Today is Friday, December 21, the 356th day of 2012. There are 10 days left in the year.
1620 ― 103 Mayflower pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock
1898 ― Scientists Pierre & Marie Curie discover radium
1910 ― Explosion in coal mine in Hulton England, 344 mine workers dies
1913 ― First crossword puzzle (with 32 clues) printed in New York World
1925 ― Eisenstein's movie Potemkin premieres in Moscow
1958 ― Charles De Gaulle wins seven-year term as first President of 5th Republic of France
1976 ― U.N. General Assembly passes a resolution declaring 1979 as ``Year of Child”
1989 ― Romania's dictator Nicolae Ceausescu's final speech (he is executed 12/25)
1991 ― Soviet Union formally dissolves 11 of 12 republics sign treaty forming
Commonwealth of Independent States
1991 ― U.S. actress Jane Fonda marries CNN President Ted Turner