December 12
Published in On this Day listing- 1971 John Barnhill (65), a Unionist senator in the Stormont parliament and businessman, was shot dead by the Official IRA at his home near Strabane, Co. Tyrone.
- 2000 With just five more weeks in office, US President Bill Clinton landed in Dublin on his third visit to Ireland. From there he proceeded to an open-air rally in Dundalk and then on to Belfast for talks with the political parties on the contentious issues of decommissioning and policing.
- 1964 The Republic of Kenya was declared, with Jomo Kenyatta as president.
- 1917 In the worst rail disaster in history, 543 French troops were killed when their train derailed near the entrance to the Mount Cenis tunnel in Modane, France
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