The Akihabara massacre takes place in the Akihabara shopping quarter in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. Tomohiro Katō drives a two-ton truck into a crowd before leaving the truck and attacking people with a knife.

Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, is hit by the State's worst storms and flooding in 30 years resulting in the death of nine people and the grounding of trade ship, the {{MV|Pasha Bulker}}.

The first Venus Transit in modern history takes place, the previous one being in 1882.

The first release of the PHP programming language is released by Rasmus Lerdorf.

Downed U.S. Air Force pilot Captain Scott O'Grady is rescued by U.S. Marines in Bosnia.

The first World Ocean Day is celebrated, coinciding with the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

New Zealand's Labour government establishes a national nuclear-free zone under the New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act 1987

Homosexuality is declared legal in the Australian state of New South Wales.

Bluff Cove Air Attacks during the Falklands War: 56 British servicemen are killed by Argentine air attack on two landing ships : RFA ''Sir Galahad'' and RFA ''Sir Tristram''.

James Earl Ray is arrested for the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Six-Day War: The USS ''Liberty'' incident occurs, killing 34 and wounding 171.

Topeka, Kansas is devastated by a tornado that registers as an "F5" on the Fujita Scale: the first to exceed US$100 million in damages. Sixteen people are killed, hundreds more injured, and thousands of homes damaged or destroyed.

One of the XB-70 Valkyrie prototypes is destroyed in a mid-air collision with a F-104 Starfighter chase plane during a photo shoot. NASA pilot Joseph A. Walker and United States Air Force test pilot Carl Cross are both killed.

The {{USS|Barbero|SS-317|6}} and United States Postal Service attempt the delivery of mail via Missile Mail.

The United States Supreme Court rules that Washington, D.C. restaurants could not refuse to serve black patrons.

Flint-Worcester tornado outbreak sequence: A tornado hits Flint, Michigan, and kills 115. This is the last tornado to claim more than 100 lives.

Sir Thomas Blamey becomes the only Australian-born Field Marshal in Australian history.

Celebrities Helen Keller, Dorothy Parker, Danny Kaye, Fredric March, John Garfield, Paul Muni and Edward G. Robinson are named in an FBI report as Communist Party members.

Milton Berle hosts the debut of ''Texaco Star Theater.''

World War II: Japanese imperial submarines I-21 and I-24 shell the Australian cities of Sydney and Newcastle.

World War II: Allies invade Syria and Lebanon.

Second Northern Expedition: The National Revolutionary Army captures Peking, whose name is changed to Beijing.

Carl Laemmle incorporates Universal Pictures.

Theodore Roosevelt signs the Antiquities Act into law, authorizing the President to restrict the use of certain parcels of public land with historical or conservation value.

Herman Hollerith applies for US patent #395,791 for the 'Art of Applying Statistics' — his punched card calculator.

American Civil War: Battle of Cross Keys

American Civil War: Tennessee secedes from the Union.

A group of 194 Pitcairn Islanders, descendants of the mutineers of {{HMS|Bounty}}, arrives at Norfolk Island commencing the Third Settlement of the Island.

James Madison introduces twelve proposed amendments to the United States Constitution in the House of Representatives; by 1791, ten of them are ratified by the state legislatures and become the Bill of Rights; another is eventually ratified in 1992 to become the 27th Amendment.

The volcano Laki, in Iceland, begins an eight-month eruption which kills over 9,000 people and starts a seven-year famine.

American Revolutionary War: Battle of Trois-Rivières

Siddi general Yadi Sakat, razes the Mazagon Fort in Mumbai.

Richard le Scrope, Archbishop of York and Thomas Mowbray, Earl of Norfolk, are executed in York on Henry IV's orders.

Richard I arrives in Acre thus beginning his crusade.

Vikings raid the abbey at Lindisfarne in Northumbria, commonly accepted as the beginning of the Scandinavian invasion of England.

Muhammad dies of an unknown illness in Mecca.

The Roman Senate proclaims Galba as emperor.