On This Day in History

The revised Thai criminal code came into force, strengthening the law on lèse-majesté in Thailand to include insult and treating it as a crime against national security.

Three men were killed and two wounded in a mass shooting at a public house in Sheffield, England.

The People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan, which later helped the country become a republic, was founded.

Air India Flight 855 (aircraft pictured) crashed into the Arabian Sea seconds after take-off, killing all 213 people.

The revolutionary leftist Zapatista Army of National Liberation initiated twelve days of armed conflict in the Mexican state of Chiapas.

The World Trade Organization, the international organization designed to supervise and liberalize international trade, came into being, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

Argentinian physicist Juan Maldacena published a landmark paper initiating the study of AdS/CFT correspondence, which links string theory and quantum gravity.

Jeanna Giese, the first known rabies survivor who did not receive the vaccine, was discharged from Children's Wisconsin.

Adam Air Flight 574 crashed into the sea off Polewali, Indonesia, killing all 102 people on board, when the pilots inadvertently disconnected the autopilot.

A suicide bomber killed 105 spectators at a volleyball game in the Lakki Marwat District of Pakistan.

A suicide bombing took place outside a Coptic Orthodox Church in Alexandria, Egypt, following a New Year service, killing 23 people.

The NASA space probe New Horizons flew by the trans-Neptunian object Arrokoth, making it the farthest object visited by a spacecraft.