2004 Dec 2, Dame Alicia Markova (b.1910 as Alice Marks), eminent ballerina and founder of the English National Ballet, died.

2008 Dec 2, Odetta Holmes (b.1930), African-American folk singer, died. Her fame peaked in 1963 when she marched with martin Luther King and performed for Pres. Kennedy.
2008 Dec 2, Canadian governor-general Michaelle Jean, the acting head of state, said she would cut short a foreign trip to help resolve one of the worst political crises in Canada's history.
2010 Dec 2, NASA researcher Felisa Wolfe-Simon (33) reported that a strange bacterium, Halomonadaceae, found in California's Mono Lake, thrives on arsenic and redefines life as we know it. She said the bacterium does not merely eat arsenic, but incorporates the toxic element directly into its DNA. Her finding stirred much controversy. In 2012 scientists reported that the bacteria is just resistant to arsenic and actually dependent for life on phosphorous.

2011 Dec 2, In Florida Michele O'Dowd (67) was found beaten, strangled and hidden beneath the Christmas presents in her Jacksonville home. Authorities soon charged Patty Michelle White (40) of York, S.C., who had been befriended by the victim.

2013 Dec 2, Thailand's PM Shinawatra said she is willing to do anything it takes to end violent protests against her government and restore peace, but cannot accept the opposition's "unconstitutional" demand to hand power to an unelected council.