December 1, 2017, Release of The Disaster Artist
December 1, 2017, Release of The Shape of Water
December 1, 2017, Release of Wonder Wheel
December 1, 2017,
December 1, 2017, The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission gives a go-ahead for Bitcoin futures to trade on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Chicago Board Options Exchange. (Fortune)
December 1, 2017, Michael Flynn, former U.S. National Security Advisor to President Donald Trump, pleads guilty to one count of making a false statement to the FBI about his contacts with Russian officials. It is also announced that Flynn will cooperate with Robert Mueller's Special Counsel investigation. (The New York Times)
December 1, 2017, A 100-megawatt Tesla Powerpack system, which is the world's largest lithium-ion battery, is launched in Jamestown, South Australia. (AAP via The Guardian)
December 2, 2017, ABC News suspends journalist Brian Ross for four weeks without pay as a consequence for an erroneous report on Michael Flynn. (CNBC)
December 2, 2017, The Trump administrations withdraws the United States from the Global Compact on Migration of the United Nations. (Voice of America)
December 2, 2017, Voyager 1
successfully fires backup maneuvering thrusters, that had previously
remained inactive for 37 years. Those thruster firings are to keep the
spacecraft's antenna pointed at Earth, which is vital to maintain
communications. (Ars Technica)
December 3, 2017,
December 3, 2017, The Pontiac Silverdome, former home of the NFL's Detroit Lions and the NBA's Detroit Pistons,
was to be partially imploded as part of its planned demolition;
however, approximately 10% of the explosives do not detonate, and the
attempted implosion fails. (NBC)
December 4, 2017,
December 4, 2017, The Supreme Court of the United States
rules that the act banning most people from eight countries, six of
them Muslim-majority, to travel to the United States can take full
effect pending legal challenges. (U.S. News & World Report)
December 4, 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump signs executive orders shrinking the Bears Ears National Monument area by 85% and the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument by half. (Fox News)
December 5, 2017, Due to persistent high winds, a fire begins and quickly spreads—at a rate of up to one acre per second—near Santa Paula, California, covering now at least 50,000 acres (200 km2), crawling into the edges of Ventura and cutting power to 260,000 homes. 7,700 houses are under mandatory evacuation. (LA Times)
December 5, 2017, Russia names Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
and seven affiliated news media as foreign agents. The move comes after
the United States government ordered the Russian government-funded
television network RT America to register as a foreign agent. (The Washington Post)
December 5, 2017, U.S. Representative John Conyers (D-Mich.) steps down amid allegations of sexual harassment. (NPR)
December 5, 2017, In just a few hours, DeepMind's AI AlphaZero learn to master both chess and shogi, beating top chess software Stockfish and Elmo without domain knowledge. (Critical Hit)
December 5, 2017, A 14-person International Olympic Committee panel bans Russia from the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, after a report finds evidence of systemic doping cheating in the 2014 Winter Olympics. Any "clean" Russian athletes will compete under the name "Olympic Athletes from Russia" (OAR) and the Olympic flag. (Yahoo! Sports)
December 6, 2017, Series Premiere of Happy!
December 6, 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and says the U.S. starts the process of moving its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The United States Department of State issues an internal travel warning to Israel, Jerusalem and the West Bank until December 20. The U.S. embassy in Amman temporarily suspends routine public services and stops embassy travel around Jordan. Embassies in Berlin and London issue vigilance warnings to U.S. citizens. (CNN)
December 6, 2017, The "Silence Breakers", including those involved in the #MeToo movement, are named Time magazine's 2017 Time Person of the Year. (Time)
December 6, 2017, A study published in Nature and the Astrophysical Journal Letters describes the discovery of the most distant supermassive black hole ever, around 13.1 billion light years away. (The Verge)
December 7, 2017, United States Senator Al Franken announces that he will resign "in the coming weeks" amid sexual harassment allegations. (Time)
December 7, 2017,
December 7, 2017, Arizona Congressman Trent Franks
announces that he will resign on January 31, 2018. This announcement
comes after two of his employees filed a complaint about his conduct,
and the House Ethics Committee opened a sexual harassment investigation. (Fox News)
December 7, 2017, The Parliament of Australia votes to make same-sex marriage legal in Australia. (The Australian)
December 8, 2017, Release of I, Tonya
December 8, 2017, Release of Just Getting Started
December 8, 2017, The European Union and the United Kingdom reach agreement on the first stage of Brexit including the status of the border between the U.K. and Ireland. (CNN)
December 9, 2017, Archaeologists in Egypt display items, including figurines, masks and a mummy, from one of two previously unexplored tombs, Kampp 150 and Kampp 161, in the ancient Nile city of Luxor. (BBC)
December 9, 2017, Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield wins the Heisman Trophy as the NCAA’s most outstanding player for the 2017 college football season. (Fox News)
December 10, 2017, Series Premiere of Counterpart
December 10, 2017,
December 10, 2017, Jack Morris and Alan Trammell are elected to the Hall of Fame by the Hall's Modern Baseball Era Committee. They will be formally inducted on July 29, 2018, along with any individuals who may be elected by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. (ESPN)
December 11, 2017, An attempted terrorist attack occurs when a homemade pipe bomb worn by a man exploded near New York City's Port Authority Bus Terminal. Three people, as well as the attacker, are injured. The suspect, identified as Akayed Ullah, is in custody. (The New York Times)
December 11, 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump signs the "Space Policy Directive 1" that establishes the foundation for a crewed mission to the Moon, while also maintaining a longer-term NASA goal of landing a man on Mars. (Reuters)
December 11, 2017, The Thomas Fire is the fifth largest in modern Californian history. (NPR)
December 12, 2017,
December 12, 2017, Unibail-Rodamco agrees to purchase shopping mall owner Westfield Corporation for $15.7 billion. (Business Insider)
December 12, 2017, Voters in Alabama go to the polls to fill the United States Senate seat vacated by current United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The race is between Roy Moore (R) and Doug Jones (D). (CNN)
-The Associated Press declares Doug Jones the winner. (AP via New York Times)
December 12, 2017, This year's Arctic Report Card reveals that the plunge in sea ice extent as well as the amount of ocean surface warming is unprecedented in at least the last 1,500 years. (Mashable)
December 12, 2017, Marshall Faulk, Ike Taylor, and Heath Evans are suspended from the NFL Network due to allegations of sexual harassment. (The Washington Post)
December 13, 2017, Kentucky state legislator Dan Johnson, who had been accused of sexual assault of a teenager, dies of a gunshot wound, an apparent suicide. (AP)
December 14, 2017, The Walt Disney Company announces its intent to acquire a large portion of 21st Century Fox for $52.4 billion, pending regulatory approval. (CBS)
December 14, 2017, The Federal Communications Commission votes 3-to-2 to dismantle its net neutrality regulations. (Wired)
December 14, 2017,
December 15, 2017, Release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi
December 15, 2017, Release of Ferndinand
December 15, 2017, Release of Eminem album Revival
December 15, 2017, A magnitude 6.5 earthquake strikes the island of Java causing massive damage along with two confirmed deaths. (ABC News)
December 15, 2017, A 17-volume report detailing children's experiences of sexual abuse in Australian
institutions is published. It concludes that the issue is systemic and
"not a case of a few rotten apples". It contains 189 new
recommendations, for a total of 406. This report finalizes a five-year Royal Commission inquiry. (Ten News)
December 15, 2017, The most recent U.S. government statistics show a marked increase in the yearly number of deaths by drug overdose. The number for end May 2017 is 66,324, up 17% when compared to the previous 12-month period. (U.S. News & World Report)
December 15, 2017, European Union leaders agree to allow the next phase of Brexit. (U.S. News & World Report)
December 15, 2017, AOL discontinues its instant messaging app AIM after more than 20 years. (PC Gamer)
December 16, 2017, The existence of a U.S. government program that investigated reports of UFOs is revealed. (The New York Times)
December 16, 2017,
December 16, 2017, More evacuations are ordered as surging Santa Ana winds drive the 40-percent contained Thomas Fire, now the third-largest in California history, further westward in Santa Barbara County. (Reuters)
December 17, 2017, Russian President Vladimir Putin thanks U.S. President Donald Trump for sharing intelligence from the Central Intelligence Agency which they say helped prevent a terrorist attack in Saint Petersburg. (Los Angeles Times)
December 17, 2017, François Gabart from France sets a new solo around the world sailing record after he circumnavigates the globe in 42 days and 16 hours in his trimaran Macif. This is six days faster than the previous record held by fellow Frenchman Thomas Coville. (The Guardian)
December 18, 2017, At least three people are killed and 77 injured when an Amtrak passenger train derails on an Interstate 5 overpass in Pierce County, Washington. This train is part of a new Cascades service from Tacoma that launched the same morning. (CNN)
December 18, 2017,
December 18, 2017, Texas Rangers baseball pitcher Cole Hamels
and his wife Heidi donate their mansion and 100 acres of land in
southwestern Missouri, valued at nearly $10 million, to Camp Barnabas, a
charity with camps in the Missouri Ozarks for children with special needs and chronic illnesses along with their siblings. (New York Post)
December 18, 2017, The Unites States vetoes an United Nations Security Council resolution calling for it to withdraw its declaration of a capital in Jerusalem, which was approved by the other 14 members. (Reuters)
December 18, 2017, U.S. radio preacher Brother Stair is arrested on eight charges of sexual assault. (Walterboro Live)
December 18, 2017, President of the United States Donald Trump presents a new National Security Strategy document that labels China and Russia as the primary threats to U.S. economic dominance. (BBC)
December 18, 2017, University of California, Los Angeles, and University of Wisconsin–Madison researchers report, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, that microscopic fossils discovered in a nearly 3.5 billion-year-old piece of rock in Western Australia are the oldest fossils ever found and the earliest direct evidence of life on Earth. (Phys.org)
December 19, 2017, In U.S. college women's basketball, two Hall of Fame coaches win their 1,000th career games—first Sylvia Hatchell of North Carolina, followed a few hours later by Geno Auriemma of Connecticut. Auriemma becomes the fastest coach to reach the mark in NCAA Division I history for either men or women, doing so in his 33rd season and 1,135th game. (ESPN)
December 20, 2017, Release of Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
December 20, 2017, Release of The Greatest Showman
December 20, 2017,
December 20, 2017, The European Court of Justice (ECJ) rules that Uber
is officially a transport company and not a digital service, thus
requiring it to accept stricter regulation and licensing within the European Union. The case arose after Uber was told to obey local taxi rules in Barcelona. (The Guardian)
December 20, 2017, President Trump suggests that the United States could withhold foreign aid for countries that vote in favor of a United Nations resolution calling on the U.S. to withdraw its recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. (The Hill)
December 20, 2017, Terminally ill patients in New Zealand are now able to take medicinal cannabis. (The New Zealand Herald)
December 20, 2017, The United States Senate and House of Representatives pass the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which sends it to United States President Donald Trump
for signing. This comes after a previous and different version of this
legislation was passed by the House yesterday. The law removes the
individual insurance mandate from Obamacare. (ABC News)
December 21, 2017, Nineteen people are injured after a car crashes into pedestrians at the corner of Flinders Street and Elizabeth Street in Melbourne, Australia. The driver is arrested. Victoria Police believe that the incident was a "deliberate act" but not terrorism-related. (The Age)
December 21, 2017, Papa John's Pizza founder John Schnatter
announces he will step down from his position as CEO on January 1,
2018. The move comes two months after he criticized NFL leadership over national anthem protests by NFL players. He will be succeeded by COO Steve Ritchie. (Chicago Tribune)
December 21, 2017, The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports life expectancy in 2016 in America declined for the second year in a row because of the opioid crisis. (Reuters)
December 22, 2017, Release of Pitch Perfect 3
December 22, 2017, Release of Downsizing
December 22, 2017, Release of Father Figures
December 22, 2017, Release of The Post
December 22, 2017, Release of Bright
December 22, 2017, Release of Crooked House
December 22, 2017, Release of Hostiles
December 22, 2017, Apple Inc. faces backlash and lawsuits after admitting to slowing down the speed on some of their older phones deliberately. (CNET)
December 22, 2017, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says he will not accept any U.S. plan for peace with Israel, because it recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital. (BBC)
December 22, 2017, President Donald Trump signs the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 into law. (CNN)
December 23, 2017, The Thomas Fire becomes the largest in Californian state history. (BBC)
December 23, 2017,
December 23, 2017,
December 24, 2017, Officials raise the death total from this storm to 182, with at least 153 people missing and more than 70,000 displaced. (Malay Mail)
December 24, 2017, Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales says he will move his country's Israeli embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. (Reuters)
December 24, 2017, China's AVIC AG600, the world's largest amphibious aircraft, makes its maiden flight. State-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) has spent almost eight years developing the aircraft, which is designed to carry out marine rescues and battle wildfires. (BBC)
December 25, 2017, Release of All The Money in the World
December 25, 2017, Release of Molly's Game
December 25, 2017, Release of Phantom Thread
December 27, 2017, Israel's Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz says that the new underground railroad terminal in the Jewish Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem (part of East Jerusalem) will be named in honor of U.S. President Donald Trump. (Jerusalem Post)
December 28, 2017, Twelve people are dead in an apartment fire in The Bronx area of New York City. (AP via Yahoo)
December 29, 2017, Anti-government demonstrators have taken to the streets of Iran for a
second day, with protests being held in a number of cities. (BBC)
December 30, 2017,
December 31, 2017, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres issues "a red alert for our world," saying that conflicts have deepened, global anxieties about nuclear weapons have increased, inequalities have grown, and nationalism and xenophobia are on the rise. Guterres calls for global unity to overcome these growing challenges. (CNN)
December 31, 2017, Five Douglas County, Colorado
sheriff's deputies are shot, one fatally, and two civilians are injured
at a domestic disturbance call. The suspect was also killed. (CBS News)
December 31, 2017, China announces the country's ivory trade is now illegal. In 2015, Chinese President Xi Jinping and then-U.S. President Barack Obama announced "near-complete" ivory bans for each country. America's ivory ban went into effect in June 2016. (National Geographic)
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