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The Soviet Union (USSR) formally ceased to exist on December 31, 1991, just days after Mikhail Gorbachev gave his valedictory address and resigned.
The former sovereign state was reformed into 15 independent countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.
The Soviet flag that flew over the Kremlin was taken down and replaced with the Russian flag in Moscow's Red Square.
On December 31, 1972, Roberto Clemente, one of America's first Latin baseball stars, died in a plane crash aged 38.
Clemente was aiding relief efforts in Puerto Rico following an earthquake, when the plane he was travelling in downed shortly after takeoff from the San Juan airport.
Mystic and royal confidante Grigori Rasputin was murdered in a repeatedly botched assassination attempt by Russian nobles on December 30, 1916.
Angered over his influence on the tsar and his family, Prince Felix Yusupov invited Rasputin to his palace and offered him cakes laced with cyanide.
When Rasputin showed no ill effects from the cake, he was offered poisoned Madeira wine. Rasputin drank three glasses and was unaffected.
The conspirators then shot Rasputin in the chest.
One of the conspirators then drove back to Rasputin's home disguised as him, in order to confound a potential investigation.
When Yusupov returned to this room in his palace, Rasputin leaped up and attacked him.
Rasputin was shot in the head and, finally dead, dumped into a river.
The mystic's popularity with the royals was a cause of scandal and suspicion among the Russian people, with his position galvanising the Communist movement in the country.
After the tsar was forced from power, Rasputin's buried body was exhumed and cremated so his grave would not become a pilgrimage site.
Rasputin received an odd return to the spotlight in the 1970s with the Boney M song about him.
On stage, lead singer Bobby Farrell would dress as Rasputin as he sang about the Russian figure.
By pure coincidence, Farrell would die on December 30, 2010, the same day as Rasputin, in the same city, St Petersburg.
The cause of death was listed as heart failure.
The worst German air raid on London occurred on December 29, 1940.
As part of the Blitz, over 10,000 bombs including the 1st incendiary bombs were dropped on the city.
Buckingham Palace was bombed in the air raid.
This image shows Prime Minister Winston Churchill, King George VI and the future Queen Elizabeth inspecting the damage.
Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother) and King George VI inspect the bomb damage at Buckingham Palace.
AFS firemen tackle a blitz fire amidst the rubble surrounding St Paul's Cathedral, London.
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill inspecting air raid damage in Battersea, south London.
Denise Rossi won $US1.3 million (worth around $US3.1 million or $4.5 million AUD in today's money) in the California lottery on December 28, 1996.
But what she did next left her with $0.
Rossi kept her win a secret from everyone - including her husband of 26 years - and 11 days later filed for divorce out of the blue so she didn't have to split her new fortune with him.
Photographer Thomas Rossi was blindsided by the split but it was only two years after the divorce that he accidentally discovered her jackpot win, when a letter for his ex-wife arrived at his new apartment.
Thomas confirmed the windfall with The California State Lottery Commission, learning his ex-wife had elected to receive the payout in 20 installments of $66,800 paid annually, which were being sent out as cheques to her mother's address in Northern California.
He filed a court injunction and in November 1999, a Los Angeles family court judge ruled Denise had violated state asset disclosure laws and awarded all of her lottery winnings to her ex-husband.
Westminster Abbey was consecrated and opened on December 28, 1065.
The Romanesque monastic church was commissioned by Edward the Confessor, who died the following year.
Here the famous Abbey is pictured circa 1689, showing the exterior of the north front, before the extensions were added, which were designed by famed architect Sir Christopher Wren and later Nicholas Hawksmoor.
Picture here in 1873, the Abbey has become the site where coronations take place, along with all ceremonies of national significance in England - including Commonwealth Day service, Remembrance Day thanksgiving service and the funeral of monarchs, like the late Queen Elizabeth II in September 2002.
William the Conqueror was the first royal to be crowned in Westminster Abbey, in a ceremony held on Christmas Day 1066.
It has been the setting for every English coronation since, except for those of Edward V and Edward VIII.
That includes the 2023 coronation of King Charles III in May - the 62nd British monarch.
On December 27 in 1966, the world's largest known cave shaft was discovered in Aquismón, San Luis Potosí, in Mexico.
"Cave of Swallows" features a 370-metre freefall drop which is favoured by BASE jumpers.