Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi resigns from office. His resignation is rejected by the President of Italy, Giorgio Napolitano.

The first European political party organization, the European Greens, is established in Rome.

Steve Fossett lands in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada becoming the first person to make a solo flight across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon.

Watergate scandal: Former United States Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman are sentenced to prison.

The last Israeli soldiers leave the west bank of the Suez Canal pursuant to a truce with Egypt.

Over the Sinai Desert, Israeli fighter aircraft shoot down Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 jet killing 108.

The Soviet unmanned spaceship Luna 20 lands on the Moon.

President Richard Nixon visits the People's Republic of China to normalize Sino-American relations.

The Convention on Psychotropic Substances is signed at Vienna.

Swissair Flight 330: A mid-air bomb explosion and subsequent crash kills 38 passengers and nine crew members near Zürich, Switzerland.

Malcolm X is assassinated at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City by members of the Nation of Islam.

The Peace symbol is designed and completed by Gerald Holtom, commissioned by Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, in protest against the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment.

Francis Crick and James D. Watson discover the structure of the DNA molecule.

In Dhaka, East Pakistan (present Bangladesh) police open fire on a procession of students that was demanding the establishment of Bengali as the official language, killing four people and starting a country-wide protest which led to the recognition of Bengali as one of the national languages of Pakistan. The day is later declared as "International Mother Language Day" by UNESCO.

The British government, under Winston Churchill, abolishes identity cards in the UK to "set the people free".

NASCAR is incorporated.

In New York City, Edwin Land demonstrates the first "instant camera", the Polaroid Land Camera, to a meeting of the Optical Society of America.

World War II: Japanese Kamikaze planes sink the escort carrier Bismarck Sea and damage the Saratoga.

The League of Nations bans foreign national "volunteers" in the Spanish Civil War.

Initial flight of the first successful flying car, Waldo Waterman's Arrowbile.

''The New Yorker'' publishes its first issue.

Constituent Assembly of the Democratic Republic of Georgia adopts the country's first constitution.

Kurt Eisner, German socialist, is assassinated. His death results in the establishment of the Bavarian Soviet Republic and parliament and government fleeing Munich, Germany.

The last Carolina Parakeet dies in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo.

World War I: In France, the Battle of Verdun begins.

Ioannina is incorporated into the Greek state after the Balkan Wars.

The newly completed Washington Monument is dedicated.

The first telephone book is issued in New Haven, Connecticut.

The ''Oakland Daily Tribune'' publishes its first newspaper.

American Civil War: Battle of Valverde fought near Fort Craig in New Mexico Territory.

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish the Communist Manifesto.

John Greenough is granted the first U.S. patent for the sewing machine.

The first self-propelling steam locomotive makes its outing at the Pen-y-Darren Ironworks in Wales.

The premiere of George Frideric Handel's oratorio, "Samson" takes place in London.

Mikhail I is elected unanimously as Tsar by a national assembly, beginning the Romanov dynasty of Imperial Russia.

Battle of Wayna Daga

The Prussian Confederation is formed.

Thomas, the first known Bishop of Finland, is granted resignation after having confessed to torture and forgery.

Athanasius returns to Alexandria.