12 December 1879

At the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Max Verstappen overtook Lewis Hamilton on the final lap to become World Drivers' Champion.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Bush v. Gore that the recount of ballots cast in Florida for the presidential election be stopped, effectively making George W. Bush (pictured) the winner.

Three trains collided near Clapham Junction railway station in London, killing 35 people and injuring 484 others.

The Greek junta announced its withdrawal from the Council of Europe after the junta was found guilty of torture and other human-rights violations by the European Commission of Human Rights.

Jomo Kenyatta became the first president of the Republic of Kenya.

World War II: German troops began Operation Winter Storm, an attempt to relieve encircled Axis forces during the Battle of Stalingrad.

The Holocaust: At a Nazi Party meeting in the Reich Chancellery, Adolf Hitler declared the imminent destruction of the Jewish people.

The Royal Navy destroyer HMS Duchess (pictured) collided with HMS Barham, the battleship she was escorting, and Duchess sank with heavy loss of life.

Republic of China leader Chiang Kai-shek was kidnapped by Marshal Chang Hsueh-liang, a former warlord of Manchuria.

England's worst mining disaster occurred when a series of explosions (depicted) caused by flammable gases ripped through the Oaks Colliery, killing 361 people.

Unable to defend her possessions, Maria of Enghien sold the lordship of Argos and Nauplia to the Republic of Venice.

At the Battle of Nineveh, the Byzantine army under Emperor Heraclius defeated the forces of Sasanian emperor Khosrow II, commanded by Rhahzadh, near present-day Mosul, Iraq.

Dutch Formula One racing driver Max Verstappen wins the controversial 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, beating seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton to become the first Formula One World Champion to come from the Netherlands.

The Paris Agreement relating to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is adopted.

North Korea successfully launches its first satellite, Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3 Unit 2.

Prime Minister of Vietnam Phan Văn Khải announces the decision on upgrading the Phong Nha–Kẻ Bàng nature reserve to a national park, providing information on projects for the conservation and development of the park and revised maps.

The United States Supreme Court releases its decision in Bush v. Gore.

The Clapham Junction rail crash kills thirty-five and injures hundreds after two collisions of three commuter trains—one of the worst train crashes in the United Kingdom.

Arrow Air Flight 1285R, a McDonnell Douglas DC-8, crashes after takeoff in Gander, Newfoundland, killing all 256 people on board, including 236 members of the United States Army's 101st Airborne Division.

The Piazza Fontana bombing; a bomb explodes at the headquarters of Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura (the National Agricultural Bank) in Piazza Fontana in Milan, Italy, killing 17 people and wounding 88. The same afternoon, three more bombs are detonated in Rome and Milan, and another is found unexploded.

Kenya declares independence from Great Britain.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 13 relating to acceptance of Siam (now Thailand) to the United Nations is adopted.

The People's Republic of Korea is outlawed in the South, by order of the United States Army Military Government in Korea.

World War II: Fifty-four Japanese A6M Zero fighters raid Batangas Field, Philippines. Jesús Villamor and four Filipino fighter pilots fend them off; César Basa is killed.