SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2007

Today is Saturday, December 8, the 342nd day of 2007. There are 23 days left in the year.

1326_ Daitokuji temple and Rinzai line established in Kyoto by Daito Kokushi

1813 _ Ludwig von Beethoven's 7th Symphony in A premieres

1854 _ Pope Pius IX proclaims Immaculate Conception, makes Mary, free of Original Sin

1863 _ Abraham Lincoln announces plan for Reconstruction of South

1869 _ The 20th Roman Catholic ecumenical council, Vatican I, opens in Rome

1914 _ British and German fleets battle at Falkland Island

1923 _ The German-U.S. friendship treaty signed

1948 _ Jordan annexes Arabic Palestine

1949 _ The Chinese Nationalist government moves from Chinese mainland to Formosa

1965 _ Pope Paul VI signs the second Vatican council

1977 _ Portugal's premier Soares resigns

1981 _ France performs nuclear test

1987 _ Occupied Palestinians start ``intefadeh" (uprising) against Israel

1987 _ U.S. President Reagan and Soviet leader Gorbachev sign a treaty eliminating medium range nuclear missiles

1991 _ Russia, Byelorussia and Ukraine form the Commonwealth of Independent States