Today is Tuesday, Dec. 9, the 343rd day of 2025
with 22 to follow.
The moon is waning. Morning stars are Jupiter, Mercury, Neptune, Saturn, Uranus and Venus. Evening stars are Jupiter, Neptune, Saturn, Uranus and Venus.
On this date in history:
In 1907, the first Christmas Seals to raise money to fight tuberculosis went on sale in the post office in Wilmington, Del.
In 1955, two weeks of bloody student uprisings against President Fulgencio Batista appeared to follow the pattern of the student riots that deposed Cuban Dictator Gerardo Machado 22. Batista would remain in power four more years before losing power to Fidel Castro.
In 1962, Petrified Forest National Monument was established as a national park in Arizona.
In 1974, White House aide John Ehrlichman's Watergate trial began in which he testified that U.S. President Richard Nixon was responsible for a coverup.
In 1987, the First Palestinian Intifada against Israeli occupation in Gaza and the West Bank. Palestinians protested and rioted after an Israeli Defense Forces truck struck a civilian vehicle, killing four Palestinians.
In 1990, Lech Walesa won Poland's first direct presidential vote.
In 1992, British Prime Minister John Major announced the formal separation of Prince Charles and Princess Diana.
In 1992, some 1,700 U.S. Marines landed in Somalia to secure the airfield, port and U.S. Embassy in Mogadishu and restore order to the conflict- and famine-stricken country.
In 2002, United Airlines, which said it was losing $22 million a day, filed for bankruptcy.
In 2008, federal agents arrested Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich on corruption charges in a scheme involving the sale of Illinois' open Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.
In 2014, a U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee report said the CIA's interrogation of terror suspects after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks was more brutal than it told the White House or public. The so-called "CIA torture report" called CIA tactics "deeply flawed."
In 2017, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared that the country's forces completely liberated the nation from the Islamic State militant group.
In 2019, the volcano on New Zealand's Whakaari Island -- also known as White Island -- erupted, killing 22 people and injuring another 25.
In 2023, LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels earned the most prestigious individual honor in college football, the 89th Heisman Trophy. A few months later, the Washington Commanders drafted him with the No. 2 overall pick.
