Today in History

December 5

1876 - Fire kills 295 people at Brooklyn Theater in New York.

1956 - British and French forces begin withdrawal from Egypt in the Suez War.

1994 - Russia seals the border of the breakaway republic of Chechnya. 2008 - O.J. Simpson is convicted to 15 years for his kidnapping case in Las Vegas.

2009 - 109 people are killed in Lame Horse nightclub fire at Perm, Russia. 2013 - Former South African president Nelson Mandela dies in his home in Johannesburg at the age of 95.

2014 - Nasa’s new Orion spacecraft blasts off in first step to Mars.

2016 - Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalitha dies in Chennai.

2017 - Former King of Romania Michael dies at the age of 96.