Former South African defence minister General Magnus Malan and 10 other former senior military officers are arrested and charged with murdering 13 black people in 1987, (all the accused are later acquitted).

The Morris worm, the first internet-distributed computer worm to gain significant mainstream media attention, is launched from MIT.

Capital punishment: Velma Barfield becomes the first woman executed in the United States since 1962.

U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs a bill creating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

78 die when the Time Go-Go Club in Seoul, South Korea burns down. Six of the victims jumped to their deaths from the seventh floor after a club official barred the doors after the fire started.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Communist Party of India forms a 'United Front' in the state of Tripura.

Vietnam War: US President Lyndon B. Johnson and "The Wise Men" conclude that the American people should be given more optimistic reports on the progress of the war.

The Cuban Adjustment Act enters force, allowing 123,000 Cubans the opportunity to apply for permanent residence in the United States.

Norman Morrison, a 31-year-old Quaker, sets himself on fire in front of the river entrance to the Pentagon to protest the use of napalm in the Vietnam war.

King Saud of Saudi Arabia is deposed by a family coup, and replaced by his half-brother King Faisal.

South Vietnamese President Ngô Ðình Diệm is assassinated following a military coup.

Penguin Books is found not guilty of obscenity in the ''Lady Chatterley's Lover'' case

The first section of the M1 motorway, the first inter-urban motorway in the United Kingdom, is opened between the present junctions 5 and 18, along with the M10 motorway and M45 motorway

Quiz show scandals: ''Twenty One'' game show contestant Charles Van Doren admits to a Congressional committee that he had been given questions and answers in advance.

The Levelland UFO Case in Levelland, Texas, generates national publicity, and remains one of the most impressive UFO cases in American history.

The Constituent Assembly of Pakistan names the country The Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

In California, designer Howard Hughes performs the maiden (and only) flight of the Spruce Goose; the largest fixed-wing aircraft ever built.

The British Broadcasting Corporation initiates the BBC Television Service, the world's first regular, high-definition (then defined as at least 200 lines) service. Renamed BBC1 in 1964, the channel still runs to this day.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is established.

Italian dictator Benito Mussolini proclaims the Rome-Berlin Axis, establishing the alliance of the Axis Powers.

Haile Selassie is crowned emperor of Ethiopia.

In the United States, KDKA of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania starts broadcasting as the first commercial radio station. The first broadcast is the result of the U.S. presidential election, 1920.

The Balfour Declaration proclaims British support for the "establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people" with the clear understanding "that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities".

Russia declares war on the Ottoman Empire.

Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity is founded at Boston University.

The Boers begin their 118 day siege of British held Ladysmith during the Second Boer War.

Cheerleading is started at the University of Minnesota with Johnny Campbell leading the crowd in cheering on the football team.

The first gasoline-powered race in the United States. First prize: $2,000

North and South Dakota are admitted as the 39th and 40th U.S. states.

Oulu, Finland was decimated by the Great Oulu Fire of 1882

Time zone: New Zealand officially adopts a standard time to be observed nationally

American Civil War: Western Department Union General John C. Fremont is relieved of command and replaced by David Hunter.

The French Directory succeeds the French National Convention as the government of Revolutionary France.

In Rocky Hill, New Jersey, US General George Washington gives his "Farewell Address to the Army".

American Revolutionary War: Samuel Adams and Joseph Warren form the first Committee of Correspondence.

A combined effort by the Plymouth, Rhode Island, Massachusetts Bay and Connecticut colonies attacks the Great Swamp Fort, owned by the Narragansetts during King Philip's War.

A tidal wave in the North Sea devastates the coast from Holland to Jutland, killing more than 1,000 people.

The Peace of Bicêtre between the Armagnac and Burgundian factions is signed.