CNN Interactive - Almanac - December 26, 1998

President Clinton's weekly radio address is scheduled to be broadcast today in Washington.
Boxing Day is observed in London.
Kwanzaa, an African-American holiday, begins today.

On Monday, December 28, President Clinton is scheduled to address an event on the economy in Washington.
On Tuesday, December 29, The Conference Board in New York is scheduled to release its monthly consumer confidence index.
On Wednesday, December 30, President and Mrs. Clinton scheduled to leave for Hilton Head, South Carolina. They'll participate in the annual Renaissance Weekend.
On Thursday, December 31, the ceremonial ball will drop at midnight in Times Square in New York. Sang Lan, the 17-year-old Chinese gymnast paralyzed at last summer's Goodwill Games, will help Mayor Rudolph Giuliani do the honors.
On Friday, January 1, the scheduled launch day for the euro, the single European currency; is today.

NEWSLINK:		NOTABLE:
Today marks the beginning of Kwaanza. To find out more about this holiday, click here.		Entertainer Steve Allen is 77. Sled dog racer Susan Butcher is 44. Former baseball player Carlton Fisk is 51. Comedian Alan King is 71. Music producer Phil Spector is 58. Actor Richard Widmark is 84.

In 1194, Frederick II, the Holy Roman emperor from 1220 to 1250, was born.
In 1776, General Washington's American troops defeated a Hessian force fighting for the British at the battle of Trenton, New Jersey.
In 1797, John Wilkes, the English politician and champion of freedom of the press, died.
In 1890, Heinrich Schliemann, the German archaeologist and excavator of Troy, died.
In 1893, Mao Tse-Tung, Chinese statesman and one of the founders of China's Communist Party, was born.
In 1898, radium was discovered by Pierre and Marie Curie and G. Bemont.
In 1906, the world's first feature film, "The Story of the Kelly Gang," was premiered at the Athenaeum Hall, Melbourne, Australia.
In 1908, American Jack Johnson became the first black boxer to win the world heavyweight title when he defeated Canadian Tommy Burns in Sydney.
In 1936, Gen. Gnassingbe Eyadema, the president of Togo, was born.
In 1943, the last major German battleship, the Scharnhorst, was sunk by the British Royal Navy.
In 1972, Harry S. Truman, the 33rd president of the U.S. (1945-53), died.
In 1974, U.S. comedian Jack Benny died.
In 1975, the Tupolev-144 became the world's first supersonic aircraft to go into regular service, carrying mail from Moscow to Alma Ata.
In 1989, Romania's National Salvation Front named a new government headed by President Ion Iliescu, a day after announcing the execution of deposed dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.
In 1990, Romania expelled ex-King Michael only hours after he had returned from exile after 43 years.
In 1993, four gunmen vanished into the mountainous wilds of southern Russia with a $10 million ransom after a four-day hostage drama aboard a commandeered helicopter.
In 1994, French anti-terrorist police stormed a hijacked jet at Marseille, killing all four Islamic fundamentalist hostage-takers and saving the lives of some 170 passengers and crew.