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A TransAsia Airways aircraft with 58 people on board, en route from the Taiwanese capital Taipei to Kinmen, crashes into the Keelung River just after take-off, killing at least 31 people.
Facebook, a mainstream online social networking site, is founded by Mark Zuckerberg.
The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is officially renamed Serbia and Montenegro and adopts a new constitution.
Unarmed West African immigrant Amadou Diallo is shot 41 times by four plainclothes New York City police officers on an unrelated stake-out, inflaming race relations in the city.
The 5.9 Mw Afghanistan earthquake shakes the Takhar Province with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong). With 2,323 killed, and 818 injured, damage is considered extreme.
En route to Lebanon, two Israeli Sikorsky CH-53 troop-transport helicopters collide in mid-air over northern Galilee, Israel killing 73.
Major snowstorm paralyzes Midwestern United States, Milwaukee, Wisconsin and ties all-time record low temperature at −26 °F (−32.2 °C)
A coup d'état is led by Hugo Chávez against Venezuelan President Carlos Andrés Pérez.
A Chicago Transit Authority elevated train rear-ends another and derails, killing 11 and injuring 180, the worst accident in the agency's history.
In Guatemala and Honduras an earthquake kills more than 22,000.
Haicheng earthquake (magnitude 7.3 on the Richter scale) occurs in Haicheng, Liaoning, China.
M62 coach bombing: The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) explodes a bomb on a bus carrying off-duty British Armed Forces personnel in Yorkshire, England. Nine soldiers and three civilians are killed.
The Symbionese Liberation Army kidnaps Patty Hearst in Berkeley, California.
Yasser Arafat takes over as chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
Lunar Orbiter program: Lunar Orbiter 3 lifts off from Cape Canaveral's Launch Complex 13 on its mission to identify possible landing sites for the Surveyor and Apollo spacecraft.
All Nippon Airways Flight 60 plunges into Tokyo Bay, killing 133.
The Angolan War of Independence and the greater Portuguese Colonial War begin.
Ceylon (later renamed Sri Lanka) becomes independent within the British Commonwealth.
World War II: The British Indian Army and Imperial Japanese Army begin a series of battles known as the Battle of Pokoku and Irrawaddy River operations.
World War II: The Yalta Conference between the "Big Three" (Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin) opens at the Livadia Palace in the Crimea.
World War II: Santo Tomas Internment Camp is liberated from Japanese authority.
The United Service Organization (USO) is created to entertain American troops.
Second Sino-Japanese War: Harbin, Manchuria, falls to Japan.
The Philippine-American War begins with the Battle of Manila.
American Civil War: In Montgomery, Alabama, delegates from six break-away U.S. states meet and form the Confederate States of America.
The first Mormon pioneers make their exodus from Nauvoo, Illinois, westward towards Salt Lake Valley.
The Ohio Legislature authorizes the construction of the Ohio and Erie Canal and the Miami and Erie Canal.
The Chilean Navy under the command of Lord Cochrane completes the 2-day long Capture of Valdivia with just 300 men and 2 ships.
John Marshall is sworn in as Chief Justice of the United States.
The Riobamba earthquake strikes Ecuador, causing up to 40,000 casualties.
The French legislature abolishes slavery throughout all territories of the French First Republic. It will be reestablished in the French West Indies in 1802.
George Washington is unanimously elected as the first President of the United States by the U.S. Electoral College.
In Edo (now Tokyo), 46 of the Forty-seven Ronin commit seppuku (ritual suicide) as recompense for avenging their master's death.
John Rogers is burned at the stake, becoming the first English Protestant martyr under Mary I of England.
In the Thirteen Years' War, the Secret Council of the Prussian Confederation sends a formal act of disobedience to the Grand Master.
A strong earthquake struck the Ionian coast of Sicily, causing tens of thousands of injuries and deaths, especially in Catania.
The coronation of Zhao Kuangyin as Emperor Taizu of Song, initiating the Song dynasty period of China that would last more than three centuries.
Battle of Dathin: Rashidun forces under Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan defeat an outnumbered Byzantine force near Gaza in Palestine.
Roman Emperor Septimius Severus dies at Eboracum (modern York, England) while preparing to lead a campaign against the Caledonians. He leaves the empire in the control of his two quarrelling sons.
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