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A migrant boat sinks in the Channel of Sicily with at least 34 people dead.
The Polaroid Corporation files for federal bankruptcy protection.
NASA launches STS-92, the 100th Space Shuttle mission, using Space Shuttle Discovery.
Start of Operation Pawan by Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka that killed thousands of ethnic Tamil civilians and hundreds of Tamil Tigers and Indian Army soldiers.
First public display of AIDS Memorial Quilt on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., during the Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights.
Cold War: U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet in Reykjavík, Iceland, in an effort to continue discussions about scaling back their intermediate missile arsenals in Europe.
An Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-154 crashes into maintenance vehicles upon landing in Omsk, Russia, killing 178.
Aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger, astronaut Kathryn D. Sullivan becomes the first American woman to perform a space walk.
George Washington's appointment, posthumously, to the grade of General of the Armies by congressional joint resolution Public Law 94-479 is approved by President Gerald R. Ford.
A race riot occurs on the United States Navy aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk off the coast of Vietnam during Operation Linebacker.
Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 7, the first successful manned Apollo mission, with astronauts Wally Schirra, Donn F. Eisele and Walter Cunningham aboard.
Second Vatican Council: Pope John XXIII convenes the first ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church in 92 years.
Pioneer program: NASA launches the lunar probe Pioneer 1 (the probe falls back to Earth and burns up).
Space Race: Operation Moonwatch scientists calculate Sputnik 1's booster rocket's orbit.
First Indochina War: The Viet Minh take control of North Vietnam.
Television: CBS's mechanical color system is the first to be licensed for broadcast by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.
Tuvan People's Republic, formerly Tannu Tuva, is annexed by the U.S.S.R.
World War II: Battle of Cape Esperance: On the northwest coast of Guadalcanal, United States Navy ships intercept and defeat a Japanese fleet on their way to reinforce troops on the island.
The 7.1 Mw San Fermín earthquake shakes Puerto Rico with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), killing 76-116 people. A destructive tsunami contributed to the damage and loss of life.
First Balkan War: The Greek Army liberates the city of Kozani.
Former President Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first U.S. president to fly in an airplane. He flew for four minutes with Arch Hoxsey in a plane built by the Wright brothers at Kinloch Field (Lambert-St. Louis International Airport), St. Louis, Missouri.
San Francisco public school board sparks a diplomatic crisis between the United States and Japan by ordering Japanese students to be taught in racially segregated schools.
Second Boer War begins: In South Africa, a war between the United Kingdom and the Boers of the Transvaal and Orange Free State erupts.
In Washington, D.C., the Daughters of the American Revolution is founded.
Paul Bogle led hundreds of black men and women in a march in Jamaica, starting the Morant Bay rebellion.
American Civil War: In the aftermath of the Battle of Antietam, Confederate General J. E. B. Stuart and his men loot Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, during a raid into the north.
The University of Sydney, Australia's oldest university, is inaugurated in Sydney.
The Maronite leader Bashir Shihab II surrenders to the Ottoman Empire and later is sent to Malta in exile.
Inventor John Stevens' boat, the Juliana, begins operation as the first steam-powered ferry (service between New York City, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey).
Along the Natchez Trace in Tennessee, explorer Meriwether Lewis dies under mysterious circumstances at an inn called Grinder's Stand.
Battle of Camperdown: Naval battle between Royal Navy and Royal Netherlands Navy during the French Revolutionary Wars. The outcome of the battle was a decisive British victory.
American Revolutionary War: Battle of Valcour Island: On Lake Champlain a fleet of American boats is defeated by the Royal Navy, but delays the British advance until 1777.
Surveying for the Mason-Dixon line separating Maryland from Pennsylvania is completed.
George II and Caroline of Ansbach are crowned King and Queen of Great Britain.
Sack of Wexford: After a ten-day siege, English New Model Army troops (under Oliver Cromwell) stormed the town of Wexford, killing over 2,000 Irish Confederate troops and 1,500 civilians.
The Burchardi flood: "The second Grote Mandrenke" killed around 15,000 men in North Friesland, Denmark and Germany.
Adriaen Block and 12 Amsterdam merchants petition the States General for exclusive trading rights in the New Netherland colony.
Due to the adoption of the Gregorian calendar, this date does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.
Huldrych Zwingli is killed in battle with the Roman Catholic cantons of Switzerland.
The Ordinances of 1311 are published, imposing a series of regulations upon King Edward II of England by the peerage and clergy.
A peace treaty between the Jin dynasty and Southern Song dynasty is formally ratified when a Jin envoy visits the Song court during the Jin-Song wars.
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