December 14th

Uthman ibn Affan, companion of Muhammad, appointed 3rd Caliph of Islam.

Adam Lanza, age 20, killed 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown, Connecticut. The victims included 20 children between the ages of 6 and 7. Lanza killed himself while still inside the school.

An Iraqi journalist threw his shoes at President George W. Bush during a news conference in Baghdad; Bush was not hit.

South Korea's Ban Ki-moon was sworn in as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations.

The Federal Trade Commission unanimously approved the $111 billion merger of America Online and Time Warner.

Yugoslav Wars: The Dayton Agreement is signed in Paris by leaders of various governments ending the conflict in former Yugoslavia.

A Colorado judge struck down as unconstitutional the state's voter-approved ban on gay rights laws.

Nobel Peace laureate Andrei D. Sakharov died in Moscow at age 68.

Wilma Mankiller became the first woman to lead a major American Indian tribe as she took office as principal chief of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma.

Israel annexed the Golan Heights, seized from Syria in 1967.

The album "London Calling" by the Clash was released.

DNA synthesized for the first time.

Tanzania joins the United Nations. Tanzania was created as a merger of Tanganyika and the Zanzibar Archipelago, both of which were under British rule until independence.

Soviets Reach the Southern Pole of Inaccessibility. A Pole of Inaccessibility is a location on Earth that is extremely difficult to access. In the North, it is the point in the Arctic Ocean that is farthest from land, while in the Southern Hemisphere it is the point farthest from the Southern Ocean on Antarctica. In 1958, a Soviet team led by Yevgeny Tolstikov became the first people in history to reach the Southern Pole of Inaccessibility, which is 546 miles (878 kilometers) from the geographic South Pole. Temperatures at this location averages around – 73 degree F (–58 degrees C).

The United Nations General Assembly voted to establish the U.N. headquarters in New York City.

The Soviet Union was dropped from the League of Nations.

Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen became the first man to reach the South Pole, beating an expedition led by Robert F. Scott.

Prince Albert, husband of Britain's Queen Victoria, died in London.

Alabama became the 22nd state in the United States.

George Washington, the first president of the United States, died at his Mount Vernon, Va., home at age 67.

Princess Mary Stuart succeeds her father James V and becomes Queen Mary I of Scotland at 6 days old.

During St. Lucia's Flood in Northwest Netherlands the Zuiderzee seawall collapses with loss of over 50,000 lives. Fifth largest recorded flood in history.