Today's Highlight in History:
One hundred years ago, on December 16th, 1899, Sir Noel Coward, the English actor, playwright¹剧作家 and composer, was born in London.

On this date:
In 1653, Oliver Cromwell became lord protector护国公，守护神 of England, Scotland and Ireland.

In 1770, composer Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany.

In 1773, the Boston Tea Party took place as American colonists² boarded a British ship and dumped more than 300 chests of tea overboard to protest tea taxes.

In 1809, Napoleon Bonaparte was divorced from the Empress Josephine by an act of the French Senate.

In 1916, Gregory Rasputin, the monk³ who'd wielded⁴挥舞，使用 powerful influence over the Russian court, was murdered by a group of noblemen.

In 1944, the World War Two Battle of the Bulge⁵ began as German forces launched a surprise counter-attack against Allied⁶ forces in Belgium.

In 1950, President Truman proclaimed a national state of emergency in order to fight "Communist imperialism帝国主义."

In 1960, 134 people were killed when a United Air Lines DC-8 and a TWA Super Constellation⁸ collided碰撞，冲突 over New York City.

In 1985, reputed organized-crime chief Paul Castellano was shot to death outside a New York City restaurant.

In 1991, the UN General Assembly联合国大会 rescinded⁹废除，撤回 its 1975 resolution equating等同 Zionism犹太复国运动 with racism种族主义 by a vote of 111-to-25.

Ten years ago: Federal appeals court judge Robert S. Vance was killed by a mail bomb at his Alabama home. (Walter Leroy Moody¹² Junior was later sentenced to death for killing¹³ Vance, and received seven life terms on federal charges in that killing and the death of civil rights attorney代理人，律师 Robert E. Robinson.)

Five years ago: The White House and Republicans traded barbs倒刺，冷嘲热讽 over whose tax plan was fairer to the middle class, a day after President Clinton presented a package of proposed tax cuts. White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers announced she was leaving her job at the end of the year.

One year ago: President Clinton ordered a sustained持久的，持续的 series of airstrikes against Iraq by American and British forces in response to Saddam Hussein's continued defiance蔑视，挑衅 of UN weapons inspectors¹⁶. The House delayed a debate set to begin the next day on four articles of impeachment弹劾，控告 against President Clinton.