16 December 2003

A hostage crisis in a Lindt chocolate café in Sydney, Australia, ended with police storming the building, killing the perpetrator and one of the hostages.

A woman was gang-raped and fatally assaulted on a bus in Delhi, generating protests across India against inadequate security for women.

Amid an outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, the British government banned the sale of beef on the bone for human consumption.

"Dennō Senshi Porygon", an episode of the Japanese television series Pokémon, induced epileptic seizures in 685 children.

The surrender of Pakistani forces in Dacca, East Pakistan, concluded the Bangladesh Liberation War and the India-Pakistan War.

Adolf Hitler instituted the Cross of Honour of the German Mother, an order of merit for German mothers with at least four children.

German-American gangster Herman Lamm killed himself during a botched robbery attempt in Clinton, Indiana, to avoid being captured by police.

Gabriel Narutowicz (pictured), the first president of Poland, was assassinated only five days after having taken office.

Vincas Mickevičius-Kapsukas declared the formation of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, a puppet state created by Soviet Russia to justify the Lithuanian–Soviet War.

First World War: The Imperial German Navy attacked ports in northern England, resulting in hundreds of civilian casualties.

English writer Beatrix Potter privately published 250 copies of The Tale of Peter Rabbit (illustration shown) after several publishers' rejections.

Thousand Days' War: Columbian Liberal rebels repelled a Conservative government attack at the Battle of Peralonso.

Czech composer Antonín Dvořák's New World Symphony (audio featured) premiered at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

Settlers of the Canterbury Association aboard Randolph and Charlotte Jane arrived to establish a colony at Christchurch, New Zealand.

The first two in a series of four severe earthquakes struck the Midwestern United States and made the Mississippi River appear to run backward.

American Revolution: A group of colonists threw chests of tea into Boston Harbor (pictured) to protest British taxation without representation.

Seven Years' War: After a four-month siege, Russian forces captured Kolberg, the last major Prussian port on the Baltic Sea.

Prussian forces, led by Frederick the Great, moved into the Habsburg region of Silesia, starting the First Silesian War.

The last recorded eruption of Japan's Mount Fuji released some 800 million m3 (28 billion cu ft) of volcanic ash.

The Parliament of England enacted the Bill of Rights, setting out basic civil rights and later influencing other documents such as the U.S. Bill of Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Oliver Cromwell became Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England.

Led by Admiral Yi Sun-sin, the Korean navy were victorious at Battle of Noryang, ending the Japanese invasions of Korea.

The Abundant Life Christian School shooting in Madison, Wisconsin, United States, takes place, resulting in the death of three people.

Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan militants attack an Army Public School in Peshawar, Pakistan, killing 150 people, 132 of them schoolchildren.