Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat resigns after the 2008 Thailand political crisis.

Enron files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The United Kingdom devolves political power in Northern Ireland to the Northern Ireland Executive.

Glenbrook rail accident near Sydney, New South Wales.

Space Shuttle program: STS-61

Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar is shot and killed in Medellín.

A coalition led by Chancellor Helmut Kohl wins the first free all-German elections since 1932.

Benazir Bhutto is sworn in as Prime Minister of Pakistan, becoming the first woman to head the government of an Islam-dominated state.

Four U.S. nuns and churchwomen, Ita Ford, Maura Clarke, Jean Donovan, and Dorothy Kazel, are murdered by a death squad in El Salvador.

The first World Series Cricket "supertest" match played between Australia and West Indies

Fidel Castro becomes President of Cuba replacing Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado.

Pathet Lao seizes power in Laos, and establishes the Lao People's Democratic Republic.

Gough Whitlam becomes the first Labor Prime Minister of Australia for 23 years.

Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Fujairah, Sharjah, Dubai, and Umm Al Quwain form the United Arab Emirates.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency begins operations.

Vietnam War: After a trip to Vietnam at the request of US President John F. Kennedy, US Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield becomes the first American official not to make an optimistic public comment on the war's progress.

In a nationally broadcast speech, Cuban leader Fidel Castro declares that he is a Marxist-Leninist and that Cuba is going to adopt Communism.

The ''Granma'' yacht reaches the shores of Cuba's Oriente province and Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and 80 other members of the 26th of July Movement disembark to initiate the Cuban Revolution.

The Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty, between the United States and the Republic of China, is signed in Washington, D.C..

Red Scare: The United States Senate votes 65 to 22 to condemn Joseph McCarthy for "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute".

Jerusalem Riots of 1947: Riots break out in Jerusalem in response to the approval of the 1947 UN Partition Plan.

The British Government invites four Indian leaders, Nehru, Baldev Singh, Jinnah and Liaquat Ali Khan to obtain the participation of all parties in the Constituent Assembly.

A Luftwaffe bombing raid on the harbour of Bari, Italy, sinks numerous cargo and transport ships, including an American Liberty ship, the John Harvey, with a stockpile of World War I-era mustard gas.

Manhattan Project: A team led by Enrico Fermi initiates the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction.

New York City's La Guardia Airport opens.

Great Depression: US President Herbert Hoover goes before the United States Congress and asks for a US$150 million public works program to help generate jobs and stimulate the economy.

Following 19 years of Ford Model T production, the Ford Motor Company unveils the Ford Model A as its new automobile.

Following more than a month of Turkish-Armenian War, the Turkish dictated Treaty of Alexandropol is concluded.

An armistice was signed between Russia and the Central Powers at Brest-Litovsk and peace talks leading to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk began.

Child Emperor Pu Yi ascends the Chinese throne at the age of two

Philippine-American War: The Battle of Tirad Pass, termed "The Filipino Thermopylae", is fought.

At Tremont Temple in Boston, British author Charles Dickens gives his first public reading in the United States.

Militant abolitionist leader John Brown is hanged for his October 16th raid on Harper's Ferry.

Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte becomes Emperor of the French (Napoleon III).

French President Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte overthrows the Second Republic.

Franz Josef I becomes Emperor of Austria.

Manifest Destiny: US President James K. Polk announces to Congress that the United States should aggressively expand into the West.

Monroe Doctrine: US President James Monroe delivers a speech establishing American neutrality in future European conflicts.

Illinois became 21st state

Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Austerlitz

At Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, Napoleon Bonaparte crowns himself Emperor of the French, the first French Emperor in a thousand years.

The {{USS|Alfred|1774|6}} becomes the first vessel to fly the Grand Union Flag (the precursor to the Stars and Stripes); the flag is hoisted by John Paul Jones.

Dedication of the Touro Synagogue, in Newport, Rhode Island, the first synagogue in what became the United States.

The second Eddystone Lighthouse is destroyed by fire.

The University of Leipzig opens.