December 17th Major News Events

1944 Italy -- Armistice Terms

Premier Bonomi of Italy penned a 100 page missive to President Roosevelt complaining about the armistice terms that Britain imposed on Italy. "The armistice terms have never been published, and one big reason is that the Allies are fearful of public reaction to the frankly imperialistic demand of Churchill."

1944 World War II -- Day 2 Battle of the Bulge

The Germans mount a series of counter attacks and are attacking with paratroops, tanks and aircraft along the 70-mile front guarded by American forces in the Ardennes region with some success allowing them to re cross the borders of Luxembourg and Belgium

1957 Mexico -- Soviet Influence

Senator Mike Mansfield undertook a study tour in Mexico and brought back warnings that the Soviet Union was aggressively trying to infiltrate Mexico with a disproportionate number of representatives and communist propaganda. Mansfield cautioned that Mexico, Uruguay, and Argentina still maintained diplomatic contact with the U.S.S.R. . 1957

1961 Brazil -- Circus Fire

A fire at the Gran Circo Norte Americano in Brazil kills 320 and severely burns hundreds more when the big top tent sets fire causing panic with many trampled to death and others caught in the fire.

1966 Venezuela -- Terrorists

1966 : At Central University of Venezuela soldiers braved sniper fire to search for terrorist communists. The military uncovered a big cache of weapons and personal information about police officers. Many police had been the target of the terrorists and the university begged the government to help them, as the campus had become a hotbed for terrorist activities.

1968 England -- Mary Bell

An 11-year-old girl ( Mary Bell ) is sentenced to life in detention after being found guilty at Newcastle Assizes of the manslaughter of two small boys aged 3 and 4.

1976 Saudi Arabia -- OPEC Price Rises

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) are to increase the price of oil further next year with an increase of 10% in January and a further 5% in July taking the price of oil to $13.30 a barrel ( A barrel is 42 gallons ) . Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates will not be implementing these increases and will only increase the price oil by 5% as they are concerned on the effect of large increases on the worlds economy.

1978 U.S.S.R. -- Immigration to Israel

The U.S.S.R. had been allowing only certain individuals out of the country such as a Jewish couple who sought medical help for their ailing baby and top scientist Venjamin Levich and his wife who wanted to immigrate to Israel. American senators were meeting in Moscow to get the Soviets to allow 200 Jews to immigrate to Israel.

1983 England -- Harrods Department Store Bomb

A terrorist car bomb planted by the IRA is exploded outside the Harrods Department store in Knightsbridge, central London killing 9 and injuring 75 other Christmas shoppers during the busiest time of the year. After the explosion panic and chaos caused other minor injuries as people panicked scared that more bombs may explode.

1987 South Korea -- Boeing 707 Disappears

A Korean Boeing 707 disappeared near Burma with 115 passengers on board. Pieces of the wreckage washed up 130 miles southeast of Rangoon. An Asian female was apprehended as a possible suspect who bombed the plane. Her mouth was bound with a bandage so she wouldn't commit suicide by swallowing her tongue.

1992 North America -- North American Free Trade Agreement

President George H.W. Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari signed the North American Free Trade Agreement in separate ceremonies

1996 Peru -- Hostages Japanese Embassy

14 Peruvian guerrillas who were members of the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) take hundreds of people hostage at a party at the official residence of Japan's ambassador to Peru in Lima.

After 4 months of unsuccessful negotiations, the group of remaining hostages was freed via a raid by Peruvian Armed Forces commandos, during which one hostage, two commandos, and all the MRTA militants were killed.

1996 Barbados -- Drug Trafficking

A sharp increase in drug trafficking led the U.S. to push Caribbean countries into allowing U.S. vessels to pursue criminals into Caribbean waters. However, an emergency meeting of Caribbean government officials protested loudly that the U.S. was coercing them into fighting the drug traffickers and were going to confront President Clinton.

2005 U.S.A. -- Terrorist Surveillance Program

President George W. Bush acknowledged he'd personally authorized a secret eavesdropping program in the U.S. following Sept. 11, calling it "crucial to our national security.", referred to by the Bush administration as the "terrorist surveillance program", and is authorized by executive order to monitor, without warrants, phone calls and other communication involving any party believed by the NSA ( National Security Agency ) to be a threat to the security of the United States.

2006 Cuba -- Guantanamo Bay

Guantanamo Bay holds the most dangerous, despicable criminals in the world according to the Pentagon. A crowd of suspects was rounded up after September 11th when two airplanes crashed into the World Trade Centre. However, since January 2002, the U.S. had released 360 prisoners from Guantanamo Bay and sent them to other countries. Of these former prisoners 205 out of 245 were freed which casts doubt on their guilt in the first place.

2006 Russia -- Rallies in Moscow

2006 : About seventy thousand young people held a rally to honor the war veterans who defended Moscow in December 1941. The rally received coverage on a number of TV channels, and was named one of the major events of the year by some of them. It was well covered by the print and electronic media. Police and the security service were deployed, although many of the participants were dressed as Dyet Moroz, the Russian Santa Claus. Another rally was held to remember reporters killed in Russia from 1993-2006. About two hundred and fifty reporters from across Russia were killed over this period, and most of their cases are still unsolved. Moscow refused to officially sanction this demonstration, and denied permission to the activists to march on Tverskaya Street.

2009 England -- No U.K. copyright for Stormtrooper uniforms

George Lucas's Lucasfilm company has lost the latest round in a legal battle against a prop designer who sells replica Stormtrooper costumes. The British Court of Appeal rejected claims by Lucasfilm that Andrew Ainsworth, of Shepperton Design Studios, who created the original Stormtrooper suits and helmets, was breaching copyright. It ruled that the helmets were not works of art and were therefore not covered by copyright law in the U.K. The decision allows Mr. Ainsworth to continue producing the uniforms in the U.K.

2010 Tunisia -- Mohamed Bouazizi sets himself on fire

2010 : The Tunisian street vendor "Mohamed Bouazizi" sets himself on fire in protest of the confiscation of his wares and the harassment and humiliation by the local municipal official and her aides, Many believe his act proved to be the catalyst for the Tunisian Revolution and later the wider Arab Spring. Bouazizi barely survived suffering severe burns over 90% of his body before locals managed to douse the flames, he later died from his burn injuries on January 4th 2011

2011 North Korea -- North Korean Leader Kim Jong-il Dies

North Korean dictator, Kim Jong-il, reportedly died after suffering a heart attack according to state media in the tightly controlled and highly isolated Communist country. His death signaled the possibility for increased instability as the transition of power within the country took place. In the days and weeks after Kim Jong-il's death, his youngest son Kim Jong-un was given various important titles such as "the Great Successor", leading to to what most suspect will be his eventual rise to leadership in the country. Citizens reportedly took to the streets in public displays of mourning and were shown through the state media.

2012 United States -- Senior US Senator Dies

The most senior US Senator, Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, died at the age of eighty-eight. Inouye had been a US Senator since 1963, and had been a member of Congress since 1959 when Hawaii joined the union. Inouye had been the first Japanese-American member of Congress.

2013 Germany -- Merkel Confirmed as Chancellor

Germany's parliament voted to confirm Angela Merkel as the German Chancellor for a third term. She was confirmed after successful negotiations formed a coalition between Merkel's CDU/CSU party and the SPD.