Bluegrass Army Depot Sarin(GB) leak in Lexington, Kentucky. Officials reported the Sarin levels 85 times above the safe limit.

Comair Flight 5191 crashes on takeoff from Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Kentucky bound for Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia. Of the passengers and crew, 49 of 50 are confirmed dead in the hours following the crash.

Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years, passing {{convert|34646418|mi}} distant.

{{convert|540|m|ft|0|adj=on}}-tall Ostankino Tower in Moscow catches fire, three people are killed.

The Rainbow Bridge, connecting Tokyo's Shibaura and the island of Odaiba, is completed.

Moldova declares independence from the USSR.

The European Community recognizes the independence of the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Stevie Ray Vaughan dies in a helicopter crash.

The Nigerian government is peacefully overthrown by Army Chief of Staff Major General Ibrahim Babangida.

Turkish military diplomat Colonel Atilla Altıkat is shot and killed in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada's capital. Justice Commandos Against Armenian Genocide claim responsibility, saying they are avenging the massacre of 1.5 million Armenians in the 1915 Armenian Genocide.

An IRA bomb kills British World War II admiral Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma and 3 others while they are boating on holiday in Sligo, Republic of Ireland. Another bomb near Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland kills 18 British soldiers.

The Governor of Portuguese Timor abandons its capital, Dili, and flees to Atauro Island, leaving control to a rebel group.

Israeli commando force penetrates deep into Egyptian territory to stage a mortar attack on regional Egyptian Army headquarters in the Nile Valley of Upper Egypt.

The Mariner 2 unmanned space mission is launched to Venus by NASA.

The Constitution of Malaysia comes into force.

Japanese forces evacuate New Georgia Island in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II.

First flight of the turbojet-powered Heinkel He 178, the world's first jet aircraft.

The Kellogg-Briand Pact outlawing war is signed by the first fifteen nations to do so. Ultimately sixty-one nations will sign it.

The Turkish army takes the Aegean city of Afyonkarahisar from the Greeks.

The British install the son of Sharif Hussein bin Ali (leader of the Arab Revolt of 1916 against the Ottoman Empire) as King Faisal I of Iraq.

Romania declares war against Austria-Hungary, entering World War I as one of the Allied nations.

Anglo-Zanzibar War: the shortest war in world history (09:00 to 09:45) between the United Kingdom and Zanzibar.

Union forces attack Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.

Petroleum is discovered in Titusville, Pennsylvania leading to the world's first commercially successful oil well.

Uruguay is formally proclaimed independent at preliminary peace talks brokered by Great Britain between Brazil and Argentina during the Argentina-Brazil War.

French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte defeats a larger force of Austrians, Russians, and Prussians at the Battle of Dresden.

Napoleonic Wars: The French Navy defeats the British Royal Navy, preventing them from taking the harbour of Grand Port on Île de France.

Wolfe Tone's United Irish and French forces clash with the British Army in the Battle of Castlebar, part of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, resulting in the creation of the French puppet Republic of Connaught.

French counter-revolution: the port of Toulon revolts and admits the British fleet, which lands troops and seizes the port leading to Siege of Toulon.

The French National Assembly adopts the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, proclaiming that "men are born and remain free and equal in rights".

The Battle of Long Island: in what is now Brooklyn, New York, British forces under General William Howe defeat Americans under General George Washington.

The Treaty of Nerchinsk is signed by Russia and the Qing empire.

The Formulary of Adjudications is promulgated by Regent Hōjō Yasutoki. (Traditional Japanese date: August 10, 1232)

Henry the Young King and Margaret of France are crowned as junior king and queen of England.

The sacking of Rome by the Visigoths ends after three days.