Tuesday 24 December is the 359th day of the Gregorian calendar, 7 days left until the end of the year.
Saint of the day: Saint Gregory of Spoleto
December Proverb
The December snow, for three months it does not border (The December snow does not go away for three months)
It happened today
1906 – Reginald Fessenden broadcasts the first radio broadcast consisting of the reading of a poem, a violin solo and a short speech
1914 – World War I: The Christmas Truce begins
1920 – Gabriele D'Annunzio hands over the Italian Regency of Carnaro in Fiume to the Italian armed forces
1953 – In Tangiwai, New Zealand's North Island, a railway bridge collapses during the passage of a passenger train, killing 151 people
1968 – The Apollo 8 crew enters orbit around the Moon, becoming the first humans to do so
1974 – Tropical cyclone Tracy devastates Darwin
1979 – The Soviet Union invades Afghanistan to depose President Hafizullah Amin and replace him with communist Babrak Karmal
1997 – The Sid El-Antri massacre in Algeria causes the death of several dozen people
2003 – Spanish law enforcement foils an attempt by ETA to detonate 50kg of explosives inside Madrid's busy Chamartín Station
2008 – The Lord's Resistance Army, a Ugandan armed group, launches a series of attacks against the Democratic Republic of Congo, killing more than 400 people
Birthdays
Irene Fornaciari – Italian singer (24 December 1983)
Ferdinando Maddaloni – Italian actor, director and writer (24 December 1966)
Ricky Martin – stage name of Enrique Martin Morales, Puerto Rican singer, one of the world's greatest exponents of Latin pop (December 24, 1971)
Amaury Nolasco – Puerto Rican actor (December 24, 1970)
