On December 11

Urfan Sharif and Beinash Batool were found guilty of the murder of Sara Sharif, and were sentenced to life imprisonment.

American stockbroker Bernie Madoff was arrested and charged with securities fraud in a $64.8 billion Ponzi scheme, the largest in history.

Criticized worldwide as a "meeting of Holocaust deniers", the International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust opened in Tehran.

The first action in the Mexican drug war began as President Felipe Calderón ordered Mexican soldiers and Federal Police units into the state of Michoacán.

Demonstrations in Cronulla, a suburb of Sydney, against recent violence towards locals turned into a series of race riots.

Apollo 17 (Lunar Roving Vehicle pictured), the last Apollo mission, landed on the Moon.

Pope Pius XI promulgated the encyclical Quas primas, establishing the Feast of Christ the King.

Irish War of Independence: Following an Irish Republican Army ambush of an Auxiliary patrol, British forces burned and looted numerous buildings in Cork.

The original Parliament House in Wellington, New Zealand, was destroyed by fire (pictured).

Second Boer War: In the Battle of Magersfontein, Boers defeated British forces trying to relieve the Siege of Kimberley.

The London-based football club Arsenal, then known as Dial Square, played their first match on the Isle of Dogs.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (structure pictured), one of the oldest public universities in the United States and the only one to award degrees in the 18th century, was chartered.

A crowd of 1,500 people presented the Root and Branch petition to the Long Parliament, calling for abolishing the episcopacy of the Church of England.

The Abbasid caliph al-Mutawakkil was assassinated by his guards, beginning the Anarchy at Samarra.