BITS OF HISTORY (DECEMBER 16)

1965: W Somerset Maugham, English writer, died. Best known for his novels "Of Human Bondage" and "The Moon and Sixpence".

1995: Israel's army pulled out of Qalqilya, the fourth of six West Bank towns being transferred to Palestinian self-rule by the end of that year under a peace deal.

2000: President-elect George W Bush named retired General Colin Powell as his secretary of state, the first African-American to hold a top US diplomatic post.