December
20
International Human Solidarity Day
The General Assembly, on 22 December 2005, by resolution
60/209 identified solidarity as one of the fundamental
and universal values that should underlie relations
between peoples in the Twenty-first century, and
in that regard decided to proclaim 20 December of
each year International Human Solidarity Day.
At
the World Summit for Social Development, Governments
committed themselves to the eradication of poverty
as an ethical, social, political and economic imperative
of humankind.
By
resolution 57/265 the General Assembly, on 20 December
2002, established the World Solidarity Fund, which
was set up in February 2003 as a trust fund of the
United Nations Development Programme. Its objective
is to eradicate poverty and promote human and social
development in developing countries, in particular
among the poorest segments of their populations.
Through
initiatives such as the establishment of the World
Solidarity Fund to eradicate poverty and the proclamation
of International Human Solidarity Day, the concept
of solidarity was promoted as crucial in the fight
against poverty and in the involvement of all relevant
stakeholders.
International
Human Solidarity Day serves to remind us about the
importance of solidarity for the achievement of
the international agreements on social development,
including programmes of action of international
conferences and multilateral accords.
2010
theme: Reaching Out to Our Neighbours
The theme for the 2010 International Human Solidarity
Day is: "Reach out to our neighbours,"
to highlight the fact that despite the encouraging
signs of progress made towards the achievement of
the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), deep disparities
remain, among and within countries.
Events
69
– Vespasian, formerly a general under Nero, enters
Rome to claim the title of emperor.
217 – The papacy of Zephyrinus ends. Callixtus I
is elected as the sixteenth pope, but is opposed
by the theologian Hippolytus who accuses him of
laxity and of being a Modalist, one who denies any
distinction between the three persons of the Trinity.
1192 – Richard the Lion-Heart is captured and imprisoned
by Leopold V of Austria on his way home to England
after signing a treaty with Saladin ending the Third
crusade.
1522 – Siege of Rhodes: Suleiman the Magnificent
accepts the surrender of the surviving Knights of
Rhodes, who are allowed to evacuate. They eventually
settle on Malta and become known as the Knights
of Malta.
1606 – The Virginia Company loads three ships with
settlers and sets sail to establish Jamestown, Virginia,
the first permanent English settlement in the Americas.
1803 – The Louisiana Purchase is completed at a
ceremony in New Orleans.
1808 – Peninsular War: The Siege of Zaragoza begins.
1860 – South Carolina becomes the first state to
attempt to secede from the United States.
1915 – World War I: Last Australian troops evacuated
from Gallipoli.
1917 – Cheka, the first Soviet secret police, is
founded.
1924 – Hitler is released from Landsberg Prison
1941 – World War II: First battle of the American
Volunteer Group, better known as the "Flying
Tigers" in Kunming, China.
1942 – World War II: Bombing of Calcutta by the
Japanese.
1946 – The popular Christmas film It's a Wonderful
Life is first released in New York City.
1951 – The EBR-1 in Arco, Idaho becomes the first
nuclear power plant to generate electricity. The
electricity powered four light bulbs.
1952 – United States Air Force C-124 crashes and
burns in Moses Lake, Washington killing 87.
1955 – Cardiff is proclaimed the capital city of
Wales, United Kingdom.
1959 – The Walker family murders are committed.
1960 – National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam
is formed.
1968 – The Zodiac Killer kills Betty Lou Jenson
and David Faraday in Vallejo, California.
1971 – Zulfikar Ali Bhutto takes over as the fourth
President of Pakistan.
1973 – The Spanish Prime Minister, Admiral Luis
Carrero Blanco, is assassinated by a car bomb attack
in Madrid.
1977 – Djibouti and Vietnam join the United Nations.
1984 – The Summit tunnel fire is the largest underground
fire in history, as a freight train carrying over
1 million litres of petrol derails near the town
of Todmorden in the Pennines.
1987 – History's worst peacetime sea disaster, when
the passenger ferry Doña Paz sinks after colliding
with the oil tanker Vector 1 in the Tablas Strait
in the Philippines, killing an estimated 4,000 people
(1,749 official).
1988 – The United Nations Convention Against Illicit
Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances
is signed in Vienna.
1989 – United States invasion of Panama: The United
States sends troops into Panama to overthrow government
of Manuel Noriega. This is also the first combat
use of purpose-designed stealth aircraft.
1991 – A Missouri court sentences the Palestinian
militant Zein Isa and his wife Maria to death for
the honor killing of their daughter Palestina.
1995 – NATO begins peacekeeping in Bosnia.
1995 – American Airlines Flight 965, a Boeing 757,
crashes into a mountain 50 km north of Cali, Colombia
killing 160.
1996 – NeXT merges with Apple Computer, starting
the path to Mac OS X.
1999 – Macau is handed over to the People's Republic
of China by Portugal.
2004 – A gang of thieves steal £26.5 million worth
of currency from the Donegall Square West headquarters
of Northern Bank in Belfast, Northern Ireland, one
of the largest bank robberies in UK history.
2005 – In Durrës, Albania was founded Aleksander
Moisiu University.
2005 – US District Court Judge John E. Jones III
rules against mandating the teaching of "intelligent
design" in his ruling of Kitzmiller v. Dover
Area School District.
2007 – Elizabeth II becomes the oldest ever monarch
of the United Kingdom, surpassing Queen Victoria,
who lived for 81 years, 7 months and 29 days.
2007 – The painting Portrait of Suzanne Bloch (1904),
by the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, is stolen from
the São Paulo Museum of Art, along with O Lavrador
de Café by the major Brazilian modernist painter
Candido Portinari.
Holidays
and observances
Abolition
of Slavery Day, also known as Fête des Cafres (Réunion)
Christian Feast Day:
Dominic of Silos
O Clavis
Ursicinus of Saint-Ursanne
Earliest date for Winter solstice's eve:
Yalda (Iran)
International Human Solidarity Day (International)
Macau Special Administrative Region Establishment
Day (Macau)
Bo Aung Kyaw Day (Burma)
For details, contact Datacentre
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