Sri Lankan Civil War: The LTTE are defeated by the Sri Lankan government, ending almost 26 years of fighting between the two sides.

The post Loktantra Andolan government passes a landmark bill curtailing the power of the monarchy and making Nepal a secular country.

EU - riots in Nørrebro, Copenhagen caused by the approval of the four Danish exceptions in the Maastricht Treaty referendum. Police opened fire against civilians for the first time since World War II and injured 11 demonstrators. In total 113 bullets are fired.

The Archivist of the United States officially announces the Twenty-seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Northern Somalia declares independence from the rest of Somalia as the Republic of Somaliland but is not recognised by the international community.

In France, a modified TGV train achieves a new rail world speed record of 515.3km/h (320.2 mph).

In Ireland, the government launches a crackdown, with the leading Dublin pirate Radio Nova being put off the air.

Gwangju Massacre: students in Gwangju, South Korea begin demonstrations calling for democratic reforms.

1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens: Mount St. Helens erupts in Washington, United States, killing 57 people and causing $3 billion in damage.

Nuclear test: under project Smiling Buddha, India successfully detonates its first nuclear weapon becoming the sixth nation to do so.

Completion of the Warsaw radio mast, the tallest construction ever built at the time. It collapsed on August 8, 1991.

Apollo program: Apollo 10 is launched.

Launch of the National Liberation Committee of Côte d'Ivoire in Conakry, Guinea.

An F-104 Starfighter sets a world speed record of 2,259.82 km/h (1,404.19 mph).

First ascent of Lhotse 8,516 metres, by a Swiss team.

Operation Passage to Freedom, the evacuation of 310,000 Vietnamese civilians, soldiers and non-Vietnamese members of the French Army from communist North Vietnam to South Vietnam following the end of the First Indochina War, ends.

Jackie Cochran becomes the first woman to break the sound barrier.

The First Legislative Yuan of the Republic of China officially convenes in Nanking.

Deportation of Crimean Tatars by the Soviet Union government.

World War II: Battle of Monte Cassino

New Deal: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an act creating the Tennessee Valley Authority.

The Bath School Disaster: forty-five people are killed by bombs planted by a disgruntled school-board member in Michigan.

Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson disappears while visiting a Venice, California beach.

World War I: The Selective Service Act of 1917 is passed, giving the President of the United States the power of conscription.

The Earth passes through the tail of Comet Halley.

The United Kingdom proclaims a protectorate over Tonga.

Dracula, a novel by Irish author Bram Stoker is published.

Khodynka Tragedy: A mass panic on Khodynka Field in Moscow during the festivities of the coronation of Russian Tsar Nicholas II results in the deaths of 1,389 people.

The United States Supreme Court rules in ''Plessy v. Ferguson'' that the "separate but equal" doctrine is constitutional.

American Civil War: The Siege of Vicksburg begins.

Abraham Lincoln wins the Republican Party presidential nomination over William H. Seward, who later becomes the United States Secretary of State.

Opening of the first German National Assembly (Nationalversammlung) in Frankfurt, Germany.

The Disruption in Edinburgh of the Free Church of Scotland from the Church of Scotland.

John Bellingham is found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging for the assassination of British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval.

Battle of Las Piedras: The first great military triumph of the revolution of the Río de la Plata in Uruguay led by Jose Artigas.

Napoleon Bonaparte is proclaimed Emperor of the French by the French Senate.

Napoleonic Wars: The United Kingdom revokes the Treaty of Amiens and declares war on France.

First United Empire Loyalists reach Parrtown (later called Saint John), New Brunswick, Canada after leaving the United States.

Fire destroys a large part of Montreal, Quebec.

The Seven Years' War begins when Great Britain declares war on France.

Rhode Island passes the first law in North America making slavery illegal.

In Dorchester, Massachusetts, John Winthrop takes the oath of office and becomes the first Governor of Massachusetts.

Playwright Thomas Kyd's accusations of heresy lead to an arrest warrant for Christopher Marlowe.

Vasco da Gama reaches the port of Calicut, India.

Bruges Matins, the nocturnal massacre of the French garrison in Bruges by members of the local Flemish militia.

The Principality of Antioch, a crusader state, falls to the Mamluk Sultan Baibars in the Battle of Antioch.

Henry II of England marries Eleanor of Aquitaine.