- 1990 – Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman were married.
- 1992 – U.S. President George H.W. Bush pardoned former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger and five others in the Iran-Contra scandal.
- 1997 – Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, known as “Carlos the Jackal,” was sentenced by a French court to life in prison for the 1975 murders of two French investigators and a Lebanese national.
- 1998 – At Disneyland in Anaheim, CA, a tourist was hit by a piece of flying metal while waiting to board a ride. The man’s wife and a Disneyland employee were also injured. Luan Phi Dawson died December 26th from his injuries.
- 1999 – Ivory Coast President Henri Konan Bédié was overthrown in a coup.
- 1999 – An Indian Airlines plane was seized during a flight from Katmandu, Nepal, to New Delhi. In Afghanistan, the 150 hostages were freed on December 31 after India released three Kashmir militants from prison.
- 2000 – 36 minutes after the end of a game, both the New England Patriots and the Miami Dolphins were called back to the playing field. The teams had to play the final 3 seconds of the game which the Dolphins had won 27-24. The end result did not change.
- 2000 – The “Texas 7,” seven convicts that had escaped a Texas prison, robbed a sports store in Irving, TX. The suspects killed Officer Aubrey Hawkins, stole $70,000, 25 weapons and clothing. The men had escaped on December 13.
- 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 – The Lord’s Resistance Army, a Ugandan rebel group, begins a series of attacks against civilians in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, massacring more than 400.
- 2018 – A helicopter crash kills Martha Érika Alonso, first female Governor of Puebla, Mexico, and her husband Rafael Moreno Valle Rosas, former governor.[
Celebrating Birthday Today
- 1981 – Dima Bilan, Russian singer-songwriter and actor
- 1984 – Isaac De Gois, Australian rugby league player
- 1985 – Alexey Dmitriev, German ice hockey player
- 1985 – David Ragan, American race car driver
- 1986 – Tim Elliott, American mixed martial artist
- 1986 – Kyrylo Fesenko, Ukrainian basketball player
- 1987 – Jane Summersett, American ice dancer
- 1988 – Stefanos Athanasiadis, Greek footballer
- 1988 – Emre Özkan, Turkish footballer
- 1988 – Simon Zenke, Nigerian footballer
- 1990 – Brigetta Barrett, American high jumper
- 1990 – Marcus Jordan, American basketball player
- 1990 – Ryo Miyake, Japanese fencer
- 1991 – Lara Michel, Swiss tennis player
- 1991 – Louis Tomlinson, English singer-songwriter
- 1994 – Fa’amanu Brown, New Zealand rugby league player
- 1994 – Miguel Castro, Dominican baseball player
- 1994 – Matt Frawley, Australian rugby league player