On This Day — 31 December

2020

The World Health Organization issues its first emergency use validation for a COVID-19 vaccine.

COVID-19 vaccine

2019

The World Health Organization is informed of cases of pneumonia with an unknown cause, detected in Wuhan. This later turned out to be COVID-19, the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic.

World Health Organization

2018

Thirty-nine people are killed after a ten-story building collapses in the industrial city of Magnitogorsk, Russia.

2018 Magnitogorsk building collapse

2015

A fire breaks out at the Downtown Address Hotel in Downtown Dubai, United Arab Emirates, located near the Burj Khalifa, two hours before the fireworks display is due to commence. Sixteen injuries were reported; one had a heart attack, another suffered a major injury, and fourteen others with minor injuries.

Downtown Dubai

2014

A New Year's Eve celebration stampede in Shanghai kills at least 36 people and injures 49 others.

2014 Shanghai stampede

2011

NASA succeeds in putting the first of two Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory satellites in orbit around the Moon.

NASA

2010

Tornadoes touch down in midwestern and southern United States, including Washington County, Arkansas; Greater St. Louis, Sunset Hills, Missouri, Illinois, and Oklahoma, with a few tornadoes in the early hours. A total of 36 tornadoes touched down, resulting in the deaths of nine people and $113 million in damages.

2010 New Year's Eve tornado outbreak

2009

Both a blue moon and a lunar eclipse occur.

Blue moon

2004

The official opening of Taipei 101, the tallest skyscraper at that time in the world, standing at a height of 509 metres (1,670 ft).

Taipei 101

2001

Rwanda adopts a new national flag and anthem.

Flag of Rwanda

1999

The first President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin, resigns from office, leaving Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as the acting President and successor.

President of Russia

1999

Indian Airlines Flight 814 hijacking ends after seven days with the release of 190 survivors at Kandahar Airport, Afghanistan.

Indian Airlines Flight 814

1998

The European Exchange Rate Mechanism freezes the values of the legacy currencies in the Eurozone, and establishes the value of the euro currency.

European Exchange Rate Mechanism

1995

The final comic of Calvin and Hobbes is published.

Calvin and Hobbes

1994

This date is skipped altogether in Kiribati as the Phoenix Islands and Line Islands change time zones from UTC−11:00 to UTC+13:00 and UTC−10:00 to UTC+14:00, respectively.

Kiribati

1994

The First Chechen War: The Russian Ground Forces begin a New Year's storming of Grozny.

First Chechen War

1992

Czechoslovakia is peacefully dissolved in what is dubbed by media as the Velvet Divorce, resulting in the creation of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic.

Czechoslovakia

1991

All official Soviet Union institutions have ceased operations by this date, five days after the Soviet Union is officially dissolved.

Soviet Union

1986

Three disgruntled employees set fire to the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, killing more than 90 people and injuring 140 others, making it the second-deadliest hotel fire in American history.

Dupont Plaza Hotel arson

1983

The AT&T Bell System is broken up by the United States Government.

AT&T Corporation

1983

Benjamin Ward is appointed New York City Police Department's first ever African American police commissioner.

Benjamin Ward

1983

In Nigeria, a coup d'état led by Major General Muhammadu Buhari ends the Second Nigerian Republic.

Nigeria

1981

A coup d'état in Ghana removes President Hilla Limann's PNP government and replaces it with the Provisional National Defence Council led by Flight lieutenant Jerry Rawlings.

1981 Ghanaian coup d'état

1968

The first flight of the Tupolev Tu-144, the first civilian supersonic transport in the world.

Tupolev Tu-144

1968

MacRobertson Miller Airlines Flight 1750 crashes near Port Hedland, Western Australia, killing all 26 people on board.

MacRobertson Miller Airlines Flight 1750

1965

Jean-Bédel Bokassa, leader of the Central African Republic army, and his military officers begin a coup d'état against the government of President David Dacko.

Jean-Bédel Bokassa

1963

The Central African Federation officially collapses, subsequently becoming Zambia, Malawi and Rhodesia.

Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland

1961

RTÉ, Ireland's state broadcaster, launches its first national television service.

RTÉ

1956

The Romanian Television network begins its first broadcast in Bucharest.

TVR (TV network)

1955

General Motors becomes the first U.S. corporation to make over US$1 billion in a year.

General Motors

1951

Cold War: The Marshall Plan expires after distributing more than US$13.3 billion in foreign aid to rebuild Western Europe.

Cold War

1946

President Harry S. Truman officially proclaims the end of hostilities in World War II.

Harry S. Truman

1944

World War II: Operation Nordwind, the last major Wehrmacht offensive on the Western Front, begins.

Operation Northwind (1944)

1942

USS Essex, first aircraft carrier of a 24-ship class, is commissioned.

USS Essex (CV-9)

1942

World War II: The Royal Navy defeats the Kriegsmarine at the Battle of the Barents Sea. This leads to the resignation of Grand Admiral Erich Raeder a month later.

World War II

1907

The first ever ball drop in Times Square.

Times Square Ball

1906

Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar signs the Persian Constitution of 1906.

Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar

1879

Thomas Edison demonstrates incandescent lighting to the public for the first time, in Menlo Park, New Jersey.

Thomas Edison

1878

Karl Benz, working in Mannheim, Germany, files for a patent on his first reliable two-stroke gas engine. He was granted the patent in 1879.

Carl Benz

1862

American Civil War: The three-day Battle of Stones River begins near Murfreesboro, Tennessee between the Confederate Army of Tennessee under General Braxton Bragg and the Union Army of the Cumberland under General William S. Rosecrans.

American Civil War

1862

American Civil War: Abraham Lincoln signs an enabling act that would admit West Virginia to the Union, thus dividing Virginia in two.

Abraham Lincoln

1857

Queen Victoria chooses Ottawa, then a small logging town, as the capital of the Province of Canada.

Queen Victoria

1853

A dinner party is held inside a life-size model of an iguanodon created by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins and Sir Richard Owen in south London, England.

Iguanodon

1844

The Philippines skipped this date in order to align the country with the rest of Asia, as the trading interest switched to China, Dutch East Indies and neighboring territories after Mexico gained independence from Spain on 27 September 1821. In the islands, Monday, 30 December 1844 was immediately followed by Wednesday, 1 January 1845.

Philippines

1831

Gramercy Park is deeded to New York City.

Gramercy Park

1796

The incorporation of Baltimore as a city.

Baltimore

1790

Efimeris, the oldest Greek newspaper of which issues have survived till today, is published for the first time.

Efimeris

1775

American Revolutionary War: Battle of Quebec: British forces under General Guy Carleton repulse an attack by Continental Army General Richard Montgomery in a snowstorm.

American Revolutionary War

1759

Arthur Guinness signs a 9,000-year lease at £45 per annum and starts brewing Guinness.

Arthur Guinness

1757

Empress Elizabeth I of Russia issues her ukase incorporating Königsberg into Russia.

Elizabeth of Russia

1687

The first Huguenots set sail from France to the Cape of Good Hope.

Huguenots

1670

The expedition of John Narborough leaves Corral Bay, having surveyed the coast and lost four hostages to the Spanish.

English expedition to Valdivia

1660

James, Duke of York is named Duke of Normandy by Louis XIV of France.

James II of England

1600

The British East India Company is chartered.

East India Company

1501

The First Battle of Cannanore commences, seeing the first use of the naval line of battle.[citation needed]

First Battle of Cannanore

1229

James I the Conqueror, King of Aragon, enters Medina Mayurqa (now known as Palma de Mallorca, Spain), thus consummating the Christian reconquest of the island of Mallorca.

James I of Aragon

1225

The Lý dynasty of Vietnam ends after 216 years by the enthronement of the boy emperor Trần Thái Tông, husband of the last Lý monarch, Lý Chiêu Hoàng, starting the Trần dynasty.[citation needed]

Lý dynasty

1105

Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV is forced to abdicate in favor of his son, Henry V, in Ingelheim.

Holy Roman Emperor

870

Battle of Englefield: The Vikings clash with ealdorman Æthelwulf of Berkshire. The invaders are driven back to Reading (East Anglia); many Danes are killed.

Battle of Englefield

535

Byzantine general Belisarius completes the conquest of Sicily, defeating the Gothic garrison of Palermo (Panormos), and ending his consulship for the year.

Byzantine Empire

406

Vandals, Alans and Suebians cross the Rhine, beginning an invasion of Gaul.

Vandals