A helicopter crash kills Martha Érika Alonso, first female Governor of Puebla, Mexico, and her husband Rafael Moreno Valle Rosas, former governor.
Indian Airlines Flight 814 is hijacked in Indian airspace between Kathmandu, Nepal, and Delhi, India. The aircraft landed at Kandahar in Afghanistan. The incident ended on December 31 with the release of 190 survivors (one passenger is killed).
The first Ariane 1 rocket is launched from ELA-1 at the Guiana Space Centre.
Apollo program: The crew of Apollo 8 enters into orbit around the Moon, becoming the first humans to do so. They performed ten lunar orbits, took the Earthrise photograph, broadcast live TV pictures, and read the first ten verses of Genesis.
First flight of Britain's Handley Page Victor strategic bomber.
World War II: The Belgian Troopship Leopoldville was torpedoed and sank with the loss of 763 soldiers and 56 crew.
World War II: U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower is named Supreme Allied Commander for Operation Overlord.
World War II: French monarchist, Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle, assassinates Vichy French Admiral François Darlan in Algiers, Algeria.
World War II: Kuching is conquered by Japanese forces.
World War II: Benghazi is conquered by the British Eighth Army.
World War II: Pope Pius XII makes a Christmas Eve appeal for peace.
Assassination attempt on Argentine President Hipólito Yrigoyen.
Reginald Fessenden transmits the first radio broadcast; consisting of a poetry reading, a violin solo, and a speech.
The Greek Presidential Guard is established as the royal escort by King George I.
The first performance of "Silent Night" takes place in the Nikolauskirche in Oberndorf, Austria.
Representatives of the United Kingdom and the United States sign the Treaty of Ghent, ending the War of 1812.
The Plot of the rue Saint-Nicaise fails to kill Napoleon Bonaparte.
The Marathas defeat the combined forces of the Mughal Empire, Rajputs of Jaipur, Nizam of Hyderabad, Nawab of Awadh and Nawab of Bengal in the Battle of Bhopal.
Battle of Ayn Shams: The Fatimids under Jawhar defeat the Qarmatians at the gates of Cairo, putting an end to the First Qarmatian invasion of Egypt.