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The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant self-declared its caliphate in Syria and northern Iraq.
A derecho sweeps across the eastern United States, leaving at least 22 people dead and millions without power.
Hamdan v. Rumsfeld: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that President George W. Bush's plan to try Guantanamo Bay detainees in military tribunals violates U.S. and international law.
Naval clashes between South Korea and North Korea lead to the death of six South Korean sailors and sinking of a North Korean vessel.
The Sampoong Department Store collapses in the Seocho District of Seoul, South Korea, killing 501 and injuring 937.
Space Shuttle program: STS-71 Mission (Atlantis) docks with the Russian space station Mir for the first time.
Vincent Van Gogh’s painting, the "Le Pont de Trinquetaille," was bought for $20.4 million at an auction in London, England.
The Conference of Communist and Workers Parties of Europe convenes in East Berlin.
Mikhail Baryshnikov defects from the Soviet Union to Canada while on tour with the Kirov Ballet.
Isabel Perón is sworn in as the first female President of Argentina.
The United States Supreme Court rules in the case Furman v. Georgia that arbitrary and inconsistent imposition of the death penalty violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments, and constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.
The Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 is signed, officially creating the United States Interstate Highway System.
The Bird of Paradise, a U.S. Army Air Corps Fokker tri-motor, completes the first transpacific flight, from the mainland United States to Hawaii.
France grants 1 km² at Vimy Ridge "freely, and for all time, to the Government of Canada, the free use of the land exempt from all taxes".
British diplomat turned Irish nationalist Roger Casement is sentenced to death for his part in the Easter Rising.
The North Saskatchewan River flood of 1915 is the worst flood in Edmonton history.
Hyde Park and several other Illinois townships vote to be annexed by Chicago, forming the largest United States city in area and second largest in population at the time.
George Edward Gouraud records Handel's Israel in Egypt onto a phonograph cylinder, thought for many years to be the oldest known recording of music.
In Sudan, Muhammad Ahmad declares himself to be the Mahdi, the messianic redeemer of Islam.
Greek politician Charilaos Trikoupis publishes a manifesto in the Athens daily Kairoi entitled "Who's to Blame?" leveling complaints against King George. Trikoupis is elected Prime Minister of Greece the next year.
Ninety-nine people are killed in Canada's worst railway disaster near St-Hilaire, Quebec.
Autocephaly officially granted by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople to the Church of Greece.
Russo-Turkish War: Admiral Dmitry Senyavin destroys the Ottoman fleet in the Battle of Athos.
Alexander Macdonell and over five hundred Roman Catholic highlanders leave Scotland to settle in Glengarry County, Ontario.
At the Battle of Konotop the Ukrainian armies of Ivan Vyhovsky defeat the Russians led by Prince Trubetskoy.
Charles I of England defeats a Parliamentarian detachment at the Battle of Cropredy Bridge.
Jacques Cartier is the first European to reach Prince Edward Island.
Raymond of Poitiers is defeated and killed at the Battle of Inab by Nur ad-Din Zangi.
Cao Pi dies after an illness; his son Cao Rui succeeds him as emperor of the Kingdom of Wei.
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