1952 Germany -- Saar Region

Dec. 8th, 1952 : On the boundary between France and Germany is a small region called the Saar which has created many years of conflict between the two countries because the region is rich in coal and steel. The Nazis seized control of it during the war, but a French plebiscite indicated that the people of the Saar preferred to be French. The Edwardsville Intelligencer commented, "It is no exaggeration to say, however, that failure to resolve this dilemma could put in jeopardy the whole project for European unity – political, economic, and military."

1965 England -- Race Relations Act

1965 : A new Race Relations Act comes into force forbidding discrimination on the "grounds of colour, race, or ethnic or national origins" in public places and covers both British residents and overseas visitors.

1966 Greece -- Ship Sinks

Two hundred and eighty-two individuals perished in the Aegean Sea during a raging storm on this day. Only 20 survived. The ship called "The Heraklin" weighing some 8,900 tons went down to its doom halfway between the Island of Crete and Greece.

1977 Portugal -- Economic Problems

Portugal's government under Prime Minister Mario fell after a vote of non-confidence. The country had been experiencing severe economic problems and the International Monetary Fund would not loan Portugal any more money unless extreme measures were taken.

1980 U.S.A. -- John Lennon Shot

Former Beatle John Lennon was shot dead by an unknown gunman who opened fire outside the musician's New York apartment. The gunman is later identified as Mark David Chapman

1982 U.S.A. -- Norman David Mayer

Norman David Mayer an American anti-nuclear weapons activist is shot and killed by the United States Park Police after threatening to use 1,000 pounds of TNT loaded in his van to blow up the Washington Monument. When he drives off to carry out his threat the police are forced to shoot him, Afterwards police realize he did not have the TNT to carry out his threat.

1983 England -- House of Lords

The House of Lords votes in favour of allowing cameras to broadcast live discussions from its chamber.

1987 Palestine -- Intifada

The First Intifada (1987 - 1993) a mass uprising against Israeli military occupation, begins in Jabalia refugee camp and spread to Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The Intifada included civil disobedience, general strikes, boycotts on Israeli products, graffiti, barricades, throwing Molotov cocktails grenades and stones at the occupying Israeli soldiers and vehicles.

1987 U.S.A. -- Nuclear War Head Reductions

The first ever treaty is signed between the Soviet Union and the United States to reduce the number of ground based nuclear arsenals reversing 30 years of nuclear weapons build up during the cold war years.

1987 Australia -- Queen Street Post Office Massacre

Frank Vitkovic enters Melbourne's Queen Street Post Office and opens fire on customers and staff with a sawn-off shotgun killing 8 before taking his own life.

1989 Vietnam -- Soviet Pull Out

There was a mysterious pulling out of Soviet MiG-23 war jets from Ranh Bay in Vietnam. The cause of the exit was not clear, but a couple of possibilities were put forth. One reason was the Soviet Union's economic problems. However, another reason was that President Gorbacjev had wanted the U.S. to abandon six military bases in the Philippines in return for the Soviet's leaving their second most important military site in Ranh Bay.

1993 U.S.A. -- NAFTA

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) ( United States, Canada, and Mexico ) is signed into law by US President Bill Clinton. In terms of gross domestic product (GDP) it is the largest trading bloc and trade agreement in the world

1995 England -- Gang Violence Schools

As gang violence in schools in inner cities continues to be a problem a head teacher ( Philip Lawrence ) is stabbed to death in an inner city London School while protecting a pupil who was being assaulted

1995 U.S.A. -- Grateful Dead

The American rock band Grateful Dead announce they are breaking up after 30 years of making music. The news came four months after the death of lead guitarist Jerry Garcia

1999 New Zealand -- Cricket

In cricket, the West Indies challenged New Zealand and the teams tied. The Gleaner reported, "On Monday, the West Indies declared at 450 for five after number three batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul hit an unbeaten 216 from 397 balls."

2000 U.S.A. -- 2000 Presidential Elections

The Florida Supreme Court ordered an immediate hand count of about 45,000 disputed presidential ballots.

Republican Candidate George W Bush won the most electoral votes

Democratic candidate Al Gore, received more popular votes

In the American system of presidential elections, the electoral vote system determines the winner and George W Bush went onto becoming the President of the United States.

Florida was still performing recounts on December 12 when the United States Supreme Court decision ended the Florida recounts and allowed Florida to certify its vote giving the result to Bush.

2004 Iraq -- State Of Emergency

A two month state of emergency was declared by the Iraq government as rebels stepped up their attacks and the American military fought back. U.S. forces stormed the city of Fallujah and pummelled it with an AC-130 gun ship shooting 40 mm cannon fire.

2007 U.S.A. -- Democratic presidential Campagn

U.S. chat show host Oprah Winfrey has appeared at a campaign rally in Iowa for the Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. Over eighteen thousand people have attended the event in the state capital, Des Moines. The Clinton campaign has come up with a counter-programming move to drag press attention away from the Obama/Oprah rallies in Iowa by finally bringing Chelsea Clinton onto the stump..

2008 Cuba -- The Declaration of Santiago de Cuba

The leaders of the Caribbean states have called Barack Obama to lift the decades-old American trade embargo against Cuba. The call comes during the one-day summit between Cuba and the Caribbean regional trade bloc, Caricom. The serving president of Caricom, Antigua's Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer, asks for the U.S. embargo to be "relegated to history."

2009 United States -- The reparation of royalties to Native Americans

The Obama administration has announced that it would pay Native Americans $3.4 billion to settle a class-action lawsuit that claims the federal government cheated them for more than a century of royalties for oil, mineral and other leases. This settlement will be ending a thirteen-year legal battle that has led to 3,600 filings, millions of pages of discovery documents and eleven separate appellate decisions. It is the largest settlement Native Americans have ever received from the federal government, and eclipses the sum of all previous settlements. The dispute stems from a 19th century decision to grant parcels of land to individual Indians and place the properties in trust accounts.

2009 United States -- General McChrystal tells Congress how important finding bin Laden is

Finding al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, and rolling back the resurgent Taliban are necessary steps toward winning the war in Afghanistan, General McChrystal has told a Senate Committee. Bin Laden has remained at large for eight years since the September 11th, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington. General McChrystal, who is the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said that the world's most wanted terrorist is 'an iconic figure' whose survival 'emboldens al-Qaeda as a franchising organization across the world.' 'It would not defeat al-Qaeda to have him captured or killed, but I don't think we can finally defeat al-Qaeda until he is finally captured or killed.' He continued by saying that if bin Laden is hiding across the border, 'It is outside of my mandate.'

2011 United States -- Dover Air Base Military Mortuary Dumped 274 US Troops Remains at Landfill

8th December, 2011 : In November 2011, The Washington Post revealed that the Dover Air Base had been disposing of military remains in a Virginia landfill but did not know how many remains were involved. The newspaper discovered that data from the US Air Force revealed that between 2004 and 2008 274 military personnel's remains had been taken to a landfill after cremation. The newspaper also stated that another 1,762 remains had been disposed of in the same manner but could not be identified because they were too damaged. The US Defense Secretary, Leon Panetta ordered a special review after news of this was released.

2012 Cambodia -- Market Fire Kills Eight

A market fire caused by an electrical fault in the town of Siem Reap in Cambodia killed eight people including four children. .

2013 United Kingdom -- Singer Susan Boyle Announces Asperger's Diagnosis

Britain's Got Talent singer Susan Boyle announced that she had been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. While Boyle says this diagnosis will not change her life she believes that it gives her a greater understanding of herself, having been previously diagnosed with brain damage at birth.