On this day: December 24
POSTED: 10:13 PM PST Dec 21, 2012
UPDATED: 11:00 PM PST Dec 23, 2012
"Silent Night" is first performed, the Library of Congress burns, NORAD begins tracking Santa, and man orbits the Moon for the first time, all on this day.
Eric Camoin/Reuters
1994: Air France Flight 8969 is hijacked on the ground by the Armed Islamic Group in Algiers, Algeria. Over the course of the next few days, three passengers are killed before the aircraft is forced to fly to Marseille, France, on December 26. French forces stormed the plane later that day, shooting and killing all four terrorists and successfully rescuing the 166 passengers and crew left on the flight. A former militant group leader later admitted that the hijackers had planned to detonate the aircraft over the Eiffel Tower if it had taken off again from Marseille.
