The first G-20 economic summit opens in Washington, D.C.
After German reunification, the Federal Republic of Germany and Poland sign a treaty confirming the Oder–Neisse line as the border between Germany and Poland.
Zamboanga City mayor Cesar Climaco, a prominent critic of the government of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, is assassinated in his home city.
US President Jimmy Carter issues Executive Order 12170, freezing all Iranian assets in the United States in response to the hostage crisis.
Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 12, the second crewed mission to the surface of the Moon.
American physicist Theodore Maiman is given a patent for his ruby laser systems, the world's first laser.
Vietnam War: The Battle of Ia Drang begins. This is the first major engagement between regular American and North Vietnamese forces.
Ruby Bridges becomes the first black child to attend an all-white elementary school in Louisiana.
The New Musical Express publishes the first regular UK Singles Chart.
World War II: The aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal sinks due to torpedo damage from the German submarine U-81 sustained on November 13.
World War II: German troops, aided by local auxiliaries, murder nine thousand residents of the Słonim Ghetto in a single day.
World War II: In England, Coventry is heavily bombed by German Luftwaffe bombers. Coventry Cathedral is almost completely destroyed.
The Communist Party of Spain is founded, and issues the first edition of Mundo obrero.
Pesäpallo, the Finnish version of baseball developed by Lauri Pihkala, is played for the first time at Kaisaniemi Park in Helsinki.
Aviator Eugene Burton Ely performs the first takeoff from a ship in Hampton Roads, Virginia, taking off from a makeshift deck on the USS Birmingham in a Curtiss pusher.
Napoleonic Wars: At the Battle of Smoliani, French Marshals Victor and Oudinot are defeated by the Russians under General Peter Wittgenstein.
German astronomer Gottfried Kirch discovers the Great Comet of 1680, the first comet to be discovered by telescope.