''An Inconvenient Truth'', a documentary film about former United States Vice President Al Gore's campaign to educate citizens about global warming, is released.

Communications in North Korea: North Korea bans mobile phones.

Russia and the United States sign the Moscow Treaty.

The Versailles wedding hall disaster in Jerusalem, Israel, kills 23 and injures over 200 in Israel's worst-ever civil disaster.

Mountain climbing: 15-year-old Sherpa Temba Tsheri becomes the youngest person to climb to the top of Mount Everest.

Israeli troops withdraw from southern Lebanon after 22 years of occupation.

Four men convicted of bombing the World Trade Center in New York in 1993 are each sentenced to 240 years in prison.

The last Thai dictator, General Suchinda Kraprayoon, resigns following pro-democracy protests.

Israel conducts Operation Solomon, evacuating Ethiopian Jews to Israel.

Eritrea gains its independence from Ethiopia.

A car carrying American Earth First! activists Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney explodes in Oakland, California, critically injuring both.

Sonia Sutcliffe, wife of the Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe, is awarded £600,000 in damages (later reduced to £60,000 on appeal) after winning a libel action against ''Private Eye''.

Section 28 of the United Kingdom's Local Government Act 1988, a controversial amendment stating that a local authority cannot intentionally promote homosexuality, is enacted.

Liberation of Khorramshahr: Iranians recapture of the port city of Khorramshahr from the Iraqis during the Iran–Iraq War.

The International Court of Justice calls for the release of United States embassy hostages in Tehran, Iran. The hostages would not be freed until the following January.

The London to Washington, D.C. Concorde service begins.

Earl Jellicoe resigns as Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Lords.

The drilling of the Kola Superdeep Borehole begins in the Soviet Union.

FLQ separatists bomb the U.S. consulate in Quebec City.

Egypt imposes a blockade and siege of the Red Sea coast of Israel.

Project Mercury: American astronaut Scott Carpenter orbits the Earth three times in the ''Aurora 7'' space capsule.

Cyprus enters the Council of Europe.

American civil rights movement: Freedom Riders are arrested in Jackson, Mississippi for "disturbing the peace" after disembarking from their bus.

Following the 1960 Valdivia earthquake, the largest ever recorded earthquake, Cordón Caulle begins to erupt.

United Press International is formed through a merger of the United Press and the International News Service.

The first Eurovision Song Contest is held in Lugano, Switzerland

Conclusion of the Sixth Buddhist Council on Vesak Day, marking the 2,500 year anniversary after the Lord Buddha's Parinibbāna.

Holocaust: Josef Mengele becomes chief medical officer of the Auschwitz concentration camp.

World War II: In the Battle of the Atlantic, the German Battleship ''Bismarck'' sinks the then pride of the Royal Navy, {{HMS|Hood|51|6}}, killing all but three crewmen.

Igor Sikorsky performs the first successful single-rotor helicopter flight.

The first night game in Major League Baseball history is played in Cincinnati, Ohio, with the Cincinnati Reds beating the Philadelphia Phillies 2-1 at Crosley Field.

Amy Johnson lands in Darwin, Northern Territory, becoming the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia (she left on May 5 for the 11,000 mile flight).

The trial of Sacco and Vanzetti opens.

World War I: Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary.

Seventy-eight miners die in the Caerphilly pit disaster in South Wales.

Second Boer War: The United Kingdom annexes the Orange Free State.

Henry Irving becomes the first person from the theatre to be knighted.

The Brooklyn Bridge in New York City is opened to traffic after 14 years of construction.

American Civil War: Union troops occupy Alexandria, Virginia.

John Brown and his men murder five slavery supporters at Pottawatomie Creek, Kansas.

Mexican-American War: General Zachary Taylor captures Monterrey.

Samuel Morse sends the message "What hath God wrought" (a Bible quotation, Numbers 23:23) from the Old Supreme Court Chamber in the United States Capitol to his assistant, Alfred Vail, in Baltimore, Maryland to inaugurate the first telegraph line.

The First Kingdom of Greece is declared in the London Conference.

The first revenue trains in the United States begin service on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad between Baltimore, Maryland and Ellicott's Mills, Maryland.

''Mary Had a Little Lamb'' by Sarah Josepha Hale is published.

Battle of Pichincha: Antonio José de Sucre secures the independence of the Presidency of Quito.

The Irish Rebellion of 1798 led by the United Irishmen against British rule begins.

John Wesley is converted, essentially launching the Methodist movement; the day is celebrated annually by Methodists as Aldersgate Day.

The English Parliament passes the Act of Toleration protecting Protestants. Roman Catholics are intentionally excluded.

Peter Minuit buys Manhattan.

The Protestant Union is formally dissolved.

''Nomenclator'' of Leiden University Library appears, the first printed catalog of an institutional library.

The ten-year-old Lambert Simnel is crowned in Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin, Ireland with the name of Edward VI in a bid to threaten King Henry VII's reign.

Magnus Ladulås is crowned King of Sweden in Uppsala Cathedral.

The Fifth Crusade leaves Acre for Egypt.