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The Ajka plant accident in western Hungary releases about a million cubic metres (35 million cubic feet) of liquid alumina sludge. Nine people are killed and 122 injured, and the Marcal and Danube rivers are severely contaminated.
SpaceShipOne wins Ansari X Prize for private spaceflight, by being the first private craft to fly into space.
Maxim restaurant suicide bombing in Haifa, Israel: Twenty-one Israelis, Jews and Arabs, are killed, and 51 others wounded.
Siberia Airlines Flight 1812: A Sibir Airlines Tupolev Tu-154 crashes into the Black Sea after being struck by an errant Ukrainian S-200 missile. Seventy-eight people are killed.
The second largest cash robbery in U.S. history occurs at the Charlotte, North Carolina office of Loomis, Fargo and Company. A Federal Bureau of Investigation investigation eventually results in 24 convictions and the recovery of approximately 95% of the $17.3 million stolen cash.
Russian Constitutional Crisis: In Moscow, tanks bombard the White House, a government building that housed the Russian parliament, while demonstrators against President Boris Yeltsin rally outside.
El Al Flight 1862: An El Al Boeing 747-258F crashes into two apartment buildings in Amsterdam, killing 43 including 39 on the ground.
The Rome General Peace Accords ends a 16-year civil war in Mozambique.
The Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty is opened for signature.
The Free Software Foundation is founded in Massachusetts, United States.
Richard Noble sets a new land speed record of 633.468 miles per hour (1,019.468 km/h), driving Thrust2 at the Black Rock Desert in Nevada.
Omar Ali Saifuddien III of Brunei abdicates in favour of his son, Hassanal Bolkiah.
Basutoland becomes independent from the United Kingdom and is renamed Lesotho.
Pope Paul VI arrives in New York City, the first Pope to visit the Americas.
Eastern Air Lines Flight 375, a Lockheed L-188 Electra, crashes after a bird strike on takeoff from Boston's Logan International Airport, killing 62 people (out of 72 onboard).
Space Race: Launch of Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth.
Norman Rockwell's Willie Gillis character debuts on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post.
The British Union of Fascists and various anti-fascist organizations violently clash in the Battle of Cable Street.
An explosion kills more than 100 and destroys the T.A. Gillespie Company Shell Loading Plant in Sayreville, New Jersey.
World War I: The Battle of Broodseinde is fought between the British and German armies in Flanders.
The first U.S. Open Men's Golf Championship administered by the United States Golf Association is played at the Newport Country Club in Newport, Rhode Island.
Texas A&M University opens as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, becoming the first public institution of higher education in Texas.
The Ottoman Empire declares war on the Russian Empire.
The Provisional Government of Belgium secedes from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Napoleon Bonaparte first rises to national prominence by suppressing armed counter-revolutionary rioters threatening the National Convention.
Battle of Germantown: Troops under George Washington are repelled by British troops under Sir William Howe.
The Swedish Army defeats the armies of Saxony and the Holy Roman Empire at the Battle of Wittstock.
The first Guale uprising begins against the Spanish missions in Georgia.
Pope Gregory XIII implements the Gregorian calendar. In Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain, October 4 of this year is followed directly by October 15.
The first complete English-language Bible (the Coverdale Bible) is printed, with translations by William Tyndale and Myles Coverdale.
Formation of the Holy League of Ferdinand II of Aragon, the Papal States and the Republic of Venice against France.
End of the Battle of Lake Poyang; the Chinese rebel forces of Zhu Yuanzhang defeat that of his rival, Chen Youliang, in one of the largest naval battles in history.
A peace treaty between the Byzantine Empire and the Republic of Venice ends the Byzantine-Venetian War (1296-1302).
Heraclius arrives by ship from Africa at Constantinople, overthrows Byzantine Emperor Phocas and becomes Emperor.
Rebels capture and sack the Chinese capital Chang'an during a peasant rebellion. They kill and decapitate the emperor, Wang Mang, two days later.
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