Today is Sunday, Dec. 28, the 362nd day of 2025
with three to follow.
The moon is waxing. 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 1065, Westminster Abbey was consecrated. Nearly all British monarchs since then have been crowned in coronation ceremonies at the church, including the most recent, King Charles III on May 6, 2023.
In 1832, John Calhoun, at odds with U.S. President Andrew Jackson, became the first U.S. vice president to resign.
In 1846, Iowa was admitted into the United States as the 29th state.
In 1869, a group of tailors in Philadelphia staged the first Labor Day ceremonies in the United States.
In 1895, French film pioneers Auguste Lumiere and Louis Lumiere showed the first commercial motion pictures at a Paris cafe.
In 1908, an earthquake in the Messina area of southern Italy killed at least 80,000 people. Some estimates put the death toll upwards of 200,000.
In 1950, advancing Chinese troops crossed the 38th Parallel, dividing line between North and South Korea, to help the communist North Koreans fight U.S.-led U.N. forces.
In 1981, the United States' first test-tube baby, Elizabeth Jordan Carr, was born in a Norfolk, Va., hospital.
In 1985, warring Lebanese Muslim and Christian leaders signed a peace agreement backed by Syria.
In 1991, Time magazine named CNN founder Ted Turner man of the year.
In 2007, Nepal's interim parliament voted to abolish its monarchy and became a federal democratic republic. King Gyanendra was formally deposed May 28, 2008.
In 2012, a 23-year-old woman who was gang-raped on a bus in New Delhi died at a hospital in Singapore. The attack by six men on the woman and her boyfriend caused outrage and protests throughout India.
In 2012, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law banning American parents from adopting Russian children.
In 2014, Indonesia AirAsia Flight QZ8501 crashed into the Java Sea, killing 155 passengers and seven crew. Searchers found the aircraft and bodies floating in the sea two days after it disappeared.
In 2015, Japan and South Korea reached a deal to settle the issue of "comfort women," sex slave victims forced to serve in Japanese military brothels during World War II. Tokyo issued a formal apology and agreed to pay $8.3 million.
In 2023, Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, the heiress to French cosmetics giant L'Oréal, became the first woman in the world to accumulate a more than $100 billion fortune. A year later, she dropped down below the milestone to $75.5 billion, according to Bloomberg.
