- 1982 2,100 Unification church couples wed in NYC
- 1982 Challenger moves overland to Dryden
- 1982 General Reynaldo Bignone sworn in as President of Argentina
- 1982 Kosmos 1383, 1st search & rescue satellite, launched
- 1983 Arbitrator Raymond Goetz rules 43 players who are on Disabled List during 1981 players' strike not entitled to salaries for that period
- 1984 The PG-13 rating is introduced by the MPAA
Event of Interest
1987 US President Ronald Reagan nominates Robert Bork for a seat on the Supreme Court, rejected by US Senate in October
- 1988 In New Zealand, Bastion Point land returned to the local Maori iwi (tribe), Ngāti Whātua
- 1990 1st Zen winter session in Sydney Zen Center's Gorrick's Run Zendo
- 1990 German Democratic Republic accepts Deutsche Mark as its currency
- 1990 In Victoria, Australia, helmetless bike riding becomes illegal
- 1992 6.6 earthquake in Big Bear Valley of Los Angeles
- 1992 Ali Kafi becomes president of Algeria
- 1993 1 second "leap" adjustment added to the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) clock
- 1993 Richard Riordan elected as Los Angeles first Republican mayor in 36 years
- 1993 Russian manned space craft TM-17, launches into orbit
- 1993 STS-57 (Endeavour) lands
- 1994 Fokker's-28 crashes at Tidjikja, Mauritania (94 killed)
- 1994 Roman Herzog sworn in as German president
- 1994 Russian spacecraft Soyuz TM-19 launches from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan
- 1994 Yassar Arafat returns to Gaza strip
- 1995 Kiersten Rickenbach, of NJ, crowned America's Junior Miss
- 1996 WBSI TV replaces WNYC on channel 31 in NYC
- 1997 STS 94 (Columbia 23) launches into orbit
- 1997 United Kingdom returns Hong Kong and the New Territories to the People's Republic of China
- 1999 The Scottish Parliament is officially opened by Queen Elizabeth on the day powers are transferred from the old Scottish Office in London to the new devolved Scottish Executive in Edinburgh
- 2000 The Oresund Bridge, connecting Sweden and Denmark, opens for traffic
- 2000 Vermont's civil unions law goes into effect.
- 2002 Bashkirian Airlines (flight 2937) Tupolev TU-154 and a DHL (German cargo) Boeing 757 collide in mid-air over Ueberlingen, southern Germany, killing 71
- 2002 The International Criminal Court is established to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression
- 2003 Aerobie Pro thrown by Erin Hemmings sets world record for longest throw at 1,333 feet (406.3 meters) at Fort Funston
- 2004 Saturn Orbit insertion of Cassini-Huygens begins at 01:12 UTC and ends at 02:48 UTC.
- 2006 The first operation of Qinghai-Tibet Railway in the People's Republic of China
- 2007 England bans smoking in all public indoor spaces: with the ban already in force in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, this means it is illegal to smoke in indoor public places anywhere in the UK. Australia implements a similar ban.
- 2008 Denmark is the first European economy to confirm it is in recession since the global credit crunch began; its GDP shrinks 0.6% in the first quarter after a 0.2% contraction in the fourth quarter of 2007
- 2012 17 people are killed and 45 injured in an attack on two churches in Garissa, Kenya
- 2013 47 people are killed and 90 are wounded in two bomb blasts in Pakistan
- 2013 Croatia becomes the 28th member of the European Union
- 2013 Demonstrations occur across Egypt with 15 million people calling for the resignation of their President, Mohammed Morsi
- 2014 Martin Schulz is re-elected President of the European Parliament
- 2015 Greek Credit Crisis: Greece becomes 1st developed country to default on debt to the International Monetary Fund (1.7 billion)
- 2015 US and Cuba announce agreement to re-open embassies and establish full diplomatic ties
- 2016 Islamic militants storm a cafe in Dhaka, Bangladesh, killing 20 hostages and 2 police, country's worse terror attack
- 2017 Brazilian police arrest drug kingpin Luiz Carlos da Rocha in Sorriso
- 2017 Canada celebrates 150 years since its formation
- 2017 Ethiopian politician, Tedros Adhanom takes office as first African Director-General of the World Health Organization
- 2017 Mexican police kill 19 gunmen in drug-related shootout in northern state of Sinaloa
- 2018 Canada's retaliatory tariffs against the US's steel tariffs take effect, 25% on some steel, 10% on 250 other goods
Election of Interest
2018 Centre-left politician Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) elected President of Mexico
- 2018 Colombia's Chiribiquete National Park declared a world heritage site by the UN
- 2018 French gangster Redoine Faid escapes the Sud-Francilien prison in Réau, France by helicopter
- 2018 Nationwide protests over Trump administration immigration policies in the US
- 2018 Suicide bombing targeting Sikh community kills at least 19 people in Jalalabad, Afghanistan
- 2019 At least 16 people killed in a Taliban attack with over 100 injured in Kabul, Afghanistan
- 2019 Japan resumes commercial whaling after a break of more than 30 years
- 2020 America confirms more than 50,000 new COVID-19 cases in one day for the 1st time
- 2020 Australian state of Melbourne re-imposes a COVID-19 lockdown on 36 Melbourne suburbs affecting 300,000 people
- 2020 Europe opens its borders to 15 safe countries after months of lockdown, excluding the US, Brazil and Russia
Important Vote
2020 Russian President Vladimir Putin wins national referendum allowing longer presidential terms of office
- 2020 WHO says Middle East at "critical threshold" with COVID-19 cases over 1 million, 80% of deaths in Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia
- 2020 Word record drug haul of 14 tonnes of amphetamines seized by Italian police in Salerno worth $1.1 billion. Thought made in Syria by Islamic State.
Event of Interest
2021 Britain's Princes William and Harry unveil statue to their mother Diana, Princess of Wales, on what would have been her 60th birthday, at Kensington Palace
COVID-19 Pandemic
2021 Indonesian President Joko Widodo announces a two-week lockdown for the islands of Java and Bali amid the worst COVID-19 outbreak in South East Asia
Event of Interest
2021 President Xi Jinping makes a defiant address at celebrations in Tiananmen Square, Beijing to mark the 100 year centenary of the Chinese Communist Party [1]
- 2021 State of New York charges The Trump Organization and its chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg with tax fraud and grand larceny [1]
- 2022 Germany and Nigeria have signed an agreement to return ownership of more than 1,000 Benin Bronzes, looted during colonial times, back to Nigeria [1]