Today in History: 08th December

Today in History: 08th December

• Immaculate Conception: the belief that the Virgin Mary was born free of sin was defined as a dogma by Pope Pius IX (1854)
• John Lennon: ex-Beatle and peace icon was shot to death outside his apartment in NYC by Mark David Chapman, a deranged fan (1980)
• CIS: the Commonwealth of Independent States was established instead of the USSR by Russia, Belarus and Ukraine (1991)