Thursday, December 16, 1694

A hostage crisis in a Lindt chocolate café in Sydney, Australia, ended with police storming the building, killing the perpetrator and one of the hostages.

A woman was gang-raped and fatally assaulted on a bus in Delhi, generating protests across India against inadequate security for women.

Amid an outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, the British government banned the sale of beef on the bone for human consumption.

"Dennō Senshi Porygon", an episode of the Japanese television series Pokémon, induced epileptic seizures in 685 children.

The surrender of Pakistani forces in Dacca, East Pakistan, concluded the Bangladesh Liberation War and the India-Pakistan War.

Adolf Hitler instituted the Cross of Honour of the German Mother, an order of merit for German mothers with at least four children.

German-American gangster Herman Lamm killed himself during a botched robbery attempt in Clinton, Indiana, to avoid being captured by police.

Gabriel Narutowicz (pictured), the first president of Poland, was assassinated only five days after having taken office.

A magnitude-7.9 earthquake struck Haiyuan County, China, killing more than 250,000 people.

Vincas Mickevičius-Kapsukas declared the formation of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, a puppet state created by Soviet Russia to justify the Lithuanian–Soviet War.

First World War: The Imperial German Navy attacked ports in northern England, resulting in hundreds of civilian casualties.

English writer Beatrix Potter privately published 250 copies of The Tale of Peter Rabbit (illustration shown) after several publishers' rejections.