Mohammed Ali Ahmed al-Haddad

• Israel recognises Somaliland as an independent state, becoming the first country to do so.
• A jet carrying eight people, including Libyan Army chief of staff Mohammed al-Haddad (pictured), crashes near Ankara, Turkey, killing all occupants.
• A mass stabbing in Taipei, Taiwan, leaves four people dead, including the perpetrator.
• Bangladeshi activist Osman Hadi is assassinated, triggering violent protests and arson.
• Fatafehi Fakafānua is elected prime minister by the legislative assembly of Tonga.

December 26: Saint Stephen's Day (Western Christianity); Boxing Day in the Commonwealth; Wren Day in Ireland and the Isle of Man; Kwanzaa begins (African diaspora in the Americas)

Babe Ruth

• 1709 – The opera Agrippina, described as George Frideric Handel's first masterpiece, premiered in Venice.
• 1800 – Philip Gidley King, Governor of New South Wales, ordered the formation of the Governor's Body Guard of Light Horse, described as the first full-time military unit raised in Australia.
• 1825 – Imperial Russian Army officers led about 3,000 soldiers in protest against Nicholas I's assumption of the throne after his elder brother Konstantin removed himself from the line of succession.
• 1919 – American baseball player Babe Ruth (pictured) was sold by the Boston Red Sox to their rivals, the New York Yankees, beginning the 84-year-long "Curse of the Bambino".
• 2015 – A violent tornado moved through several suburbs of Dallas, United States, killing ten and injuring almost 500 others.