About December 24
December 24, 2023 is the 358th day of the year 2023 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 7 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Sunday.
You can browse the full year calendar in case you need it.
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Capricorn is the sun sign of a person born on this day. Turquoise is the modern birthstone for this month. Onyx is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.
According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 48 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.
What Happened On December 24
- 563 –The Byzantine church Hagia Sophia in Constantinople is dedicated for the second time after being destroyed by earthquakes.
- 1777 –Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, is discovered by James Cook.
- 1851 –Library of Congress burns.
- 1871 –Aida opens in Cairo.
- 1906 –Radio: Reginald Fessenden transmits the first radio broadcast; consisting of a poetry reading, a violin solo, and a speech.
- 1929 –Assassination attempt on Argentine President Hipólito Yrigoyen.
- 1941 –World War II: Kuching is conquered by Japanese forces.
- 1942 –World War II: French monarchist, Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle, assassinates Vichy French Admiral François Darlan in Algiers.
- 1943 –World War II: U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes the Supreme Allied Commander.
- 1951 –Libya becomes independent from Italy. Idris I is proclaimed King of Libya.
- 1953 –Tangiwai disaster: A railway bridge is destroyed by a lahar at Tangiwai, in the Central North Island of New Zealand, sending a fully loaded passenger train into the Whangaehu River, and killing 153 people.
- 1964 –Vietnam War: Viet Cong operatives bomb the Brinks Hotel in Saigon to demonstrate they can strike an American installation in the heavily guarded capital.
- 1966 –A Canadair CL-44 chartered by the United States military crashes into a small village in South Vietnam, killing 129.
- 1968 –Apollo Program: The crew of Apollo 8 enters into orbit around the Moon, becoming the first humans to do so. They performed 10 lunar orbits and broadcast live TV pictures that became the famous Christmas Eve Broadcast, one of the most watched programs in history.
- 1973 –District of Columbia Home Rule Act is passed, allowing residents of Washington, D.C. to elect their own local government.
- 1974 –Cyclone Tracy devastates Darwin, Australia.
- 1980 –Witnesses report the first of several sightings of unexplained lights near RAF Woodbridge, in Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk, England, an incident called “Britain’s Roswell”.
- 2003 –The Spanish police thwart an attempt by ETA to detonate 50 kg of explosives at 3:55 p.m. inside Madrid’s busy Chamartín Station.
- 2005 –Chad–Sudan relations: Chad declares a state of war against Sudan following a December 18 attack on Adré, which left about 100 people dead.
- 2008 –Lord’s Resistance Army, a Ugandan rebel group, begins a series of attacks on Democratic Republic of the Congo, massacring more than 400.
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