the Irish Free State, and W. T. Cosgrave becomes President of the Executive Council. December 9 – Gabriel Narutowicz is elected the first president of Poland. December 11 – The trial of Edith Thompson and Frederick Bywaters ends at the Old Bailey in London, for the murder of Thompson's husband; both are found guilty and sentenced to hang. December 16 – Gabriel Narutowicz, sworn on December 11 as first president of the Second Polish Republic, is assassinated by a right-wing sympathizer in Warsaw. December 20 – Antigone by Jean Cocteau appears on stage in Paris, with settings by Pablo Picasso, music by Arthur Honegger and costumes by Coco Chanel. December 27 – Japanese aircraft carrier Hōshō becomes the first purpose-designed aircraft carrier to be commissioned. December 30 – Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and the Transcaucasian Republic (Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia) come together to form the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. December – The year ends with hyperinflation showing no sign of slowing down in Germany, with 7,000 marks now needed to buy a single American dollar. Date unknown Wracked by rapid inflation and political assassinations, and motivated by hostility and arrogance as well, the Weimar Republic announces its inability to pay more, and proposes a moratorium on reparations for 3 years. Kurd Istigdul Djemijetin, the Kurdish Independence Committee, is founded. The Inter-Parliamentary Union is established. Earl W. Bascom, rodeo cowboy and artist, designs and makes rodeo's first hornless bronc saddle at Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. Vegemite is invented by Australian entrepreneur Fred Walker. The Barbary lion becomes extinct in the wild, with the last killed in Morocco, in the area of the Zelan and Beni Mguild Forests. The Amur tiger becomes extinct in South Korea. Births January January 1 Fritz Hollings, American politician (d. 2019) José de Jesús Sahagún de la Parra, Mexican Roman Catholic bishop January 2 Blaga Dimitrova, Bulgarian poet and politician (d. 2003) María Fux, Argentine dancer and choreographer January 4 – Karl-Erik Nilsson, Swedish wrestler (d. 2017) January 8 – Jan Nieuwenhuys, Dutch painter (d. 1986) January 9 Har Gobind Khorana, Indian biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 2011) Ahmed Sékou Touré, Guinean politician, President of Guinea (1958–1984) (d. 1984) January 12 – Tadeusz Żychiewicz, Polish journalist, art historian and publicist (d. 1994) January 13 – Albert Lamorisse, French film director (d. 1970) January 14 – Guy Stern, German literary scholar January 16