December 24

Aftermath of the Brinks Hotel bombing

The Brinks Hotel bombing occurred in Saigon on December 24, 1964, during the Vietnam War. Two Viet Cong operatives detonated a car bomb under the hotel, which housed United States Army officers. The explosion killed two Americans and injured approximately 60 other people. The Viet Cong commanders had two objectives: to demonstrate their ability to strike in South Vietnam should the United States decide to launch air raids against North Vietnam, and to show the South Vietnamese that the Americans could not be relied upon for protection. The bombing prompted debate within United States president Lyndon B. Johnson's administration. Most of his advisers favored retaliatory bombing of North Vietnam and the introduction of American combat troops, while Johnson preferred the existing strategy of training the Army of the Republic of Vietnam to protect South Vietnam from the Viet Cong. In the end, Johnson decided not to take retaliatory action. (Full article...)

December 24

Christmas Island (Kiritimati)

• 759 – The Tang-dynasty poet Du Fu departed for Chengdu, where he lived for the next five years and composed poems about life in his thatched cottage.
• 1777 – An expedition led by English explorer James Cook reached Christmas Island (pictured), the largest coral atoll in the world.
• 1814 – The United Kingdom and the United States signed a peace treaty in Ghent, present-day Belgium, ending the War of 1812.
• 1979 – The Soviet government deployed troops in Afghanistan, starting the Soviet–Afghan War.
• 1999 – Jihadists linked to al-Qaeda hijacked Indian Airlines Flight 814 to force the release of Islamist figures held in prison in India.

December 24

December 25

Meghan Trainor in 2014

A Very Trainor Christmas is a Christmas album by American singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor (pictured). It was released on October 30, 2020. Trainor co-wrote the album with her brothers, Ryan and Justin, among others. It features artists such as Earth, Wind & Fire, Seth MacFarlane, Trainor's cousins, and her father. The album covers Christmas standards such as "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" (1951) and "Last Christmas" (1984), with six original recordings. Trainor promoted A Very Trainor Christmas with public appearances and televised performances. Trainor and MacFarlane's cover of "White Christmas" (1942) reached number one on the Adult Contemporary chart. Several other tracks received music videos. Critical commentary for the album was generally positive, with praise directed towards Trainor's charisma and the material. It reached number 7 on the US Holiday Albums chart and the top 50 in Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden. (This article is part of a featured topic: Meghan Trainor albums.)

December 25: Christmas (Western Christianity; Gregorian calendar); Hanukkah (Judaism) begins at sunset; Quaid-e-Azam Day in Pakistan

Mikhail Gorbachev

• 1046 – Henry III was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Clement II.
• 1724 – Johann Sebastian Bach led the first performance of Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ, based on the Christmas hymn written by Martin Luther in 1524.
• 1831 – A Baptist preacher named Samuel Sharpe began an unsuccessful eleven-day slave revolt in Jamaica.
• 1991 – In a nationally televised speech, Mikhail Gorbachev (pictured) resigned as President of the Soviet Union.
• 2009 – A fire destroyed Longford's 19th-century St Mel's Cathedral, considered the "flagship cathedral" of the Irish midlands.

December 25

The Kefermarkt altarpiece is a richly decorated wooden altarpiece in the Late Gothic style in the parish church of Kefermarkt in Upper Austria. Commissioned by the knight Christoph von Zelking, it was completed around 1497. Saints Peter, Wolfgang and Christopher are depicted in the central section. The wing panels depict scenes from the life of Mary, and the altarpiece also has an intricate superstructure and two side figures of Saints George and Florian. The identity of its maker, known by the notname Master of the Kefermarkt Altarpiece, is unknown, but at least two skilled sculptors appear to have created the main statuary. Throughout the centuries, it has been altered and lost its original paint and gilding; a major restoration was undertaken in the 19th century under the direction of Adalbert Stifter. The altarpiece has been described as "one of the greatest achievements in late-medieval sculpture in the German-speaking area". This image shows the upper-left wing panel of the Kefermarkt altarpiece, depicting the birth of Christ. Mary is portrayed kneeling in devotion in front of the infant Christ, who is placed before her on a fold of her dress. On the other side, Joseph is also kneeling in front of the child. Above Mary, on the roof of the building behind them, are two angels playing a mandolin and a lute. The annunciation to the shepherds can be seen in the background. Sculpture credit: Master of the Kefermarkt Altarpiece; photographed by Uoaei1 Recently featured: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea George N. Barnard Common starling Archive More featured pictures

December 26

Tony Cascarino, Gillingham's leading scorer in 1984–85

During Gillingham F.C.'s 1984–85 season, they competed in the Football League Third Division, the third tier of the English football league system. It was the 53rd season in which Gillingham competed in the Football League, and the 35th since they were voted back into the league in 1950. Gillingham started the season with five wins in the first seven games and were challenging for a place in the top three of the league table, which would result in promotion to the Second Division. The team's performances then declined, and by November they were in mid-table. They won 12 out of 16 games to go back up to second place, before a poor run in March meant that they again dropped out of the promotion places. Gillingham finished the season fourth in the table, missing promotion by one place. They also competed in three knock-out competitions, winning no trophies, but won three times to reach the fourth round of the 1984–85 FA Cup before losing. The team played 56 competitive matches, and won 30. (Full article...)

December 26: Boxing Day in the Commonwealth; Wren Day in Ireland and the Isle of Man; Kwanzaa begins (African diaspora in the Americas)

Flannan Isles Lighthouse

• 1862 – American Civil War: The Battle of Chickasaw Bayou began with Confederate defenders engaging Union forces attempting to capture the city of Vicksburg, Mississippi.
• 1871 – Thespis, the first comic opera by Gilbert and Sullivan, premiered at the Gaiety Theatre in London.
• 1900 – A relief crew arrived at the Flannan Isles Lighthouse (pictured) in Scotland and discovered that the previous crew had disappeared.
• 1943 – Second World War: The German battleship Scharnhorst was sunk at the Battle of the North Cape during an attempt to attack Arctic convoys.

December 26

Amphipoea oculea, the ear moth, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. Its range includes southern England, where it is widespread and common, as well as Ireland and continental Europe, with the exception of Albania, Greece and Turkey. Adults are found from June to September depending on the location, with one generation occurring per year. At night the moths come to light and flowers, seeking honeydew and sugar. During the day they feed at the flowers of thistles and ragwort. The ear moth's wingspan is 29–34 mm. This female was photographed feeding on a field scabious in Keila, Estonia. Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus Recently featured: Kefermarkt altarpiece 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea George N. Barnard Archive More featured pictures

December 27

Palo priest with ritual objects

Palo is an African diasporic religion that developed in Cuba during the late 19th or early 20th century. It draws heavily upon the traditional Kongo religion of Central Africa, and from Catholicism and Spiritism. Central to Palo is the nganga, usually made from an iron cauldron. Many nganga are regarded as material manifestations of ancestral or nature deities known as mpungu. The nganga may contain a wide range of objects, among the most important being sticks and human remains, the latter called nfumbe. In Palo, the presence of the nfumbe means that the spirit of that dead person inhabits the nganga and serves the possessor. The nganga is "fed" with the blood of sacrificed animals and other offerings. Palo is most heavily practiced in eastern Cuba although it is found throughout the island and abroad, including in other parts of the Americas such as Venezuela, Mexico, and the United States. Palo adherents have faced problems with police for grave robbery to procure human bones. (Full article...)

December 27

Japanese aircraft carrier Hōshō

• 1521 – A period of unrest in Wittenberg following the arrival of three men of the Radical Reformation, known as the Zwickau prophets, was quelled after Martin Luther's release from custody.
• 1657 – Citizens of New Netherland presented the Flushing Remonstrance to Peter Stuyvesant, the director general of the colonial province, requesting an exemption to his ban on Quaker worship.
• 1922 – The Imperial Japanese Navy commissioned Hōshō (pictured), the world's first purpose-built aircraft carrier.
• 2002 – The human-cloning company Clonaid claimed to have performed the first reproductive cloning of a human, but provided no evidence for the claim.

December 27

The ninth generation of the Pokémon franchise features 120 fictional species of creatures introduced to the core video game series in the Nintendo Switch games Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. The first Pokémon of the generation were revealed on 27 February 2022 in a Pokémon Presents livestream presentation. In these games and their sequels, the player assumes the role of a Trainer whose goal is to capture and use the creatures' special abilities to combat other Pokémon. Pokémon Scarlet and Violet take place in Paldea, which is heavily based on Spain, as well as other areas in the Iberian Peninsula, with the game's DLC expansions The Teal Mask and The Indigo Disk taking place in the Kitakami region and the Blueberry Academy, respectively. Kitakami is based on Japan, while the Blueberry Academy is a school environment set in the Unova region, the main location of the 2010 games Pokémon Black and White. (Full list...)

December 27

The Reduced Gravity Walking Simulator was a facility developed by NASA in the early 1960s to study human movement under simulator lunar gravity conditions. It was located at NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia and was designed to prepare astronauts for the Moon landings during the Apollo program. The simulator was tilted at a 9.5° angle from vertical and test subjects were suspended on their side by cables at the same angle. This set-up allowed the trainees to walk along the surface while experiencing only one-sixth of Earth's gravity. It was also used to study the physiological effects on the astronaut's body during movement. In total, 24 astronauts used the simulator to train for lunar missions, including all three astronauts of the Apollo 1 mission. Photograph credit: NASA Recently featured: Amphipoea oculea Kefermarkt altarpiece 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Archive More featured pictures

December 28

George E. Mylonas (1898–1988) was a Greek archaeologist of ancient Greece and of Aegean prehistory. He excavated widely, particularly at Olynthus, Eleusis and Mycenae, where he made the first archaeological study and publication of Grave Circle B, the earliest known monumentalized burials at the site. Mylonas was born in Smyrna, then part of the Ottoman Empire, and received an elite education. In 1924, he began working for the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. He took part in excavations at Corinth, Nemea and Olynthus under its auspices. He studied and taught at universities in Greece and the United States. He was prominent in the Archaeological Society of Athens and in efforts to conserve the monuments of the Acropolis of Athens. He had co-responsibility for the excavation of Mycenae's Grave Circle B in the early 1950s, and from 1957 until 1985 he excavated on the citadel of the site. His excavations at Mycenae have been credited with bringing coherence to the site. (Full article...)

December 28

Canadian Armour Passing Through Ortona

• 893 – An earthquake destroyed the city of Dvin, Armenia, resulting in about 30,000 casualties.
• 1862 – American Civil War: Union forces defeated a Confederate cavalry unit at the Battle of Van Buren, capturing three steamboats, Confederate troops, and various supplies.
• 1918 – At the Irish general election, Constance Markievicz was elected to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom as the first female member of Parliament, although she never took her seat.
• 1943 – World War II: After eight days of brutal house-to-house fighting, the 1st Canadian Infantry Division captured the Italian town of Ortona (depicted).
• 2018 – Netflix released Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, its first interactive content for adults.

December 28

The featured picture for this day has not yet been chosen.

In general, pictures of the day are scheduled in order of promotion to featured status. See Wikipedia:Picture of the day/Guidelines for full guidelines.

December 29

Modern statue of Jochi

Jochi (c. 1182 – c. 1225) was a prince in the Mongol Empire. For months before his birth, his mother Börte had been a captive of the Merkit tribe, one of whom forcibly married and raped her. Although there was thus doubt over his parentage, Börte's husband Genghis Khan considered Jochi his son and treated him as such. Many Mongols, most prominently Börte's next son Chagatai, disagreed; these tensions eventually caused Jochi's exclusion from the line of succession. After Genghis founded the Mongol Empire in 1206, he entrusted Jochi with nine thousand warriors and a large territory in the west of the Mongol heartland; Jochi campaigned extensively to extend Mongol power in the region. He also commanded an army during the invasion of the Khwarazmian Empire, but tensions arose between him and his family during the siege of Gurganj in 1221. They were still estranged when Jochi died of ill health. His descendants continued to rule his territories, which became known as the Golden Horde. (Full article...)

December 29

• 1845 – The Republic of Texas was annexed by the United States, becoming the 28th state to be admitted to the Union.
• 1860 – To counter the French Navy's Gloire, the world's first ironclad warship, the Royal Navy launched HMS Warrior, the world's first iron-hulled armoured warship.
• 1913 – Cecil B. DeMille started filming Hollywood's first feature film, The Squaw Man (featured).
• 1915 – First World War: The French parliament passed a law granting the land occupied by British war graves as "the free gift of the French people".
• 1975 – Planted by unknown perpetrators, a bomb exploded at LaGuardia Airport in New York City, killing 11 people and seriously injuring 74 others.

December 29

The cinnamon hummingbird (Amazilia rutila) is a species of hummingbird in the "tribe of the emeralds", Trochilini. Currently, four regional subspecies are recognized. It is predominantly found along the Pacific western coast of Mexico and south through Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, with some also residing in Belize and the southern Mexican states of Campeche, Quintana Roo and Yucatán. Cinnamon hummingbirds are typically found at or just slightly above sea level, often inhabiting coastal and lowland areas, as well as further inland in warmer locations in the southern parts of their range. The bird has a length of approximately 9.5 to 11.5 cm and on average weighs about 5 to 5.5 g. Its diet usually consists food foraged from the understory to the mid-story, but also will visit taller flowering trees. It feeds on nectar from a very wide variety of flowering plants and also eats insects and is a territorial species, defending its feeding sites from intrusion by other hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies. This cinnamon hummingbird was photographed in Los Tarrales natural reserve in Patulul, Suchitepéquez, Guatemala. Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp Recently featured: Reduced Gravity Walking Simulator Amphipoea oculea Archive More featured pictures

December 30

Mountain pigeons are four species of birds in the genus Gymnophaps in the pigeon family Columbidae. They are found on islands in eastern Indonesia and Melanesia, where they inhabit hill and montane forest. Medium-sized pigeons with long tails and wings, they are 33 to 38.5 cm (13.0 to 15.2 in) long and weigh 259 to 385 g (9.1 to 13.6 oz). They mostly have dull grey, white, or chestnut-brown plumage, their most distinctive feature being bright red skin around the eyes. Males and females mostly look alike, but the Papuan and pale mountain pigeons show slight sexual dimorphism. They are social and are usually seen in flocks of 10 to 40 birds, although some species can form flocks of more than 100. The genus was originally described by the Italian zoologist Tommaso Salvadori in 1874 and currently contains the Papuan, Seram, Buru, and pale mountain pigeons. Mountain pigeons inhabit trees and feed on a wide variety of fruit. All four species are listed as being of least concern on the IUCN Red List. (Full article...)

December 30: Rizal Day in the Philippines (1896)

Arroyo Seco Parkway

• 1702 – Queen Anne's War: James Moore, the British colonial governor of Carolina, abandoned a siege against St. Augustine in Spanish Florida and retreated to Charles Town in disgrace.
• 1813 – War of 1812: British forces captured Buffalo, New York, and burned down nearly all its buildings.
• 1940 – The Arroyo Seco Parkway (pictured), one of the first freeways built in the U.S., connecting downtown Los Angeles with Pasadena, California, was officially dedicated.
• 1958 – The Guatemalan Air Force fired on Mexican fishing boats that had strayed into Guatemalan territory, triggering an eight-month conflict.
• 2013 – Supporters of Congolese religious leader Paul-Joseph Mukungubila carried out a series of attacks on television studios, the airport and a military base in Kinshasa.

December 30

Ryan Giggs

Three hundred five players have winner's medals from the Premier League, an association football league that serves as the top tier of the English football league system. Since the 2012–13 season, a player needs to have played in a minimum of five matches for a title-winning team to qualify for a medal. This is down from the previous standard of 10 matches played. As of the end of the 2023–24 season, seven clubs have won the title – Manchester United, Blackburn Rovers, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, Leicester City and Liverpool. Ten players have won the title with more than one club. Having won 13 Premier League championships, Manchester United have more title-winning players to their name than any other club, with 86 players awarded 247 medals. Ryan Giggs (pictured), who spent his entire career at the club, has won more medals than any other player with 13. (Full list...)

December 30

December 31

Minneapolis is a city in and the county seat of Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. With a population of 429,954, it is the state's most populous city as of the 2020 census. Located in the state's center near the eastern border, it occupies both banks of the Mississippi River and adjoins Saint Paul, the state capital of Minnesota. Minneapolis, Saint Paul, and the surrounding area are collectively known as the Twin Cities, a metropolitan area with 3.69 million residents. Minneapolis is known for cold, snowy winters and hot, humid summers. The city's public park system is connected by the Grand Rounds National Scenic Byway. For a time in the 19th century, Minneapolis was the lumber and flour milling capital of the world, and as home to the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, it has preserved its financial clout into the 21st century. Minneapolis has a political landscape dominated by the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), with Jacob Frey serving as mayor since 2018. (Full article...)

December 31: Saint Sylvester's Day (Western Christianity)

Parliament Hill, Ottawa

• 1857 – Queen Victoria announced the choice of Ottawa (pictured), then a small logging town, to be the capital of the British colony of Canada.
• 1950 – Korean War: North Korean troops attacked United Nations forces in the first of two battles at Wonju.
• 1993 – Brandon Teena, an American trans man, was raped and murdered in Humboldt, Nebraska; his death led to increased lobbying for hate crime laws in the United States.
• 1998 – The European Exchange Rate Mechanism froze the exchange rates of the legacy currencies in the eurozone, establishing the value of the euro.
• 2006 – War in Somalia: Transitional Federal Government forces attacked the last stronghold of the Islamic Courts Union in the town of Jilib.

December 31

The featured picture for this day has not yet been chosen.

In general, pictures of the day are scheduled in order of promotion to featured status. See Wikipedia:Picture of the day/Guidelines for full guidelines.