28 December 550

Netflix released Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, its first interactive content for adults.

The passenger ferry Norman Atlantic caught fire in the Adriatic Sea, killing an estimated 28 people.

Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 crashed into the Java Sea after the pilots mishandled a non-critical error in the cockpit, which resulted in all 162 people on board being killed in the crash.

A suicide bomber attacked a Shia procession commemorating the day of Ashura in Karachi, Pakistan, causing 43 deaths.

Tibetan dissident filmmaker Dhondup Wangchen was imprisoned for subversion by Chinese authorities after a secret trial.

Somali Civil War: Troops of Somalia's Transitional Federal Government and their Ethiopian allies captured Mogadishu unopposed.

An unidentified body, later identified as Vivianne Ruiz, was found in garbage bags.

American businesswoman Muriel Siebert became the first woman to own a seat on the New York Stock Exchange.

Vietnam War: Viet Cong regiments penetrated the eastern perimeters of the village of Bình Giã, beginning the Battle of Binh Gia.

World War II: After eight days of brutal house-to-house fighting, the 1st Canadian Infantry Division captured the Italian town of Ortona (pictured).

At the general election in Ireland, Constance Markievicz was elected to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom as the first female member of Parliament, although she never took her seat.

An earthquake registering 7.1 Mw struck near Messina, which, along with the subsequent tsunami, killed at least 75,000 people in southern Italy.

The last confirmed sighting of the now-extinct huia occurred in the Tararua Range on New Zealand's North Island.

American Civil War: Union forces defeated a Confederate cavalry unit in the Van Buren raid, capturing three steamboats, Confederate troops, and various supplies.

Taksin the Great was crowned king of the newly established Thonburi Kingdom at the new capital of Thonburi in present-day Thailand.

Galileo Galilei became the first person to observe the planet Neptune (pictured), although he mistakenly catalogued it as a fixed star.

Westminster Abbey, built by Edward the Confessor as the first Romanesque church in England, was first consecrated.

Alaric II (depicted) succeeded his father Euric as King of the Visigoths.

Unrest in the form of mass protests erupt across Iran, the largest uprising in the country since the Iranian Revolution.

Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 crashes into the Karimata Strait en route from Surabaya to Singapore, killing all 162 people aboard.

Nine people die and another 19 are reported missing, when the MS Norman Atlantic catches fire in the Strait of Otranto, in the Adriatic Sea, in Italian waters.

Forty-three people die in a suicide bombing in Karachi, Pakistan, where Shia Muslims are observing the Day of Ashura.

War in Somalia: The militaries of Somalia's Transitional Federal Government and Ethiopian troops capture Mogadishu unopposed.

United Airlines Flight 173 crashes in a residential neighborhood near Portland International Airport, killing 10 people.