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1 of 5 | San Antonio Spurs assistant coach Becky Hammon (C) coaches on February 25, 2019, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. On December 30, 2020, Hammon made history as the first woman to coach an NBA regular season game when she filled in for Greg Popovich after he was ejected during a game against the Los Angeles Lakers. File Photo by Peter Foley/EPA-EFE
Dec. 30 (UPI) — On this date in history:
In 1853, the United States bought 45,000 square miles of land along the Gila River from Mexico for $10 million. The area is now southern Arizona and New Mexico.
In 1903, flames swept the Iroquois Theater in Chicago, killing 602 people. The fire led to safety regulations for theaters around the world.
In 1916, Grigori Rasputin, a self-fashioned Russian holy man, was killed by Russian nobles eager to end his influence over the royal family.
In 1922, at the first Soviet Congress, Russia, Ukraine and two other Soviet republics signed a treaty creating the Soviet Union.
File Photo by Molly Riley/UPI
In 1958, revolutionaries under the command of Ernesto “Che” Guevara battled with government troops loyal to Cuban President Fulgencio Batista for control of the city of Santa Clara. Within 12 hours of the rebel victory, Batista had fled the country, with control of the country passing to Fidel Castro.
In 1965, Ferdinand Marcos was inaugurated as president of the Philippines.
In 1972, U.S. President Richard Nixon ordered a halt in the bombing of North Vietnam and announced that peace talks with the Hanoi government would resume in Paris in January.
In 1986, Exxon Corp. became the first major international oil company to withdraw from South Africa because of that country’s racial policies.
In 1992, Ling-Ling, a giant female panda who delighted visitors to Washington’s National Zoo for more than two decades, died of heart failure.
In 1994, John Salvi III, an anti-abortion activist, went on a shooting spree at two abortion clinics in Brookline, Mass. He killed two workers and injured five others. Police captured him the next day.
In 2006, former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, who had been convicted of the 1982 massacre of 148 Shiite men and boys, was executed by hanging in Baghdad.
In 2009, a suicide bomber, identified as a Jordanian informant, killed at least eight U.S. civilians, all but one of them CIA agents, at a base in Afghanistan.
In 2012, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was hospitalized because of a blood clot, the State Department said. The clot, or thrombus, was discovered during a routine MRI while Clinton recuperated from a recent concussion.
File Photo by Molly Riley/UPI
In 2013, four NFL coaches were fired on the league’s so-called Black Monday: Mike Shanahan of the Washington Redskins, Leslie Fraiser of the Minnesota Vikings, Tampa Bay’s Greg Chiano and Jim Schwartz of the Detroit Lions. Cleveland’s Rob Chudzinski had been let go the day before.
In 2016, Indians deposited their last 500- and 1,000-rupee notes into the bank. The government withdrew the currency values in order to crack down on black market and counterfeit currency.
In 2020, Becky Hammon of the San Antonio Spurs made history as the first woman to coach an NBA regular season game when she filled in for Greg Popovich after he was ejected during a game against the Los Angeles Lakers.
In 2022, Britain’s King Charles III announced knighthoods for Queen guitarist Brian May, and artists John Akomfrah and Grayson Perry. May was knighted in a ceremony March 14, 2023.
File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI
