It happened one 21 December

1946 : Tsunami in Japan


On December 21, 1946 at 4:20 a.m., an earthquake of magnitude 8.5 on the Richter scale occured, 45 km south of the island of Honshu in Japan. The earthquake caused 3 tsunamis that hit Honshu with 6-meter waves. 2000 people were killed and 500,000 others left homeless.

1988 : Flight 103 Pan Am explosion over Lockerbie


December 21, 2010, Flight 103 Pan Am from London's Heathrow Airport to New York's JFK was destroyed by a terrorist bomb over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people.

1994 : Eruption of Popocatepetl Volcano


After decades of inactivity, the volcano Popocatepetl began to wake up in 1993 to finally start spewing volcanic ash on december 21st,1994. The volcano Popocatepetl (smoking mountain in Aztec), is 5.426 m high and is located 70km southeast of Mexico City.

2007 : The Schengen zone expands


On December 21, 2007, 9 new states were added to the list: Malta, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia and Estonia
The Schengen area counted 24 European countries while allowing some 400 million people to travel freely from east to west Europe and the Arctic Circle.

Latest news : 21 December

Happy Pancha Ganapati
December 21 is the first day of the Hindu festival Pancha Ganapati or Ganesh Pancha ending December 25. These five days celebrate the 5 faces of Lord Ganesh, the elephant-headed Lord of Culture and the arts. Each morning the children decorate Ganesh in a different color.
December 21 is yellow. This is the day when the family must come together to restore harmony and reduce tension.
Winter solstice in the northern hemisphere
The winter solstice occurs between the 20th and the 23rd of December. It occurs when the angle of the sun reaches -23.5 ° that is to say when the North Pole is tilted 23.5 degrees relative to the sun. At that time, all that is beyond 66.5 ° N is in the dark.
This year's winter solstice will occur on December 21 at 11:38 p.m., Coordinated Universal Time.

Quote of the day : 21 December

Baltasar Gracian Y Morales, écrivain Espagnol
The first sign of ignorance is to assume that we know.

Birthdays : 21 December

Benjamin Disraeli, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1804)
U. R. Ananthamurthy, Indian writer (1932)
John G. Avildsen, American filmmaker (1935)
Jane Fonda, American director (1937)
Jean-François Théodore, French financial (1942)
Hu Jintao, Chinese president (1942)
Samuel L. Jackson, American director and actor (1948)
Florence Griffith Joyner, Athlete (1959)
Kiefer Sutherland, Actor (1966)
Mikhail Saakashvili, President of Georgia (1967)
Julie Delpy, Actress (1969)
Matthieu Chedid alias M, Auteur, compositeur et chanteur français (1971)

They left us one 21 December

Marguerite de Navarre, Queen of France (1549)
Ledru-Rollin, French statesman (1874)
Knud Johan Victor Rasmussen, Polar explorer (1933)
Franck Kellogg, American diplomat and statesman (1937)
Francis Scott Fitzgerald, American writer (1940)
George S. Patton, U.S .general (1945)
Pierre Louki, Author, composer and singer French (2006)
Jean-François Rémi, French actor and director (2007)

Tip of the Day : 21 December

To stop crying when you peel your onions!


Before you start cutting onions, take a sip of water you keep in your mouth until you finish!

* Warning

Vue mer : crédit photo Aseed