Dec 23 (Reuters) – Following are some of the major events to have occurred on December 23:
1948 – Hideki Tojo, the Japanese general who was prime minister when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor to begin its war against the United States, was hanged as a war criminal.
1950 – Pope Pius XII announced that Saint Peter’s tomb had been found under the Vatican.
1989 – Foreign Ministers Hans-Dietrich Genscher of West Germany and Jiri Dienstbier of Czechoslovakia, cut the fence between their nations as a symbol of European liberation.
2002 – Members of Italy’s royal family, reviled by many Italians after World War Two for collaborating with Benito Mussolini, returned home for a visit after 56 years in exile.
2003 – The first U.S. case of the deadly mad cow disease was detected in a Holstein dairy cow in Washington state.
2007 – Oscar Peterson, the Canadian who sat atop the world of jazz piano for decades with his driving two-handed swing, technical wizardry and rapid-fire solos, died aged 82.
2007 – World’s first twin panda birth in winter season.
2007 – Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant becomes youngest player in NBA history to score 20,000 career points.
2014 – Gabriel Medina becomes first ever Brazilian World Champion in history of professional surfing.
2014 – Dow Jones climbed above 18,000 mark for the first time in history.
2016 – United Nations Security Council adopts Resolution 2334 condemning Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories.
