December 5th

Charlemagne becomes the sole King of the Franks after the death of his brother Carloman.

An Italian jury convicts Amanda Knox, an American student, of murdering her former roommate, English student Meredith Kercher, in 2007.

A judge in Las Vegas sentenced O.J. Simpson to 33 years in prison (with eligibility for parole after nine) for an armed robbery at a hotel room.

New York became the first city in the nation to ban artery-clogging trans fats at restaurants.

UK's Civil Partnership Act of 2004 comes into force. UK's Civil Partnership Act of 2004 came into force almost a year after it was passed.

Hamid Karzai was sworn in as Afghanistan's first popularly elected president.

At Sen. Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday celebration, Senate Republican leader Trent Lott praised Thurmond's 1948 segregationist presidential bid. Lott subsequently resigned his leadership position.

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan questioned whether the stock market was overvalued due to investors' 'irrational exuberance.'.

Republicans chose Newt Gingrich to be the first GOP speaker of the House in four decades.

Egypt breaks all relations with Arab countries. President Anwar al-Sadat broke all relations with Syria, Libya, Algeria, and South Yemen in response to these countries and the Palestinian Liberation Organization signing the Declaration of Tripoli. The declaration followed Sadat's visit to Israel.

The American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merged to form the AFL-CIO.

Establishment of the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic. The Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic was a established as a republic of the Soviet Union.

21st Amendment to the US Constitution ratified, 18th Amendment (Prohibition of alcohol) repealed (5:32 PM EST).

Movie producer Walt Disney was born in Chicago.

Having left New York on Nov. 5, the brigantine Mary Celeste was found adrift off Portugal with everyone aboard mysteriously missing.

President James K. Polk triggered the Gold Rush of '49 by confirming that gold had been discovered in California.

Former President John Quincy Adams took his seat as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

George Washington was re-elected president and John Adams was re-elected vice president.

Composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died in Vienna, Austria, at age 35.

Martin Van Buren, the eighth U.S. president and the first to be born after the country was formed, was born in Kinderhook, N.Y.

The first scholastic fraternity in America, Phi Beta Kappa, was organized at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va.

Christie's hold their first sale. Art auction house Christie's founder James Christie made his first art sale.

Earthquake strikes Naples. about 35,000 die

500 Jews of Nuremberg massacred during Black Death riots.