Historical timeline for December 2

Cannabis is removed from the list of most dangerous drugs of the international drug control treaty by the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs.

Thirty-six people die in a fire at a converted Oakland, California, warehouse serving as an artist collective.

San Bernardino attack: Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik kill 14 people and wound 22 at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California.

Enron files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The United Kingdom devolves political power in Northern Ireland to the Northern Ireland Executive following the Good Friday Agreement.

Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar is shot and killed by police in Medellín.

Space Shuttle program: STS-61: NASA launches the Space Shuttle Endeavour on a mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope.

Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on STS-53 for the United States Department of Defense.

Canada and Poland become the first nations to recognize the independence of Ukraine from the Soviet Union.

Space Shuttle Columbia is launched on STS-35, carrying the ASTRO-1 spacelab observatory.

The Peace Agreement of Hat Yai is signed and ratified by the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) and the governments of Malaysia and Thailand, ending the over two-decade-long communist insurgency in Malaysia.

Benazir Bhutto is sworn in as Prime Minister of Pakistan, becoming the first woman to head the government of a Muslim-majority state.

Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched on STS-27, a classified mission for the United States Department of Defense.

At the University of Utah, Barney Clark becomes the first person to receive a permanent artificial heart.

Salvadoran Civil War: Four American missionaries are raped and murdered by a death squad.

A Tupolev Tu-154 crashes near Benghazi, Libya, killing 59.

Fidel Castro becomes President of Cuba, replacing Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado.

Laotian Civil War: The Pathet Lao seizes the Laotian capital of Vientiane, forces the abdication of King Sisavang Vatthana, and proclaims the Lao People's Democratic Republic.

Gough Whitlam is elected the 21st Prime Minister of Australia in the 1972 Australian federal election, defeating William McMahon and leading the Australian Labor Party back into office after 23 years in Opposition.

Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Fujairah, Sharjah, Dubai, and Umm al-Quwain form the United Arab Emirates.