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The ferry MV Rabaul Queen sinks off the coast of Papua New Guinea near the Finschhafen District, with an estimated 146-165 dead.
The Government of Canada introduces the Civil Marriage Act. This legislation would become law on July 20, 2005, legalizing same-sex marriage.
Swiss tennis player Roger Federer becomes the No. 1 ranked men's singles player, a position he will hold for a record 237 weeks.
First digital cinema projection in Europe (Paris) realized by Philippe Binant with the DLP CINEMA technology developed by Texas Instruments.
Apartheid: F. W. de Klerk announces the unbanning of the African National Congress and promises to release Nelson Mandela.
Soviet war in Afghanistan: The last Soviet armoured column leaves Kabul.
After the 1986 People Power Revolution, the Philippines enacts a new constitution.
Reports surface that the FBI is targeting allegedly corrupt Congressmen in the Abscam operation.
The international Ramsar Convention for the conservation and sustainable utilization of wetlands is signed in Ramsar, Mazandaran, Iran.
Idi Amin replaces President Milton Obote as leader of Uganda.
Pakistan suggests a six-point agenda with Kashmir after the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.
World War II: The Battle of Stalingrad comes to an end when Soviet troops accept the surrender of the last German troops in the city.
The Osvald Group is responsible for the first, active event of anti-Nazi resistance in Norway, to protest the inauguration of Vidkun Quisling.
Leonarde Keeler administers polygraph tests to two murder suspects, the first time polygraph evidence was admitted in U.S. courts.
The Export-Import Bank of the United States is incorporated.
Serum run to Nome: Dog sleds reach Nome, Alaska with diphtheria serum, inspiring the Iditarod race.
The Tartu Peace Treaty is signed between Estonia and Russia.
The Australian Premiers' Conference held in Melbourne decides to locate Australia's capital city, Canberra, between Sydney and Melbourne.
In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania the first Groundhog Day is observed.
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs of Major League Baseball is formed.
Pro-Imperial forces captured Osaka Castle from the Tokugawa shogunate and burned it to the ground.
Brigham Young declares war on Timpanogos in the Battle at Fort Utah.
Mexican-American War: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is signed.
Alexander Selkirk is rescued after being shipwrecked on a desert island, inspiring Daniel Defoe's adventure book Robinson Crusoe.
Wars of the Roses: The Battle of Mortimer's Cross is fought in Herefordshire, England.
Nine leaders of the Transylvanian peasant revolt are executed at Torda.
Terra Mariana, eventually comprising present-day Latvia and Estonia, is established.
The Battle of Lincoln, at which Stephen, King of England is defeated and captured by the allies of Empress Matilda.
Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor becomes king of Burgundy.
Translatio imperii: Pope John XII crowns Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, the first Holy Roman Emperor in nearly 40 years.
Battle of Lüneburg Heath: King Louis III is defeated by the Norse Great Heathen Army at Lüneburg Heath in Saxony.
Alaric II, eighth king of the Visigoths promulgates the Breviary of Alaric (Breviarium Alaricianum or Lex Romana Visigothorum), a collection of "Roman law".
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