Kosygin dies of heart illness
1980 - Alexei Kosygin, who resigned from the Soviet premiership in October after 16 years as a head of the government, died of a heart attack. There was no public announcement of the death, but Western diplomats said they had been informed of it by Soviet officials. Kosygin had been reported in critical condition for the past several months at a clinic near Moscow. He suffered from heart and circulatory problems, and hadn’t been seen in public since the closing of the Moscow Olympics in August. The 76-year-old former premier would be given a state funeral, possibly on Red Square. Some Soviet leaders, such as former premier Nikita Khrushchev, have been buried, while the ashes of others have been placed in the Kremlin Wall after their funerals.
December 18
1865 - Slavery officially abolished in the US.
1890 - Frederick Lugard occupies Uganda for the British East Africa Company.
1940 - Adolf Hitler signs a secret directive ordering preparations for a Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union.
1956 - Japan is admitted to United Nations.
1958 - First communications satellite broadcast is made in the US.
1961 - India annexes Portuguese colonies of Goa, Daman and Diu.
1969 - Britain’s parliament abolishes the death penalty for murder.
1972 - US begins the heaviest bombing of North Vietnam during the Vietnam War.
1978 - The central communications building of Emirtel’s Dubai branch is inaugurated.
1981 - Unanimous UN vote declares Israel’s annexation of Golan Heights “null and void”.
1992 - Kim Young-sam becomes South Korea’s first civilian president after 32 years of military rule.
1996 - Tupac Amaru guerrillas hold 490 hostages in the Japanese ambassador’s residence in Lima, Peru.
1999 - Sri Lankan president Chandrika Kumaratunga injured in assassination attempt at an election rally in Colombo.
2007 - Jacob Zuma is elected leader of the African National Congress.
2011 - Last US troops cross the border, formally marking the end of the Iraq War.
2012 - Six polio vaccination workers are killed by militants in Karachi, Pakistan.
2013 - India’s parliament passes the Lokpal (anti-corruption) Bill 46 years after it was first introduced.
