Other Notable Events, December 21

In 1993, Hungary's Parliament endorsed the nomination of Peter Boross as president, succeeding Jozsef Antall, who died in office Dec. 12.

In 1994, more than 40 people were injured when an incendiary device exploded on a crowded subway in New York's lower Manhattan. Police arrested one of the burn victims who reportedly was carrying a firebomb that went off.

In 1995, a commuter train rammed the rear of a passenger train in heavy fog near Cairo, Egypt, killing 75 people.

In 1998, the shaky coalition of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu collapsed when Israel's Parliament voted 81-30 to dissolve the government.

In 2004, U.S. President George W. Bush's approval rating slipped 6 percentage points to 49 percent, a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll said, making Bush the first incumbent president to have an approval rating less than 50 percent one month after winning re-election.

In 2007, Pakistani officials said a suicide bomber's assassination attempt on a former official killed at least 50 people and hurt 80 others in a crowded mosque in Lahore.

In 2009, the U.S. government set a three-hour limit on the time airlines can keep passengers waiting on a tarmac without giving them food or letting them off the plane.

Also in 2009, a truck loaded with fertilizer barreled into a crowded market in the Nigerian town of Allo with an official death toll of 55.

In 2010, a Census Bureau report showed the United States with a population of 308,747,538. California remained the most populous state, followed by Texas and Florida.

Also in 2010, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki was sworn in for a second term after a months-long political deadlock and set up a unity government with representatives from all major Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish factions.

In 2011, Syrian forces battled army defectors and anti-government activists in a blaze of violence with a reported 3-day death toll of 230 people. Western intelligence said more than 10,000 Syrian soldiers deserted.