Events Date 2014 December | History by KabAstro

The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies

Dec 1 "The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies", 3rd and final Hobbit film, directed by Peter Jackson, starring Martin Freeman and Ian McKellen, premieres in London

Film Director, Producer, and Screenwriter Peter Jackson

Music History

Dec 1 "U2 Minus 1" performs at Times Square, NYC for World AIDS Day; Bruce Springsteen and Chris Martin of Coldplay each sing two songs in place of injured frontman Bono

Sports History

Dec 1 Thierry Henry leaves the New York Red Bulls after four-and-a-half years at the club

Dec 1 Utility Claudio Liverziani becomes first 3-time MVP in the Italian Baseball League; 291/.444/.472 season, with 30 HRs and 20 RBI in 38 games for Fortitudo Bologna
Dec 2 After featuring in a magazine article with long-time life partner, veteran MLB umpire and crew chief Dale Scott openly acknowledges his homosexuality; overwhelmingly positive reaction from baseball circles

Bill Crosby

Dec 2 Comedian Bill Cosby resigns from the board of trustees of an American university following renewed sexual assault allegations

Elizabeth Lauten

Dec 2 Elizabeth Lauten, an aide to a Republican congressman resigns after her online criticism of President Barack Obama's teenage daughters

Dec 2 Hong Kong pro-democracy activists clash with police as they try to surround the government's headquarters in some of the worst violence since the protests began

Hawking on AI

Dec 2 Stephen Hawking claims that Artificial Intelligence could be a "threat to mankind" and spell the end of the human race

Dec 2 The World Food Programme suspends critical food aid to more than 1.7 million Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt because of a lack of funds
Dec 2 Vanuatu police arrest at least 20 people over the deaths by hanging of two men accused of sorcery
Dec 3 Australian Rugby star David Pocock is arrested after protesting against a coal mine under construction in an Australian national forest
Dec 3 Darren Wilson, the police officer who shot dead unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, resigns
Dec 3 Protests erupt in cities across the US after a grand jury decides not to charge the New York City police officer who killed Eric Garner with a choke-hold
Dec 4 Mosconi Cup nine-ball pool, Blackpool, England: Team Europe beats US, 11-5 for 5th straight title; MVP: Niels Feijen (Netherlands)

Peter Pan Live!

Dec 4 NBC airs musical "Peter Pan Live!" starring Allison Williams and Christopher Walken; substantially revised from the earlier Mary Martin productions

Dec 4 The United Nations warns that the world is on course for the warmest year since records began
Dec 4 Ukraine and Pro-Russian rebels agree to cease fire in the eastern war zone, beginning December 9
Dec 4 US authorities promise a "fair" investigation into the death of African American Eric Garner, after a white New York City police officer held him in a choke-hold faces no charges
Dec 6 10th ACC Championship Game: #2 Florida State beats #12 Georgia Tech, 37-35
Dec 6 23rd SEC Championship Game: #1 Alabama beats #14 Missouri, 42-13
Dec 7 Human Rights Watch Asia Division call for investigation into Indonesian security forces shooting of peaceful protesters
Dec 7 Mayor of Paris calls for diesel cars to be banned from the French Capital by 2020, in order to reduce pollution
Dec 7 The Archbishop of Canterbury claims that he is more shocked by the plight of Britain's hunger-stricken poor than suffering in African refugee camps
Dec 7 The Syrian military accuse Israel of carrying out two air strikes on Syria
Dec 7 Typhoon Hagupit hits central Philippines; millions flee homes for shelter
Dec 9 CIA Torture Report released, detailing the CIA's use of torture on detainees between 2001-2006
Dec 10 Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology awarded to John O'Keefe, May-Britt Moser and Edvard Moser for their discoveries of nerve cells in the brain that enable a sense of place and navigation [1]

CIA Director on Interrogation

Dec 11 CIA Director John Brennan defends interrogation methods used after 9/11 but admits some methods were "abhorrent"

Dec 11 World's 1st penis transplant procedure by a team from Stellenbosch University and Tygerberg Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa
Dec 12 Over 200 pro-democracy activists arrested in Hong Kong
Dec 12 UN climate change talks in Peru continue past scheduled time as negotiations continue to stall
Dec 13 80th Heisman Trophy Award: Marcus Mariota, Oregon (QB)
Dec 13 A civil rights protest march in Washington, D.C. takes place, against the police killing of unarmed black men
Dec 13 Divisions emerge between rich and poor nations at the UN climate change talks in Peru
Dec 13 Fatou Bensouda, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, criticizes UN Security Council for its lack of action over war crimes in the Darfur region of Sudan
Dec 13 The British Government announces it will send hundreds of troops to Iraq, to train Iraqi and Kurdish forces in the conflict with Islamic State
Dec 13 Two US soldiers killed in a Taliban bombing of a NATO convoy in Kabul

Shinzō Abe Re-elected

Dec 14 Shinzō Abe and his ruling Liberal Democratic Party win re-election in Japan, retaining their two-thirds majority with coalition partner New Kōmeitō Party

Dec 16 An Army Public School in Pakistan is attacked by Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan militants who kill 145 people
Dec 16 Thierry Henry announces his retirement as a player and states he will begin working for Sky Sports as a pundit
Dec 17 103-year-old Gus Andreone records the 8th ace of his career on the 113-yard, 14th hole of the Lakes Course, Palm Aire, Sarasota, FL; oldest golfer to record a hole-in-one

The Interview

Dec 17 Sony Pictures cancels the release of "The Interview", starring Seth Rogen, Lizzy Caplan, and James Franco, after a cyber attack on the studio

Event of Interest

Dec 18 Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo is transferred from a maximum security prison to a medium security facility in Guadalajara due to declining health

Ferguson's Last Late Late Show

Dec 19 Craig Ferguson's final appearance as host of "The Late Late Show" on CBS, after 2,058 episodes

Dec 19 The Guardian newspaper calls 2014 'The year the people stood up'
Dec 20 Ismaaiyl Abdullah Brinsley kills 2 NYPD officers in Brooklyn, New York, supposedly in revenge for the killing of Eric Garner, before killing himself

"Unbroken"

Dec 25 "Unbroken", drama film directed by Angelina Jolie and starring Jack O'Connell and Domhall Gleeson, released in the United States

Dec 28 Indonesia AirAsia Flight QZ8501 crashes in bad weather in the Java Sea, killing all 162 people on board
Dec 31 36 die and 47 are wounded during a stampede of New Year revellers on Shanghai's Bund riverfront
Dec 31 44th Fiesta Bowl: #20 Boise State beats #10 Arizona, 38-30
Dec 31 81st Orange Bowl: #10 Georgia Tech beats #8 Mississippi State, 49-34