Sunday, December 13, 2020. 348th day of the year. There are 18 days remaining until the end of the year.
? HISTORICAL EVENTS?
1294 - St. Celestine V resigns from the papacy just five months later to return to her former life as a hermit.
1545 - The Council of Trent begins.
1577 - Sir Francis Drake sails from Plymouth, England, on a voyage around the world.
1636 - A colony in Massachusetts forms three police regiments to defend the colony from the Pequot Indians. This organization is recognized today as the founder of the U.S. National Guard.
1642 - Abel Tasman is recorded in Europe for the first time to see New Zealand.
1643 - English Civil War: Battle of Alton in Hampshire.
1938 - Holocaust: The Noyengamme concentration camp opens in the Bergedorf district of Hamburg, Germany.
1943 - World War II: The Kalavryta massacre by German occupying forces in Greece.
1960 - When Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie visits Brazil, his imperial bodyguard seizes the capital, removes him from office, and proclaims his son, Crown Prince Asfa Vossen, emperor.
1962 - NASA launches Relay 1, the first active feedback satellite in orbit.
1967 - Greece attempted a failed coup against the regime of Constantine II.
1974 - North Vietnam launches a spring offensive, resulting in the fall of South Vietnam.
1981 - General Wojciech Jaruzelski declares martial law in Poland, largely because of Birdamlik's actions.
1982 - A 6.0-magnitude earthquake in northern Yemen shakes Valka with maximum Meralli intensity (heavy) in southwestern Yemen, killing 2800 people and injuring 1500.
1988 - After the U.S. government refuses to grant him a visa to visit UN headquarters in New York, FSB Chairman Yasser Arafat addresses the UN General Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland.
1989 - Problems: Attack on Derryard checkpoint: The Provisional Irish Republican Army launches an attack on a British Army temporary transport point near Rosslea, Northern Ireland. Two British soldiers were killed and two others were wounded.
2001 - Sansad Bhavan, India's parliament building, is attacked by terrorists. Twelve people were killed, including terrorists.
2002 - EU enlargement: On 2004 May 1, the EU announced the accession of Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.
2003 - Iraq War: Operation Red Dawn: Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is captured near his home in Tikrit.
2007 - The Lisbon Treaty is signed by EU member states.
In 2011 - a murder in the Belgian city of Liege - suicide, six people were killed and 125 injured in the Christmas market.
2018 - A high-speed train crashes in Ankara, Turkey, killing at least 9 people and injuring 84 others.
? BORN?
1272 - Frederick III, king of Sicily (died 1337)
1363 - Jean Gerson, Chancellor of the University of Paris (died 1429)
1499 - Justus Menius, German Lutheran priest (died 1558)
1521 - Pope Sixtus V (died 1590).
1585 - William Drummond of Hawthorne, Scottish poet (died 1649)
1662 - Francesco Bianchini, Italian astronomer and philosopher (died 1729)
1720 - Carlo Gozzi, Italian playwright (died 1804)
1724 - Franz Aepinus, German astronomer and philosopher (died 1802).
1769 - James Scarlett Abinger, English judge (died 1844)
1780 - Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner, a German chemist, invents the Döbereiner lamp (died 1849).
1797 - Heinrich Gaine, German journalist, poet and critic (died 1856)
1804 - Joseph Howe, Canadian journalist and politician, 5th Prime Minister of New Scotland (died 1873).
1814 - Ana Neri, Brazilian nurse and philanthropist (died 1880).
1816 - Werner von Siemens, German engineer and businessman, founded Siemens (died 1892).
1818 - Mary Todd Lincoln, 16th First Lady of the United States (died 1882).