Today is Saturday, December seventh, the 342nd day of 2024. There are 24 days left within the yr.
Today in history:
On December 7, 1941, the Empire of Japan launched an air raid on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, killing greater than 2,300 Americans. The following day, the United States declared war on Japan.
Also on this date:
In 1787, Delaware became the primary state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
In 1982, convicted murderer Charlie Brooks Jr. became the primary U.S. prisoner to be executed by lethal injection at a jail in Huntsville, Texas.
In 1988, a large earthquake within the Soviet Union devastated northern Armenia, killing not less than 25,000 people.
In 1993, six people were killed and 19 injured in a mass shooting on a Long Island Rail Road train in New York.
In 2004, Hamid Karzai (HAH'-mihd KAHR'-zeye) was sworn in as Afghanistan's first popularly elected president.
In 2018, James Alex Fields Jr., who drove his automobile right into a crowd of counter-protesters at a 2017 white nationalist rally in Virginia, was convicted of first-degree murder.
Today's birthdays:
- The linguist and political philosopher Noam Chomsky is 96 years old.
- Actress Ellen Burstyn is 92.
- Baseball Hall of Famer Johnny Bench is 77.
- Singer-songwriter Tom Waits is 75.
- Sen. Susan M. Collins, R-Maine, is 72.
- Basketball Hall of Famer Larry Bird is 68.
- Actor Jeffrey Wright is 59.
- Actor C. Thomas Howell is 58.
- Football Hall of Famer Terrell Owens is 51.
- Football Hall of Famer Alan Faneca is 48.
- Actress Shiri Appleby is 46.
- Singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles (bah-REHL'-es) is 45.
- Actor Nicholas Hoult is 35.
- MLB All-Star Pete Alonso is 30.
- Olympic swimming gold medalist Torri Huske is 22.
image credit : www.mercurynews.com