A boat carrying more than 200 migrants capsizes in the Indian Ocean between the Indonesian island of Java and Christmas Island, killing 17 people and leaving 70 others missing.
Pluto's newly discovered moons are officially named Nix and Hydra.
SpaceShipOne becomes the first privately funded spaceplane to achieve spaceflight.
Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on STS-57 to retrieve the European Retrievable Carrier (EURECA) satellite. It is also the first shuttle mission to carry the Spacehab module.
The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397, that American flag-burning is a form of political protest protected by the First Amendment.
John Hinckley is found not guilty by reason of insanity for the attempted assassination of U.S. President Ronald Reagan.
Ellen Fairclough is sworn in as Canada's first female Cabinet Minister.
World War II: The Battle of Okinawa ends when the organized resistance of Imperial Japanese Army forces collapses in the Mabuni area on the southern tip of the main island.
World War II: Tobruk falls to Italian and German forces; 33,000 Allied troops are taken prisoner.
World War II: A Japanese submarine surfaces near the Columbia River in Oregon, firing 17 shells at Fort Stevens in one of only a handful of attacks by Japan against the United States mainland.
World War II: Italy begins an unsuccessful invasion of France.
Admiral Ludwig von Reuter scuttles the German fleet at Scapa Flow, Orkney. The nine sailors killed are the last casualties of World War I.
In the Wallachian Revolution, Ion Heliade Rădulescu and Christian Tell issue the Proclamation of Islaz and create a new republican government.
Greek War of Independence: Egyptian forces capture Psara in the Aegean Sea.
King Louis XVI and his immediate family begin the Flight to Varennes during the French Revolution.