Friday, December 17, 1694

The first victims of a mass methanol poisoning which eventually killed over 70 inhabitants of Irkutsk, Russia, began arriving at hospitals.

Arab Spring: Mohamed Bouazizi, a street vendor in Sidi Bouzid, set himself on fire in protest against police harassment, triggering the Tunisian revolution.

American gay rights activist William E. Woods brought three same-sex couples to fill out marriage licenses in Honolulu.

The Troubles: The Provisional Irish Republican Army detonated a car bomb outside Harrods in London, killing six people and injuring about 90 others.

Polish soldiers fired at workers (memorial pictured) emerging from trains in Gdynia, beginning the government's crackdown on mass anti-communist protests across the country.

Harold Holt, the prime minister of Australia, disappeared while swimming near Portsea, Victoria; his body was never recovered.

The Civil Rights Congress presented a document to the United Nations Genocide Convention charging the United States government with genocide against African Americans.

The Finnish Security Police was established to remove communist leadership from its predecessor, the State Police.

The modern flag of Kurdistan was raised for the first time in Mahabad, Iran.

Nazi troops under Joachim Peiper killed unarmed prisoners of war, captured during the Battle of the Bulge, with machine guns near Malmedy, Belgium.

World War II: After sustaining moderate damage in the Battle of the River Plate two days earlier, the German cruiser Graf Spee was scuttled by its commander, Hans Langsdorff, to avoid its internment by Uruguay.

A coup d'état by the Lithuanian military replaced the democratically elected President Kazys Grinius with Antanas Smetona.