President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya of Mauritania is overthrown in a military coup while attending the funeral of King Fahd in Saudi Arabia.

The pedestal of the Statue of Liberty reopens after being closed since the September 11 attacks.

The Real IRA detonates a car bomb in Ealing, London, UK injuring seven people.

Oued El-Had and Mezouara massacre in Algeria; a total of 116 villagers killed, 40 in Oued El-Had and 76 in Mezouara.

Senegalese opposition parties, under the leadership of Mamadou Dia, launch the Antiimperialist Action Front-Suxxali Reew Mi.

The United States Senate begins its hearing about Project MKULTRA.

A privately chartered Boeing 707 crashes into the mountainside near Agadir, Morocco, killing 188.

The United States Senate ratifies the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.

Niger gains independence from France.

The nuclear submarine {{USS|Nautilus|SSN-571|6}} travels beneath the Arctic ice cap.

The National Basketball Association is founded in the United States.

Whittaker Chambers accuses Alger Hiss of being a communist and a spy for the Soviet Union.

World War II: Italian forces begin the invasion of British Somaliland.

Jesse Owens wins the 100 meter dash, defeating Ralph Metcalfe, at the Berlin Olympics.

Adolf Hitler becomes the supreme leader of Germany by joining the offices of President and Chancellor into ''Führer''.

Calvin Coolidge is sworn in as the 30th President of the United States in the early morning following the death of Warren G. Harding the previous day.

World War I: Battle of Romani

World War I: Germany declares war against France.

A major labour dispute, known as the Wheatland Hop Riot, starts in Wheatland, California.

The Firestone Tire & Rubber Company is founded.

The Second Maori War begins in New Zealand.

First Boat Race between Yale and Harvard, the first American intercollegiate athletic event. Harvard won.

First ascent of Jungfrau, third highest summit in the Bernese Alps by brothers Johann Rudolf and Hieronymus Meyer.

Mount Asama erupts in Japan, killing 35,000 people.

Robert LaSalle builds the ''Le Griffon'', the first known ship built on the Great Lakes.

Thirty Years' War: the Second Battle of Nördlingen sees French forces defeating those of the Holy Roman Empire.

The first known letter from North America is sent by John Rut while at St. John's, Newfoundland.

Christopher Columbus sets sail from Palos de la Frontera, Spain.

The Jews of Spain are expelled by the Catholic Monarchs.

Battle of Saucourt-en-Vimeu: Louis III of France defeats the Vikings, an event celebrated in the poem ''Ludwigslied''.

Deposed Patriarch of Constantinople Nestorius, considered the originator of Nestorianism, is exiled by Roman Emperor Theodosius II to a monastery in Egypt.

Roman Empire general Tiberius defeats Dalmatians on the river Bathinus.