2008 Russian financial crisis :
The Moscow City Court rules that former Yukos Oil Company vice president Vasily Aleksanyan , who is suffering from lymphoma , tuberculosis , and AIDS , will be freed on bail of 50 million rubles (US$1.78 million). (Moscow Times)
A United States Marine Corps F/A-18 Hornet crashes into the University City neighborhood of San Diego , California , two miles from Marine Corps Air Station Miramar , killing four people. (BBC News )
2008 Canadian parliamentary dispute : Stéphane Dion announces his plans to resign as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada . (The Ottawa Citizen) The Tribune Company files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy . (Los Angeles Times)
A bus crashes 30 kilometers southwest of Cairo , killing 11 people and injuring 30 more. (Reuters via ABC News Australia)
In a Guantanamo Bay Naval Base military commission , Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four co-defendants announce their intentions to plead guilty to charges relating to the September 11, 2001, attacks . (BBC)
Quebec general election, 2008 :
Results of Turkmenistan 's parliamentary election of December 14 are announced. (VOA News) [permanent dead link
Romanian legislative election, 2008 : Emil Boc is sworn in as the new Prime Minister and will lead a coalition government of the Democrat Liberals and Social Democrats . (b92.net) Mircea Geoană becomes the new head of the Senate and Roberta Alma Anastase the new president of the Chamber of Deputies . (AP via Google) President of Guinea Lansana Conté dies at age 74. If the Supreme Court declares the position vacant, National Assembly Speaker Aboubacar Somparé will take over for 60 days. (AFP via the Canberra Times ) An impoundment at the Tennessee Valley Authority 's coal-fired power plant in Kingston , Tennessee , fails, resulting in a large volume of fly ash slurry being spilled onto surrounding land and the adjacent Emory and Clinch Rivers . (KnoxNews.com)
A jury finds five men guilty of conspiring to kill soldiers at Fort Dix , New Jersey , United States . (CNN)
Nine human heads and decapitated bodies, believed to belong to eight soldiers and one high-ranking former police officer, are found in Chilpancingo , Guerrero , Mexico . (CNN)
Automobile dealers in Mexico demand a US$ 3 billion bailout package during the automotive crisis . (CNN) The United States and Mexico pledge $1.4 billion for the Mérida Initiative , a security cooperation for combating drug trade , transnational crime, and money laundering . (CNN)
Toyota Motor Corporation , the world’s largest automaker , forecasts its first operating loss in 70 years, due to the automotive crisis. (New York Times )
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