WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2009

Today is Wednesday, December 23, the 357th day of 2009. There are eight days left in the year.

1620 _ French Huguenots declare war on King Louis XIII

1867 _ First self-made millionairess (Sarah Breedlove-hair straightener)

1888 _ Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh cuts off his left ear

1912 _ Aswan Dam in Nile begins operation

1933 _ Train crash in Eastern Paris; 230 die

1947 _ Transistor invented by Bardeen, Brattain and Shockley in Bell Labs

1961 _ Fidel Castro announces Cuba will release 1,113 prisoners from failed 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion for $62 million worth of food and medical supplies

1968 _ 82 members of U.S. intelligence ship ``Pueblo" released by North Korea

1970 _ New York World Trade Center reaches highest point (411 m)

1973 _ Six Persian Gulf nations double their oil prices