California's Proposition 8, the ballot initiative prohibiting same-sex marriage passed by the state's voters in 2008, was overturned by Judge Vaughn Walker in the case Perry v. Schwarzenegger.

Airport police officer María del Luján Telpuk discovers a suitcase containing the undeclared sum of US$800,000 as it goes through an x-ray machine in Aeroparque Jorge Newbery in Buenos Aires, sparking an international scandal involving Venezuela and Argentina known as "Maletinazo".

NASA's Phoenix spaceship is launched.

A massacre, is carried out by Sri Lankan government forces, killing 17 employees of the French INGO Action Against Hunger (known internationally as Action Contre la Faim, or ACF).

Prime Minister Paul Martin announces that Michaëlle Jean will be Canada's 27th Governor General.

Soham murders: 10 year old school girls Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells go missing from the town of Soham, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom.

Operation Storm begins in Croatia.

A federal judge sentences LAPD officers Stacey Koon and Laurence Powell to 30 months in prison for violating motorist Rodney King's civil rights.

The Greek cruise ship {{Ship|MTS|Oceanos}} sinks off the Wild Coast of South Africa.

The Federal Communications Commission rescinds the Fairness Doctrine which had required radio and television stations to present controversial issues "fairly".

The Republic of Upper Volta changes its name to Burkina Faso.

US President Jimmy Carter signs legislation creating the United States Department of Energy.

The Japanese Red Army takes more than 50 hostages at the AIA Building housing several embassies in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The hostages include the U.S. consul and the Swedish chargé d’affaires. The gunmen win the release of five imprisoned comrades and fly with them to Libya.

A bomb explodes in the ''Italicus Express'' train at San Benedetto Val di Sambro, Italy, killing 12 people and wounding 22.

Vietnam War: at the apartment of French intermediary Jean Sainteny in Paris, American representative Henry Kissinger and North Vietnamese representative Xuan Thuy begin secret peace negotiations. The negotiations will eventually fail.

The Constitution of Cook Islands comes into force, giving the Cook Islands self-governing status within New Zealand.

Gulf of Tonkin Incident: U.S. destroyers {{USS|Maddox|DD-731|6}} and {{USS|Turner Joy|DD-951|6}} report coming under attack in the Gulf of Tonkin.

American civil rights movement: civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney are found dead in Mississippi after disappearing on June 21.

The Billboard Hot 100 is founded.

The Government of Pakistan approves Qaumi Tarana, written by Hafeez Jullundhry and composed by Ahmed Ghulamali Chagla, as the national anthem.

The Supreme Court of Japan is established.

An earthquake of magnitude 8.0 hits northern Dominican Republic. 100 are killed and 20,000 are left homeless.

The Holocaust: a tip from a Dutch informer leads the Gestapo to a sealed-off area in an Amsterdam warehouse where they find Jewish diarist Anne Frank and her family.

Prime Minister of Greece Ioannis Metaxas suspends parliament and the Constitution and establishes the 4th of August Regime.

Diplomatic relations between Mexico and the Soviet Union are established.

World War I: Liberia declares war on Germany.

World War I: Germany invades Belgium. In response, the United Kingdom declares war on Germany. The United States declare their neutrality.

Central Railway Station, Sydney opens.

The Greenwich foot tunnel under the River Thames opens.

The parents of Lizzie Borden are found murdered in their Fall River, Massachusetts home.

Indian Wars: whilst protecting a railroad survey party in Montana, the United States 7th Cavalry, under Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer clashes for the first time with the Sioux near the Tongue River; only one man on each side is killed.

Matica slovenská, Slovakia's public-law cultural and scientific institution focusing on topics around the Slovak nation, is established in Martin.

The Hinomaru is established as the official flag to be flown from Japanese ships.

The Battle of Kos is fought between Turk and Greek forces.

Atkinson & Alexander publish the ''Saturday Evening Post'' for the first time as a weekly newspaper.

The Treaty of Sistova is signed, ending the Ottoman-Habsburg wars.

A newly passed tariff act creates the ''Revenue Cutter Service'' (the forerunner of the United States Coast Guard).

In France members of the National Constituent Assembly take an oath to end feudalism and abandon their privileges.

War of the Spanish Succession: Gibraltar is captured by an English and Dutch fleet, commanded by Admiral Sir George Rooke and allied with Archduke Charles.

Date traditionally ascribed to Dom Perignon's invention of Champagne.

Battle of Al Kasr al Kebir

the Duchy of Brittany is annexed to the Kingdom of France.

Second Barons' War: Battle of Evesham

Gratian, son of Roman Emperor Valentinian I, is named co-Augustus by his father and associated to the throne aged eight.

The destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans.