Events Date 2013 December | History by KabAstro

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Dec 2 "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug", 2nd film in the Hobbit series, directed by Peter Jackson, starring Martin Freeman and Ian McKellen, premieres in Los Angeles

Film Director, Producer, and Screenwriter Peter Jackson

Dec 2 China launches its first moon rover mission
Dec 4 Mosconi Cup nine-ball pool, Las Vegas, Nevada: 4 consecutive titles for Europe after an 11-2 thrashing of US; MVP: Niels Feijen (Netherlands)
Dec 4 Xavier Bettel becomes Luxenberg's first openly gay Prime Minister
Dec 5 52 people are killed and 167 are injured in a militant attack on a defense ministry compound in Sana'a, Yemen
Dec 6 A 2-year old boy dies from Ebola in Meliandou, Guinea

New Post for Abuse Cases

Dec 6 Pope Francis gives his ascent to a proposal to create a permanent post on the Pontifical Commission on cases of sin and sexual abuse of minors

Dec 7 22nd SEC Championship Game: #3 Auburn beats #5 Missouri, 59-42
Dec 7 9th ACC Championship Game: #1 Florida State beats #20 Duke, 45-7

Ditka's Jersey Retired

Dec 9 Mike Ditka's #89 jersey is retired by the Chicago Bears

Dec 9 MLB pitcher Roy Halladay announces his retirement due to persistent back injury
Dec 10 Mary Barra of General Motors becomes the first female CEO of a major automotive company
Dec 10 Uruguay becomes the first country to legalize the growth, sale, and use of marijuana
Dec 11 20 people are killed by the bubonic plague in a small Madagascan village
Dec 11 Pope Francis is named Time magazine's person of the year
Dec 12 The United States announces sanctions on the two dozen companies who assisted Iran with their nuclear program

Beyoncé

Dec 13 "Beyoncé" 5th studio album by Beyoncé is released

Ramakrishnan Named Greatest Indian

Dec 14 Venkatraman Ramakrishnan is named as one of the 25 Greatest Global Living Indians by NDTV Channel, India

Structural Biologist Venkatraman Ramakrishnan

Dec 15 China successfully lands its moon rover on the moon

Michelle Bachelet Re-elected

Dec 15 Michelle Bachelet is re-elected President of Chile

Dec 16 21 people are killed and 20 are injured after a bus falls from an elevated highway in Manila, Philippines
Dec 16 79th Heisman Trophy Award: Jameis Winston, Florida State (QB)

Merkel Third Term

Dec 17 Angela Merkel is elected Chancellor of Germany for a third term

Dec 17 Australia wins the 3rd test to take win the 2013-14 Ashes test cricket series
Dec 19 81 people are injured after part of the ceiling caved in at London's Apollo Theatre

"The Wolf of Wall Street"

Dec 25 "The Wolf of Wall Street", starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill, is released

Dec 27 29 people are killed after a bus plunged off the Huay Tong Bridge, Thailand
Dec 28 Chris Weidman defeats Anderson Silva to retain the UFC Middleweight Championship
Dec 28 Early signs of Ebola epidemic: 2-year-old child in Guinea dies of an unidentified hemorrhagic fever; mother, sister and grandmother soon follow
Dec 29 16 people are killed and 40 are wounded by a suicide bomb attack at Volgograd-1 railway station, Russia

Schumacher's Ski Accident

Dec 29 7-time world F1 motor racing champion Michael Schumacher suffers a serious head injury in a ski accident in the French Alps; his condition still remains unclear

Dec 29 Chaparrastique volcano erupts in El Salvador
Dec 29 Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says barrel bombs on Aleppo have killed 517 people since 15th December
Dec 30 15 people are killed in a trolley-bus bomb attack in Voglograd, Russia