HISTORY AT A GLANCE

TODAY is Wednesday, December 14, the 348th day of 2016. There are 17 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:

1958 – The 3rd Soviet Antarctic Expedition becomes the first

to reach the southern pole of inaccessibility. 1962 – NASA’s Mariner 2 becomes the first spacecraft to fly

by Venus. 1971 – Bangladesh Liberation War: Over 200 of East Pakistan’s intellectuals are executed by the Pakistan Army and their local allies. (The date is commemorated in Bangladesh as Martyred Intellectuals Day.) 1972 – Apollo program: Eugene Cernan is the last person to walk on the moon, after he and Harrison Schmitt complete the third and final extra-vehicular activity (EVA) of the Apollo 17 mission. 1981 – Arab–Israeli conflict: Israel’s Knesset ratifies the Golan Heights Law, extending Israeli law to the occupied Golan Heights. 1992 – War in Abkhazia: Siege of Tkvarcheli – A helicopter carrying evacuees from Tkvarcheli is shot down, resulting in at least 52 deaths, including 25 children. The incident catalyses more concerted Russian military intervention on behalf of Abkhazia. 1994 – Construction begins on the Three Gorges Dam on the

Yangtze river. 1995 – Yugoslav Wars: The Dayton Agreement is signed in Paris by the leaders of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. 1999 – Torrential rains cause flash floods in Vargas, Venezuela, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths, the destruction of thousands of homes, and the complete collapse of the state’s infrastructure. 2003 – Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf narrowly

escapes an assassination attempt. 2004 – The Millau Viaduct, the tallest bridge in the world, is

formally inaugurated near Millau, France. 2008 – Muntadhar al-Zaidi throws his shoes at then-U.S. President George W. Bush during a press conference in Baghdad, Iraq. 2012 – Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting: Twentyeight people, including the gunman, are killed in Sandy Hook, Connecticut. 2013 – A reported coup attempt in South Sudan leads to

continued fighting and hundreds of casualties.