7 December

Events1724 - Toruń Blood tribunal , execution of Protestants citizens of Toruń (Thorn) by Polish authorities1732 - The Royal Opera House opens at Covent Garden, London.1776 - Marquis de Lafayette attempts to enter the American military as a major general.1787 - Delaware becomes the first state to ratify the US Constitution.1815 - Michel Ney, Marshal of France, is executed by firing squad after having been convicted of treason for his support of Napoleon I.1826 - Malacca High School (SMK Tinggi Melaka) is established in Melaka (Malacca), Malaysia.1889 - The Gondoliers one of the most popular of the comic operas created by W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan opens in London1917 - World War I: The US declares war on Austria-Hungary.1941 - World War II: Canada declares war on Finland, Hungary, Romania, and Japan.1941 - World War II: Attack on Pearl Harbor - The Imperial Japanese Navy attacks the US Pacific Fleet and its defending Army Air Forces and Marine air forces at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.1946 - A fire at the Winecoff Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia kills 119 people.1949 - Chinese Civil War : The government of Republic of China moves from Nanking to Taipei.1962 - Prince Rainier III of Monaco revises the principality's constitution, devolving some of his power to advisory and legislative councils.1965 - Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras simultaneously lift mutual excommunications that had been in place since 1054.1966  - A fire at an army barracks in Erzurum, Turkey kills 68 people.1970 - The first ever general election on the basis of direct adult franchise are held in Pakistan for 313 National Assembly seats.1971 - Pakistan President Yahya Khan announces formation of a Coalition Government at Centre with Nurul Amin as Prime Minister and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto as Vice-Prime Minister.1972 - Apollo 17, the last Apollo moon mission, is launched. The crew take the photograph known as "The Blue Marble" as they leave the Earth.1975 - Indonesia invades East Timor.1982 - In Texas, Charles Brooks, Jr. becomes the first person to be executed by lethal injection in the US.1983 - An Iberia Airlines Boeing 727 collides with an Aviaco DC-9 in intense fog while the two airliners are taxiing down the runway at Madrid Barajas International Airport, killing 93 people.1987 - Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 1771 crashes near Paso Robles, California, killing all 43 on board, after a disgruntled passenger shoots his ex-boss traveling on the flight, then shoots both pilots and himself.1988 - Spitak Earthquake: In Armenia an earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale kills nearly 25,000, injures 15,000 and leaves 400,000 homeless. 1988 - Yasser Arafat recognizes the right of Israel to exist.1989 - In their third and final fight, Sugar Ray Leonard retains the WBC Super Middleweight Championship of the World, defeating Roberto Duran.1993 - The Long Island Rail Road massacre: Passenger Colin Ferguson murders six people and injures 19 others on the LIRR in Nassau County, New York.1995 - The Galileo spacecraft arrives at Jupiter, a little more than six years after it was launched by Space Shuttle Atlantis during Mission STS-34.1998 - Yachtsman Jesse Martin departs from Melbourne on his circumnavigation journey around the world.2001 - John P. Walters is sworn in as the Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP).2003 - The Conservative Party of Canada is officially recognized after the merger of the Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservative Party of Canada.2004 - Hamid Karzai is inaugurated as President of Afghanistan.2004 - John Kufuor is re-elected as President of Ghana.2005 - Rigoberto Alpizar, a passenger on American Airlines Flight 924 who allegedly claimed to have a bomb, is shot and killed by a team of US federal air marshals at Miami International Airport.2006 - A tornado struck Kensal Green, North West London, seriously damaging around 150 properties.
See more at Wikipedia.org...