A mass shooting occurred at a Fedex Ground facility in Indianapolis, Indiana, killing nine and injuring seven.
The cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris in France is seriously damaged by a large fire.
In the worst massacre of the South Sudanese Civil War, more than 400 civilians are gunned down after seeking refuge in houses of worship as well as hospitals.
Two bombs explode near the finish line at the Boston Marathon in Boston, Massachusetts, killing three people and injuring over 500 others.
A wave of bombings across Iraq kills at least 75 people.
Air China Flight 129 crashes on approach to Gimhae International Airport in Busan, South Korea, killing 129 people.
Marrakesh Agreement relating to foundation of World Trade Organization is adopted.
Hillsborough disaster: A human crush occurs at Hillsborough Stadium, home of Sheffield Wednesday, in the FA Cup Semi-final, resulting in the deaths of 97 Liverpool fans.
Upon Hu Yaobang's death, the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 begin in China.
The United States launches Operation El Dorado Canyon, its bombing raids against Libyan targets in response to a discotheque bombing in West Germany that killed two U.S. servicemen.
During the Cambodian Civil War, massacre of the Vietnamese minority results in 800 bodies flowing down the Mekong river into South Vietnam.
The EC-121 shootdown incident: North Korea shoots down a United States Navy aircraft over the Sea of Japan, killing all 31 on board.
At Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina, Ella Baker leads a conference that results in the creation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, one of the principal organizations of the civil rights movement in the 1960s.
McDonald's restaurant dates its founding to the opening of a franchised restaurant by Ray Kroc, in Des Plaines, Illinois.
First flight of the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress.
Jackie Robinson debuts for the Brooklyn Dodgers, breaking baseball's color line.
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp is liberated.
The George Cross is awarded "to the island fortress of Malta" by King George VI.
In the Belfast Blitz, 200 bombers of the German Luftwaffe attack Belfast, killing some 1,000 people.
First day of the Arab revolt in Mandatory Palestine.