Mount Redoubt, a volcano in Alaska begins erupting after a prolonged period of unrest.

Three Christian Peacemaker Team hostages are freed by British forces in Baghdad after 118 days of captivity and the death of their colleague, American Tom Fox.

BC Ferries' ''M/V Queen of the North'' runs aground on Gil Island British Columbia and sinks; 101 on board, 2 presumed deaths.

ETA, the armed Basque separatist group, declares a permanent ceasefire.

Ahmed Yassin, co-founder and leader of the Palestinian Sunni Islamist group Hamas, two bodyguards, and nine civilian bystanders are killed in the Gaza Strip when hit by Israeli Air Force AH-64 Apache fired Hellfire missiles.

The Comet Hale-Bopp has its closest approach to Earth.

Tara Lipinski, age 14 years and 10 months, becomes the youngest champion women's World Figure Skating Champion.

Cosmonaut Valeriy Polyakov returns after setting a record for 438 days in space.

The Intel Corporation ships the first Pentium chips (80586), featuring a 60 MHz clock speed, 100+ MIPS, and a 64 bit data path.

USAir Flight 405 crashes shortly after liftoff from New York City's LaGuardia Airport, leading to a number of studies into the effect that ice has on aircraft.

Clint Malarchuk of the Buffalo Sabres suffers a near-fatal injury when another player accidentally slits his throat.

Teachers at the McMartin preschool in Manhattan Beach, California are charged with satanic ritual abuse of the children in the school. The charges are later dropped as completely unfounded.

NASA's Space Shuttle ''Columbia'', is launched from the Kennedy Space Center on its third mission, STS-3.

Karl Wallenda of The Flying Wallendas dies after falling off a tight-rope between two hotels in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

A fire at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant in Decatur, Alabama causes a dangerous reduction in cooling water levels.

Arthur Leonard Schawlow and Charles Hard Townes receive the first patent for a laser.

Closed since 1939, the London bullion market reopens.

The Arab League is founded when a charter is adopted in Cairo, Egypt.

World War II: the entire population of Khatyn in Belarus is burnt alive by German occupation forces.

World War II: In the Mediterranean Sea, the Royal Navy confronts Italy's Regia Marina in the Second Battle of Sirte.

The Grand Coulee Dam in Washington, United States, begins to generate electricity.

World War II: Germany takes Memel from Lithuania.

The first radio broadcast of ice hockey is made by Foster Hewitt.

The last Emperor of China, Yuan Shikai, abdicates the throne and the Republic of China is restored.

First Anglo-French rugby union match at Parc des Princes in Paris

First display (a private screening) of motion pictures by Auguste and Louis Lumière.

The first playoff game for the Stanley Cup starts.

A law is approved by the Spanish National Assembly in Puerto Rico to abolish slavery.

In North Carolina, William Woods Holden becomes the first governor of a U.S. state to be removed from office by impeachment.

The Austrians defeat the Piedmontese at the Battle of Novara.

The three protecting powers (Britain, France and Russia) establish the borders of Greece.

Charles XIII succeeds Gustav IV Adolf to the Swedish throne.

The Emerald Buddha is moved with great ceremony to its current place in Wat Phra Kaew, Thailand.

The British Parliament passes the Stamp Act that introduces a tax to be levied directly on its American colonies.

Nadir Shah occupies Delhi in India and sacks the city, stealing the jewels of the Peacock Throne.

Anne Hutchinson is expelled from Massachusetts Bay Colony for religious dissent.

The Massachusetts Bay Colony outlaws the possession of cards, dice, and gaming tables.

Jamestown massacre: Algonquian Indians kill 347 English settlers around Jamestown, Virginia, a third of the colony's population.

The Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony sign a peace treaty with Massasoit of the Wampanoags.

Gordian I and his son Gordian II are proclaimed Roman Emperors.