TODAY IN HISTORY: 13 December 2003; Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein captured

On this day in 2003, after spending nine months on the run, former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is captured. Saddam’s downfall started in 2003, when the United States led an invasion force into Iraq to topple his government, after he had controlled Iraq for more that two decades.

Born in 1937 into a poor family in Tikrit, 100 miles outside of Baghdad, Saddam Hussein joined the now infamous Baath party as a teenager which he would later lead. He took part in several coup attempts and finally helped to install his cousin, Aḥmad Ḥasan al-Bakr as a dictator of Iraq in July 1968. Saddam took over for his cousin 11 years later. During his 24 years in office, Saddam’s secret police, charged with protecting his power, terrorized the public, ignoring the human rights of the nation’s citizens. While many of his people faced poverty, he lived in incredible luxury, building more than 20 lavish palaces throughout the country. Obsessed with security, he is said to have moved among them often, always sleeping in secret locations.

In the early 1980s, Saddam involved his country in an eight-year war with Iran, which is estimated to have taken more than a million lives on both sides. He is alleged to have used nerve agents and mustard gas on Iranian soldiers during the conflict, as well as chemical weapons on Iraq’s own Kurdish population in northern Iraq in 1988. After he invaded Kuwait in 1990, a U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq in 1991, forcing the dictator’s army to leave its smaller neighbor, but failing to remove Saddam from power. Throughout the 1990s, Saddam faced both U.N. economic sanctions and air strikes aimed at crippling his ability to produce chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons. With Iraq continuing to face allegations of illegal oil sales and weapons-building, the United States again invaded the country in March 2003, this time with the expressed purpose of ousting Saddam and his regime.

Despite proclaiming in early March 2003 that, “it is without doubt that the faithful will be victorious against aggression,” Saddam went into hiding soon after the American invasion, speaking to his people only through an occasional audiotape, and his government soon fell. After declaring Saddam the most important of a list of his regime’s 55 most-wanted members, the United States began an intense search for the former leader and his closest advisors. On July 22, 2003, Saddam’s sons, Uday and Qusay, who many believe he was grooming to one day fill his shoes, were killed when U.S. soldiers raided a villa in which they were staying in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.

Five months later, on December 13, 2003, U.S. soldiers found Saddam Hussein hiding in a six-to-eight-foot deep hole, nine miles outside his hometown of Tikrit. The man once obsessed with hygiene was found to be unkempt, with a bushy beard and matted hair. He did not resist and was uninjured during the arrest. A soldier at the scene described him as “a man resigned to his fate.”

After standing trial, he was executed on December 30, 2006. Despite a prolonged search, weapons of mass destruction were never found in Iraq.

TODAY IN HISTORY: 13 DECEMBER 2019; Swedish teen climate activist, Greta Thunberg named Time’s Person of the Year

On this day in 2019, a 16-year old climate activist, Greta Thunberg is named Time magazine's Person of the Year. The Swedish teen became the first Person of the Year to be born in the 21st century and the youngest ever to receive the honor.

Thunberg took to activism early, convincing her parents to become vegans, reduce their carbon footprint and avoid flying. In 2018, inspired by teenage gun control activists in the United States, she began a school strike that spread across Sweden and to other European countries. Before long, Thunberg was giving speeches throughout Europe and had become one of the most recognizable faces of climate activism. Thunberg delivered her message with a sense of urgency—"Our house is on fire," she said—that struck a chord with the public, particularly because it came from a child.

In August 2019, Thunberg sailed a solar-powered racing yacht across the Atlantic Ocean to promote carbon-neutral transit. After arriving in New York, she testified before the United States Congress and the U.N. Climate Action Summit, where she was characteristically blunt: "You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I'm one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction. And all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!"

Though Thunberg's message and mannerisms offended many on the right, her activism has made waves the world over. The Time cover announcing her as Person of the Year also touted "The Power of Youth," presaging the advent of the Sunrise Movement and other youth-led climate activism in the United States and across the world.

Author:

History.com Editors

TODAY IN HISTORY: 12 December 1991; Nigeria Capital relocates to Abuja

On this day 31 years ago, Nigerian military ruler, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida physically moved the seat of power from Lagos to Abuja. Lagos had functioned as Nigeria’s political and economic capital and served as the country’s center of power from 1914 to 1991.

On 3 February 1976, General Murtala Muhammed announced that the Federal Capital would in the future move to a federal territory location of about 8,000 square kilometres in the central part of the country. But the idea was not implemented until 1991, under military President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida.

Several nations have experimented with moving their capital cities around the globe. Brazil, for example, relocated its capital from Rio de Janeiro to the purpose-built Brasilia in 1961; Kazakhstan moved its capital from Almaty to Astana in 1997; and Cote d’Ivoire transferred its capital from Abijan to Yamoussoukro in 1983. Nigeria shifted its capital from Lagos to Abuja in 1991, joining the group of nations that had previously relocated their capital cities for various reasons.

To actualise the idea, General Murtala Mohammed’s military government, formed a 7-person panel with Dr. Akinola Aguda as its chairman to study the question of Nigeria’s future capital city. The Federal Capital Development Authority was founded by Military Decree No. 6 of 1976 to oversee the planning, designing, and development of the Federal Capital Territory at the recommendation of the panel following its study (FCT).

The unsuccessful but brutal coup of 1976 that took his life prevented the Murtala administration from finishing what it had begun. While succeeding governments made their contributions during their terms in office, it wasn’t until the military regime of General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida that the ideal became a reality in 1991.

TODAY IN HISTORY: 12 December 1913; Stolen “Mona Lisa” retrieved in Florence

On this day in 1913, two years after it was stolen from the Louvre Museum in Paris, Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece, The Mona Lisa is reclaimed inside Italian waiter Vincenzo Peruggia’s hotel room in Florence. Peruggia had previously worked at the Louvre and had participated in the heist with a group of accomplices dressed as Louvre janitors on the morning of August 21, 1911.

Leonardo da Vinci, one of the great Italian Renaissance painters, completed The Mona Lisa, a portrait of the wife of wealthy Florentine citizen Francesco del Gioconda, in 1504. The painting, also known as La Gioconda, depicts the figure of a woman with an enigmatic facial expression that is both aloof and alluring, seated before a visionary landscape.

After the recovery of The Mona Lisa, Peruggia was convicted in Italy of the robbery and spent 14 months in jail. The Mona Lisa was eventually returned to the Louvre, and remains till date, exhibited behind bulletproof glass. It is arguably the most famous painting in the world and is seen by millions of visitors every year.

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History.com Editors

TODAY IN HISTORY: 12 December 1963; Kenya attains independence from Britain

On this day in 1963, Kenya gains long-awaited independence from Britain after nearly 80 years of British Colonial rule. The East African nation is freed from its colonial oppressors, but its struggle for democracy is far from over. 

A decade before, in 1952, a rebellion known the Mau Mau Uprising had shaken the British colony. Apart from the uprising costs British an estimated £55 million to curb the upheaval, they also carried out massacres of civilians, forced several hundred thousand Kenyans into concentration camps, and suspended civil liberties in some cities. The war ended in the imprisonment and execution of many of the rebels, but the British also understood that things had permanently changed. The colonial government introduced reforms making it easier for Kenyans to own land and grow coffee, a major cash crop previously reserved for European settlers. Kenyans were allowed to be elected to the Legislative Council beginning in 1957. With nationalist movements sweeping across the continent and with Britain no longer financially or militarily capable of sustaining its empire, the British government and representatives from the Kenyan independence movement met in 1960 to negotiate independence.

The agreement led to a 66-seat Legislative Council, with 33 seats reserved for Black Kenyans and 20 for other ethnic groups. Jomo Kenyatta, a former leader of the Kenya African National Union whom the British had imprisoned on false charges after the Mau Mau Uprising, was sworn in as Kenya’s Prime Minister on June 1, 1963, in preparation for the transition to independence. The new nation’s flag was designed on that of the Union and featured a Masai shield at its center.

Kenya’s problems did not end with independence. Fighting with ethnic Somali rebels in the north continued from the time of independence until 1969, and Kenyatta introduced a one-party rule, that led to a corrupt and autocratic government until his death in 1978. Questions about the fairness of its elections continue to plague the country, which instituted a new constitution in 2010. Kenyatta’s son, Uhuru, served as the fourth president of Kenya between 2013 and September 2022. The current president, William Ruto became fifth president on September 13, 2022.

TODAY IN HISTORY: 11th December 1969; Soviets proclaim nudity a sign of “western decadence”

On this day in 1969, the secretary of the Moscow writer’s union declares that nudity as displayed in the popular play Oh! Calcutta! is a sign of decadence in Western culture. More disturbing, he claimed, was the fact that this “bourgeois” thinking was infecting Russian youth.

Sergei Mikhailkov, best known for writing books for children in Russia, lashed out at the Broadway show (where performers were seen in their “birthday suits”), and pornography in general. Such exhibitions were “a general striptease—that is one of the slogans of modern bourgeois art.” It was unfortunate, he lamented, that even Russian youth were becoming enamored of such decadence. Mikhailkov bemoaned the fact that young people in the Soviet Union were more familiar with “the theater of the absurd and the novel without a hero and all kinds of modern bourgeois reactionary tendencies in the literature and art of the West” than with “the past and present of the literature of their fatherland.” Speaking at the end of a conference of Russian intellectuals, he also heaped scorn on Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, whose scathing writings about the Soviet police state earned him the enmity of the Russian government. Although admitting that Solzhenitsyn was a “talented writer,” he found it sad that the novelist “did not want to understand his role of ‘special correspondent’ of so many foreign institutions and organizations.”

Beyond the unintentional humor of many of Mikhailkov’s statements, his comments revealed the impact that U.S. culture—theater, literature, music, and film—was having on the Soviet Union. In the war for hearts and minds, Western “decadence” seemed to be winning the battle.

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History.com Editors

TODAY IN HISTORY: 11 December 1946; United Nations’ General Assembly founds UNICEF

On this day in 1946, in the aftermath of World War II, the main deliberative and policymaking organ of the United Nations, General Assembly, votes to establish the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), an organization to help provide relief and support to children living in countries devastated by the war.

After the food and medical crisis of the late 1940s passed, UNICEF continued its role as a relief organization for the children of troubled nations and during the 1970s grew into a vocal advocate of children’s rights. During the 1980s, UNICEF assisted the U.N. Commission on Human Rights in the drafting of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. After its introduction to the U.N. General Assembly in 1989, the Convention on the Rights of the Child became the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history, and UNICEF played a key role in ensuring its enforcement.

The United States is the only U.N. member state to have not ratified the treaty. The U.S., which was one of the original signatories of the convention, has failed to ratify the treaty because of concerns about its potential impact on national sovereignty and the parent-child relationship.

TODAY IN HISTORY: 10 DECEMBER 2009; “Avatar” gets world premiere in London

On this day in 2009, “Avatar,” a 3-D science-fiction epic helmed by “Titanic” director James Cameron, makes its world debut in London. Starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana and Sigourney Weaver, the box-office mega-hit was praised for its state-of-the-art technology and earned nine Academy Award nominations, including best picture and best director.

Set in the year 2154, “Avatar” tells the story of disabled ex-Marine Jake Sully, who is recruited to help conquer and colonize Pandora, a faraway moon that is home to a mineral deposit coveted by people on Earth, whose energy resources are almost depleted. Pandora is inhabited by the Na’vi, a group of nature-loving, blue-skinned, half-alien/half-human creatures intent on protecting their own eco-system. (Cameron hired a linguist to create a unique language for the Na’vi.) Using an avatar to explore Pandora because the air there is toxic to humans, Jake falls in love with a Na’vi princess and goes native, eventually working to save the Na’vi from the human colonists.

Cameron wrote the script for “Avatar” in 1994; however, at that point the technology didn’t exist to produce the movie he wanted. In the meantime, he penned and directed “Titanic,” the 1997 blockbuster that garnered 11 Oscars and became the first film to gross more than $1 billion internationally. Prior to “Titanic,” Cameron helmed such hit films as “The Terminator” (1984), “Aliens” (1986) and “The Abyss” (1989), and became known for his imaginative use of special effects. In 2009, he told The New Yorker: “[‘Avatar’] integrates my life’s achievements…It’s the most complicated stuff anyone’s ever done.” Among the technologies used to make “Avatar” was performance capture, which turns an actor’s movements into a computer-generated image.

At the 82nd Academy Awards, held in March 2010, “Avatar” won Oscars for best visual effects, cinematography and art direction.

A long-awaited sequel, "Avatar: The Way of Water," was set to be released in late 2022.

Author:

History.com Editors

TODAY IN HISTORY: 09 DECEMBER 1890; British Journalist, Flora Shaw suggests Nigeria named after River Niger

On this day in 1890, British journalist and writer Flora Shaw, who later got married to Lord Lugard, the former governor-general of Nigeria in 1902, coined the name ‘Nigeria'.

Nigeria, the most populated black country and the number one economy on the African continent, didn’t exist until 1914 when three regions were amalgamated by the British Colonial masters.

Flora Shaw combined the words “Niger” and “Area” to form the name Nigeria. In other words, the nation’s name was gotten from its longest river, River Niger.

Over the cause of time, the word Niger Area, transformed into Nigeria. And this has been in use ever since.

However, before amalgamation took place all the various regions existed on their own, albeit with separate governments and separate names.

Nigeria is blessed and lucky to have its origin tied to Flora Shaw who was more than just a journalist. She was a pioneer for the abolition of slave trade which greatly ravaged the African continent and several parts of the world.

Lady Lugard died on the 25th of January 1929, after falling ill with pneumonia.

TODAY IN HISTORY: 09 DECEMBER 1992; British PM, John Major announces separation of Prince Charles and Diana

On this day in 1992, British Prime Minister John Major announces the formal separation of Charles, Prince of Wales and heir to the British throne, and his wife, Princess Diana. Major explained that the royal couple were separating “amicably.” The report came after several years of speculation by the tabloid press that the marriage was in peril, citing evidence that Diana and Charles spent vacations apart and official visits in separate rooms.

On July 29, 1981, nearly one billion television viewers in 74 countries tuned in to witness the marriage of Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, to Lady Diana Spencer, a young English schoolteacher. Married in a grand ceremony at St. Paul’s Cathedral in the presence of 2,650 guests, the couple’s romance was, for the moment, the envy of the world. Their first child, Prince William, was born in 1982, and their second, Prince Harry, in 1984.

Before long, however, the fairy tale couple grew apart, an experience that was particularly painful under the watchful eyes of the world’s tabloid media. Diana and Charles separated in 1992, though they continued to carry out their royal duties. In August 1996, two months after Queen Elizabeth II urged the couple to divorce, the prince and princess reached a final agreement. In exchange for a generous settlement, and the right to retain her apartments at Kensington Palace and her title of “Princess of Wales,” Diana agreed to relinquish the title of “Her Royal Highness” and any future claims to the British throne.

In the year following the divorce, the popular princess seemed well on her way to achieving her dream of becoming “a queen in people’s hearts,” but on August 31, 1997, she was killed with her companion Dodi Fayed in a car accident in Paris. An investigation conducted by the French police concluded that the driver, who also died in the crash, was heavily intoxicated and caused the accident while trying to escape the paparazzi photographers who consistently tailed Diana during any public outing.

Prince Charles got married the Duchess of Cornwall, Camilla Parker Bowles, on April 9, 2005.

TODAY IN HISTORY: 08 DECEMBER 1997; Shehu Musa Yar'Adua dies in prison at 54

On this day in 1997, Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, soldier, politician, businessman and elder brother of Nigerian ex-president late Umar Musa Yar’Adua died in prison at age of 54 years.

He was convicted by Military Tribunal for coup plotting in June 1995 against the government of General Sani Abacha and was sentenced to jail.

Tens of thousands of people turned out in Katsina State, his birthplace and where he was buried to give him last respect as one of Nigeria's most prominent political prisoners, whose death in prison was proved to be a stinging embarrassment to the military Government.

Shehu Musa Yaradua, a former general and Vice President, was regarded as one of the most formidable opponents of the military ruler, Gen. Sani Abacha. Some weeks before his death, General Abacha promised he would release some of Nigeria's scores of political detainees as part of an avowed move toward elections, which he had set for 1998. 

An official statement issued by family members said he had died after a brief illness in Enugu prison.

TODAY IN HISTORY: 08 DECEMBER 1993; Bill Clinton signs NAFTA into law

On this day in 1993, the U.S. President Bill Clinton signed North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) into law. President Clinton during the signing said he hoped the agreement would encourage other nations to work toward a broader world-trade pact.

NAFTA, a trade pact between the United States, Canada and Mexico, eliminated virtually all tariffs and trade restrictions between the three nations. The passage of NAFTA into law became one of Clinton’s first major victories as the first Democratic president in 12 years, though the movement for free trade in North America had begun as a Republican initiative.

During its planning stages, NAFTA was heavily criticized by Reform Party presidential candidate Ross Perot, who argued that if NAFTA was passed, Americans would hear a “giant sucking sound” of American companies fleeing the United States for Mexico, where employees would work for less pay and without benefits. The pact, which took effect on January 1, 1994, created the world’s largest free-trade zone.

Female teacher ‘rapes’ four-year-old pupil in Borno

The Borno State police command have arrested a female teacher for allegedly raping a four-year-old pupil in the state.

The female teacher, identified as Aunty Zara working with Golden Olive School, in Maiduguri, the state capital, was said to have been arrested by the police last week.

Confirming the incident on Saturday, Sani Kamilu, Borno police spokesperson, said it was the victim’s father who reported the case to the police, adding that investigations into the incident have begun.

Hassan Dala, the father of the victim, said he reported the case to the police when he noticed his daughter’s urine was reddish.

“Initially, I presumed it to be a symptom of infection. I took her to the hospital, and they told us what the problem was,” Dala said.

“When the mother asked her, the victim told us what the teacher did to her. The victim said that the teacher cuddled, gave her breasts to suck, and inserted a finger inside her private parts.”

“You have exposed yourself towards jail” – Nwoko slams Wike

 Nyesome Wike and Ned Nwoko

The Senatorial candidate for Delta North under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Ned Nwoko has slammed Rivers State Governor, Nyesome Wike for allegedly causing confusion in PDP since the governor lost the PDP presidential ticket and failed nomination for Vice presidential slot, saying he has exposed himself towards jail.

In a press statement, Ned Nwoko Media Directorate said it is laughable that a man of monumental corrupt tendencies and wanton profligacy like governor Wike, could so unabashedly talk when his activities connote unimaginable scam and fraudulence.

Nwoko, who had earlier called for disciplinary action against the governor, said Wike’s claim on 13 percent derivation payment to South-South region is fraudulent.

He added that the governor is trying falsely and maliciously to instigate the people against some governors in the oil producing region.

The press statement reads, “The attention of Ned Nwoko Media Directorate has been drawn to a cowardly video where the Rivers state governor, Nyesome Wike purportedly made wild insinuations against Hon. Prince Ned Nwoko.

“Characteristic of the garrulous governor, he carelessly dabbled again into the issue of the $418 million Paris Club refunds, a legitimate entitlement of Prince Ned Nwoko, whose patriotic ingenuity, as a time-honoured lawyer, secured billions of dollars in favour of local and state governments including Wike’s administration as a beneficiary.

“Wike had in illogical imprudence, chastised Ned Nwoko for laying claim to monies the international lawyer genuinely earned and approved by the Federal government following various Federal High Court, Court of appeal and Supreme Court judgements, Federal Government and presidential approvals and three separate EFCC reports supporting the payments.

“When has demands for professional fees duly sanctioned by statutory authorities and scrutinized by anti-corruption agencies like EFCC and DSS become “fraud”? We are appalled by Wike’s wicked and despicable wild goose chase.

“Ned Nwoko Media directorate asserts on the contrary, that the Rivers state governor received a whopping share of over 60 billion Naira from the Paris Club refunds to states. Thanks to the sterner stuff of Prince Ned Nwoko who took the Federal Government to Courts on behalf of the states and local governments and won, over the arbitrary deductions. 

“Like discerning members of the public, we are aware of Wike’ s primitive hoarding of illicit loots for elections, a dubious game plan that can only be contrived by a man of opaque character.

“Wike spoke of corruption among some governors. Kettle cannot call Pot black. A man with both hands stained with filthy lucre lacks moral justification to utter one word on embezzlement. To go sanctimonious is unpardonable criminality. Wike, no matter the pretence has exposed himself towards jail.

“Why cast childish attacks against Ned Nwoko, a towering personality who had consummated his career as a world class lawyer in the 1990s in London when Wike was struggling as an obscure worker in a Local Government? Who was Wike when Ned Nwoko returned to Nigeria in 1999 to win Aniocha /Oshimili Federal constituency seat and mount the green chambers of the National Assembly as distinguished member, House of Representatives?

“That he was spoon-fed to become governor through godfather syndrome in 2015 , desperately grabbing public funds to his chest, should not be a license to brag and bully. Let Wike disclose his source of wealth he now flaunts with arrogant vainglorious relish. Can he survive outside dirty politics?

“Wike postures deceptively in panic to cover his tracks on the well known serious open secret of his involvement in national economic sabotage through oil bunkering.

“If the governor’s mischievous vituperations on the Paris Club refunds are off key and unserious, his pedestrian shout on Ned Nwoko’s matrimony amounts to nothing. His false childish tantrums that the man has imaginary “20 wives” sounded like beer parlour gossip, unbelievable from the lips of a governor! How nauseating and condescending.

“Let Wike delude himself in bogus gubernatorial robe. By six months time, he would descend into a commoner, stripped of all immunity, bare from boastful manners and haughty airs. Prince Ned Nwoko, a civil fellow who has never been on the street with Wike would then compel him to answer questions about his litany of lies and corrupt misdeeds. He is poised, resolutely waiting to bring the Rivers state governor to justice very soon”

“Since Wike lost the PDP presidential ticket and failed nomination for Vice presidential slot because of his brash and unreliable temperament, he has been weeping, nagging on Television and every fora. Rather than lick his self-inflicted wounds remorsefully, he chose an inglorious path of blame game and transferred aggression.

“We hereby wish to emphasize for the avoidance of doubt that no external influence whether overtly or covertly moved Prince Ned Nwoko to challenge Wike’s excesses as the Star Prince of Anioma is a man of his own clout, unaffected and independent by nature.

“He is driven by the conviction as a pioneer and strong stakeholder in PDP, that an unhinged Wike, a latter day political noise maker and opportunist has become a power-drunk bull in a China shop who must be decisively handled, before he plots more divisive embarrassment”

“Remarkably, Prince Ned Nwoko with his matchless exposure has all it takes to humble the Port-Harcourt talkative,” the statement concluded.

TODAY IN HISTORY: 26 NOVEMBER 1950; Chinese counterattacks in Korea change nature of war

On this day in 1950, thousands of communist Chinese troops, in some of the fiercest fighting of the Korean War, launched massive counterattacks against U.S. and Republic of Korea (ROK) troops, driving back the Allied forces before them and putting an end to any thoughts for a quick or conclusive U.S. victory. When the counterattacks had been stemmed, U.S. and ROK forces had been driven from North Korea and the war settled into a grinding and frustrating stalemate for the next two-and-a-half years.

In the weeks prior to the Chinese attacks, ROK and U.S. forces, under the command of General Douglas MacArthur, had succeeded in driving deeper into North Korea and were nearing the border with the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The PRC issued warnings that the Allied forces should keep their distance, and beginning in October 1950 troops from the Chinese People’s Liberation Army began to cross the border to assist their North Korean ally. Their numbers grew to around 300,000 by early November. 

Some bloody encounters occurred between the Chinese and ROK and U.S. forces, but the Chinese troops suddenly broke off offensive operations on November 6. This spurred MacArthur, who had always discounted the military effectiveness of the Chinese troops, to propose a massive new offensive by U.S. and ROK forces. 

Alternately referred to as the “End the War” or “Home by Christmas” offensive, the attack began on November 24. The offensive almost immediately encountered heavy resistance, and by November 26 the Chinese were launching destructive counterattacks along a 25-mile front. By December, U.S. and ROK forces had been pushed out of North Korea. Eventually, U.S. and ROK forces stopped the Chinese troops and the war settled into a military stalemate.

The massive Chinese attack brought an end to any thoughts that U.S. boys would be “home by Christmas.” It also raised the specter of the war expanding beyond the borders of the Korean peninsula, something U.S. policymakers—leery of becoming entangled in a land war in Asia that might escalate into a nuclear confrontation with the Soviets—were anxious to avoid.

Author:

History.com Editors

TODAY IN HISTORY: 25 NOVEMBER 1994; Nelson Mandela says AIDS threatens South Africa's future

On this day in 1994, a former president of South Africa Nelson Mandela in London, called for a new war against HIV/AIDS. He argued that AIDS is claiming more lives in Africa than the sum total of all wars, famines, floods, and other deadly diseases, such as malaria.

Speaking in London at the British Red Cross 2003 humanity lecture, the former South African president described HIV/AIDS as a "new war of global dimensions." He said: "AIDS represents a tragedy of unprecedented proportions, unfolding particularly in Africa but with incidence and effect across the globe. "It is devastating families and communities, overwhelming and depleting healthcare services, and robbing schools of both students and teachers."

He said HIV/AIDS is also undermining the fragile economies of sub-Saharan Africa. "Business has suffered losses of personnel, productivity, and profits. Economic growth is being undermined, and scarce development resources have to be diverted to deal with the consequences of the pandemic." AIDS is wiping out the developmental gains of the past decades and sabotaging the future, he told an audience of 700 people. 

Dr. Nelson Mandela also argued that the developed world must join the battle against AIDS more forcefully. "It is no less than a war—a world war that affects all of us ultimately. We are in this modern globalised world, each the keeper of our brother and sister.

The British Red Cross and Mandela's charitable organisation, the Nelson Mandela Foundation, are funding programmes to tackle HIV/AIDS in Africa. A report published by the British Red Cross in 1993, AIDS in Africa: Our Biggest Challenge Yet , revealed that at least 25 million people in sub-Saharan Africa were living with HIV and that in some regions as many as one in four people were infected. 

The work of the British Red Cross and the Nelson Mandela Foundation focuses on reducing the stigma of HIV/AIDS, getting people to talk about the disease and discuss how to prevent infection, and providing home care for sick and dying people.  

TODAY IN HISTORY; 25 NOVEMBER 1963; U.S President John Kennedy laid to rest at Arlington Cemetery

Three days after his unfortunate assassination in Dallas, Texas, the 35th President of United States, John F. Kennedy on this day in 1963 was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. He was 46.

JFK as fondly called was shot to death while riding in an open-car motorcade with his wife and Texas Governor John Connally through the streets of downtown Dallas. Ex-Marine and communist sympathizer Lee Harvey Oswald was the alleged assassin. Kennedy was rushed to Dallas’ Parkland Hospital, where he was confirmed dead 30 minutes later.

Vice President Lyndon Johnson, who was three cars behind President Kennedy in the motorcade, was sworn in as the 36th president of the United States less than two hours later. He took the presidential oath of office aboard Air Force One as it sat on the runway at Dallas Love Field airport. The swearing in was witnessed by some 30 people, including Jacqueline Kennedy, who was still wearing clothes stained with her husband’s blood. Seven minutes later, the presidential jet took off for Washington.

The next day, November 23, President Johnson issued his first proclamation, declaring November 25 to be a day of national mourning for the slain president. On that day, hundreds of thousands of people lined the streets of Washington to watch a horse-drawn caisson bear Kennedy’s body from the Capitol Rotunda to St. Matthew’s Catholic Cathedral for a requiem Mass. The solemn procession then continued on to Arlington National Cemetery, where 19 heads of state and government, including French President Charles de Gaulle, as well as representatives from 92 other nations gathered for the state funeral. Kennedy was buried with full military honors on a slope below Arlington House, where an eternal flame was lit by his widow to forever mark the grave.

TODAY IN HISTORY: 24 NOVEMBER 2003; President Obasanjo says he will surrender Charles Taylor to face trial

On this day in 2003, Nigeria’s President Olusegun Obasanjo says in an interview with foreign journalists that he will surrender ousted Liberian leader Charles Taylor to face a war crimes trial.

President Obasanjo, Taylor's host in exile, has adamantly resisted surrendering Taylor on an existing indictment by a United Nations-backed court but made it clear on Tuesday November 24, 2003 during a media chat that he would listen if Liberia itself asked.

Taylor has lived in exile in Calabar, Cross River state Nigeria since early August, 2003 when he fled, under international pressure, as rebels laid siege to his capital, Monrovia.

If Liberia’s new interim government decides it wants him to face charges there, ”then I believe he will understand sufficiently the need to go home”, Obasanjo told foreign reporters, at his farm in Ota, Ogun state Nigeria.

Asked what he would do if Taylor resisted, Obasanjo responded, ”I would persuade him.”

Liberia’s government has not specifically said it wanted Taylor for trial. Interim leader Gyude Bryant, appointed under an August 18 peace deal, has said he fears war-crimes trials would harm reconciliation in the country.

Taylor, a former rebel, launched Liberia into 14 years of conflict in 1989, when he led an initially small insurgency to overthrow the government.

The UN indictment accuses Taylor of backing rebels in a vicious 10-year terror campaign in neighbouring Sierra Leone. The administration of United States President George Bush has disavowed moves by the US Congress to place rewards for Taylor’s surrender to the UN court.

TODAY IN HISTORY 24 NOVEMBER 1999; Hundreds kill in the Yellow Sea ferry sink

On this day in 1999, disaster occurred when a ferry sinks in the Yellow Sea off the coast of China, killing hundreds of people. The ship had caught fire while in the midst of a storm and nearly everyone on board perished, including the captain.

The Dashun, a 9,000-ton vessel, was transporting passengers from the port city of Yantai in China’s Shandong province to Dalian, near Korea, on November 24. It was snowing and windy when the ship, carrying approximately 300 passengers and 40 crew members, left Yantai. Just a short way into the journey, a fire broke out on board. Although the exact cause is unknown, many believe that the gas tank on a vehicle the ship was carrying may have ruptured.

The fire forced the passengers to the lifeboats. A distress signal was sent out at 4:30 p.m (apparently officials already knew about the problems on board because a passenger had called for help on a cell phone), but the stormy weather delayed rescue efforts until the next morning. Reportedly, Ma Shuchi, a crew member, swam six miles to safety, though many others died after jumping into the freezing water. Even most of those who made it to the lifeboats ended up freezing to death as they waited for rescue ships. By the time rescuers appeared, most could only try to retrieve the bodies from the sea. Only 36 people survived. The fire on the Dashun was not put out until the evening of November 25; the ship then drifted toward shore before sinking about a mile off the coast.

This was the second disaster of November 1999 for the Yantai Car Ferry Company; another ship, the Shenlu, had sunk off the coast of Dalian just weeks earlier. Four officers of the company, including the general manager, were later brought to trial in China.

The capsizing of the Dashun was the worst maritime accident in China since 133 people had died in a ferry collision on the Yangtze River in 1994.

Author:

History.com Editors

TODAY IN HISTORY: 23 NOVEMBER 2011; President Jonathan fires EFCC boss, Farida Waziri

On Wednesday 23 November 2011, Nigerian President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan unexpectedly sacks Mrs. Farida Waziri as the executive Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC and appointed Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde who was the Commission's director of Operation, as an acting-Chairman of the anti-graft agency.

Sources said the curiosity of President Goodluck Jonathan was “aroused” sometime in 2010 when he learnt that Waziri had bought a car as gift for a top Presidency official in a desperate bid to retain her position as Nigeria's anti-graft Czar.

The official in question was said to have alerted the president, who then put Waziri under watch following some other unfavorable reports on her relationship with political exposed persons (PEPs).

Mrs. Waziri was reportedly complaining when she received the news of her sack that President does not have constitutional power to remove her from office, although it was gathered  that Jonathan has relied on Section 3 (2) of the EFCC Act 2004 which states:

“A member of the Commission may at any time be removed by the President for inability to discharge the functions of his office (whether arising from infirmity of body or any other cause) or for misconduct or if the President is satisfied that it is not in the interest of the Commission or the interest of the public that the member should continue in office.”

A government official said that there were “too many damning reports against Mrs. Waziri, both locally and internationally. A recurring allegation against Waziri during her tenure was that she was “too comfortable” with politicians.

“In times past, she wrote controversial letters to British authorities to clear accused persons. In some instances, the accused persons were believed to have drafted the letters by themselves,” another government official said, attributing her removal to “a cocktail of misdeeds”.

US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton had said during a visit to Nigeria in 2009 that “EFCC has fallen off” under Waziri’s watch and this had created credibility problems for the commission among donor countries.