Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is sworn in as Liberia's new president. She becomes Africa's first female elected head of state.

The Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' takes off for mission STS-107 which would be its final one. Columbia disintegrated 16 days later on re-entry.

The UN Security Council unanimously establishes an arms embargo and the freezing of assets of Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaida, and the remaining members of the Taliban.

US President Bill Clinton awards former President Theodore Roosevelt a posthumous Medal of Honor for his service in the Spanish-American War.

Congolese President Laurent-Désiré Kabila is assassinated by one of his own bodyguards.

The First surviving wikipedia edit is made: UuU

El Salvador officials and rebel leaders sign the Chapultepec Peace Accords in Mexico City ending the 12-year Salvadoran civil war that claimed at least 75,000.

The United States goes to war with Iraq, beginning the Gulf War (U.S. Time).

First meeting of the Internet Engineering Task Force.

The Shah of Iran flees Iran with his family and relocates to Egypt.

Buckminster Fuller receives the Gold Medal award from the American Institute of Architects.

Czech student Jan Palach commits suicide by self-immolation in Prague, in protest against the Soviets' crushing of the Prague Spring the year before.

The Youth International Party is founded.

President Gamal Abdal Nasser of Egypt vows to reconquer Palestine.

Adolf Hitler moves into his underground bunker, the so-called Führerbunker.

Crash of TWA Flight 3, killing all 22 aboard, including film star Carole Lombard.

Temperance movement: The United States ratifies the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, authorizing Prohibition in the United States one year after ratification.

Ernest Shackleton's expedition finds the magnetic South Pole.

The United States Senate accepts the Anglo-German treaty of 1899 in which the United Kingdom renounces its claims to the Samoan islands.

Defeat of Cymru Fydd at South Wales Liberal Federation AGM, Newport, Monmouthshire.

The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, establishing the United States Civil Service, is passed.

Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878)

John C. Fremont is appointed Governor of the new California Territory.

Peninsular War: The British defeat the French at the Battle of La Coruña.

American Revolution: Battle of Cape St. Vincent.

Vermont declares its independence from New York.

The British capture Pondicherry, India from the French.

The Scottish Parliament ratifies the Act of Union, paving the way for the creation of Great Britain.

The first edition of ''El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha'' (Book One of ''Don Quixote'') by Miguel de Cervantes is published in Madrid.

The English Parliament outlaws Roman Catholicism.

Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk is tried for treason for his part in the Ridolfi plot to restore Catholicism in England.

Philip II becomes King of Spain.

Ivan IV of Russia aka Ivan the Terrible becomes Tsar of Russia.

The first grammar of the Spanish language is presented to Queen Isabella I.

The Medici family is appointed official banker of the Papacy.

A storm tide in the North Sea destroys the German city of Rungholt on the island of Strand.

The Council of Nablus is held, establishing the earliest surviving written laws of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Gothic War (535–552): The Ostrogoths, under King Totila, conquer Rome after a long siege, by bribing the Isaurian garrison.