Today is Friday, Dec. 5, the 339th day of 2025. There are 26 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On Dec. 5, 1952, the Great Smog of London descended on the British capital; the unusually thick fog, which contained toxic pollutants, lasted five days and was blamed for causing thousands of deaths.
Also on this date:
In 1848, in an address to Congress, President James K. Polk sparked the Gold Rush of ’49 by confirming that gold had been discovered in California.
In 1933, Prohibition came to an end as Utah became the 36th state to ratify the 21st Amendment to the Constitution, repealing the 18th Amendment.
In 1955, the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merged to form the AFL-CIO under its first president, George Meany.
In 1994, Republicans chose Newt Gingrich to be the first GOP speaker of the House in four decades.
In 2008, O.J. Simpson was sentenced to up to 33 years in prison after being convicted of 12 criminal charges in connection with a 2007 confrontation with sports memorabilia dealers in a Las Vegas hotel. (Simpson was released on parole after serving nine years; he died in 2024).
In 2009, a jury in Perugia, Italy, convicted American student Amanda Knox and her Italian ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, of murdering Knox’s British roommate, Meredith Kercher, and sentenced them to long prison terms. (After a series of back-and-forth rulings, Knox and Sollecito were definitively acquitted in 2015 by Italy’s highest court.)
In 2013, Nelson Mandela, the anti-apartheid leader who became South Africa’s first Black president, died at age 95.
In 2017, Democratic Congressman John Conyers of Michigan resigned from Congress after a nearly 53-year career, becoming the first Capitol Hill politician to lose his job amid sexual misconduct allegations sweeping the nation’s workplaces; Conyers denied wrongdoing.
In 2023, Peru’s constitutional court ordered a humanitarian release for imprisoned former President Alberto Fujimori, who was serving a 25-year sentence in connection with the death squad slayings of 25 Peruvians in the 1990s. (Fujimori died in September 2024 at age 86.)
Today’s Birthdays:
- Author Calvin Trillin is 90.
- Opera singer Jose Carreras is 79.
- Musician Jim Messina is 78.
- Golf Hall of Famer Lanny Wadkins is 76.
- Football Hall of Famer Art Monk is 68.
- Rock singer-musician John Rzeznik (REZ’-nihk) (The Goo Goo Dolls) is 60.
- Country singer Gary Allan is 58.
- Comedian-actor Margaret Cho is 57.
- Actor Paula Patton is 50.
- Singer-songwriter Keri Hilson is 43.
- Actor and stock car driver Frankie Muniz is 40.
- Singer-songwriter Conan Gray is 27.
Author
Today is Thursday, Dec. 4, the 338th day of 2025. There are 27 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On Dec. 4, 2016, a North Carolina man fired several shots from an assault rifle inside Comet Ping Pong, a Washington, D.C., pizzeria, as he attempted to investigate an online conspiracy theory that prominent Democrats were harboring child sex slaves at the restaurant; no one was hurt, and the man surrendered. (Edgar Maddison Welch was later sentenced to four years in prison; in 2025, police shot and killed him during a traffic stop in which officials said he pulled out a handgun and pointed it at one of the officers.)
Also on this date:
In 1783, Gen. George Washington bade farewell to his Continental Army officers at Fraunces Tavern in New York.
In 1956, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins, dubbed the “Million Dollar Quartet,” gathered for the first and only time for a jam session at Sun Records in Memphis.
In 1964, police arrested some 800 students at the University of California, Berkeley, one day after the students stormed the administration building and staged a massive sit-in to protest university restrictions on political activity on campus.
In 1965, the United States launched Gemini 7 with Air Force Lt. Col. Frank Borman and Navy Cmdr. James A. Lovell aboard on a two-week mission. (While Gemini 7 was in orbit, its sister ship, Gemini 6A, was launched on Dec. 15 on a one-day mission; the two spacecraft were able to rendezvous within a foot of each other.)
In 1969, Fred Hampton and Mark Clark of the Black Panther Party were shot and killed during a raid by Chicago police.
In 1991, after being abducted and held hostage for nearly seven years by Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, Associated Press correspondent Terry Anderson was freed from captivity.
In 2018, long lines of people wound through the Capitol Rotunda to view the casket of former President George H.W. Bush.
In 2024, United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson was fatally shot on a midtown Manhattan sidewalk. (The accused shooter, Luigi Mangione, has pleaded not guilty to state and federal charges.)
In 2024, France’s far-right and left-wing lawmakers joined together in a no-confidence vote prompted by budget disputes, forcing Prime Minister Michel Barnier to resign, a first since 1962. President Emmanuel Macron insisted he would serve the rest of his term until 2027.
Today’s Birthdays:
- Actor-producer Max Baer Jr. is 88.
- Actor Gemma Jones is 83.
- Actor Jeff Bridges is 76.
- Actor Patricia Wettig is 74.
- Jazz singer Cassandra Wilson is 70.
- Basketball Hall of Famer Bernard King is 69.
- Baseball Hall of Famer Lee Smith is 68.
- Olympic pole vault gold medalist Sergey Bubka is 62.
- Actor Marisa Tomei is 61.
- Actor-comedian Fred Armisen is 59.
- Rapper Jay-Z is 56.
- Actor Kevin Sussman is 55.
- Actor-model Tyra Banks is 52.
- Football Hall of Famer Joe Thomas is 41.
- Musician Jelly Roll is 41.
- Singer-songwriter Jin (BTS) is 33.
Author
Today is Tuesday, Dec. 2, the 336th day of 2025. There are 29 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On Dec. 2, 2015, a couple loyal to the Islamic State group opened fire at a holiday banquet for public employees in San Bernardino, California, killing 14 people and wounding 21 others before dying in a shootout with police.
Also on this date:
In 1804, Napoleon crowned himself emperor of France in a coronation ceremony at Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral.
In 1823, President James Monroe outlined his doctrine opposing further European expansion or colonialism in the Western Hemisphere. The Monroe Doctrine effectively created separate spheres of influence for the Americans and Europe.
In 1859, militant abolitionist John Brown was hanged for his raid the previous October on Harpers Ferry in hopes of inciting a large-scale slave rebellion. His execution further exacerbated North-South tensions in the run-up to the American Civil War.
In 1942, an artificially created, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was demonstrated for the first time at the University of Chicago. The experiment led by physicist Enrico Fermi marked the dawn of the Atomic Age.
In 1954, the U.S. Senate, voting 67-22, passed a resolution condemning Republican Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy of Wisconsin, saying he had “acted contrary to senatorial ethics and tended to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute.”
In 1982, in the first operation of its kind, doctors at the University of Utah Medical Center implanted a permanent artificial heart in the chest of Barney Clark, a retired dentist who lived 112 days with the device.
In 1993, Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar was shot to death by security forces while trying to flee across rooftops in Medellin (meh-deh-YEEN’).
In 2004, Typhoon Nanmadol lashed the Philippines, killing hundreds of people.
In 2016, a fire raced through an illegally converted warehouse in Oakland, California, during a dance party, killing 36 people.
In 2020, The U.N. Commission on Narcotic Drugs voted to remove cannabis and cannabis resin from a category of the world’s most dangerous drugs, in a step with potential impacts on the global medical marijuana industry.
Today’s Birthdays:
- Actor Cathy Lee Crosby is 81.
- Film director Penelope Spheeris is 80.
- Author T. Coraghessan Boyle is 77.
- Actor Dan Butler is 71.
- Actor Steven Bauer is 69.
- Actor Lucy Liu is 57.
- Bassist Nate Mendel (Foo Fighters) is 57.
- Rapper Treach (Naughty By Nature) is 55.
- Tennis Hall of Famer Monica Seles is 52.
- Singer Nelly Furtado is 47.
- Pop singer Britney Spears is 44.
- Actor-singer Jana Kramer is 42.
- Actor Yvonne Orji is 42.
- Actor Daniela Ruah is 42.
- NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers is 42.
- Actor Alfred Enoch is 37.
- Pop singer-songwriter Charlie Puth is 34.