Today in History

December 16

1920 - Earthquake hits Gansu province in China, killing 200,000 people. 1945 - Thailand joins the United Nations

1971 - Bangladesh declares independence from Pakistan.

1978 - Martial law is clamped on Taiwan.

1998 - US and Britain launch a military strike on Iraq in response to Baghdad’s failure to comply with UN weapons inspections.

2008 - A splinter group of prominent African National Congress politicians launches a new party.

2014 - Pakistani Taliban attack on an army school in Peshawar kills at least 141 people, 132 of them children.

2017- Rahul Gandhi takes over as president of the main opposition Congress party in India.