| 144511 | December 24 | Event | 1979 – The first European Ariane rocket is launched. |
| 144512 | December 24 | Event | 1980 – Witnesses report the first of several sightings of unexplained lights near RAF Woodbridge, in Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom, an incident called "Britain's Roswell". |
| 144513 | December 24 | Event | 1994 – Air France Flight 8969 is hijacked on the ground at Houari Boumediene Airport, Algiers, Algeria. Over the course of three days three passengers are killed, as are all four terrorists. |
| 144514 | December 24 | Event | 1997 – The Sid El-Antri massacre (or Sidi Lamri) in Algeria kills 50–100 people. |
| 144515 | December 24 | Event | 1999 – Indian Airlines Flight 814 hijacked in Indian airspace between Kathmandu, Nepal, and Delhi, India aircraft eventually landed at Kandahar, Afghanistan. Ordeal ended on December 31 with the release of 190 survivors (one passenger killed). |
| 144516 | December 24 | Event | 2000 – The Texas Seven hold up a sports store in Irving, Texas. Police officer Aubrey Hawkins is murdered during the robbery. |
| 144517 | December 24 | Event | 2003 – The Spanish police thwart an attempt by ETA to detonate 50 kg of explosives at 3:55 p.m. inside Madrid's busy Chamartín Station. |
| 144518 | December 24 | Event | 2005 – Chad–Sudan relations: Chad declares a state of war against Sudan following a December 18 attack on Adré, which left about 100 people dead. |
| 144519 | December 24 | Event | 2008 – Lord's Resistance Army, a Ugandan rebel group, begins a series of attacks on Democratic Republic of the Congo, massacring more than 400. |
| 144520 | December 24 | Birth | 3 BC – Galba, Roman emperor (d. 69) |
| 144521 | December 24 | Birth | 1166 – John, King of England (d. 1216) |
| 144522 | December 24 | Birth | 1389 – John VI, Duke of Brittany (d. 1442) |
| 144523 | December 24 | Birth | 1475 – Thomas Murner, German poet and translator (d. 1537) |
| 144524 | December 24 | Birth | 1508 – Pietro Carnesecchi, Italian scholar (d. 1567) |
| 144525 | December 24 | Birth | 1588 – Constance of Austria (d. 1631) |
| 144526 | December 24 | Birth | 1597 – Honoré II, Prince of Monaco (d. 1662) |
| 144527 | December 24 | Birth | 1609 – Philip Warwick, English politician (d. 1683) |
| 144528 | December 24 | Birth | 1625 – Johann Rudolph Ahle, German organist, composer, and theorist (d. 1673) |
| 144529 | December 24 | Birth | 1635 – Mariana of Austria (d. 1696) |
| 144530 | December 24 | Birth | 1679 – Domenico Sarro, Italian composer (d. 1744) |
| 144531 | December 24 | Birth | 1698 – William Warburton, English bishop (d. 1779) |
| 144532 | December 24 | Birth | 1726 – Johann Hartmann, Danish composer (d. 1793) |
| 144533 | December 24 | Birth | 1731 – Julie Bondeli, Swiss salonist (d. 1778) |
| 144534 | December 24 | Birth | 1754 – George Crabbe, English surgeon, clergyman, and poet (d. 1832) |
| 144535 | December 24 | Birth | 1761 – Selim III, Ottoman sultan (d. 1808) |
| 144536 | December 24 | Birth | 1761 – Jean-Louis Pons, French astronomer (d. 1831) |
| 144537 | December 24 | Birth | 1784 – Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna of Russia (d. 1803) |
| 144538 | December 24 | Birth | 1798 – Adam Mickiewicz, Polish poet and playwright (d. 1855) |
| 144539 | December 24 | Birth | 1809 – Kit Carson, American general (d. 1868) |
| 144540 | December 24 | Birth | 1810 – Wilhelm Marstrand, Danish painter and illustrator (d. 1873) |