Christmas Eve, 24 December 1999: Indian Airlines Flight 814, which had just taken off from Kathmandu, Nepal to Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, India was hijacked by five Pakistani nationals.

The hijackers stabbed to death 25-year-old Rupin Katyal. The plane flew around different points in South Asia and Southwest Asia as officials of the government of India and the Taliban negotiated.

The hijackers were demanding the release of three Muslim extremists. Ultimately, the plane landed in Afghanistan where, on December 31, 1999, the 155 hostages were released and the hijackers disappeared into Afghanistan.

In the 1950s, researchers from Quaker Oats Company, MIT and Harvard University carried out experiments to determine how the nutrients from cereals travelled through the body.

Parents of mentally challenged children were asked for permission to let their children be members of a Science Club at their school. Some States also volunteered children who were wards of the state for the program.

Being a member of the Science Club gave the children special privileges. The parents were told that the children would be fed with a diet high in nutrients. They were not, however, told that the food their children were fed was laced with radioactive calcium and iron.

The information obtained from the experiments was to be used as part of an advertising campaign. The company was later sued because of the experiments. The lawsuit was settled on December 31, 1997.

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) also called the Soviet Union, was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991.

On December 25, 1991, Gorbachev, yielding to the inevitable, resigned as president of the USSR, declaring the office extinct and ceding all the powers still vested in it to the president of Russia: Boris Yeltsin. On the night of that same day, the Soviet flag was lowered for the last time over the Kremlin. Finally, a day later on December 26, 1991, the Supreme Soviet recognized the extinction of the Union and dissolved itself. By December 31, 1991 all official Soviet institutions had ceased operations as individual republics assumed the central government’s role.

The Wilaya of Relizane massacres of 30 December 1997 were probably the single bloodiest day of killing in the Algerian conflict of the 1990s. Between 252 and 412 people (depending on sources), were killed in four villages.

On the first day of Ramadan, at about 6:15 pm, assailants, armed with axes and knives, swept down on four farming villages in the Ammi Moussa area, and killed hundreds of people as they sat down to break their fast. The attackers killed families indiscriminately in their homes, men, women, children, and babies, beheading some and butchering others. They threw babies over walls, and reportedly even butchered dogs and livestock. They left only at dawn. The assailants were dressed as “Afghans”. Survivors identifying the leader of the assailants as Aoued Abdallah, called “Cheikh Noureddine”, a head in western Algeria of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA).

Wayne Douglas Gretzky, OC is a retired Canadian-American professional ice hockey player nicknamed “The Great One,” He is generally regarded as the best player in history and has been called “the greatest hockey player ever” by many sportswriters, players, and coaches.

During the 1981-82 season, he surpassed a record that had stood for 35 years: 50 goals in 50 games. Set by Maurice “Rocket” Richard during the 1944-45 NHL season and tied by Mike Bossy during the 1980-81 NHL season, Gretzky accomplished the feat in only 39 games. His 50th goal of the season came on December 30, 1981 in the final seconds of a 7-5 win against the Philadelphia Flyers and was his fifth of the game. It still stands as the National Hockey League record.

Tiger Woods (born Eldrick Tiger Woods, December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer whose achievements to date rank him among the most successful golfers of all time.

Currently the World No. 1, Woods was the highest paid professional athlete in 2006, having earned an estimated $100 million from winnings and endorsements. Woods has won 13 professional major golf championships, the second-most of any male player, and 61 PGA Tour events, the fifth-most of all time. He has more career major wins and career PGA Tour wins than any other active golfer. He is the youngest player to achieve the Career Grand Slam, and the youngest and fastest to win 50 tournaments on Tour.

In 1997, in Hong Kong, 18 humans were infected and 6 died in the first known case of H5N1 infecting humans.

The H5N1 strain is a fast-mutating, highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAI) found in multiple bird species. It is both epizootic (an epidemic in non-humans) and panzootic (a disease affecting animals of many species especially over a wide area).

A bird-adapted strain of H5N1, called HPAI A(H5N1) for “highly pathogenic avian influenza virus of type A of subtype H5N1″, is the causative agent of H5N1 flu, commonly known as “avian influenza” or “bird flu”. Following the human infections of the H5N1 virus, in December 1997 Hong Kong began to kill all the nation’s chickens (1.25 million) to stop the spread of this potentially deadly influenza strain.

The Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity was a guerrilla movement that emerged in Guatemala in 1982.

On 29 December 1996, a peace agreement was signed by the government and the URNG in the presence of UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, officially ending the 36-year Civil War. The Secretary-General of the URNG, Comandante Rolando Morán, and president Álvaro Arzú jointly received the UNESCO Peace Prize for their efforts to end the civil war and attaining the peace.

Following the peace process, in 1998 the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity became a legal political party and won 4.2% of the popular vote and 2 out of 158 seats in Congress in the 2003 legislative election.

Fernando Affonso Collor de Mello, was president of Brazil from 1990 to 1992.

Fernando Collor was accused by his brother, Pedro Collor, of corruption, by condoning an influence peddling scheme run by his campaign treasurer, Paulo César Farias. The Federal Police and Congress began an investigation soon after. Some months later the final congressional inquiry report was released, where it was proven that Fernando Collor had personal expenses paid for by money raised by Paulo César Farias through his influence peddling scheme. Impeachment proceedings were installed in the lower house of congress on December 29, 1992. Collor was impeached, and subsequently removed from office by a vote of 441 for and 38 votes against.

Saparmyrat Ataýewiç Nyýazow, served as the head of state of Turkmenistan from 1985 until his death in 2006, and the first President of Turkmenistan from 1990 until his death.

The Supreme Soviet declared Turkmenistan independent and elected Niyazov as the country’s first president on October 27, 1991. On June 21, 1992; Niyazov was elected as the country’s first popularly elected president, he was the only candidate. A year later, he declared himself “Türkmenbasy,” or “Leader of all Turkmens.” In 1994 a plebiscite extended Niyazov’s term to 2002 so he could oversee a 10-year development plan. On December 28, 1999, Parliament declared Niyazov President for Life; parliamentary elections had been held a few weeks earlier in which all candidates were hand picked by the president.