Summary of the Day ✨ 15 December (15/12)
Indonesia’s Java was struck by a deadly 6.5 magnitude earthquake as a Sydney hostage crisis ended with police storming a café, killing the gunman and two hostages. Meanwhile, South Sudan descended into civil war while a tragic asylum seeker boat crash off Christmas Island claimed nearly half of its passengers, as the U.S. Air Force introduced its advanced F-22 Raptor into active service.
Historical Events 📜
- 2017: A 6.5Mw earthquake strikes the Indonesian island of Java in the city of Tasikmalaya, resulting in four deaths.
- 2014: Gunman Man Haron Monis takes 18 hostages inside a café in Martin Place for 16 hours in Sydney. Monis and two hostages are killed when police raid the café the following morning.
- 2013: The South Sudanese Civil War begins when opposition leaders Dr. Riek Machar, Pagan Amum and Rebecca Nyandeng vote to boycott the meeting of the National Liberation Council at Nyakuron.
- 2010: A boat carrying 90 asylum seekers crashes into rocks off the coast of Christmas Island, Australia, killing 48 people.
- 2005: Introduction of the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor into USAF active service.
- 2001: The Leaning Tower of Pisa reopens after 11 years and $27,000,000 spent to stabilize it, without fixing its famous lean.
- 2000: The third reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant is shut down.
- 1997: Tajikistan Airlines Flight 3183 crashes in the desert near Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, killing 85.
- 1993: The Troubles: The Downing Street Declaration is issued by British Prime Minister John Major and Irish Taoiseach Albert Reynolds.
- 1989: Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights relating the abolition of capital punishment is adopted.
- 1981: A suicide car bombing targeting the Iraqi embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, levels the embassy and kills 61 people, including Iraq’s ambassador to Lebanon. The attack is considered the first modern suicide bombing.
- 1978: U.S. President Jimmy Carter announces that the United States will recognize the People’s Republic of China and sever diplomatic relations with the Republic of China (Taiwan).
- 1973: John Paul Getty III, grandson of American billionaire J. Paul Getty, is found alive near Naples, Italy, after being kidnapped by an Italian gang on July 10.
- 1973: The American Psychiatric Association votes 13–0 to remove homosexuality from its official list of psychiatric disorders, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
- 1970: Soviet spacecraft Venera 7 successfully lands on Venus. It is the first successful soft landing on another planet.
Famous Births 👶
- 2000: Kayvon Thibodeaux, American football player
- 1998: Chandler Canterbury, American actor
- 1997: Maude Apatow, American actress
- 1997: Zach Banks, American race car driver
- 1997: Magdalena Fręch, Polish tennis player
- 1997: Stefania LaVie Owen, New Zealand-American actress
- 1996: Jenifer Brening, German singer
- 1996: Oleksandr Zinchenko, Ukrainian footballer
- 1995: Jahlil Okafor, American basketball player
- 1993: Daniel Ochefu, American basketball player
- 1992: Daiamami Genki, Japanese sumo wrestler
- 1992: Jesse Lingard, English footballer
- 1992: Maximiliano Meza, Argentine footballer
- 1992: Alex Telles, Brazilian footballer
- 1991: Conor Daly, American race car driver
Notable Deaths 🕊️
- 2025: William J. Bauer, senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago and previously a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, (born 1926)
- 2024: Zakir Hussain, Indian tabla player, musical producer, film actor and composer (born 1951)
- 2020: Saufatu Sopoanga, Tuvaluan politician, 8th Prime Minister of Tuvalu (born 1952)
- 2018: Eryue He, Chinese historical fiction writer (born 1945)
- 2018: Girma Wolde-Giorgis, President of Ethiopia (born 1924)
- 2017: Heinz Wolff, scientist and TV presenter (born 1928)
- 2017: Calestous Juma, academic (born 1953)
- 2016: Craig Sager, American sports journalist (born 1951)
- 2015: Harry Zvi Tabor, English-Israeli physicist and engineer (born 1917)
- 2014: Donald Metcalf, Australian physiologist and immunologist (born 1929)
- 2014: Fausto Zapata, Mexican journalist, lawyer, and politician, Governor of San Luis Potosí (born 1940)
- 2013: Harold Camping, American evangelist, author, radio host (born 1921)
- 2013: Joan Fontaine, British-American actress (born 1917)
- 2013: Dyron Nix, American basketball player (born 1967)
- 2012: Owoye Andrew Azazi, Nigerian general (born 1952)
Holidays & Observances 🎉
- Bill of Rights Day (United States)
2nd Amendment Day (South Carolina) - Christian feast day:
Drina Martyrs - Christian feast day:
Drostan (Aberdeen Breviary) - Christian feast day:
John Horden and Robert McDonald (Episcopal Church (USA)) - Christian feast day:
Maria Crocifissa di Rosa - Christian feast day:
Mesmin - Christian feast day:
Valerian of Abbenza - Christian feast day:
Virginia Centurione Bracelli - Christian feast day:
December 15 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) - Homecoming Day (Alderney)
- Kingdom Day (Netherlands), moves to December 16 if the 15th is on a Sunday
- Zamenhof Day (International Esperanto Community)
- World Turkic Language Family Day (UNESCO)