The US Government takes control of the two largest mortgage financing companies in the US, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

First presidential election is held in Egypt.

Hurricane Ivan, a Category 5 hurricane hits Grenada, killing 39 and damaging 90% of its buildings.

A 5.9 magnitude earthquake rocks Athens, rupturing a previously unknown fault, killing 143, injuring more than 500, and leaving 50,000 people homeless.

American Hip-Hop star Tupac Shakur is fatally shot four times on the Las Vegas strip after leaving the Tyson-Seldon boxing match.

Abdul Ahad Mohmand, the first Afghan in space, returns aboard the Soviet spacecraft Soyuz TM-5 after 9 days on the Mir space station.

Gen. Augusto Pinochet, president of Chile, escapes attempted assassination.

Desmond Tutu becomes the first black man to lead the Anglican Church in South Africa.

The Chrysler Corporation asks the United States government for USD $1.5 billion to avoid bankruptcy.

The Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, better known as ESPN, makes its debut.

British Prime Minister James Callaghan announces that he will not call a general election for October, considered to be a major political blunder (see Winter of Discontent, United Kingdom general election, 1979)

While walking across Waterloo Bridge in London, Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov is assassinated by Bulgarian secret police agent Francesco Giullino by means of a ricin pellet fired from a specially-designed umbrella.

The Torrijos-Carter Treaties between Panama and the United States on the status of the Panama Canal are signed. The United States agrees to transfer control of the canal to Panama at the end of the 20th century.

Bill Shoemaker sets record for most lifetime wins as a jockey (passing Johnny Longden).

Fighting between Arab guerrillas and government forces in Amman, Jordan.

Vietnam War: In a follow-up to August's Operation Starlight, United States Marines and South Vietnamese forces initiate Operation Piranha on the Batangan Peninsula.

China announces that it will reinforce its troops on the Indian border.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame opens in Canton, Ohio with 17 charter members.

Nikita Khrushchev is elected first secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Japanese forces on Wake Island, which they had held since December of 1941, surrender to U.S. Marines.

World War II: The German 17th Army begins its evacuation of the Kuban River bridgehead (Taman Peninsula) in southern Russia and moves across the Strait of Kerch to the Crimea.

A fire at the Gulf Hotel in Houston, Texas, kills 55 people.

Holocaust: 8,700 Jews of Kolomyia (western Ukraine) sent by German Gestapo to death camp in Belzec.

First flight of the Consolidated B-32 Dominator.

Treaty of Craiova: Romania loses Southern Dobrudja to Bulgaria.

World War II: The Blitz

The last surviving member of the thylacine species, Benjamin, dies alone in her cage at the Hobart Zoo in Tasmania.

Steamer ''Kuru'' capsizes and sinks on Lake Näsijärvi near Tampere in Finland. 136 lives are lost.

The first fully electronic television system is achieved by Philo Taylor Farnsworth.

In Aydin, Turkey, independence of Aydin, from Greek occupation.

In Atlantic City, New Jersey, the first Miss America Pageant, a two-day event, is held.

Two newly purchased Savoia flying boats crash in the Swiss Alps en-route to Finland where they would serve with the ''Suomen Ilmavoimat'', killing both crews.

Federal employees win the right to Workers' compensation by Federal Employers Liability Act (39 Stat. 742; 5 U.S.C. 751)

French poet Guillaume Apollinaire is arrested and put in jail on suspicion of stealing the ''Mona Lisa'' from the Louvre museum.

Eugene Lefebvre (1878–1909), while test piloting a new French-built Wright biplane, crashes at Juvisy, France when his controls jam. Lefebvre dies, becoming the first 'pilot' in the world to lose his life in a powered heavier-than-air craft.

Cunard Line's RMS Lusitania sets sail on her maiden voyage from Liverpool, England to New York City.

Alberto Santos-Dumont flies his 14-bis aircraft at Bagatelle, France for the first time successfully.

The Boxer Rebellion in China officially ends with the signing of the Boxer Protocol.

The first game of what would become known as rugby league football is played, in England, starting the 1895-96 Northern Rugby Football Union season.

The Genoa Cricket & Athletic Club, to become the first Italian football club, is established by British expats.

In Northfield, Minnesota, Jesse James and the James-Younger Gang attempt to rob the town's bank but are driven off by armed citizens.

American Civil War: Atlanta, Georgia, is evacuated on orders of Union General William Tecumseh Sherman.

Steamship ''Lady Elgin'' sinks on Lake Michigan, with the loss of around 400 lives.

Dom Pedro I declares Brazil independent from Portugal on the shores of the Ipiranga creek in São Paulo.

The Republic of Gran Colombia (a federation covering much of present day Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, and Ecuador) is established, with Simón Bolívar as the founding President and Francisco de Paula Santander as vice president. thumb declares independence.]]

Carl III of Sweden-Norway is crowned king of Norway, in Trondheim.

Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Borodino

World's first submarine attack: the American submersible craft ''Turtle'' attempts to attach a time bomb to the hull of British Admiral Richard Howe's flagship HMS ''Eagle'' in New York Harbor.

Around 15,000 Han farmers and militia rebel against Dutch rule on Taiwan.

Third Crusade: Battle of Arsuf

A Roman army under Titus occupies and plunders Jerusalem.