The Gaisal train disaster claims 285 lives in Assam, India.
Pakistan is re-admitted to the Commonwealth of Nations after having restored democracy for the first time since 1972.
A massacre is carried out by an Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka killing 64 ethnic Tamil civilians.
The Helsinki Metro, the first rapid transit system of Finland, is opened to the general public.
World War II: The largest trade convoy of the world wars arrives safely in the Western Approaches.
World War II: After the Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109 is rammed and sunk by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri, Lt. John F. Kennedy, future U.S. president, saves all but two of his crew.
Albert Einstein and Leo Szilard write a letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt, urging him to begin the Manhattan Project to develop a nuclear weapon.
Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler becomes Führer of Germany following the death of President Paul von Hindenburg.
U.S. Vice President Calvin Coolidge becomes president upon the death of President Warren G. Harding.
The first general strike in Canadian history takes place in Vancouver.
World War I: Austrian sabotage causes the sinking of the Italian battleship Leonardo da Vinci in Taranto.
World War I: The German occupation of Luxembourg begins.
The Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising against the Ottoman Empire begins.
The Clay Street Hill Railroad begins operating the first cable car in San Francisco's famous cable car system.
Tower Subway, the world's first underground tube railway, opens in London, England, United Kingdom.
The Government of India Act 1858 replaces Company rule in India with that of the British Raj.
July Revolution: Charles X of France abdicates the throne in favor of his grandson Henri.
French Revolutionary Wars: The Battle of the Nile concludes in a British victory.