Canada officially cuts diplomatic ties with Iran by closing its embassy in Tehran and orders the expulsion of Iranian diplomats from Ottawa, over nuclear plans and purported human rights abuses.
Egypt holds its first-ever multi-party presidential election.
Desmond Tutu becomes the first black man to lead the Anglican Diocese of Cape Town.
During an Indo-Pakistani War, China announces that it will reinforce its troops on the Indian border.
Nikita Khrushchev is elected first secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
World War II: Japanese forces on Wake Island, which they had held since December 1941, surrender to U.S. Marines.
World War II: The German 17th Army begins its evacuation of the Kuban bridgehead (Taman Peninsula) in southern Russia and moves across the Strait of Kerch to the Crimea.
World War II: Japanese marines are forced to withdraw during the Battle of Milne Bay.
Romania returns Southern Dobruja to Bulgaria under the Treaty of Craiova.
World War II: The German Luftwaffe begins the Blitz, bombing London and other British cities for over 50 consecutive nights.
The Battle of Boquerón, the first major battle of the Chaco War, commences.
The first fully electronic television system is achieved by Philo Farnsworth.
In Atlantic City, New Jersey, the first Miss America Pageant, a two-day event, is held.
Eugène Lefebvre crashes a new French-built Wright biplane during a test flight at Port-Aviation (often called "Juvisy Airfield") at Viry-Châtillon, south of Paris, becoming the first aviator in the world to lose his life piloting a powered heavier-th...
Alberto Santos-Dumont flies his 14-bis aircraft at Bagatelle, France successfully for the first time.
The Ottoman Empire launches a counter-offensive against the Strandzha Commune, which dissolves.
French invasion of Russia: The Battle of Borodino, the bloodiest battle of the Napoleonic Wars, is fought near Moscow and results in a French victory.
American Revolutionary War: France invades Dominica in the British West Indies, before Britain is even aware of France's involvement in the war.
According to American colonial reports, Ezra Lee makes the world's first submarine attack in the Turtle, attempting to attach a time bomb to the hull of HMS Eagle in New York Harbor (no British records of this attack exist).