Saturday, December 25, 1694

After the loss of aircraft systems, Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243 crashed near Aktau International Airport while attempting to perform an emergency landing after being hit by a Russian defense missile.

A Tupolev Tu-154 of the Russian Defence Ministry crashed into the Black Sea shortly after taking off from Sochi International Airport, killing all 92 people on board.

Aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attempted to detonate plastic explosives hidden in his underwear.

A fire destroyed Longford's 19th-century St Mel's Cathedral, considered the "flagship cathedral" of the Irish midlands.

A tiger at the San Francisco Zoo escaped from its enclosure and attacked three patrons before it was shot and killed.

Russian president Vladimir Putin signed into law a bill officially adopting a new national anthem, with music by Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov originally composed for the anthem of the Soviet Union.

In a nationally televised speech, Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as President of the Soviet Union.

British computer programmer Tim Berners-Lee introduced WorldWideWeb, the world's first web browser and WYSIWYG HTML editor.

Romanian Revolution: Communist dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife Elena were condemned to death on a wide range of charges and executed.

In Tamil Nadu, India, families of striking Dalit workers were massacred by a gang, allegedly led by their landlords.

Second World War: The Japanese occupation of Hong Kong began when Mark Aitchison Young, the Governor of Hong Kong, surrendered the territory to Japan after 18 days of fierce fighting.

The Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng, a revolutionary socialist political party that sought Vietnamese independence from French colonial rule, was formed in Hanoi.