Nation/World trivia 12-8-24

Dec. 8

In 1886, the American Federation of Labor was founded in Columbus, Ohio.

In 1980, rock star and former Beatle John Lennon was shot to death outside his New York City apartment building by Mark David Chapman.

In 2014, the U.S. and NATO ceremonially ended their combat mission in Afghanistan, 13 years after the Sept. 11 terror attacks sparked their invasion of the country to topple the Taliban-led government.

In 2017, Japanese pitching and hitting star Shohei Ohtani announced he would sign with the Los Angeles Angels.

Dec. 9

In 1911, an explosion inside the Cross Mountain coal mine near Briceville, Tennessee, killed 84 workers.

In 1990, Solidarity founder Lech Walesa won Poland's presidential runoff by a landslide.

In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered a temporary halt in the Florida vote count on which Al Gore pinned his best hopes of winning the White House.

In 2021, a jury in Chicago convicted former "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett on charges he staged an anti-gay, racist attack on himself and then lied to Chicago police about it.

Dec. 10

In 1861, the Confederacy admitted Kentucky as it recognized a pro-Southern shadow state government that was acting without the authority of the pro-Union government in Frankfort.

In 1964, Martin Luther King Jr. received his Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, saying he accepted it "with an abiding faith in America and an audacious faith in the future of mankind."

In 2019, House Democrats announced two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, declaring he "betrayed the nation" with his actions toward Ukraine and an obstruction of Congress' investigation; Trump responded with a tweet of "WITCH HUNT!" At an evening rally in Pennsylvania, he mocked the impeachment effort and predicted it would lead to his reelection in 2020.

In 2021, tornadoes slammed into Kentucky, Arkansas and three neighboring states, killing more than 90 people, including 81 in Kentucky.

Dec. 11

In 1941, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States; the U.S. responded in kind.

In 1972, Apollo 17's lunar module landed on the moon with astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt aboard; they became the last two men to date to step onto the lunar surface.

In 1998, majority Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee pushed through three articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton, over Democratic objections.

In 2022, NASA's Orion capsule returned from the moon, parachuting into the Pacific off Mexico to conclude a dramatic 25-day test flight.

Dec. 12

In 1913, authorities in Florence, Italy, announced the "Mona Lisa," stolen from the Louvre Museum in Paris in 1911, had been recovered.

In 1917, during World War I, a train carrying some 1,000 French troops from the Italian front derailed while descending a steep hill in Modane; at least half of the soldiers were killed in France's greatest rail disaster.

In 1985, 248 American soldiers and eight crew members were killed when an Arrow Air charter crashed after takeoff from Gander, Newfoundland.

In 2010, the inflatable roof of the Minneapolis Metrodome collapsed following a snowstorm that had dumped 17 inches on the city. (The NFL was forced to shift an already rescheduled game between the Minnesota Vikings and New York Giants to Detroit's Ford Field.)

Dec. 13

In 1862, Union forces led by Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside launched futile attacks against entrenched Confederate soldiers during the Civil War Battle of Fredericksburg; the soundly defeated Northern troops withdrew two days later.

In 1937, the Chinese city of Nanjing fell to Japanese forces during the Sino-Japanese War; what followed was a massacre of war prisoners, soldiers and citizens. (China maintains that up to 300,000 people were killed; Japanese nationalists say the death toll was far lower.)

In 2001, the Pentagon publicly released a captured videotape of Osama bin Laden in which the al-Qaida leader said the deaths and destruction achieved by the Sept. 11 attacks exceeded his "most optimistic" expectations.

In 2020, the first vials of the Pfizer vaccine against COVID-19 began making their way to distribution sites across the United States.

Dec. 14

In 1961, a school bus was hit by a passenger train at a crossing near Greeley, Colorado, killing 20 students.

In 1985, former New York Yankees outfielder Roger Maris, who'd hit 61 home runs during the 1961 season, died in Houston at age 51.

In 2006, a British police inquiry concluded that the deaths of Princess Diana and her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, in a 1997 Paris car crash were a "tragic accident," and that allegations of a murder conspiracy were unfounded.

In 2021, Stephen Curry set a new NBA career 3-point record; the Golden State Warriors' guard hit his 2,974th 3-point shot against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

— Associated Press