1993 U.S.A. – NAFTA
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) ( United States, Canada, and Mexico ) is signed into law by US President Bill Clinton. In terms of gross domestic product (GDP) it is the largest trading bloc and trade agreement in the world
1995 England – Gang Violence Schools
As gang violence in schools in inner cities continues to be a problem a head teacher ( Philip Lawrence ) is stabbed to death in an inner city London School while protecting a pupil who was being assaulted
1995 U.S.A. – Grateful Dead
The American rock band Grateful Dead announce they are breaking up after 30 years of making music. The news came four months after the death of lead guitarist Jerry Garcia
1999 New Zealand – Cricket
In cricket, the West Indies challenged New Zealand and the teams tied. The Gleaner reported, “On Monday, the West Indies declared at 450 for five after number three batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul hit an unbeaten 216 from 397 balls.”
2000 U.S.A. – 2000 Presidential Elections
The Florida Supreme Court ordered an immediate hand count of about 45,000 disputed presidential ballots.
Republican Candidate George W Bush won the most electoral votes
Democratic candidate Al Gore, received more popular votes
In the American system of presidential elections, the electoral vote system determines the winner and George W Bush went onto becoming the President of the United States.
Florida was still performing recounts on December 12 when the United States Supreme Court decision ended the Florida recounts and allowed Florida to certify its vote giving the result to Bush.
2004 Iraq – State Of Emergency
A two month state of emergency was declared by the Iraq government as rebels stepped up their attacks and the American military fought back. U.S. forces stormed the city of Fallujah and pummelled it with an AC-130 gun ship shooting 40 mm cannon fire.
2007 U.S.A. – Democratic presidential Campagn
U.S. chat show host Oprah Winfrey has appeared at a campaign rally in Iowa for the Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. Over eighteen thousand people have attended the event in the state capital, Des Moines. The Clinton campaign has come up with a counter-programming move to drag press attention away from the Obama/Oprah rallies in Iowa by finally bringing Chelsea Clinton onto the stump..
2008 Cuba – The Declaration of Santiago de Cuba
The leaders of the Caribbean states have called Barack Obama to lift the decades-old American trade embargo against Cuba. The call comes during the one-day summit between Cuba and the Caribbean regional trade bloc, Caricom. The serving president of Caricom, Antigua’s Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer, asks for the U.S. embargo to be “relegated to history.”
2009 United States – The reparation of royalties to Native Americans
The Obama administration has announced that it would pay Native Americans $3.4 billion to settle a class-action lawsuit that claims the federal government cheated them for more than a century of royalties for oil, mineral and other leases. This settlement will be ending a thirteen-year legal battle that has led to 3,600 filings, millions of pages of discovery documents and eleven separate appellate decisions. It is the largest settlement Native Americans have ever received from the federal government, and eclipses the sum of all previous settlements. The dispute stems from a 19th century decision to grant parcels of land to individual Indians and place the properties in trust accounts.
2009 United States – General McChrystal tells Congress how important finding bin Laden is
Finding al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, and rolling back the resurgent Taliban are necessary steps toward winning the war in Afghanistan, General McChrystal has told a Senate Committee. Bin Laden has remained at large for eight years since the September 11th, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington. General McChrystal, who is the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said that the world’s most wanted terrorist is ‘an iconic figure’ whose survival ’emboldens al-Qaeda as a franchising organization across the world.’ ‘It would not defeat al-Qaeda to have him captured or killed, but I don’t think we can finally defeat al-Qaeda until he is finally captured or killed.’ He continued by saying that if bin Laden is hiding across the border, ‘It is outside of my mandate.’
2011 United States – Dover Air Base Military Mortuary Dumped 274 US Troops Remains at Landfill
8th December, 2011 : In November 2011, The Washington Post revealed that the Dover Air Base had been disposing of military remains in a Virginia landfill but did not know how many remains were involved. The newspaper discovered that data from the US Air Force revealed that between 2004 and 2008 274 military personnel’s remains had been taken to a landfill after cremation. The newspaper also stated that another 1,762 remains had been disposed of in the same manner but could not be identified because they were too damaged. The US Defense Secretary, Leon Panetta ordered a special review after news of this was released.
2012 Cambodia – Market Fire Kills Eight
A market fire caused by an electrical fault in the town of Siem Reap in Cambodia killed eight people including four children. .
2013 United Kingdom – Singer Susan Boyle Announces Asperger’s Diagnosis
Britain’s Got Talent singer Susan Boyle announced that she had been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome. While Boyle says this diagnosis will not change her life she believes that it gives her a greater understanding of herself, having been previously diagnosed with brain damage at birth.
