11 December

2020

The Food and Drug Administration issues an Emergency Use Authorization on the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, the first COVID-19 vaccine to be approved by the agency.

Food and Drug Administration

2019

The results of the 2019 Bougainvillean independence referendum are announced. The results are overwhelmingly one-sided. Over 98% of voters vote for Bougainville's independence.

2019 Bougainvillean independence referendum

2017

New York City Subway bombing: A pipe bomb partially detonates in the New York City Subway, in the Times Square–42nd Street/Port Authority Bus Terminal. Four people are injured, including the perpetrator.

2017 New York City Subway bombing

2012

At least 125 people are killed and up to 200 injured in bombings in the Alawite village of Aqrab, Syria.

Aqrab massacre

2009

Finnish game developer Rovio Entertainment releases the hit mobile game Angry Birds internationally on iOS.

Rovio Entertainment

2008

Bernie Madoff is arrested and charged with securities fraud in a $50 billion Ponzi scheme.

Bernie Madoff

2007

Insurgency in the Maghreb: Two car bombs explode in Algiers, Algeria, one near the Supreme Constitutional Court and the other near the offices of the United Nations.

Insurgency in the Maghreb (2002–present)

2006

The International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust is opened in Tehran, Iran, by then-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad; nations such as Israel and the United States express concern.

International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust

2006

Felipe Calderón, the president of Mexico, launches a military-led offensive to put down the drug cartel violence in the state of Michoacán. This effort is often regarded as the first event in the Mexican drug war.

Felipe Calderón

2005

The Buncefield Oil Depot catches fire in Hemel Hempstead, England.

Buncefield fire

2005

Cronulla riots: Thousands of White Australians demonstrate against ethnic violence resulting in a riot against anyone thought to be Lebanese in Cronulla, New South Wales; these are followed up by retaliatory ethnic attacks on Cronulla.

2005 Cronulla riots

2001

China joins the World Trade Organization (WTO).

World Trade Organization

1999

SATA Air Açores Flight 530M crashes into Pico da Esperança on São Jorge Island in the Azores, killing 35.

SATA Air Açores Flight 530M

1998

Thai Airways Flight 261 crashes near Surat Thani Airport, killing 101. The pilot flying the Airbus A310-200 is thought to have suffered spatial disorientation.

Thai Airways International Flight 261

1997

The Kyoto Protocol, an agreement committing countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, opens for signature.

Kyoto Protocol

1994

First Chechen War: Russian president Boris Yeltsin orders Russian troops into Chechnya.

First Chechen War

1994

A bomb explodes on Philippine Airlines Flight 434, en route from Manila, Philippines, to Tokyo, Japan, killing one. The captain is able to land the plane safely.

Philippine Airlines Flight 434

1993

A block of the Highland Towers condominium complex collapses following a landslide caused by heavy rain and water flowing from a construction site at Ampang district in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 48 of its residents die, including one who died in hospital after being rescued alive, leaving only two survivors.

Highland Towers collapse

1990

Demonstrations by students and workers across Albania begin, which eventually trigger the fall of communism in Albania.

Albania

1990

Several fatal collisions in the 1990 Interstate 75 fog disaster result in a total of 12 deaths and 42 being injured

1990 Interstate 75 fog disaster