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This week in history

The Independent

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December 22, 2025

Tizane Navea-Rogers delves into The Independent's archive to see which world events made the front page of our paper

- Tizane Navea-Rogers

This week in history

Festivity may be in the air, but the headlines do not slow down for Christmas. The elements wreak havoc in the Shetland Islands as heavy snow leaves communities isolated, while across Asia the scale of a devastating tsunami begins to emerge. The fallout continues from the very public breakdown of the Prince and Princess of Wales' marriage. Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, Hollywood mourns a princess of its own with the death of Carrie Fisher. Elsewhere, air travel takes a dangerous turn, from the Lockerbie bombing to the dramatic rescue of hostages after a hijacked jet is stormed in Marseille. Explore a dramatic week of news, as seen on The Independent’s front pages.

22 December 1988 – Lockerbie bombing

Wreckage lies scattered across Lockerbie after Pan Am Flight 103 breaks apart midair, killing all 259 people on board and 11 residents on the ground. The disaster prompts one of the largest criminal investigations of its time, which would later focus on a bomb placed in the aircraft's hold and lead to years of diplomatic and legal disputes over responsibility.

image22 December 1989 - Uprising in Bucharest

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