December
18
International
Migrants Day
Arabic Language Day at the UN
December 18 : International Migrants Day
On
4 December 2000, the UN General Assembly, taking
into account the large and increasing number of
migrants in the world, proclaimed 18 December
as International Migrants Day. On 18 December
1990, the General Assembly had adopted the International
Convention on the Protection of the Rights of
All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.
UN
Member States and intergovernmental and non-governmental
organizations are invited to observe International
Migrants Day through the dissemination of information
on the human rights and fundamental freedoms of
migrants, and through the sharing of experiences
and the design of actions to ensure their protection.
The
132 Member States that participated in the General
Assembly's High-level Dialogue on International
Migration and Development on 14-15 September 2006
reaffirmed a number of key messages. First, they
underscored that international migration was a
growing phenomenon and that it could make a positive
contribution to development in countries of origin
and countries of destination provided it was supported
by the right policies. Secondly, they emphasized
that respect for the fundamental rights and freedoms
of all migrants was essential to reap the benefits
of international migration. Thirdly, they recognized
the importance of strengthening international
cooperation on international migration bilaterally,
regionally and globally.
December
18 : Arabic Language Day at the UN
http://www.un.org/ar/events/languageday
Events
218
BC – Second Punic War: Battle of the Trebia –
Hannibal's Carthaginian forces defeat those of
the Roman Republic.
1271 – Kublai Khan renames his empire "Yuan"
(元 yuán), officially marking the start of the
Yuan Dynasty of Mongolia and China.
1642 – Abel Tasman becomes first European to land
in New Zealand.
1777 – The United States celebrates its first
Thanksgiving, marking the recent victory by the
Americans over General John Burgoyne in the Battle
of Saratoga in October.
1787 – New Jersey becomes the third state to ratify
the U.S. Constitution.
1793 – Surrender of the frigate La Lutine by French
Royalists to Lord Hood; renamed HMS Lutine, she
later becomes a famous treasure wreck.
1878 – John Kehoe, the last of the Molly Maguires
is executed in Pennsylvania.
1878 – The Al-Thani family become the rulers of
the state of Qatar
1888 – Richard Wetherill and his brother in-law
discover the ancient Indian ruins of Cliff Palace
in Mesa Verde.
1892 – premiere performance of The Nutcracker
Ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in St. Petersburg.
1898 – Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat sets the first
officially recognized land speed record of 39.245
mph (63.159 km/h) in a Jeantaud electric car.
1900 – The Upper Ferntree Gully to Gembrook Narrow-gauge
(2 ft 6 in or 762 mm) Railway (now the Puffing
Billy Railway) in Victoria, Australia is opened
for traffic.
1912 – The Piltdown Man, later discovered to be
a hoax, is announced by Charles Dawson.
1916 – World War I: The Battle of Verdun ends
when German forces under Chief of Staff Erich
Von Falkenhayn are defeated by the French, and
suffer 337,000 casualties.
1917 – The resolution containing the language
of the Eighteenth Amendment to enact Prohibition
is passed by the United States Congress.
1932 – The Chicago Bears defeat the Portsmouth
Spartans 9-0 in the first ever NFL Championship
Game. Because of a blizzard, the game is moved
from Wrigley Field to the Chicago Stadium, the
field measuring 80 yards (73 m) long.
1935 – The Lanka Sama Samaja Party is founded
in Ceylon.
1944 – World War II: 77 B-29 Superfortress and
200 other aircraft of U.S. Fourteenth Air Force
bomb Hankow, China, a Japanese supply base.
1956 – Japan joins the United Nations.
1958 – Project SCORE, the world's first communications
satellite, is launched.
1966 – Saturn's moon Epimetheus is discovered
by Richard L. Walker.
1969 – Capital punishment in the United Kingdom:
Home Secretary James Callaghan's motion to make
permanent the Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty)
Act 1965, which had temporarily suspended capital
punishment in England, Wales and Scotland for
murder (but not for all crimes) for a period of
five years.
1971 – Capitol Reef National Park is established
in Utah.
1972 – Vietnam War: President Richard Nixon announces
that the United States will engage North Vietnam
in Operation Linebacker II, a series of Christmas
bombings, after peace talks collapsed with North
Vietnam on the 13th.
1973 – Soviet Soyuz Programme: Soyuz 13, crewed
by cosmonauts Valentin Lebedev and Pyotr Klimuk,
is launched from Baikonur in the Soviet Union.
1973 – The Islamic Development Bank is founded.
1978 – Dominica joins the United Nations.
1987 – Larry Wall releases the first version of
the Perl programming language.
1989 – The European Community and the Soviet Union
sign an agreement on trade and commercial and
economic cooperation.
1996 – The Oakland, California school board passes
a resolution officially declaring "Ebonics"
a language or dialect.
1997 – HTML 4.0 is published by the World Wide
Web Consortium.
1999 – NASA launches into orbit the Terra platform
carrying five Earth Observation instruments, including
ASTER, CERES, MISR, MODIS and MOPITT.
2002 – 2003 California recall: Then Governor of
California Gray Davis announces that the state
would face a record budget deficit of $35 billion,
roughly double the figure reported during his
reelection campaign one month earlier.
2005 – The civil war in Chad begins when rebel
groups, allegedly backed by neighbouring Sudan,
launch an attack in Adré.
2006 – The first of a series of floods strikes
Malaysia. The death toll of all flooding is at
least 118, with over 400,000 people displaced.
2006 – United Arab Emirates holds its first-ever
elections.
2010 – Governmental protests begin in Tunisia,
beginning the 2010-2011 Middle East and North
Africa protests
Holidays
and observances
Christian
Feast Day:
Flannan
Gatianus of Tours
O Adonai
Our Lady of Expectation
Sebastian (Eastern Orthodox)
Winibald
December 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Eponalia, feast of Epona, celebrated during Saturnalia.
(Roman Empire)
International Migrants Day (International)
National Day (Qatar)
New Jersey Day (New Jersey)
Republic Day (Niger)
For details, contact Datacentre
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