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Israel launches a major military operation in the Gaza Strip, as hostilities with Hamas escalate.
Astronomers Michael E. Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David L. Rabinowitz discover 90377 Sedna, a Trans-Neptunian object.
War in Afghanistan: Afghan Northern Alliance fighters take over the capital Kabul.
A budget standoff between Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. Congress forces the federal government to temporarily close national parks and museums and to run most government offices with skeleton staffs.
Cambodian Prince Norodom Sihanouk returns to Phnom Penh after thirteen years of exile.
American and British authorities announce indictments against two Libyan intelligence officials in connection with the downing of the Pan Am Flight 103.
After German reunification, the Federal Republic of Germany and Poland sign a treaty confirming the Oder-Neisse line as the border between Germany and Poland.
Zamboanga City mayor Cesar Climaco, a prominent critic of the government of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, is assassinated in his home city.
Lech Wałęsa, the leader of Poland's outlawed Solidarity movement, is released after eleven months of internment near the Soviet border.
Iran hostage crisis: US President Jimmy Carter issues Executive order 12170, freezing all Iranian assets in the United States in response to the hostage crisis.
With the signing of the Madrid Accords, Spain abandons Western Sahara.
The Athens Polytechnic uprising, a massive demonstration of popular rejection of the Greek military junta of 1967-74, begins.
In the United Kingdom, Princess Anne marries Captain Mark Phillips, in Westminster Abbey.
Enthronment of Pope Shenouda III as Pope of Alexandria.
Southern Airways Flight 932 crashes in the mountains near Huntington, West Virginia, killing 75, including members of the Marshall University football team.
Soviet Union enters ICAO, making Russian the fourth official language of organization.
Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 12, the second crewed mission to the surface of the Moon.
American physicist Theodore Maiman is given a patent for his ruby laser systems, the world's first laser.
The Congress of Colombia, in commemoration of the 150 years of the death of Policarpa Salavarrieta, declares this day as "Day of the Colombian Woman".
Vietnam War: The Battle of Ia Drang begins: The first major engagement between regular American and North Vietnamese forces.
Ruby Bridges becomes the first black child to attend an all-white elementary school in Louisiana.
The "Apalachin Meeting" in rural Tioga County in upstate New York is raided by law enforcement; many high level Mafia figures are arrested while trying to flee.
World War II: In Slonim, German forces engaged in Operation Barbarossa murder 9,000 Jews in a single day.
World War II: The aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal sinks due to torpedo damage from the German submarine U-81 sustained on November 13.
World War II: In England, Coventry is heavily bombed by German Luftwaffe bombers. Coventry Cathedral is almost completely destroyed.
The Lions Gate Bridge, connecting Vancouver to the North Shore region, opens to traffic.
Al Shorta SC, one of Iraq's biggest football clubs, are founded as Montakhab Al Shorta.
The British Broadcasting Company begins radio service in the United Kingdom.
Aviator Eugene Burton Ely performs the first takeoff from a ship in Hampton Roads, Virginia. He took off from a makeshift deck on the USS Birmingham in a Curtiss pusher.
Pioneering female journalist Nellie Bly (aka Elizabeth Cochrane) begins a successful attempt to travel around the world in less than 80 days. She completes the trip in 72 days.
American Civil War: President Abraham Lincoln approves General Ambrose Burnside's plan to capture the Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia, leading to the Battle of Fredericksburg.
Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Smoliani, French Marshals Victor & Oudinot defeated by Wittgenstein.
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