong ends, beginning the

Japanese occupation of Hong Kong. 1946 – The first in Europe artificial, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction is initiated within Soviet F-1 nuclear reactor. 1947 – The Constitution of the Republic of China goes into

effect. 1950 – The Stone of Scone, traditional coronation stone of British monarchs, is taken from Westminster Abbey by Scottish nationalist students. It later turns up in Scotland on April 11, 1951. 1963 – Turkish Cypriot Bayrak Radio begins transmitting in Cyprus after Turkish Cypriots are forcibly excluded from Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation. 1965 – The Yemeni Nasserist Unionist People’s Organisation

is founded in Ta’izz 1968 – Apollo program: Apollo 8 performs the very first successful Trans-Earth injection (TEI) maneuver, sending the crew and spacecraft on a trajectory back to Earth from Lunar orbit. 1968 – Kilvenmani massacre, 44 Dalits (untouchables) burnt to death in Kizhavenmani village, Tamil Nadu, a retaliation for a campaign for higher wages by Dalit laborers. 1974 – Cyclone Tracy devastates Darwin, Northern Territory

Australia. 1977 – Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin meets in Egypt

with its president Anwar Sadat. 1989 – Deposed President of Romania Nicolae Ceau?escu and his wife, First-Deputy Prime-Minister Elena Ceaucescu are condemned to death and executed after a summary trial. 1991 – Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as General Secretary of the Soviet Union (the union itself is dissolved the next day). Ukraine’s referendum is finalized and Ukraine officially leaves the Soviet Union. 2003 – The ill-fated Beagle 2 probe, released from the Mars Express spacecraft on December 19, disappears shortly before its scheduled landing. 2004 – Cassini orbiter releases Huygens probe which successfully landed on Saturn’s moon Titan on January 14, 2005. 2009 – Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab unsuccessfully attempts a terrorist attack against the US while on board a flight to Detroit Metro Airport Northwest Airlines Flight 253