This Week In History
Dec 9, 1998
The oldest complete skeleton of a human ancestor yet identified, estimated to be around 3.6 million years old, was found in a cave in South Africa
1886: Clarence Birdseye, inventor of a process to deep-freeze foods learnt from indigenous Alaskans, was born
1978: Two US Pioneer spacecraft transmitted the best ever pictures of the planet Venus back to Earth
1979: The WHO certified that the smallpox virus had been eradicated
2016: South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye was removed from office following a political scandal involving a close aide
Dec 10, 1898
The Spanish-American War ended. The Treaty of Paris guaranteed Cuba’s independence and ceded Guam, Puerto Rico and the Philippines to the US
1868: The world’s first traffic lights came into operation in London
1903: Marie Curie became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, awarded the honours in physics for her role in the isolation of radium
1948: The United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
2011: Over 40,000 people in Moscow protested against alleged election fraud by Vladimir Putin
Dec 11, 2001
China was finally admitted to the World Trade Organisation over 15 years after its first application, opening up its market of almost 1.3 billion consumers
1989: Hong Kong began forcibly repatriating Vietnamese boat people
1997: The Kyoto Protocol to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases was finally agreed in Japan
2003: France recommended a ban on wearing religious symbols in schools, like Muslim headscarves, Jewish skullcaps and large Christian crosses
2008: US businessman Bernard Madoff was charged with fraud for running a vast Ponzi scheme
Dec 12, 2015
Saudi Arabia held its first municipal elections in which women were allowed to vote and stand for office, with 20 female candidates elected
1913: Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa was found two years after it was stolen from the Louvre in Paris 1963: Kenya won independence from Britain; it became a republic in 1964 with Jomo Kenyatta as president
2003: Canadian prime minister Jean Chretien stepped down after 10 years in office 2015: A deal to limit the rise in global temperatures was agreed at a climate change summit in Paris
Dec 13, 2000
Maritime experts predicted that up to 70% of the world’s coral reefs could be destroyed by 2050 due to global warming, pollution, fishing and coastal development
1903: The ice-cream cone was patented in New York by Italian merchant Italo Marcione 1993: The European Community ratified a treaty creating the European Economic Area
1998: Puerto Rico chose to retain its status as a commonwealth of the United States rather than opting for full statehood 2003: Deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was captured by US troops in his hometown of Tikrit
Dec 14, 1503
French astrologer and prophet Michel de Nostredame, also known as Nostradamus, was born. He published his celebrated book of prophecies, Centuries ,in 1555
1913: Greece formally annexed the island of Crete 1988: Hundreds of thousands of people took part in Spain’s first 24-hour general strike in 50 years
2003: Venice’s famed 18th century opera house, La Fenice, rose again seven years after being gutted by fire
2017: Disney announced plans to acquire 21st Century Fox, consolidating Disney’s position as the world’s largest media company
Dec 15, 2001
The Leaning Tower of Pisa reopened to visitors after 11 years of delicate engineering work to reduce its tilt and prevent it from toppling over
1654: A meteorological office in Tuscany, Italy, began taking the first daily temperature readings
1939: The epic Hollywood movie Gone with the Wind had its world premiere in Atlanta, Georgia
1973: John Paul Getty III was freed five months after being kidnapped, after his grandfather paid a ransom of US$2.8mil
1993: Delegations from 117 countries approved a GATT trade treaty aimed at opening up international markets