Historical timeline for December 19

A vehicular attack in Berlin, Germany, kills 12 and injures 56 people at a Christmas market.

Russian ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov is assassinated while at an art exhibition in Ankara. The assassin, Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş, is shot and killed by a Turkish guard.

Spacecraft Gaia is launched by the European Space Agency.

Park Geun-hye is elected the first female president of South Korea.

Chalk's Ocean Airways Flight 101 crashes into the Government Cut channel immediately after takeoff from Miami Seaplane Base, killing 20.

A passenger train from Sucha Beskidzka to Żywiec in Poland loses its brakes while on a steep downhill part of the route. It is stopped in a controlled collision in Świnna by a train travelling in opposite direction. 2 drivers and 6 passengers are injured.

Argentine economic crisis: December riots: Riots erupt in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on STS-103, the third Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission.

President Bill Clinton is impeached by the United States House of Representatives, becoming the second president of the United States to be impeached.

SilkAir Flight 185 crashes into the Musi River, near Palembang in Indonesia, killing 104.

The United States Government restores federal recognition to the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi Native American tribe.

Mikhail Gorbachev, leader of the Soviet Union, releases Andrei Sakharov and his wife from exile in Gorky.

Aeroflot Flight 101/435 is hijacked to China by its first officer.

The Sino-British Joint Declaration, stating that China would resume the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong and the United Kingdom would restore Hong Kong to China with effect from July 1, 1997, is signed in Beijing by Deng Xiaoping and Margaret Thatcher.

The original FIFA World Cup trophy, the Jules Rimet Trophy, is stolen from the headquarters of the Brazilian Football Confederation in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Sixteen lives are lost when the Penlee lifeboat goes to the aid of the stricken coaster Union Star in heavy seas.

The Ms 5.8 Bob–Tangol earthquake strikes Kerman Province in Iran, destroying villages and killing 665 people.

Nelson Rockefeller is sworn in as Vice President of the United States under President Gerald Ford under the provisions of the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Apollo program: The last crewed lunar flight, Apollo 17, carrying Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans, and Harrison Schmitt, returns to Earth.

Harold Holt, the Prime Minister of Australia, is officially presumed dead.