NATO takes over command of the peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, marking its first major operation outside Europe in its 54-year-history.

Jemaah Islamiyah leader Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, is arrested in Bangkok, Thailand.

A heat wave in Paris results in temperatures rising to {{Convert|112|°F|°C}}, leaving about 144 people dead.

A total Solar eclipse (Solar eclipse of August 11, 1999)

The Salt Lake City Tornado tears through the downtown district of the city, killing one.

A bomb explodes on Pan Am Flight 830, ''en route'' from Tokyo to Honolulu, killing one teenager and injuring 15 passengers.

East Timor: Governor Mário Lemos Pires of Portuguese Timor abandons the capital Dili, following a coup by the Timorese Democratic Union (UDT) and the outbreak of civil war between UDT and Fretilin.

Vietnam War: the last United States ground combat unit departs South Vietnam.

Race riots (the Watts riots) begin in the Watts area of Los Angeles, California.

Chad declares independence.

Hussein is proclaimed King of Jordan.

Actress Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil receive a patent for a frequency hopping, spread spectrum communication system that later became the basis for modern technologies in wireless telephones and Wi-Fi.

The first civilian prisoners arrive at the Federal prison on Alcatraz Island.

Babe Ruth becomes the first baseball player to hit 500 home runs in his career with a home run at League Park in Cleveland, Ohio.

The Latvia-Bolshevist Russia peace treaty, which relinquished Russia's authority and pretenses to Latvia, is signed.

The constitution of the Weimar Republic is adopted.

World War I: the Battle of Amiens ends.

Spanish-American War: American troops enter the city of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.

The Eiger in the Bernese Alps is ascended for the first time by Charles Barrington accompanied by Christian Almer and Peter Bohren.

Francis II assumes the title of first Emperor of Austria.

Captain Francis Light establishes the British colony of Penang in Malaysia

Charles Lawrence gives expulsion orders to remove the Acadians from Nova Scotia beginning the Great Upheaval.

Claudius Silvanus, accused of treason, proclaims himself Roman Emperor against Constantius II.