5 December 1889

A gunman killed nine people at a shopping mall in Omaha, Nebraska.

Gough Whitlam took office as the 21st Prime Minister of Australia and formed a duumvirate with his deputy Lance Barnard, ending 23 years of Liberal–Country Party government.

The "glasnost meeting" took place in Moscow, becoming the first demonstration in the Soviet Union after World War II and marking the beginning of the civil rights movement in the country.

Britain's first motorway, the Preston Bypass, opened to the public.

The "Great Smog of London" (pictured) began and lasted for five days, causing 12,000 deaths and leading to the Clean Air Act 1956.

The 1936 Soviet constitution, also known as the "Stalin constitution", was adopted.

National Guards and Sokol volunteers protested in Zagreb, leading to an armed clash with regiments of the Home Guard and former Common Army.

The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition began in an attempt to make the first land crossing of Antarctica.

Napoleonic Wars: British ships began a raid on Griessie after the Dutch captain refused a British demand for surrender.

American Revolutionary War: Continental Army colonel Henry Knox arrived at Fort Ticonderoga in New York to arrange the transport of 60 tons of artillery (depicted) to support the siege of Boston.

Seven Years' War: Prussian troops under Frederick the Great defeated Austrian forces at the Battle of Leuthen (pictured).

Pope Innocent VIII issued the papal bull Summis desiderantes affectibus, which gave the Dominican inquisitor Heinrich Kramer the explicit authority to prosecute witchcraft in Germany.

The International Olympic Committee bans Russia from competing at the 2018 Winter Olympics for doping at the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Exploration Flight Test-1, the first flight test of Orion, is launched.

Militants attack a Defense Ministry compound in Sanaa, Yemen, killing at least 56 people and injuring 200 others.

Westroads Mall shooting: Nineteen-year-old Robert A. Hawkins kills nine people, including himself, with a WASR-10 at a Von Maur department store in Omaha, Nebraska.

Commodore Frank Bainimarama overthrows the government in Fiji.

The Civil Partnership Act comes into effect in the United Kingdom, and the first civil partnership is registered there.

Space Shuttle Endeavour launches on STS-108, carrying the Expedition 4 crew to the International Space Station.

Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lanka's government announces the conquest of the Tamil stronghold of Jaffna.

Azerbaijan Airlines Flight A-56 crashes near Nakhchivan International Airport in Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan, killing 52 people.

The Budapest Memorandum is signed at the OSCE conference in Budapest, Hungary.

Leonid Kravchuk is elected the first president of Ukraine.

Dissolution of the Military Junta in Argentina.