Kmart Corp. announces that it is buying Sears, Roebuck and Co. for $11 billion USD and naming the newly merged company Sears Holdings Corporation.

Alberto Fujimori is removed from office as president of Peru.

A catastrophic landslide in Log pod Mangartom, Slovenia, kills 7, and causes millions of SIT of damage. It is one of the worst catastrophes in Slovenia in the past 100 years.

In Luxor, Egypt, 62 people are killed by 6 Islamic militants outside the Temple of Hatshepsut, known as Luxor massacre (The police then kill the assailants).

Fugendake, part of the Mount Unzen volcanic complex, Nagasaki prefecture, Japan becomes active again and erupts.

Cold War: Velvet Revolution begins: In Czechoslovakia, a student demonstration in Prague is quelled by riot police. This sparks an uprising aimed at overthrowing the communist government (it succeeds on December 29).

The Zapatista Army of National Liberation is founded.

Brisbane Suburban Railway Electrification. The first stage from Ferny Grove to Darra is commissioned.

The Aliança Operário-Camponesa (Worker-Peasant Alliance) is founded in Portugal, as a front of PCP(m-l).

The Athens Polytechnic Uprising against the military regime ends in a bloodshed in the Greek capital.

Watergate scandal: In Orlando, Florida, US President Richard Nixon tells 400 Associated Press managing editors "I am not a crook".

Douglas Engelbart receives the patent for the first computer mouse.

Luna program: The Soviet Union lands Lunokhod 1 on Mare Imbrium (Sea of Rains) on the Moon. This is the first roving remote-controlled robot to land on another world and is released by the orbiting Luna 17 spacecraft.

Vietnam War: Lieutenant William Calley goes on trial for the My Lai massacre.

Cold War: Negotiators from the Soviet Union and the United States meet in Helsinki to begin SALT I negotiations aimed at limiting the number of strategic weapons on both sides.

British European Airways introduces the BAC One-Eleven into commercial service.

Alexandros Panagoulis is condemned to death for attempting to assassinate Greek dictator George Papadopoulos.

French author Régis Debray is sentenced to 30 years imprisonment in Bolivia.

Vietnam War: Acting on optimistic reports that he had been given on November 13, US President Lyndon B. Johnson tells the nation that, while much remained to be done, "We are inflicting greater losses than we're taking...We are making progress."

President John F. Kennedy dedicates Dulles International Airport, serving the Washington, D.C. region.

G-AOHP of British European Airways crashes at Ballerup after the failure of three engines on approach to Copenhagen Airport. The cause was a malfunction of the anti-icing system on the aircraft.

The remaining human inhabitants of the Blasket Islands, Kerry, Ireland are evacuated to the mainland.

Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, is enthroned as the leader of Tibet at the age of fifteen.

American scientists John Bardeen and Walter Brattain observe the basic principles of the transistor, a key element for the electronics revolution of the 20th Century.

The U.S. Screen Actors Guild implements an anti-Communist loyalty oath.

Nine Czech students are executed as a response to anti-Nazi demonstrations prompted by the death of Jan Opletal. In addition, all Czech universities are shut down and over 1200 Czech students sent to concentration camps. Since this event, International Students' Day is celebrated in many countries, especially in the Czech Republic.

United States recognizes Soviet Union.

Former Ottoman sultan Mehmed VI goes into exile in Italy.

King George V of the United Kingdom proclaims Armistice Day (later Remembrance Day). The idea is first suggested by Edward George Honey.

The Omega Psi Phi fraternity, the first African-American fraternity at an historically black college or university, is founded at Howard University in Washington, D.C.

The Eulsa Treaty is signed between Japan and Korea.

The Russian Social Democratic Labor Party splits into two groups; the Bolsheviks (Russian for "majority") and Mensheviks (Russian for "minority").

First assassination attempt against Umberto I of Italy.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Slavonic March is given its première performance in Moscow.

The National Rifle Association is granted a charter by the state of New York.

In Egypt, the Suez Canal, linking the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, is inaugurated.

American Civil War: Siege of Knoxville begins – Confederate forces led by General James Longstreet place Knoxville, Tennessee under siege.

Modified Julian Day zero.

American Old West: On the Sonoita River in present-day southern Arizona, the United States Army establishes Fort Buchanan in order to help control new land acquired in the Gadsden Purchase.

David Livingstone becomes the first European to see the Victoria Falls in what is now present-day Zambia-Zimbabwe.

Ecuador and Venezuela are separated from Greater Colombia.

The Delta Phi fraternity, America's oldest continuous social fraternity, is founded at Union College in Schenectady, New York.

Captain Nathaniel Palmer becomes the first American to see Antarctica (the Palmer Peninsula is later named after him).

Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Krasnoi.

José Miguel Carrera, Chilean founding father, is sworn in as President of the executive Junta of the government of Chile.

The United States Congress holds its first session in Washington, D.C.

Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Arcole

Articles of Confederation are submitted to the states for ratification.

The Peace of the Pyrenees is signed between France and Spain.

English explorer, writer and courtier Sir Walter Raleigh goes on trial for treason.

Elizabethan era begins: Queen Mary I of England dies and is succeeded by her half-sister Elizabeth I of England.

Spain and England ally against France.

(O.S.) John Balliol becomes King of Scotland.

The Battle of Mizushima.

The future Leo II is named associate emperor by Leo I.

Diocletian is proclaimed emperor by his soldiers.